More than any political or philosophical force, this decade saw the rise of one thing: individualism. This past decade doesn’t really have a name but it could easily be called the “Me Decade” and all of us could be called members of “Generation M-E”. With the increase role that technology has on our lives, the entire world is at our fingertips. We can now decide what we want, when we want it. While I think that the consequences of this shift are still a long way away, the early years of the 21st century will surely be known as the beginning of the “Individual Revolution”. Today I’ll look at the five songs that really make me think about me the individual.
Just to recap, here are the first 10 songs that made the list:
1. The Killers – All These Things That I’ve Done
2. Bloc Party – This Modern Love
3. Beck – Lost Cause
4. Stars – Your Ex-Lover is Dead
5. The Arcade Fire – Rebellion (Lies)
6. Matthew Good – Weapon
7. Metric – Monster Hospital
8. M.I.A. – Paper Planes
9. White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
10. Ryan Adams – New York, New York
The next five additions are…
Track #11
Album: The Reminder (2007)
Words can’t describe the joyous surprise I felt when I heard the familiar voice start to sing during a commercial break. This was one of “my songs” coming from somewhere other than my own speakers. To make the moment even more surreal it was in an ad for the very product that I have used to experience “my music”.
Fast forward a few months and Feistis coming through Toronto, needless to say I’m very excited for a chance to see her live. But then, disaster strikes! The tickets are sold out for both of her shows in a matter of hours and all I can find on Craig’s List was far, FAR too expensive for my budget or tastes.
Who were these people who usurped my right to see one of my favourite little indie darlings? Had any of them wept to her rendition of “Lover’s Spit”? Could any of them complete the sentence “It could begin and end in____ _______”? Hell, had any of them even heard of her before Steve Jobs said that we all should?
The answer to all of this probably varies somewhere in between “maybe” and “who cares”? I shouldn’t be mad at someone for being successful, and I shouldn’t be mad at people who enjoy a damn good song, even if they are late to the game. Lord knows I’ve been behind several musical trends many times in my life.
Back in my review of 2007, when talking about the success that this song generated for Feist I said:
Watching a video takes a certain effort, either by switching to MTV/MuchMusic (during the 20 minutes of the day when they actually play videos..) or following a link to the YouTube video. Commercials on the other hand take a certain effort to avoid watching. You need to find the remote and another channel where you know something else is on, and really it’s just easier to passively lay there and be bombarded with your consumerist message.
I still think that is most definitely true. We are bombarded with so much it is hard to avoid, and it is plain and simply easier to just let the messages come to you. While this can have disastrous consequences (see: Invasion of Iraq, The) it can bring beautiful things out too.
Upon even further reflection, I think that this commercial really epitomizes the paradoxes that are implicit with the Individual Revolution. With the ease that exists in spreading music around, is anything really ours to call our own anymore? How can any of us call ourselves individuals if we are all using the same product making the same experiences? Is this shift all in our heads?
We may have to wait another decade to really find out.
Favourite Lyric: “Sweetheart, bitter heart, now I can’t tell you apart”
Track #12
Broken Social Scene – Cause = Time
Album: You Forgot It In People (2002)
A song that builds on the previous themes that I mentioned. The pursuit of something to intimately call your own.
In our age of hyper-mass-media we are all a little lost. What is there to believe in for a long time? I mean people who were overjoyed at the Inauguration in January are now ready to throw Obama under the bus. How is that belief?
To be honest, I think that every generation has struggled with this at some point or another. It is rather naive to think that we are the first ones to be confused about the nature of life and the universe. We are not the first ones to wonder what it takes to be happy in this day and age, and we are not the first ones to think that our parents just don’t understand the confusion.
But you know what? That doesn’t make it any easier to go through these same emotions.
And whenever I am wrestling with that bit of insecurity, I let Kevin Drew take me away for five minutes and thirty seconds of rock infused insecurity. As he says “They all want to dream a cause” I know I’m not alone in my thoughts.
That both comforts and terrifies me.
Favourite Lyric: “Cue immortal child like times/Separation is divine”
Track #13
Album: Fight With Tools (2007)
This is probably the most arrogant song in a very arrogant decade. And not surprisingly for those of you who know me, I have little trouble identifying with it.
With it’s numerous claims that get more and more grandiose as the song progresses, and a rhythm to match it. This feels like a perfect anthem for “Generation M-E”. We feel like we can do anything, anything that we want, when we want it. From childish claims about riding a bike with no handlebars, to being an intellectual, all the way up to being able to guide a missile by satellite, the protagonists in this genuinely believe that there is nothing that can’t be done. Deep down inside, don’t we all like to believe that?
After a slow, steady, and borderline epic build the song reaches its crescendo. He believes that he can end the planet in a holocaust. The individual has reached its maximum potential and danger.
One question remains: is it a metaphor or a warning?
Favourite Lyric: “I can keep rhythm with no metronome”
Track #14
Album: College Dropout (2004)
This song feels like a perfect compliment to “Handlebars”, especially with the benefit of hindsight.
In one you have an artist that is relatively unknown going on about their own limitless power in a bombastic ego trip. In another you have the most brash and cocky star of the decade going on about his submission to a higher power in a truly humble fashion.
Somewhat surprising in our secular society, Jesus has played a huge role in the shaping of this decade. From books like The Da Vinci Code, to the rise of evangelicalism in the US. He has been everywhere a good 2000 years after his death. I’m unsure if this is to counter the rise of the individual or perhaps to complement it. Faith in a higher power really is the most personal thing that someone can have, and yet it has been routinely paraded around by people with a microphone or a wiki.
All through this decade there has been a debate as to whether or not religion is a force of good or a force of evil. I myself lean towards the former, and apparently I’m in the same company as Kanye. Insecure, unsure, doubting, but damn proud to admit it.
Favourite Lyric: “I want to talk to God but I’m afraid because we ain’t spoke in so long”
Track #15
Album: The Grey Album (2004)
Alright, so this song really stretches the definition of a single. But isn’t that fitting since it fits into a genre that really stretches a lot of our musical definitions? Is this song rap, hip-hop, rock, pop, alternative, or indie?
To be honest, it’s a little bit of all of them. And that’s what makes it so amazing.
Of course, this song isn’t the first mash-up, and certainly not the most famous of them, and it probably isn’t even the best. But I think that it may be the best example of one.
This song takes two of the weaker parts of the original works and really and truly recreates them. I found “Encore” to be boring on The Black Album and “Savoy Truffle” and “Glass Onion” are two of the weaker tracks on The White Album but it truly makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Not that long ago, back when music could still be a physical thing, people could be truly defined by the collection of albums they had. If they were a punk, their collection was full of songs by The Sex Pistols and The Clash, if they were a metal head they would have Pantera and Metallica, if they were a rapper they would have Run DMC and NWA. Never, except in the strangest of individuals would someone have both a Jay-Z album and one by The Beatles. One from the streets of Brooklyn, another from the bars of Liverpool. Two things that couldn’t possibly be more incompatible.
And then the 21st Century happened.
Before we used to let our music define us, now we can define our music. This is a powerful, powerful difference. Music is so accessible that now it is not at all uncommon to have Jay-Z and The Beatles on the same iPod. In fact, I think it would be a challenge to find an iPod that doesn’t have songs by those two artists.
It was only a matter of time before they became one and the same. And I think that we are all the better for it.
Favourite Lyric: “The rest of y’all know where I’m lyrically at/Can’t none of y’all mirror me back”
And that concludes this edition. We’ve looked at reflecting, conflict, and individualism, but dont’ worry this decade isn’t all about moping, bombs, and selfishness. Next time, we’re just going to dance!
Until next time,
G
Tags: special songs
