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Teq's 20 for 20 - A Look Back at 20 Years of Music
Tequilla
Member Posts: 19,880
I don't follow directions well and when I read about the 20 for 20 I thought it was a great idea ... the idea of trying to come up with 20 songs over 20 years just seemed like a lot of work to start with. But even more than that, as I started thinking about it, the more I realized how much music has change and how much life in general has changed. So with that I decided to change up the discussion a bit and take a look at things year by year with a little bit of commentary along the way ...
By and large, I'm going to leverage the ending Billboard Top 100 as my starting point.
I will give a little bit of commentary about what life looked like in those years ... particularly the further back in time I go as I think it will give some context as to why the songs are memorable to me for various reasons.
I will have some categories in each of the years as well as what my takeaway from the music of that year has as a legacy.
The goal will be to make it fun. I suspect the list will have some surprises on it ... some good and some bad. There will be some that will probably laugh at some of the picks ... and some that will nod and think that they forgot that song.
So with that ... I'll start with 2000 and work forward ... should be a fun ride.
By and large, I'm going to leverage the ending Billboard Top 100 as my starting point.
I will give a little bit of commentary about what life looked like in those years ... particularly the further back in time I go as I think it will give some context as to why the songs are memorable to me for various reasons.
I will have some categories in each of the years as well as what my takeaway from the music of that year has as a legacy.
The goal will be to make it fun. I suspect the list will have some surprises on it ... some good and some bad. There will be some that will probably laugh at some of the picks ... and some that will nod and think that they forgot that song.
So with that ... I'll start with 2000 and work forward ... should be a fun ride.
Comments
Where in the World Was Teq:
I was completing Year 3 and starting Year 4 at UW ... it was the year of our last Rose Bowl Championship (how little we knew at the time) ... in general, working on the degrees and dominating with the zone defense down at the IMA with really no clue what to do after school ... just your average college student.
Teq's Musical Thoughts on 2000:
Really interesting era as you were largely exiting the world of grunge, into the world of cheesy alternative, lots of R&B/Rap, and right in the middle of the Boy Band Era. 20 years later, I find myself enjoying more of the music than I would care to admit and find that to be true with most that hear this music.
Teq's Top Song of 2000: "Beautiful Day" by U2
Teq's Runner Up Song of 2000: "Stan" by Eminem
Teq's Country Song of 2000: "How Do You Like Me Now" by Toby Keith
Now is for some categories that are more out there when it comes to having some fun ...
Teq's One Hit Wonder / Forgotten Artist of the Year: "Gotta Tell You" by Samantha Mumba
You can't be going through college at that time and not be a fan of the American Pie movies ... and if I see them on I still watch them. Judge me as you want ... but that leads to a category for at least the first handful of years in the 2000s tied to "American Pie Themed Song of the Year" ...
Teq's American Pie Themed Song of the Year: "Teenage Dirtbag" by Wheatus
As mentioned previously, lots of sappy songs showed up in this year and that includes a couple of wedding staples that I definitely heard a ton over the next handful of years on the wedding circuit. They are also songs that I guarantee that even though most of you assholes wouldn't admit it, you know the lyrics and can likely sing them in the shower if they were playing ...
Teq's Romantic/Wedding Songs of the Year (tie): "Amazed" by Lonestar and "I Knew I Loved You" by Savage Garden
And finally, 2000 was the last time UW won the Rose Bowl and while we were all excited there were clearly some thorns in the roses that year. Obviously, the Curtis Williams injury and the aftermath was devastating. But the Marinerization of UW Football was in full effect in hindsight. For anybody that had season tickets in 2000, there's no way that this song hasn't been burned into your head forever ...
Teq's Downfall of UW Football Song #1 of the Year: "Who Let the Dogs Out" by The Baha Men
And while this next entry wasn't a direct stain on Husky Football at the time, it led to literally the most embarrassing moment in the history of Husky Football ... way more embarrassing than 0-12 (but then this happened at the end of 2007, so perhaps a predictor of things to come??) ...
Teq's Downfall of UW Football Song #2A/2B of the Year: "She Bangs" by Ricky Martin & William Hung
Where in the World Was Teq:
I was entering my last year at UW working my way to graduation with still no real clue how to transition from college to the real world. I spent a lot of time traveling to/from school that year with one of my best friends who was engaged and getting married in the Spring of 2002 ... so lots of boy band sappy music on those rides. Lots of looking forward to the 2001 football season, defending the P12 championship, Reggie Williams coming into the program, and that early season game with Michigan ...
... then 3 days later the world changed on 9/11
Teq's Musical Thoughts on 2001:
You still had the influence of the boy band music but this to me was really the big rise up of the R&B scene taking over popular music. There really wasn't much in the terms of rock or anything like that. You still had the remnants of BS like Creed that still to this day you can't change the channel fast enough on. It's an interesting era when you go back through the lists and realize that you're really not getting a lot of these songs showing up in heavy rotation today from the Pop 100 ... that said, when you go back and look at the cross over that country started having we're right in the middle of the crossover of the lines being heavily blurred.
Teq's Top Song of 2001: "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys
Teq's Runner Up Song of 2001: "Run" by George Strait
Teq's Country Song of 2001: "It's A Great Day To Be Alive" by Travis Tritt
Now is for some categories that are more out there when it comes to having some fun ...
Teq's One Hit Wonder / Forgotten Artist of the Year: "I'm Like a Bird" by Nelly Furtado
Teq's American Pie Themed Song of the Year: "Be Like That" by 3 Doors Down
As mentioned previously, lots of really heavy hitters when it came to the R&B scene and there are really 4 songs that stand out to me when I look back as being songs that you largely remember all the words to 20 years later ...
Teq's R&B Songs of the Year (4-pack): "Crazy" by K-Ci & JoJo, "Mrs Jackson" by Outkast, "U Remind Me" by Usher, and "Ride Wit Me" by Nelly
Can't go through 2001 without the boy bands and the songs that are ones that you still don't want to admit that you know the words to:
Teq's Boy Band Songs of the Year: "This I Promise You" by N'Sync and "Crazy For This Girl" by Evan and Jaron
The best and worst part of aging is how there are songs that at the time that you absolutely hated at the time and then the older you get the more you find yourself liking a song and feel like kicking your own ass ...
Teq's I Want to Kick My Own Ass Song: "Drops of Jupiter" by Train
And finally, you can't get through 2001 without the influence of 9/11 and the renewed feeling of patriotism that was in place. There wasn't blue or red ... or right vs left ... it was Americans uniting to say a collective fuck you to terrorism. Anytime I look back on 2001, I think about if the events of 9/11 happened in America today what the response would be and I truly don't know what the answer is ...
The "America Fuck Yeah" Songs of the Year: "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood and "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)" by Alan Jackson
Where in the World Was Teq:
I graduated in June with two degrees (kiss my ass @backthepack) and was the definition of a dumbass when it came to getting a job. I did the best that I knew at the time but coming off of 9/11 the job market was dog shit and was rivals what we saw in the housing bubble bursting in 2008/2009 and what we're seeing now with COVID. Eventually all of that led to me taking the GMAT and finding my way to TCU. Lots of personal changes in life leading to me catching up on early 20 life of drinking too much, being a complete ass to certain people because I could, and walking a fine line between being responsible and irresponsible. I also remember the only UW game I went to that year we FUCKING LOST TO CAL and I thought that everything was fucking dog shit ... then we win the Northwest Championship and piss on the Cougs returning back to being an arrogant Doog. How I miss the days of being able to "purchase" full milk crates of broken broken beer for $5 or $10 ...
Teq's Musical Thoughts on 2002:
Eclectic is what I remember. Boy bands were largely gone but you were getting even more into the edgier version of the R&B and Rap world that you'd be hearing in the bar/club scene for the next 5 years. In hindsight definitely felt like the end of the dbag fake grunge music that Creed led was nearing. When I look back on the music, what's prevalent to me is how much of the music that you remember largely came from women. As a precursor to the future of talking about teen boy hips, what's most memorable about 2002 is those hips ...
Teq's Top Song of 2002: "Wherever, Whenever" by Shakira
Teq's Runner Up Song of 2002: "Sk8er Boi" by Avril Lavigne
Teq's Country Song of 2002: "Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo" by Tracy Byrd
If you claim to hate this song, it's a flat out lie ...
Teq's One Hit Wonder / Forgotten Artist of the Year: "A Thousand Miles" by Vanessa Carlton
Teq's American Pie Themed Song of the Year: "All My Life" by The Foo Fighters
I didn't know it really at the time, but the house party, bar, club scene was going to be a decent part of life for the next 5 years and the number of times I've heard this song is probably more than any of the other songs for the year ...
Teq's Clubbing Song of the Year: "Hot in Herre" by Nelly
2002 was really the first exposure I had to Techno music and instantly enjoyed it in the moment ... 2000 saw "Sandstorm" which always has been at the top of the list for me. But 2002 saw a strong showing that made it's way into every day radio at the time and is still a song that I won't turn the channel on when I hear it:
Teq's Techno/Dance Song of the Year: "Heaven" by DJ Sammy featuring Yanou and Do
Continuing down the best and worst part of aging are the songs that show up when dialing up Pop Rocks on Sirius XM when on the golf course and hearing the songs that is like a mixed drink ... one part wanting to kick your ass and two parts you've got the beat going through you while you turn the mind off and swing ...
Teq's Pop Rock On the Golf Course Songs of the Year: "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback and "Wherever You Will Go" by The Calling
And finally, if I really learned anything in 2002 it would have been that I needed to grab a guitar and invest in learning how to make panty dropping music as the world became introduced to ...
Teq's "Panty Dropper" Song of the Year: "No Such Thing" by John Mayer
I’m 1000x more likely to sing along to Sk8er Boi ... it’s truly a great song
But looking back at it, there’s a uniqueness to Shakira that is really hard to describe (besides her exquisite hips) that just had me coming back to that being the song for the year
Really amazed in hindsight how much strength there was during this time period for female music ... particularly coming off the 90s where there was some great talent but by and large it didn’t have the same appeal