101. The Sky's the Ground, the Bombs Are Plants, and We're the Sun, Love - Storm & Stress
Some 2000 Ian Williams' highlights include appearing in High Fidelity, releasing American Don and almost dying on the way to what would have been Williams' last Don Caballero show. On top of all that, Williams, along with long-time Don Cab bassist Eric Emm, released Under the Thunder and Fluorescent Lights, a highly experimental project influenced by Sturm Und Drang and free jazz. While not the crowd-pleaser that American Don is, Storm & Stress laid the groundwork for what would eventually become the band Battles, including the blueprints of Williams’ innovative guitar tapping skills.
100. Dinosaur Act - Low
Low more like slow amirite? Well, here’s a slowcore song about dinosaurs.
WWF Aggression is a compilation of wrestling theme songs with rap and hip hop artists placed on top of tracks. Think the Judgment Night soundtrack except a lot less hardcore. This list wouldn’t be very 2000 without a Stone Cold Steve Austin reference, so here’s Stone Cold Steve Austin’s glass-shattering theme featuring rap bars by Snoop Dogg & WC. While it's no surprise to see Snoop Dogg pop-up on a wrestler’s theme, the WC feature makes this remix hit a bit harder. It's no Disturbed “Glass Shatters'', but it will still make you want to Stone Cold Stunner your non-social distancing neighbors at their quarantine BBQ.
Bonus ramble: Every time I revisit this album I get excited to see a Gangrel theme remix featuring C-Murder (also of Wolfpac theme fame) only to remember that the Gangrel track is not the much cooler Fangin' and Bangin' version that the Vampire Warrior himself uses on the indies.
98. Shadows - Nasum
Melody and grind combine just as man combines with machine to form Human 2.0. Yeah, something like that. Welcome to 2000.
97. Everything Means Nothing to Me - Elliott Smith
Figure 8 feels like bubblegum pop ready to be loaded into the barrel of a feel-good-metaphorical gun. Pressing play equals a shot straight through your head, ear-to-ear. That being said, underneath the emotionless Beatles-fodder that is Elliott Smith's final album (before his death in 2003) is a serious cry for help.
96. Ruining the Show - Kickback ft. Profecy
Don't let this hardcore punk meets French rap ripper fool you, this is not nu metal, nor is it for the weak.
95. Ms. Jackson - OutKast
You won't find a lot of songs featured on MTV's Total Request Live on this list, but in the abundance of boy band, girl band, soft rock and pop rap that littered the airwaves in 2000 - Ms. Jackson by OutKast still holds up to this day. Hell, even the "I am four eels" memes hold up.
94. Fucking Racist Maggots - A Global Threat
New England punx directing their aggression to what truly matters, saying fuck you to racist maggots. Nuff said.
93. Nailwork - Night in Gales
German death metal meets the new millennium with Night in Gales’ final release on Nuclear Blast. Could this be radio death metal? It sure sounds better than “melodic” death metal. “Nailwork” never gained much traction between the casual radio crowd or “true” metal fans. Regardless, it’s a valuable track to revisit, especially when genre-mashing is far from taboo these days.
92. I Won't Back Down - Johnny Cash
While Johnny Cash's rendition of "I Won't Back Down" from his American Recordings series doesn’t pull on the heart strings quite like "Hurt" two years later, it's transparent that the man in black's popularity and health was on the decline. Due to Cash’s poor health, reworks of hit songs had to suffice to honor his locked-in contract with Rick Rubin. At first, Cash’s Tom Petty cover felt a bit on-the-nose as a symbol for a cowboy refusing to let go of his spurs. However, with both Johnny Cash and Tom Petty gone now, there’s something triumphantly sad about this cover.
91. He’s Simple, He’s Dumb, He’s the Pilot - Grandaddy
Wreaking of David Bowie and Radiohead comparisons, Grandaddy manage to make a 9-minute indie rock opera bearable.
Spoiler alert: this is the closest thing to Radiohead that's on this list. So for any of you R-heads holding out for Yorke and the Idioteque gang you can stop reading now and go listen to Kid A on your own time.
90. Sand (Eric’s Trip) - The Microphones
The Microphones cover of “Sand” by Eric’s Trip in no way evokes the life-altering experience that the Glow Pt. 2 would a year later. “Sand” is merely a little lo-fi song that flows in and out of existence. Still, this little cover-that-could is a nice reminder that the Microphones aren’t all blast beats and foghorns. Not that those things don’t totally rule, of course.
89. Taste - Coaltar of the Deepers
Coaltar of the Deepers also released their own 9-minute epic in 2000. Japanese indie rockers' meditative-form echoes that of the Smiths or the Sundays without incessantly being labeled the Japanese version of either band. Despite the runtime, "Taste" breezes by even with its beautiful 2 minute piano epilogue.
88. Motion Sickness - Bright Eyes
While Bright Eyes has recently returned to relevance for reasons I won’t go into here, Bright Eyes’ Fevers and Mirrors does not warrant a 20-year revisit. Not all Bright Eyes material from 2000 has rotted with age, though. Take for instance “Motion Sickness” from a 7” with “Soon You Will Be Leaving Your Man”. While the latter song feels like the slimy emo prominent on Fevers and Mirrors, “Motion Sickness” is a stripped-back track that manages to not offend the eardrums while still being very Bright Eyes in nature.
87. Prayer - Neurosis
“Prayer” resides at the crossroads between Times of Grace (1999) and A Sun That Never Sets (2001). Figuratively and literally. Starting with an chilling guitar pattern reminiscent of Times of Grace, “Prayer” takes a side-trip to an ice-cold opening monologue before turning into a cavalcade of tribal-drum chaos - the same kind of tribal-drum chaos that is explored further in A Sun That Never Sets.
86. Knife Fight - Society's Finest
In a classic case of don't judge a book by its cover, "Knife Fight" by Society's Finest is neither an indie rock band, as the cover might suggest, nor a youth crew hardcore band, as the band name might suggest. Instead, Society's Finest is a christian metalcore band, which might explain their non-graphic album artwork (not that blood and guts are really needed to inform the listener your band is metalcore). “Knife Fight” is also one of those rare cases where the scream vocals and clean singing actually mix well together. So yeah, don’t judge this song by the cover, by the band name, by the religious undertones, or (most importantly) by the dual vocals.
85. One Summer Last Fall - Jets to Brazil
Four Cornered Night might pale in comparison to Jets to Brazil's 1998 must-listen, Orange Rhyming Dictionary (which is also a name of a song on Four Cornered Night), there's still choice tracks on the album begging to be discovered. Try "One Summer Last Fall" for instance, which includes keyboard and guitar work wittier than the song's title. While I wouldn't immediately recommend this song to anyone looking for something along the lines of Jawbreaker (Blake Schwarzenbach's earlier band), Four Cornered Night still offers something that's not quite college radio rock, not quite power pop and not quite emo.
84. Fluorescent Lights - Carissa's Wierd
In 2000, Ugly But Honest was released featuring music recorded between 1996 and 1999 using whatever resources Carissa's Wierd could get their hands on. It’s ugly but honest. It's also quite beautiful and honest. Using minimal instrumentation and spoken, almost whispered vocals, Carissa’s Wierd fit right in at the the 2000's post rock and indie rock table. CW members would eventually gain mainstream success blending the two styles into the refined sound of Band of Horses. Spiritually however, “Fluorescent Lights” feels more like guitarist/vocalist Mat Brooke’s later project, Grand Archives.
83. Sever - Karate
Oh, the smooth and silky jazz rock that is Karate. Karate goes down like a glass of rich chocolate. Karate was so rich and addictive, in fact, that they've been banished from major streaming sites to keep people from consuming too much and throwing up all over their MacBook Pros. That's one theory, at least.
82. Say it In Slugs - Entombed
After introducing their new self-labeled Death ‘n’ Roll sound in the late 90's, it looked like the Entombed career path would eventually lead to watered-down garage rock. Entombed’s 2000 release Uprising along with the track “Say it In Slugs” proved the world wrong. Rather than going full commercial rock, “Say it In Slugs” brings the heaviness. Entombed go back to their Swedish death metal roots, dig them up and drag the roots through the mud to create a new death-induced sludgefest, throwing away everything that was wrong with their 1998 release, Same Difference. Entombed proved that they were heavy without returning to Wolverine Blues which, at this point, would have felt just as stale. Give it a few years though and their early death metal style would root itself once again in both the metal and hardcore community tenfold.
81. The Platform - Dilated Peoples
Dilated Peoples’ debut mainstream album, The Platform is still a banger amongst the radio rap and hip-hop of the day. While “Work the Angles” (originally released as a single in 1998) is the clear stand-out on the album, the eponymous track is not to be slept on. "The Platform" features infectious turntable scratching familiarly heard on “Work the Angles” and serves as a perfect introduction for the rest of the album.
