Haha no probs, I just enjoy writing it :P Thanks for reading & enjoying it all the same!

 

8: YOLANDA BE COOL VS DCUP - WE NO SPEAK AMERICANO

 

Peak: #1 (July 2010)

 

 

...and if 'Louder' was the sound of summer 2011, this was undoubtably the sound of the previous year's season.

 

It's such a simple, almost minimalist song, both in its length (2:10 for the UK radio edit, one of the shortest songs on my iTunes - especially post-1980) and in its composition. Sample an old 50s Italian song, hit a couple of synth notes, and that's that - job done. And sell over 600,000 copies in the UK in the process!

 

Indeed it's so catchy it needs not even bother with anything more, it's accomplished everything it wants to do in that short space of time, and its popularity was evident to me when it outlasted the summer and remained humongously popular with my friends (and clubs) right through the rest of 2010. I even ended up learning a Macarena-esque dance routine to it, which apparently originated in Kavos! Following a few iffy years for dance music as it struggled to remain commercially popular during the indie years, this was my favourite example of the genre in years - and more were to come.

7: DAVID GUETTA FEAT USHER - WITHOUT YOU

 

Peak: #6 (November 2011)

 

 

Another perhaps surprising choice, but Mr Guetta deserved at least another entry in the top 10. When the likes of 'When Love Takes Over' and especially 'Sexy Chick' were released in 2009, who'd have guessed that the DJ's distinctive sound was about to dominate the entire chart into the new decade?

 

Most of his songs are about getting down to the club on the dancefloor tonight with a sexy chick/little bad girl and putting your hands in the air, which isn't much different from the norm. Indeed on paper this one seems pretty standard, Usher sings some stuff involving the title while Guetta presses his usual three buttons on the keyboard. So what on earth makes this one rise above the rest?

 

There's just something special about this one. Something otherworldly. The beginning, like 'Titanium' isn't your usual stomper, instead it's poignant, almost emotional. Usher doesn't blast out the opening verse, he almost whispers the words, creating a tender feeling between ear and song even in a packed club in the middle of the night. And then we just build up, up and up until everything explodes in the chorus. It's the perfect mixture of heartwarming beauty in the verses, and then all-guns-blazing euphoria in the choruses.

 

What perhaps helps its entry at number 7 here is because I've got a wonderful memory involving this song, in a club a few months ago with a group of thoroughly awesome friends. The memory itself isn't important, but it means, for me, whenever I hear 'Without You', rather than just the beauty of the song itself, it's got a story attached. The mysterious being that Usher sings about - a lover, friend, family, whatever - has a physical representation for me, but the lyrics are vague enough that they could mean something for just about anyone. And that ending, when the beat drops out and it goes all emotional again, is simply magical.

6: SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA VS TINIE TEMPAH - MIAMI 2 IBIZA

 

Peak: #4 (October 2010)

 

 

I spent a lot of 2010 thinking Tinie Tempah was somewhat overrated. Sure, the likes of 'Pass Out' and 'Frisky' were ok, but was this really all the biggest new act in the country was capable of? 'Written In The Stars' I thought was an improvement and his best thing up to that point...but then, a couple of months later came this.

 

You've got a silly but pretty awesome verse gimmick of rhyming every line with an abbreviation (QVC, mp3, JVC etc) and then the buildup reaches that "Everybody get into your positions" moment and you're properly hooked. "Take 1...ACTION!" zooms you into a chorus where you're immersed in the SHM's power. All the tricks they use - Tinie's pitch-shifting vocals, increasingly absurd lines/rhymes etc work like a charm, and then to finish we're back to the raw intensity of the main instrumental. I'd be very surprised if this doesn't turn out to be the best thing Tinie's ever been part of - and although it's a shame the SHM were taken from us too soon, wow did they release some brilliant stuff in their two years of being around.

5: BAD MEETS EVIL FEAT. BRUNO MARS - LIGHTERS

 

Peak: #10 (October 2011)

 

 

Imagine the most unlikely collaborations you can think of. Like, I dunno, Rhydian Roberts feat Dizzee Rascal. One Direction feat Azealia Banks. Elton John feat Madonna. Eminem feat Bruno Mars...wait, what?

 

Ok, technically it's Eminem & the weirdly named 'Royce da 5'9" ' who make up Bad Meets Evil, but Slim & Bruno are undisputedly the two stars as far as a British audience is concerned. This for me is one of the most unexpected, most surprising and most beautiful tracks of the decade so far. The magic simply lies in the juxtaposition - Eminem shouting out his usual stuff, but instead of your usual boom-boom-tish hip-hop beat, we've got what sounds like a soundtrack from a 1990s adventure PC game. Or something Erasure would make. And then over that, some lovely piano work from Mr Mars.

 

It hung around the edge of the charts all summer before, as we entered autumn, it finally reached its #10 peak. Which makes sense as it's a very autumnal number 1...instead of your upbeat, sun-drenched PARTY CUS IT'S SUMMER sound, it's a more melancholic, falling-leaves year's-coming-to-an-end type of song. Royce carries on the rap/synth ballad fusion, before we return to Bruno at the end for the hands-in-the-air, sing-along finale. Less of a song, more a journey into a magical forest and back, and although #10 was a good position this should have been way higher. Underrated and quite, quite brilliant.

Just a quick shoutout first to a song that I've just rediscovered, and perhaps should have been in this top 25 - 'Missing You' by The Saturdays, a song that perhaps would be more loved and well-known had it been done by a band more credible. But oh well. Maybe I'll re-evaluate it in two and a half years time :P Here's my official number 4:

 

4. TRAVIE MCCOY FEAT BRUNO MARS - BILLIONAIRE

 

Peak: #3 (August 2010)

 

 

Alright, alright! I've already said it, see number 11's writeup - Bruno, like him or loathe him, has released some damn good songs this decade, ok? At least in my opinion. And along with 'We No Speak Americano' at #8, this was another defining sound of summer 2010 for me.

 

We are only in the third summer where this song has been around for, and ever since it was released I can't imagine one without it anymore. It is a glorious, tropical island-cold-drink-sun-shining experience of a three minutes whenever I play it, to the point where despite it being half eleven at night as I type, I feel it's shining as I listen.

 

It's a rare instance of a song where I prefer the censored version to the original too - for such a innocent, happy-sounding song all ages would love, why Bruno has to immediately fit the F word into the first line of the song is anyone's guess. The 'frickin' replacement in the radio edit fits much better to the whole mood of it. But whatever version you have, you can't listen to it without being swept away to a wonderful place. I'm listening to it again already - a delight of a song which will never fail to take me back to lovely 2010 times. Even if one of my memories is half-dazedly singing it while absolutely drunk out of my skull at 3am in the middle of Sidcup, but, erm, ahem. :hic: Fantastic on every level!

There's FAR too much Bruno Mars going on here for my liking! :D

 

Just a quick word to say keep going with this- I know many don't comment in this part of the forum but I assure you they are being read!

 

Thanks for the compliment as well in your opening post- much appreciated!

LOL I know, I'm somewhat embarrassed at Bruno's dominance here too :P No worry as we have a non-Bruno top 3 now! Thanks for reading :D

 

3. LADY GAGA - THE EDGE OF GLORY

 

Peak: #6 (May 2011)

 

 

For a couple of months in early 2011, it genuinely seemed like one of the biggest stars on the planet had lost their spark barely after it had began.

 

Lady Gaga was undoubtably the breakout popstar of 2009, and set the ball rolling for the indie that had dominated the noughties to shift into the upbeat urban dance-pop that's ruled ever since. The likes of 'Just Dance', 'Poker Face' and 'Bad Romance' became classics the moment they were released. Hype was huge as we awaited the debut single from her second album, and then, in March 2011, there it was - 'Born This Way'.

 

:nocheer:

 

It was perfectly pleasant, but you couldn't escape the feeling that it was a bit of a disappointment...having sounded so new and different a couple of years earlier, to release something that was basically a retread of a late 80s Madonna song seemed like a backward step. Shock all round as it wasn't the massive number 1 people had almost given it in advance, instead stalling at number 3, although selling a fairly big amount all the same. So they went on the overdrive, rush-releasing a ton of new singles to try and get that elusive #1. 'Judas'? Nah, Bad Romance rip-off. 'Hair'? I can't even remember how that one goes. No, it seemed that the magic just wasn't there this time, and surely this 'Edge of Glory' track will continue the disap...wait, WOAH.

 

The fourth song from the album comes out of nowhere to become my favourite Gaga song ever. An otherworldly, magical, punch-the-air stomping anthem of a song that transcends the dancefloor and ascends into the clouds. Everything about it is scarily, meticulously perfect - the opening build, the breathtaking chorus with the "the edge, the edge, the edge, THE EDGE!" hookline. It's totally and utterly enveloped you by the time the second verse starts, and even if that was it then the song would still make this top 25.

 

...and then comes, out of nowhere, a saxophone solo. An 80s-influenced saxophone in a 2011 song!! It's the icing on the cake, the cherry on top, and the song ends up so good that Miss Gaga could retire now and it wouldn't matter, she's already created a masterpiece, and the public agreed - don't be fooled by the number 6 peak as it continued to hang around the top 40 until December. Such is its power, and god knows what she's got in store next...

Eep, soz about the long gap, V Festival and life stuff got in the way. So almost there though, here's number 2:

 

2. PLAN B - STAY TOO LONG

 

Peak: #9 (January 2010)

 

 

Absolutely *just* fitting in by the skin of its teeth, this was released just eight days into the new decade. I first heard it, of all places, in a McDonalds in Charing Cross.

 

It lulls you in at first by thinking, right, we've got a pleasant upbeat 60s-motown influenced song, which is nice enough and works as a song as its own right. Then comes the first jolt about a minute when out of nowhere it becomes a rap track...and, no, it's not some other guy, it's the dual talents of Plan, aka Strickland Banks, aka Ben Drew. I've got used to it since with Example and others doing the same, but at the time I couldn't think of many other songs where the same guy does the singing and rapping. So the first two minutes forty are pretty cool for that reason.

 

But it's the final minute of the song that elevates this right up to being my second favourite song of the decade. The rapping returns. And then gets louder. And louder. And louder until you're absolutely lost in the track as he SCREAMS out the words, guitar squealing everywhere and samples zooming around your eardrums. It's one of the greatest musical minutes I've ever heard in any song, let alone this decade, and definitely one of my favourite endings to any song too. As an introduction to Plan B (which for many like me, not aware of his older recordings, it was) it can't be any more perfect. To listen to the start and end of this sounds like two completely different songs by two different people.

 

And yet despite all this it spent one week at number 9 and then slipped out the top 40 after a month, spending at least a few more in the top 75. His biggest hit would be 'She Said', which takes the same idea but waters it down into something Radio 2 would happily play - and, crucially, loses the exciting ending. I like the rest of the 'Defamation of Strickland Banks' album but there's nothing that comes close to the magic achieved with Stay Too Long, the perfect crossover fusion.

 

Oh, and I saw this performed live at V Festival a couple of years ago and it doesn't quite work as well live, as to save his voice he doesn't quite hit the decibel level achieved in the recording and just mildly shouts the lines instead of screaming them. Still brill though!

Excited to see who has won. :D

 

Surprised to see Without You above Titanium, but I love Without You anyway so I don't really care! :wub:

Edited August 21, 201212 yr by Griff

I much prefer Plan B when he had some meat on him- he's too thin now- bad times. Anyway "Stay Too Long" acknowledged great song!

Ok, we're almost there! Here's a recap of numbers 25 to 2:

 

25. Martin Solveig & Dragonette - Hello

24. Lloyd feat Andre 3000 & Lil Wayne - Dedication To My Ex (Miss That)

23. Jessie J feat B.o.B - Price Tag

22. Example - Kickstars

21. Christina Perri - Jar of Hearts

20. Major Lazer - Pon De Floor

19. Timbaland feat Katy Perry - If We Ever Meet Again

18. The Vaccines - If You Wanna

17. Laidback Luke & Steve Aoki feat Lil Jon - Turbulence

16. Swedish House Mafia - One

15. Rizzle Kicks - Mama Do The Hump

14. Labrinth - Let The sun Shine

13. Kylie Minogue - All The Lovers

12. Leona Lewis - Collide

11. B.o.B feat Bruno Mars - Nothin' On You

10. David Guetta feat Sia - Titanium

8. Yolanda Be Cool Vs D-Cup - We No Speak Americano

7. David Guetta feat Usher - Without You

6. Swedish House Mafia vs Tinie Tempah - Miami 2 Ibiza

5. Bad Meets Evil feat Bruno Mars - Lighters

4. Travie McCoy & Bruno Mars - Billionaire

3. Lady Gaga - The Edge of Glory

2. Plan B - Stay Too Long

 

As I write the winner, here's a few clues to tide you over:

 

* It was a number 1 hit.

* The act originates from New York.

* It's four minutes and ten seconds long.

 

Guessed? Here comes my 2010s #1!

1. FUN. FEAT JANELLE MONAE - WE ARE YOUNG

 

Peak: #1 (June 2012)

 

 

Hundreds of songs make the top 40 every year. A couple dozen or so hit the top spot. Some are there for a week before sinking back out the chart and being forgotten instantly, the fabled 'non number 1' as seen in great depth elsewhere on the forum. Others are destined to be remembered far, far longer than their stay in the charts, remaining in public conciousness for years and - dare I say it - defining a generation. 'We Are Young' - I hope - will join that small but powerful latter list.

 

It's a song I like more than just the here and now. It's that rare example of one I can see lasting with me for a long time, never losing its initial power. A song more than just something it's fun to dance to, instead one that you can almost imagine the end credits rolling of a film of your life, a slow-motion montage of your greatest moments. Everything in the previous few songs that I love - the emotional journey, the euphoria, one that works in both a party atmosphere and listening at home, and when it's finished all you can do is start the thing again.

 

It stands completely head and shoulders above anything released in the last couple of years...indeed, the last song I can say I loved as much as this was probably around about 2008, when the likes of 'Human' by The Killers and 'Time to Pretend' by MGMT were around. It, simply, has everything that I love about music rolled into four minutes and ten seconds of musical awesomity. It's going to take a monumental seven-and-a-half years to get a list of songs good enough to join the palace that We Are Young occupies.

 

Indeed, why write all that when I can sum it up in just one word? We Are Young = Perfection. That is all.

...and there we go! Thanks for reading everyone :D Obviously everyone has their own individual music tastes but there's but a glimpse of mine, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the next quarter holds.

 

Indeed, should I remember, see you in January 2015 when we revisit the 25 and see what songs of the next two and a half years have made it into the list!