Dissecting VH1's '100 Greatest Songs of the '00s'!

While this list isn’t totally suspect, I am left scratching my head at some of their choices. Below are the “Top-100” songs of the 00s, according to VH1: 

1. Beyoncé featuring Jay-Z, “Crazy in Love”
2. OutKast, “Hey Ya!”
3. Lady Gaga, “Poker Face”
4. Eminem, “Lose Yourself”
5. Kelly Clarkson, “Since U Been Gone”
6. Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx, “Gold Digger”
7. Justin Timberlake featuring Timbaland, “SexyBack”
8. Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys, “Empire State of Mind”
9. Mariah Carey, “We Belong Together”
10. 50 Cent, “In Da Club” 

Head Scratchers: Lady Gaga at #3 for “Poker Face”? I love the Gaga and her song, but me smells a rat. Something tells me the network just needed to find a way to get her in the top-10 and stuck her in the most comfortable spot…”Empire State of Mind” doesn’t belong in the top-10, not when neither “Rehab” nor “Crazy” is anywhere to be seen. 

Rightful place: They couldn’t have chosen a more perfect spot for Andre 3000’s ubiquitous hit. (The song was all Andre, despite the group credit.)…Timberlake belongs right where he is as well, “SexyBack” was that jam. 

I’d swap this place for that place: I love me some Beyonce, but “Crazy in Love” belongs at #3…”We Belong Together” should be ahead of both Clarkson and West…and my number one on this list would be “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley. 

11. Rihanna featuring Jay-Z, “Umbrella”
12. Black Eyed Peas, “I Gotta Feeling”
13. Green Day, “American Idiot”
14. Gnarls Barkley, “Crazy”
15. U2 , “Beautiful Day”
16. Beyoncé, “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”
17. Coldplay, “Clocks”
18. Christina Aguilera, “Beautiful”
19. Destiny’s Child, “Bootylicious”
20. Britney Spears, “Toxic” 

Head Scratchers: The Black Eyed Peas don’t belong in the top-20, especially ahead of songs like “Single Ladies” and “Beautiful”…I guess they needed to stick some indie-rock in here someplace, and so “American Idiot” out ranked “Crazy”, “Beautiful Day”, and the aforementioned ‘Ladies’, doesn’t make any sense. 

Rightful Place: I like the great “Umbrella” at #11 and “Toxic” is a nice top-20 bookend. 

I’d swap this place for that place: “American Idiot” wouldn’t make the top-20. ‘Ladies’ should be #12; “Crazy” is #1; and “I Gotta Feeling” doesn’t make the cut either…and where is Train’s “Drops of Jupiter”? 

21. Jay-Z, “99 Problems”
22. Alicia Keys, “Fallin’”
23. P!nk, “Get the Party Started”
24. Missy Elliott, “Get Ur Freak On”
25. Nelly, “Hot in Here”
26. The White Stripes, “Seven Nation Army”
27. Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris, “Yeah!”
28. Madonna, “Music”
29. Foo Fighters, “The Best of You”
30. Gwen Stefani, “Hollaback Girl” 

Head Scratchers: Maybe it’s just my prejudice, because I don’t like the song, but “99 Problems” is way too high on this list; the same can be said for The White Stripes (for a song I haven’t even heard of before) and The Foo Fighters (where is Hoobastank’s “The Reason” or Linkin Park’s “In The End”?)…surprised “Yeah” is so low on this list… 

Rightful Place: Gwen is sitting pretty at #30, appropriately so. 

I’d swap this place for that place: “Fallin” is probably suffering from an out-of-sight, out-of-mind bit of prejudice here, it belongs higher on this list…I’d replace “Get Ur Freak On” with “Work It” for Missy, and “99 Problems” with “I Just Wanna Love U” by Jay-Z. 

31. Amy Winehouse, “Rehab”
32. Maroon 5, “This Love”
33. Johnny Cash, “Hurt"
34. Janet Jackson, “All For You”
35. John Mayer, “Daughters”
36.*NSYNC, “Bye Bye Bye”
37. Britney Spears, “Oops!…I Did It Again”
38. Miley Cyrus, “Party in the U.S.A.”
39. Adele, “Chasing Pavements “
40. Fall Out Boy, “Sugar, We’re Going Down” 

Head Scratchers: It is downright shameful that “Rehab” is this far down on the list. It belongs in the top-10…Johnny Cash? Really? I love the Man in Black, but he shouldn’t even have made the top-100, let alone 40…Fall Out Boy? Where is Creed’s “My Sacrifice”? Limp Bizkit’s “My Way”? P.O.D’s “Youth of a Nation”? Staind’s “It’s Been Awhile”? None of these songs should be outranked by friggin’ Fall Out Boy anything…or for that matter, even “Chasing Pavements”, which is, mind you, one of my favorite songs… 

Rightful Place: Both Maroon 5 and John Mayer received a fair spot. 

I’d swap this place for that place: Obviously, “Rehab” makes a huge leap on my list…Johnny Cash, Adele, and Fall Out Boy are gone, replaced by the aforementioned songs above (in no particular order)… 

41. R. Kelly, “Trapped in the Closet”
42. Train, “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)”
43. Katy Perry, “I Kissed a Girl”
44. Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Californication”
45. Eve featuring Gwen Stefani, “Let Me Blow Ya Mind”
46. Kid Rock & Sheryl Crow, “Picture”
47. Christina, Lil’ Kim, Mya, Pink, “Lady Marmalade”
48. Kings of Leon, “Sex On Fire”
49. Lady Gaga, “Bad Romance”
50. Taylor Swift, “You Belong With Me” 

Head Scratchers: There is zero reason for Train to be this low on the list… 

Rightful Place: Generally, this list looks pretty good. I don’t see any alarming offenses here (outside of the one I just mentioned). 

I’d swap this place for that place: Having said that, I’d replace ‘Closet’ with “Step In The Name of Love” for R. Kelly, that was probably his seminal song in the 00s. Replace “Bad Romance” with “Poker Face” too. 

51. Natasha Bedingfield, “Pocketful of Sunshine”
52. Shakira feautring Wyclef, “Hips Don’t Lie”
53. Blink-182, “All the Small Things “
54. Norah Jones, “Don’t Know Why”
55. The Killers, “Mr. Brightside”
56. DMX, “Party Up (Up In Here)”
57. Mary J. Blige, “Family Affair”
58. Jason Mraz, “I’m Yours”
59. Justin Timberlake, “Cry Me a River”
60. Ke$ha, “Tik Tok” 

Head Scratchers: So The Killers outflank DMX and Mary J. Blige?! Give me a break! 

Rightful Place: I like Natasha where she is; the same with Jason, and Norah. 

I’d swap this place for that place: The Killers are banished. I love “Family Affair” but I can’t see it being here and not “Be Without You”… 

61. Kelis, “Milkshake”
62. Avril Lavigne, “Complicated”
63. Andrew W.K., “Party Hard”
64. Jennifer Lopez featuring Ja Rule, “I’m Real (Murder Remix)”
65. Aaliyah, “Try Again”
66. Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell, “Drop It Like It’s Hot”
67. Leona Lewis, “Bleeding Love”
68. Ludacris featuring Shawnna, “Stand Up”
69. Evanescence, “Bring Me to Life”
70. Chris Brown featuring Juelz Santana, “Run It!” 

Head Scratchers: Where do I start? To begin with, Kelis’ smash is too low on this list, as is Avril…Andrew what’s his face doesn’t belong here and neither does Chris Brown. How Ludacris finally shows up on the list and it isn’t “What’s Your Fantasy?” or “Southern Hospitality” is beyond me… 

Rightful Place: While it seems kind of low, I’ll give them “Drop It Like It’s Hot”… 

I’d swap this place for that place: I’d prefer to recognize “My Immortal” over “Bring Me to Life”…”Rock the Boat” over “Try Again”…and get rid of “Bleeding Love” altogether. 

71. Colbie Caillat, “Bubbly”
72. Jet, “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”
73. Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland, “Promiscuous”
74. Chamillionaire featuring Krayzie Bone, “Ridin’”
75. Gavin Degraw, “I Don’t Want to Be”
76. T.I. featuring Rihanna, “Live Your Life”
77. Nickleback, “How You Remind Me”
78. Plain White T’s, “Hey There Delilah”
79. Enrique Iglesias, “Hero”
80. Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz featuring Ying Yang Twins, “Get Low” 

Head Scratchers: Shocker! None to speak of… 

Rightful Place: “Ridin” belongs among this ten songs, as does Jet’s big hit (and one of my favorites). 

I’d swap this place for that place: Again, no revisions necessary. 

81. Bruce Springsteen, “The Rising”
82. Matchbox Twenty, “Unwell”
83. D’Angelo, “(Untitled) How Does It Feel”
84. Linkin Park, “In the End”
85. Macy Gray, “I Try”
86. Aerosmith, “Jaded”
87. The Darkness, “I Believe in a Thing Called Love”
88. Fountains of Wayne, “Stacy’s Mom”
89. M.I.A., “Paper Planes”
90. Mystikal, “Shake Ya Ass” 

Head Scratchers: I guess it wouldn’t be VH1 without them trying to force old, past-their-prime rockers down our throats. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of both Bruce and Aerosmith, but they don’t belong in the top-100…”Unwell” and “In the End” are criminally low on this list…The Darkness? I guess I’m in the dark, because I don’t know who the hell they are… 

Rightful Place: Macy Gray probably belongs higher, but that song hasn’t aged very well, so she’ll have to settle for #85. 

I’d swap this place for that place: “Shake Ya Ass” belongs in at least the top-70; Matchbox and Linkin belong way further up this list. 

91. Creed, “With Arms Wide Open”
92. Flo Rida featuring T-Pain, “Low”
93. Ok Go, “Here It Goes Again”
94. Daughtry, “It’s Not Over”
95. James Blunt, “You’re Beautiful”
96. Pussycat Dolls featuring Busta Rhymes, “Don’t Cha”
97. Shaggy, “It Wasn’t Me”
98.3 Doors Down, “Kryptonite”
99. Carrie Underwood, “Before He Cheats”
100. Sisqò, “Thong Song” 

Head Scratchers: Ok Go needed to make this list? 

Rightful Place: The only song that looks like it belongs this far down is “You’re Beautiful”… 

I’d swap this place for that place: …everything else needs to be shifted upward, especially 3 Doors Down. 

I realize they were probably trying to minimize repeat artists, but surely they could have made room for 50 & Lil Kim’s “Magic Stick”, Kanye’s “All Falls Down”, Alicia Keys’ “If I Ain’t Got You”, Madonna’s “Hung Up”, Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida”, and Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway”… 

The omissions… No “Blurry” by Puddle of Mud? “Only God Knows Why” by Kid Rock? “Dance with my Father” by Luther Vandross? “Contagious” by the Isley Brothers? “No Air” by Jordin Sparks? Where is Sean Paul? Ashanti? Ja Rule? Dido? Mind you, these are only the folks I can think of off the top of my head, I know there are many I’m forgetting. 

These lists are always polarizing though…and never perfect, so one must put them into context I suppose...debate on...