I got my first CD when I was 10 years old, the year was 2000. It's approaching the end of the decade and my music collection is mostly within this time frame, so I've decided to share my favourite ten songs that have come from this decade. To those who say all new music sucks, fuck you. I've picked these songs based on their musical presence, basically, musical composition, lyricism, instrumentation and delivery all factor into the totality of what I categorise as a "great" song.

10.
Band: Fourth Floor Collapse
Song: Drink Till You Drown
Album: Books With Broken Spines
Year: 2006

The chorus is catchy, the music is slow and dreamy, the lyrics are sung with much emotion, and it swells and grows into a beautiful, sad song.

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9.
Band: The Killers
Song: Sam's Town
Album: Sam's Town
Year: 2006

The instrumentation is bold and over the top, glamorous at some times, and quite raw at others. The song evolves in an interesting way, with various points of the song changing and pulling towards unexpected directions. The tempo change at the end brings the song together in a very "stage musical" kind of way, and it is a really wholesome, wonderfully playful song.

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8.
Band: Muse
Song: Butterflies & Hurricanes
Album: Absolution
Year: 2003

This song is very powerful and climactic. The lyrics are quite boisterous, but are sung with a raw energy that is devestatingly brilliant. The music, itself, is much the same, fast, energetic, powerful stuff. Then there's the piano solo, which is mind-blowing, very chaotic, yet somehow, blissfully articulate, the song ties together in a wonderful duality, an explosion of energy and chaos.

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7.
Band: Eskimo Joe
Song: From The Sea
Album: A Song Is A City
Year: 2004

The piano riff is delightfully simple and plugs along at a humble pace. The vocals and the other instrumentations pick the song up, in what is a delightful display of melodies interacting with eachother exactly as they should. The song's not complicated, but it grows into a real soulful, real lovely piece of music.

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6.
Band: Incubus
Song: Sick Sad Little World
Album: A Crow Left Of The Murder
Year: 2004

The instrumentation is loud and agressive, the rhythms, awkward. The vocals are sung with a great aggression, whilst still holding melody well. The instrumentation evolves, developing wonderfully throughout the song, although the base of the song is consistent throughout. It's a beautifully sick sad little song.

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5.
Band: Cog
Song: Bird Of Feather
Album: Sharing Space
Year: 2008

The chorus is so damn catchy. The music draws you in, the vocals are passionate and anthemic. I love this song, it's a great rock song to sing along to, it's very empowering, and it's simply just completely and utterly brilliant.

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4.
Band: Bliss N Eso
Song: Sea Is Rising
Album: Flying Colours
Year: 2008

This is how I think Hip Hop is supposed to be done. The lyrics are politically driven and uplifting. The string motif is catchy, and the chorus is a stroke of genius.The rhymes are cleaver, and well executed. I wish there were more music in the world like this.

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3.
Band: The Living End
Song: Loaded Gun
Album: White Noise
Year: 2008

These guys are brilliant musicians, the music is catchy, the song is fast paced, and from a compositional point of view, quite intricate. The lyrics are powerful, the "story" is well executed and the meaning hits hard. This song is brilliance well above and beyond expectations.

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2.
Band: Augie March
Song: This Train Will Be Taking No Passengers
Album: Strange Bird
Year: 2002

Well, the lyrics are a masterpiece in any day and age, Glenn Richards is a real wordsmith. The song is fast paced, moody, a steady driving rhythm of a train descending into madness. The instrumental arrangements are amazing, the use of brass amongst the rolling drumline and steady guitar, the clustered and chaotic piano, this song blows me away. Every time. The passion of the lyrics, the wailing cry of "traaaaaaaaaain" gets me every time. The backing vocals and the increasingly intensifying lead vocals build this song into a most intense brilliance, a cataclysmic wall of sound that leaves me gobsmacked time after time after time after time.

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1.
Band: Placebo
Song: Special Needs
Album: Sleeping With Ghosts
Year: 2003

This song. When the piano kicks and and the song flowers into life, I get chills running down my spine. The vocals are raw and passionate. The instruments coming together bring about a hauntingly beautiful sensation, the impression of the surreal. It's not a complicated song, but it's one of sheer beauty. It's a song with it's fair share of flaws and blemishes, but what I love about it is that it's as if the song is saying "yes, I'm not perfect, but so what?". The song is not afraid to be who it is, it's not afraid to show its emotions and show its flaws, and that, to me, is beautiful. This song is awe inspiring, a real touching, genuine song.

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