The 10 best rock songs of the last 25 years?

In January, an online music magazine called Loudwire published a list of what they think are the 25 best rock songs since the year 2000. A couple days ago, a different (competing?) online music magazine called Consequence (FKA Consequence of Sound) published a graphic on their Facebook page entitled 10 of the best rock songs of the last 25 years, according to Loudwire. I'm not going to link to that, because this was clearly posted as outrage/engagement bait and I don't want to reward them; and yeah, I'm falling for it, but mainly because I enjoy rock music and want an excuse to highlight some songs I would've picked instead. I don't know why Consequence picked these specific songs--the list isn't in any particular order and these 10 aren't, like, the highest-ranking ones. I'd almost suggest they picked songs that would make Loudwire look as bad as possible, but the full list features Nickleback and Limp Bizkit, and Disturbed's Down With The Sickness, so if anything Consequence is going easy on them.

Nevertheless, the list of 10 was the first thing I saw, and I thought of 10 songs that I would've picked instead. I'm going to give my thoughts about each song, first their list, then mine. Playlists will be provided for your listening convenience.

Loudwire's list

Here's a youtube playlist of all 10 tracks. I'm familiar with four of them, so those are the ones I'll discuss first, and the ones I put first in the playlist.

Creed - One Last Breath

I don't hate this song. It's as corny as all of Creed's music, and the verses are kind of whatever, but they found a good, satisfying melody for the chorus, and they wisely spend most of the song doing variations on the chorus. Not close to top 10 material, but if you were to ask me which Creed song I want to listen to, it would be this one.

Evanescence - Bring Me To Life

Amy Lee is a great singer, and this could've been a great song. The story, as I understand it, is that Evanescence's record label didn't think the song was strong enough on its own to be a radio hit (they were full of shit.) The label had also signed a rap rock group called 12 Stones, and they decided they could kill two birds with only one of them: engage in a little cynical cross-promotion, and """improve""" Evanescence's song with a guest appearance by white Christian rapper Paul McCoy. That the song was successful in spite of the corporate meddling is a testament to Amy Lee's skill. I wouldn't put this song in my top 10, but I understand why someone would.

Papa Roach - Last Resort

This is one of the best rock songs of the last 25 years... if it's the year 2000 and you're 15 years old. This list was presumably compiled by adults in the present day, and if I were them, I'd be very embarrassed. The lyrics are so blunt and artless and prosaic that it sounds exactly like the kind of poetry I wrote as a teenager. And look, I'm not beating up teenage-me for my bad poetry. I was going through some shit, and I was learning how to express myself, and that's an important process. But I'm not going to hold it up as the best poetry of the 21st century.

Linkin Park - In The End

I'm sorry, I know it's not polite to dislike Linkin Park because one of the artists died tragically young, but I didn't even like Linkin Park when they were contemporary, and I liked some of the other nu-metal/rap/rock of the era. I recognize now that it was all shit, but Linkin Park weren't even that. They sounded like they were trying to be shit's dorky little brother. The instrumentation and chorus are fine, but most of the song is soulless, monotonous white dude rapping.

💡 Note

Those were the four songs I was already familiar with. The remaining six songs are ones I listened to for the first time today.

Foo Fighters - The Pretender

If we were talking about the best rock songs of the 90s, Foo Fighters would be on my list. The Colour and the Shape is a great album, one of the best of the decade. After 1999's There Is Nothing Left To Lose, I stopped paying attention. None of the singles grabbed me and it sounded like they were out of ideas. Foo Fighters were well off my radar by 2007, especially after all the band's HIV denial stuff came out. All that said, this song is acceptable. It's not one of the 10 best rock songs of the millennium, and it doesn't have the spark that made Foo Fighter's earlier work great, but I don't mind it.

Greta van Fleet - Highway Tune

Oh my god, what is this Mötley Crüe Blues Explosion horseshit? This sounds like a fake song from a movie about an aging 80s hair metal band trying and failing to redefine themselves to maintain relevance into the 90s. It sounds like a Tim & Eric bit. Completely loathsome. It's unbelievable that this somehow came out in 2017, much less that it was unironically popular.

Halestorm - Love Bites (So Do I)

"I'm not like the other girls. All that nasty stuff you say about your girlfriend is right. She probably is crazy (but not in the kinky way that I'm crazy, LOL!) Don't listen to other women in your life, listen to me, the attractive younger woman playing Gen-X butt rock like what you grew up with. Just because you're pushing 50 doesn't mean you can't still rock out with your cock out! 🤪"

Hinder - Lips of an Angel

"This lady is so much hotter than my stupid wife. I wish I could cheat on my wife with her. All you Gen-X dads know what I'm talking about, right? I'm going to make my voice sound all cigarette-scratchy and bourbon-soaked, like a real tough guy, so you don't realize I'm saying some pathetic worm shit." You know that video about how every country song sounds the same? I feel like you could make a similar video about mainstream rock songs and this would be in it. I feel like I've heard this structure dozens of times, but rarely are the lyrics this vile. One of the worst songs I've ever heard.

Mammoth Wolfgang Van Halen - Distance

This song is a loving tribute to the artist's recently-deceased father. Nothing to complain about there. But I have to ask: if this was by some random guy whose father wasn't a celeb, would anyone have cared? It sounds like a million other modern rock songs from the last 20 years. It's not terrible, it's just boring. Mediocre song that got noticed thanks to nepotism and nostalgia bait.

Shinedown - Second Chance

I thought Shinedown was a Christian Rock band. Maybe they're stealth--when you Google "is Shinedown", the first three autocompletes are some variation of "a Christian Rock band", so I'm not alone in this assumption. This song does nothing to challenge my preconceptions. It sounds like a song about a guy who found Jesus and is running away from home to live on some kind of compound. Like, he can't even tell his parents goodbye himself? He has to cut and run? Sounds like cult shit to me. Well okay, it could be a coming out of the closet song. If he had to cut ties with his hateful family to live as his true self, then "sometimes goodbye is a second chance" is a sweet, hopeful sentiment, and I apologize for my prejudice. Their music just radiates "Christian rock" vibes and it's hard for me to shake that.

My list

So obviously, this isn't an objective "best" list, because that's not a thing in any kind of art, and music is the most subjective form of art there is. It's not even a personal top 10 favorites list, because my favorites are constantly evolving,¹ and a lot of my favorite rock music is instrumental or not in a language I understand. To be fair to the spirit of the original list, I'm going to stick with English-language rock songs that don't drift too far into the experimental. These are 10 of my favorites.

Click here to listen to the playlist.

Sonic Youth - Incinerate

There are a lot of Sonic Youth songs I could include. Nobody talked about them all that much after the 90s, but they made some great music in the 2000s. However, I'll try to limit it to one song per artist, and for the purpose of this list, I think this is the best fit. The drums and guitar melodies kick ass, it has a sick solo, and the lyrics are about fiery passionate love and/or explosive heartbreak, and what's more rock 'n roll that that?

Cake - Comfort Eagle

One of the best songs about American sickness. In 2001, the existence of a song that's explicitly anti-car completely blew my mind. Brutal assault on the shallowness of American values, and an early forecast of our 21st century dystopia.

Frank Turner - Photosynthesis

I'll grant you, it's corny--it's definitionally impossible for a song about getting older to be cool--but if you're going to write a song about getting older, in my opinion, this is the right way to do it. It's not bitter or nostalgic. It's sincere about holding on to joy. It's about how it's okay not to age in the ways that are expected of us. It's also super catchy, and the folk-punk flavor makes it unique.

Los Campesinos! - You! Me! Dancing!

Beautiful minimal intro builds to a joyful crescendo. Non-traditional instruments gives the song interesting layers without changing its essential rock music nature. Vocals are quirky but passionate. A cacophonous joy. There should be more dancing.

Melt Yourself Down - We Are Enough

We're constantly being told we're not enough. By family, by work, by the ads that make us hate ourselves so we buy their shit. Well, fuck that, let's make some noise.

Scout Niblett - Drummer Boy

This song takes you on a journey. It starts off noodly and unsure of itself, with loose, ethereal guitar melodies that don't resolve into much. Then BAM. It grabs you by the throat with loud, triumphant chords and forceful howling about saying "fuck you" to the naysayers and going off on adventures and conquering your fears and doing the impossible. An essential contribution to the genre.

The Mountain Goats - This Year

A bunch of this band's songs would fit on this list, but to me this the quintessential Mountain Goats song. Catchy, meaningful, poetic. Good song to dance to or cry to. The official anthem of the beginning of every new year.

Rose Kemp - Violence

This song zig-zags between beautiful vocal melodies and shocking walls of noise. Equal parts mournful and savage. A song about violence.

Broken Social Scene - Sentimental X's

It's like a warm blanket. The lyrics are a little meaningless, but that's okay. This song is comfort and safety and joy.

The Beths - Knees Deep

One of the best pop rock songs ever? I wish I knew enough about music theory to describe why this song is so good. The vocals and guitar melodies are so good together. The tension built up in the verse and the release in the chorus is fantastic. The guitar solo slots in perfectly. It sounds like a brand new sound and a comfortable familiar favorite. The lyrics are eminently relatable - who among us doesn't have that friend who jumps feet-first into the deep end of life while they cautiously wade in up to their knees? I want to be someone who can take risks and dive in and experience the richness of life without fear. Songs like this are why rock music was invented.