Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

As the millennium dawned Guy Chambers and Robbie Williams were reaching the pinnacle of their dominance. They'd have a few years of highs before the slide began but Rock DJ was the high watermark. As effective a pop record as any of the last ten years, sounds dated in retrospect but at the time it was unstoppable and it's dominance unparalleled.

While American Idiot maybe the most overrated album of the decade, it's hard to say a single bad word about the singles it spawned. Jesus Of Suburbia was the albums weakest single, but it nevertheless became Green Day's magnum opus, and of all the great singles, this track remains Green Days official anthem.

Razorlight's second album was a paradox, it both marked the peak of their success and the beginning of their rapid decline. In The Morning was a rare bright moment, a glimmering first single that gave us all hope that their second album would be unpretentious and infectious. We soon found out their ambition would outstrip their talents but when In The Morning hit the stores, the world was truly at Razorlight's feet.

It's funny how times change, in 2000 music fans were begging Radiohead to pick the guitars back up and rock out, and by 2007 Bodysnatchers was considered rather passe compared to the ethereal Nude. Yet while Bodysnatchers may have been conventional, it was the most visceral track Radiohead had released in years, it's had a real aggressive sneer. Bodysnatchers was paired with the beautiful and brilliant House Of Cards fragile, tender and gorgeous. House Of Cards also featured the first ever video to be shot completely with lidar technology.

On the back of a monstrous bass pedal and handclap laden beat, Lumidee's soft yet sharp tones went to work with hypnotizing effect. Busta Rhymes & Fabulous gave her the big name credibility and she rode that rub to one hit wonder status. The simple hook Uh Oooh was too mind numbingly simple to be resisted. Remarkably Never Leave... still sounds fresh to this day.

Run This Town may have been the weakest single to come from The Blueprint Part III but it was nevertheless a sure fire hit. Jay and Ye's raps weren't exactly the most exciting but Rihanna provided another trademark irresistible hook, and the track soared to the top of the charts.

With a little remix a rather flaccid pop track turned into a cheesey club banger. Okay so it was still rather uninteresting but it won the public over with the help of an eye catching video. Pixie may not be anything particularly specially but she is managing to stand out from the current pop crowd with some surprisingly well judged singles.

While Tatu will undoubtably remembered as one hit wonders, to be fair to these lip gloss Lesbians did actually muster a second hit, and it was pretty huge for a little while. Not Gonna Get Us was a precursor for a wave of Euro-dance that was preparing to sweep the UK & US in the late 2000s, except perhaps surprisingly, Not Gonna Get Us was better than your standard Basshunter effort.

What is the most low brow, morose, incredulous, sexist, backward, unsophisticated genre on earth? Of course the answer is Crunk, and I'm sure even Lil'Jon knows it, but honestly...who cares when it sounds this good? You have to switch your brain off and just dance. Get Low is as sure fire a club banger as you will ever hear.

The 2000s would end up being Kylie's toughest decade, but also her most successful as a recording artist. While Cancer may have robbed Kylie of a headline slot a glastonbury it couldn't stop her from another decade of chart dominance. I Believe In You may not have been her best pure single, but it's arguably the finest track she's ever released.

The Modern Leper may not have been an officially released single but it quickly became Frighten Rabbit's signature track and fans anthem. A brutally piece of open hearted indie. Direct and emotional fraught, The Modern Leper is a powerhouse as bigger and bolder than any Editors or Snow Partrol track, it seems tragic that Frighten Rabbit have never really broken into the mainstream.

Amy Macdonald is a curious creature, she targets the same audience as Newton Faulkner, James Blunt & KT Tunstall, yet she's effortlessly better. There's still something lame about her music, but her gritty Scottish growl and punchy urban tales help her to stand out from the crowd. This Is The Life was her breakout single, which bizarrely turned her into the biggest star in Holland, funny how life goes sometimes.

Following the Beta Band Steve Mason dropped straight back into his King Biscuit Time persona and immediately dropped an anti war quasi rap ragga electro jam. It was a real thrill at the time, the album would end up dissapointing but in CI AM 15 Steve Mason delivered his most direct single to date.

Will.I.am maybe the world's worst producer but not even his idiocy could stop the Dolls from laying down another irresistible track. Beep was a spunky little track, it saw the Dolls slamming men who stared at their breasts and arse treating them like meat (while dancing provocatively in skimpy outifts!?!). It was cheeky and surprisingly smart (to a degree) one of the few truly memorably tracks from a rather bland US popscene.

Good Charlotte rarely get things right but they sure nailed it with this simple hook and an eternal truism "Girls Don't Like Boys, Girls Like Cars And Money, And Boy's Will Laugh At Girls When Their Not Funny". Now we may spend most of our time trying to forget Good Charlotte ever exist, but if they were to disappear forever they could at least leave this one genuine hit behind.

In the midst of all Gorgol Bordello's break neck Gypsy Punk thrills it was their most traditional Eastern European romp that really stole the show. Start Wearing Purple was instant and irresistible, Eugene Hutz delivers one of the most energetic and impassioned lead performances in history, and it's impossible to tell whether he's having a really good time, or descending rapidly into madness.

Machinehead will never be one of my favourite bands, they've always been to bleak for my personal tastes but to deny their talent, or the quality of the six minute mosh pit monster Aesthetics Of Hate would be pointless. Aesthetics Of Hate was a visceral retort to an article celebrating the death of Dimbag Darrell of Pantera fame. It soon became their live show centre piece from their renaisance album The Blackening.

A concept track involving spirals, Fibonacci numbers, the golden ratio, aboriginal Gods and Hermeticism philosphy? It could only be Tool. While most of these references went over our collectives heads it didn't make a jot of difference because Lateralus was an instant classic. It was less groovy than their previous work but it rocked harder, and over the course of nine minutes took you on an epic twisting and turning journey of multiple time changes.

Take one chiming guitar riff and one simple sentiment (that love and romance hurts) and you have a classic emo single. The only problem is that Tom Delonge would go on to stretch this simple premise to breaking point across multiple albums. It Hurts was Angels & Airwaves one classic single, with a great piercing punchline "Your Best Friend Is Not Your Girlfriend" it almost makes up for all the horrible albums, but not quite.

By 2002 Oasis were truly creatively bankrupt, luckily they still had a knack for big ballads and with this epic singalong they managed to erase the memory of Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants. The premise would wear thin by the time their next LP came round, but in 2002 many thought Oasis might be just one step away from a full fledge return to form, how wrong they were.

In 2003 the Super Furies were in the mood for a sing along and a groovathon, so they released the insanely fun Golden Retriever. It was their fluffiest song to date, but it was a real thrill to see the Furies in heavy radio rotation. Who knew the Super Fury Animals could be this damn catchy?

In 2001 Blink were yet to mature but they had found the perfect formula for the three minute pop song. First Date was short, punchy and whiny as fuck. It's another track that wisely revelled in it's own stupidity, Blink were always the first ones to make fun of themselves and it helped diffuse their critics and offset their grating "melodies".

So following the abysmal Always Out Numbered, Never Out Gunned the Prodigy's credibility couldn't have been lower, they were considered a relic of the nineties and no one had particular high hopes for their follow up. That was until in early 2008 this little gem leaked, it was more dynamic than any track they'd released in over a decade, it finally gave us the evidence that Prodigy could marry their old raver tendencies with a 21st Century beats. They wouldn't look back from here on in.

Damon Albarn would role from the 20th Century to the 21th with nonchalant ease. He went from being in one of the biggest most creative bands of the '90s to becoming one the 21st Century's greatest mavericks. It all started with Gorillaz; when most people create an experimental band who seek to redefine seemingly everything,, they tend to go unapprecaited, when Damon Albarn does it he conquers the world and creates a new breed of genre defying pop music. Some guys have all the luck.

The track opens with a sample of actress Charlotte Gainsbourg taken from The Cement Garden it simple states: "Girls can wear jeans, cut their hair short, where shirts and boots, it's okay for a to be boy, for a boy to look like a girl is degrading, because you think being a girl is degrading". From that intriguing starting point Madonna proceeds to create a...looping dance track? Kind of a let down, but in a hit a miss century for Pop's leading lady, What It Feels Like For A Girl was a clear high point, one of the last great '90s style Ibiza anthems.