Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

When Overload hit the stores in September of the year 2000 I don't think anyone expected the Sugababes to embark on a decade of chart domination. Overload showed signs of the potential in the group, the production was beyond slick, and they sounded light years ahead of their pop contemporaries. With a funk meets dub step beat, some haunting faint vocals and a guitar solo thrown into the mix. The track still remains their career high point, it would be the most creative piece they'd ever realise, and remains one of Pops most daring arrangements of decade. Hear It Here

All The Small Things saw Blink launched into the new millennium at light speed. There fan base quadrupled over night on the back of this monstrous hit. In many ways this track would create the caste iron formula for all the punk pop that was to follow. What this track lacks in intelligence it makes up for with spades of humour and feel good energy. Listening back now it almost feels to formulaic to be such a big hit, but at it's heart are some sweet melodies and the occasional harmonies riding the back of some bounce along chords. Simple, successful, superb. Hear It Here

Few names bring a grimace to my face like that of Destiny's Child, while they would dive bomb creatively into one of the decades most grating acts, back in 2000 they were about as fresh as got. There sound would be mimicked and undergo a gender change operation in the form of Craig David in the UK, but Destiny's Child were the original chart conquerors. Say My Name is produced to perfection, and the harmonies are very subtly arranged to support the booming power of Beyonce's lead vocal. Hear It Here

In 2004 there was so much good will towards Graham Coxon, everyone wanted him to succeed, he was always the Elvis Costello/Buddy Holly type in Blur. Too low key and normal next to Damon's non stop posturing, Graham never really had the look to be a star or the OTT personality, but he was so likeable we wanted him to reach the top. Thus when Freakin' Out exploded in 2004 it felt like the triumph of an underdog, as the most insular member of Blur exploded becoming the indie scenes new angst laden guitar god. No track rocked harder in 2004 than Freakin' Out. Hear It Here

What's Your Fantasy was one of the year 2000s biggest and most influential debuts. What's Your Fantasy was one of the first shots fired by the Southern Hip Hop scene in a decade in which it would rise up to match the East-West dominance of the 90s. The sound would always be defined by it's hedonism rather than it's tough street struggles, it seemed that southern rappers were more interest in getting smashed and partying all night long than pushing drugs. While Ludacris lacked the lyrical punch of his contemporaries he was one of the first rappers to bring a sense of fun and foolishness back to hip hop that had been missing since the late eighies/early nineties. Hear It Here

In 2005 the punk rock spirit seemed to be desperately lacking in contemporary indie, well for a brief fleeting moment Be Your Own Pet stormed the scene and restored the D.I.Y ethic. Of course like all the best punk bands Be Your Own Pet crashed and burned almost instantaneously but they wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Damn Damn Leash was two minutes of blindly slamming chords, over the top of an addictive danceable bassline while Jearmina Pearl explode with all her charisma on the microphone. Damn Damn Leash was the shot in the arm indie desperately need. Hear It Here

It's never been cool to like Grandaddy in the UK and this is a tragedy as they've forged some of the most exciting and challenging indie music of the last twenty years. They seem to embody the post Pavement sound of US indie while also incorporating the laid back air of their native California. The Crystal Lake was a tremendous single, it manage a paradoxical appeal it's melodies were soft and addictive, but the subtle arrangement created a foreboding ominous air that fit the bleak lyrics and perfectly counter balanced it the sleepy vocal delivery. Hear It Here

(TVT 2006, Lil'John)

So six years on from Ludacris' What's Your Fantasy came a man called Lil'John and his trademark anthem Snap Yo Fingers. This track remains the definitive crunk track, it's beyond brain dead but it's too much fun to be denied, and still gets dropped into the mix three years lately. The production was minimal but sublime, as Lil'John conjured arguably the most memorable synth line of the decade on this mind boggling hit. Hear It Here

642. Girl - Beck

The 21st Century would be a strange place for music's great Albatross, Beck would see highs and lows but would maintain a surprising level of commercial success even as his relevance appeared to decline. The decade started on strong footing after the gorgeous folk of Sea Change, Beck brought the electronica back in a big way with the commercial break through Guero. Girl would be the albums cross over hit, a sun encrusted quasi-ballad, perfectly suited to the evening sun on festival fields the world over. As strange as it sounds Girl was proof that conventional pop suited Beck to a tee, who of though it? Hear It Here

While the latter half of the 2000s would see hip hop's most prominent and influential producer run out of steam and be overtaken by hip hops new breed; back in 2000 Dr. Dre was still the ruler of all he prevayed. The Next Episode with it's crafty sample of David Axelrod's The Edge would seemingly set the clock back to the early nineties and prove that Dre, Nate Dogg and Snoop still had a few tricks left up their sleeves. The Next Episode would be one of the last great 90s gangsta tracks and a final moment in the sun for Dr. Dre as a recording artist. Hear It Here