Alex's favorite tracks of the decade

This list is my way over-the-top solution to a simple problem. I couldn't narrow down the final spots on my top 25 albums of the decade. So I came up with my favorite 25 tracks of the decade, excluding those from bands already on my top 25 albums list.

What we have here is basically a list of my top 26-50 albums, with a few standout tracks (i.e., Frontier Psychiatrist) thrown in.

Note: Every album cover image links to a version of the song, either: a.) the official music video; b.) a moderate quality live performance; or c.) an audio track.

These are hazily ranked from first to worst.

		1.) A Perfect Circle: "Judith" Mer de Noms Possibly the best rock single of the decade. A blasphemous blast of all cylinders rock with none of the era's nu-metal cheese.
		2.) Beta Band "Easy" Heroes to Zeroes A great album that has two unbelievably good songs. "Easy" is a funky splash of indie rock seemingly out of nowhere. "Simple" is restrained and very different, but equally good.
		3.) Rilo Kiley: "Go Ahead" Take Offs and Landings Lots of songs off this album are up there in my most listened of the decade list. It's all too sweet and touching to ignore. "Go Ahead" is one of those sad, simple songs that reliably makes me feel good.
		4.) Cat Power: "The Moon" The Greatest Not the greatest Cat Power album (Moon Pix is), but quite good. The Moon is not that beautiful, but this song is.
		5.) Blackalicious: "Chemical Calisthenics" Blazing Arrow The Gift of Gab and Cut Chemist showing off, having fun and blowing your mind with science, Charles Barkley-style.
		6.) Cage: "Grand Ol' Party Crash" Hell's Winter Bush-bashing bile from Cage and Jello Biafra over an intense DJ Shadow beat. One of the heaviest rap tracks ever.
		7.) El-P: "Stepfather Factory" Fantastic Damage "Stepfather Factory" stays away from the frenetic OED madness of most of the album's other tracks. But it's every bit as clever, with El-P playing the part of robotic-stepfather salesman.
		8.) The Avalanches: "Frontier Psychiatrist" Since I Left You Paul's Boutique on catchy crack.
		9.) Aesop Rock: "No Regrets" Labor Days Out of many incredible songs on the album, "No Regrets" stands out for its restraint. Aesop Rock tones down the dense wordplay on this one, telling a sad, inspirational story about an eccentric woman who does things her way from the cradle to the grave.
		10.) Pantera: "Goddamn Electric" Reinventing the Steel An affirmation for doubts about life decisions regarding whisky and Slayer.
		11.) MURS: "Bad Man!" Murs 3:16: The 9th Edition Murs and 9th Wonder combining for my favorite song featuring either artist.
		12.) Galactic: "Baker's Dozen" Late for the Future A strong example of the assertive horn and organ grooves over snappy Stanton Moore drumming found throughout the album. NOLA funk packaged for the party jam crowd that maintains its soul. Better in a frenzied crowd, but still enjoyable recorded.
		13.) The Arcade Fire: "My Body is a Cage" Neon Bible An incredibly chilling, powerful song from a band I'm not a big fan of.
		14.) Atmosphere: "The Bass and the Movement" God Loves Ugly The best track I've ever heard from Rhymesayers. Its bass line, beat, samples and rhymes all kill it.
		15.) Rage Against the Machine: "Microphone Fiend" Renegades My favorite track on Rage's final(?) LP is the opener — their cover of Eric B & Rakim's "Microphone Fiend." It's all the more refreshing after a decade of Audioslave.
		16.) The Faint: "Agenda Suicide" Danse Macabre Something about this album, especially its opener "Agenda Suicide," catches me. It's less subtle, more danceable, readier for the floor. Good for both introspective moments and wildly Caucasian dance explosions.
		17.) Holy Fuck: "Super Inuit" LP All that I like about electronica but played with live instruments in an urgent fashion.
		18.) The Bad Plus: "And Here We Test Our Powers of Observation" Give Energetic jazz I can listen to any time. What Rush would sound like if they played sick jazz instead of crap. Come to think of it, their cover of "Tom Sawyer" is exactly what that would sound like.
		19.) The Raconteurs: "Store Bought Bones" Broken Boy Soldiers Like most, I loved the single "Steady As She Goes." But "Store Bought Bones" really got my attention when I heard it on a random shuffle in my car. It was one of those "what the hell is is!?" turn the volume up and rock moments.
		20.) DJ Shadow: "Six Days" The Private Press A prime, aughts example of why no one's better than Shadow at composing substantive songs with feeling using nothing but crate-dug vinyl samples and tasteful effects. Listen, and appreciate that this is still undeniably hip-hop.
		21.) Steely Dan: "Gaslighting Abbie" Two Against Nature Oddly enough, this recalls 2000 better than anything for me. To any other peeps raised on The Dan or who've become fans, SD released a great reunited disc in '00, and the opening track is a standout.
		22.) Lateef and the Chief: "Lester Hayes" Maroons: Ambush! Chief Xcel laying down a bed of hard, nasty funk for Lateef to rip up.
		23.) Lamb of God: "Laid to Rest" Ashes of the Wake Reassurance that all is not lost in a mostly post-Pantera decade.
		24.) Addison Groove Project: "Beantown" Allophone One of my most-listened tracks from the decade's start and a nostalgia trip for me to times of bootleg-swapping, live funk jams, the Paradise Rock Club and Beantown itself.
		25.) The Minibosses: "Mega Man 2" Brass The soundtrack to my childhood.
		Bonus: Girl Talk: A zillion tracks for efficiency's sake I highly recommend clicking the linked image if you haven't seen the fan-made video mashups for Feed the Animals.
		Anti-bonus: Chuggo: "Aw C'mon" Act Like You Might Know I can't stop watching this video. True, lots of people deride skull-scepter possessing Canadian rap sensation Chuggo as a joke, claiming his "disgusting" and "idiotic" rhymes "lack subtlety." However, I find his lyrics to be quite clever, and the Nas-inspired beat on this track fits the bAAAHHH C'MON FUCKIN' GUY!