Best of 2000s Pop Song Bracket Part 2

Continuing from last time, to sum it up quickly:
All The Small Things beat I Write Sins Not Tragedies
Seven Nation Army beat Smooth
Bring Me To Life beat How You Remind Me
The Middle beat Kryptonite

Leaving these matchups for round 2:
All The Small Things VS Seven Nation Army
Bring Me To Life VS The Middle

Now for the final four round 1 matches of the rock section.

Match 5: The Killer's Mr. Brightside VS. U2's Beautiful Day

Ah, a great start to break my heart with two iconic rock songs that have some really amazing live concert moments. A band that had been around for a few decades getting another huge smash hit in U2 taking on a newcomer with the biggest hit of their careers The Killers.

So The Killers are a huge band nowadays, but before this big hit, they were just a struggling band from Las Vegas who was trying to make an album inspired by the big Post-Punk Revival of the late 90s and early 00s. Lead singer Brandon Flowers and guitar player Dave Keuning wrote this song about one of Brandon's exes who cheated on him. The first part of the song that was created was the iconic riff that is played throughout the song. The Post-Punk Revival brought many fantastic bands that would change rock music in a lot of ways from The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, to The Killers themselves. The song Mr. Brightside would launch The Killers into stardom and would push them as the most popular band in the genre, still to this day. The album that the song came from, Hot Fuss is still considered one of the best albums ever made in the Post-Punk genre and Indie Rock. If you truly want to feel the impact this song has on people watch a live performance of it, I recommend the Royal Albert Hall show in 2009. Many bands after have been inspired by their 80s throwback style with a modern spin. What can I say about the actual song though? It's got the iconic riff I mentioned and some of the most memorable lyrics of any modern rock song. Tell me your heart doesn't skip a beat whenever you hear that opening riff starts playing somewhere you weren't expecting. It's just that good.

U2 has a much longer history in the world of music, one that would take way too long to go into. To sum it up a bit, they became a huge worldwide act in the 80s though they had been around since the later 70s. The big album that pushed them to the top was in the late 80s, the now-iconic Joshua Tree. From that point, they stuck around in the 90s too, but their biggest hit wouldn't come until 2002 with Beautiful Day.  It's also their last big hit, though they still have plenty of success outside of this, including an album on Itunes that nobody could figure out how to delete. One difference they have from Mr. Brightside is that Beautiful Day isn't really their one defining song. U2 is one of those bands that has enough hits that no one really stands out too far above the rest. With or Without You is their most recognizable song, but Beautiful Day had the most chart success.
The song itself doesn't start off as explosive as Mr. Brightside, instead slowly building slowly through the verses and releasing all the energy in the choruses. The song keeps building more after that until after the second and third chorus where Bono just sings his heart out with all the emotion he can. It's a really... beautiful moment (sorry). There's this amazing moment during the first Super Bowl after 9/11 where they perform this song and it's one the most memorable tear-jerking performances of all time. It's a moment where the music sort of transcends into something more important than you ever thought it could be... at least from a band like U2?

It's tough to choose between two iconic songs like this, but they are very different in their strengths. While that emotional Super Bowl performance will always be one of the most memorable moments in live music history, I think U2 just overall had more influence and success in the 80s and 90s. If this was With or Without You versus Mr. Brightside than it might be a different story. But there's no denying that Mr. Brightside was a huge change to rock music in the 2000s. While The Killers will probably never be as big as U2, this song (Mr. Brightside) and the album it came from changed the 2000s. So the slightest edge goes to Mr. Brightside. But man, it could have been a coin-toss.

Match 6: Kings of Leon's Use Somebody VS. Coldplay's Viva La Vida

Here we have two big arena rock songs that are crowd sing-along favorites. Both these songs also happen to be from both band's 2008 albums.

Kings of Leon got their start in 1999, but they weren't really anything like the King of Leon that would become huge hitmakers. In the early 2000s, they were more of a throwback blues style rock band that sounded like something straight out of the late 60s. Over time they would polish their sound more and get better production and modernize themselves up a bit. But their big success came when they released their 2008 album Only By The Night, followed by a big hit in Sex On Fire. But it was their next single Use Somebody that would be their biggest. The crowd favorite song is the perfect big arena rock song that gets crowds going with the "ooh" chants throughout the song. It's a song about the feeling of loneliness, and just wanting to have somebody to be with. The song wouldn't reach number one here, although the Billboard website says they have 5 number one hits, it must be glitched out at the moment. Even Coldplay, one of the most popular bands of the decade, only had 1 number one single.

Coldplay is a band that doesn't really need an introduction, but here's one anyway. Probably the biggest rock band of the 2000s had their fair share of hits this that decade. It all started with Yellow right at the start of the decade in 2000 and would continue with every new album they released. Their biggest hit to this day came on their fourth album, Viva La Vida, with the title track.
Viva La Vida was unlike anything they've done before in a song. The song starts with a string section right away that plays throughout the entire song and a different style of percussion as well. Before this, they had a more piano focused sound, but this would be the moment they would make a change for a new sound. I think it's a great mix of the old style of Coldplay mixed with what would be their newer more pop-friendly sound. The song was inspired by artist Frida but revolves around the French Revolution and King Louis XVI. Ask me if I know what any of that means, the answer is NO. The subject does make for interesting lyrics that fit perfectly with the more simplistic/classical style music. 

I think this is the first matchup where the winner is a very easy choice. Kings of Leon are a decent band that has found much success in a genre that doesn't really provide that as much as it used to. That being said "Use Somebody" is in my eyes a lesser song than "Viva La Vida". "Viva La Vida" is arguably the best song from a band that has many great songs in their catalog and I think it's just on a higher level than "Use Somebody". So the choice is easy: Coldplay's Viva La Vida. 

Match 7: Gorillaz' Feel Good Inc. VS. Linkin Park's In The End

My heart is torn in two and it feels so bad. Two songs near and dear to me collide as Nu-Metal legends Linkin Park and their massive hit, In The End, takes on one of the most unique songs of the 2000s in Feel Good Inc. 

Gorillaz was started as a side-project by Damon Albarn the frontman of one of the biggest Brit-Pop bands Blur. The idea was to create a virtual band using art from Jamie Hewlett to create fictional members and stories to go along with the music that would be created. The music would be a mix of many different genres and styles, like rock, hip-hop, electronic, and art-pop. The band was successful and caught on pretty quickly, but their success would skyrocket thanks to the massive hit from their fantastic album Demon Days. So in comes "Feel Good Inc." with it's flipping amazing bass line and guitar work. Hewlett teamed up with hip-hop artists De La Soul to bring in rap verses alongside his singing. Which now that I think about it, it is pretty interesting considering that's what Linkin Park was really known for as well in the early days. 

I think a lot of people remember the iconic music video that was released with this song as well. But for a virtual band that is an important aspect of the music, the visuals that go along with the music. That's one aspect that's always made Gorillaz stand out in the world of music and make them one of the most popular acts in the world. There really isn't anything else like this group out there, at least not on the same level. Feel Good Inc is pretty much a musical masterpiece and it's a song that I think will never feel dated because of how unique it is and how masterfully crafted it is.

It starts with one thing. Linkin Park has a long story, one that is full of high highs and low lows. But right now I'm going to focus on the highs because In The End was a game-changer for the music scene in the early 2000s. Nu-Metal was already a thing, but this really took it to a whole new level and really gave it a huge boost in popularity. Linkin park always felt unique even in the Nu-Metal scene with their mix of electronic and heavy rock sounds along with hip-hop fused to make a really interesting sound that just worked so perfectly. When you put Chester's incredible and passionate vocals into the mix you got yourself something really memorable. It's interesting to know Chester himself didn't want this song to be released because he didn't like it originally. Of course, as we know now, it ended up being their biggest hit and made it all the way to the number two spot on the charts. It was just the start of what would be a huge career for the band. Their influence was strong for rock music in the 2000s, as noted in a previous entry on this list "Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence. The album Hybrid Theory that In The End was from actually ended up being the best selling album of 2001. 

I can't really ignore the importance this song had in my own life, it was one of the first songs I remember really listening to over and over again, along with the entire first album. It was so different than any of the other rock bands at the time and this song really shows off their style perfectly. From the opening keys to the rap verses and Chester belting out the choruses, it was the Linkin Park formula for the first two albums at least. On top of that, you get some great production, with solid guitar and percussion work to match. It all comes together to make something pretty freaking great. 

Now having to choose between these two songs is incredibly hard because they both just feel like perfect songs in their genres. One feels like a perfect time capsule of the time it's from (In The End) and the other feels like a song that could easily be a huge hit even if it was released today or anytime in the future. It feels like my heart says Linkin Park but my mind says Gorillaz. It's actually sad to think that these two groups never had a big collab song because it might be one of the best things that could happen. So since I can't decide on one, I guess the bracket will end here. It was good while it lasted and fun to learn more about these songs, but in the end, it didn't even matter. 

Linkin Park wins.

Match 8: RHCP's Californication VS. Green Day's BLVD of Broken Dreams

Two bands that found their first big success in the '90s and carried that momentum on into the new millennium with many more hits. 

Red Hot Chili Peppers, or RHCP as I'll refer to them as from now on, have been around since the 80s.  They found their first big success in 1992 with their huge hit "Under the Bridge", which made it all the way to number 2 on the charts, the closest they would ever get to a number one hit. But don't feel too sorry for them as they would go one to become one of the biggest rock bands in the world and still continue to be to this day. It's kind of weird how this bracket turned out to have a lot of ideal matchups in the first round considering it was all randomized. But RHCP and Green Day have a very similar timeline in a way. Both bands most popular songs reached the number two spot on the charts. Both bands also had their biggest albums come out about a decade apart from each other, albums that would bring both bands back into the charts with many hits. But it would seem that as of today both of these bands have kind of struggled to stay relevant in the mainstream. 

I actually kind of struggled to decide which song to pick from RHCP because they've had many big hits in the 2000s. Californication seemed like the obvious choice but it technically came out in 1999. Then I saw that it technically wasn't a hit until the year 2000 so I decided to call an audible of sorts and pick Californication. Which actually makes this way harder for me to pick. Californication kind of has it all when it comes to a rock song. The iconic bass line from Flea along with the great work on guitar and drums. The very memorable lyrics that only kind of make sense at first. RHCP would probably be known for all their songs about the "great" California, but this is definitely their most memorable one. Although this song isn't so much praising California as it was using it as an example of fake people and superficiality. 

Green Day, on the other hand, didn't see much chart success in the '90s. But outside of the charts, they did find a lot of success by making great albums that would make them one of the most popular rock bands to this day. It all started with 1994s Dookie and their popularity would explode in 2004 with the giant mega-success American Idiot. The album was a rock-opera with lots of political themes throughout. The album was very relevant in a post 9/11 world of 2004 and somehow a lot of it feels relevant today still. Boulevard of Broken Dreams isn't so much a part of that political theme. The song feels more personal, more about a person's struggles with themselves and the outcome of their choices. It was definitely a different style of song that Green Day had never really done before. It's a slower song but it still packs a punch with the distorted guitars and especially the crazy guitar outro at the end that just works so perfectly in this song. This song truly did change my life and the way I see music on a personal note, this whole album really did actually. 

This would be an easy choice if I hadn't changed the song to "Californication" at the last minute. But now that it is that song, it makes it harder to choose. Both of these are incredible and important songs to the genre they belong to. Both songs coming from albums that really helped change rock music in the 2000s. But I think I'd have to give it to Green Day this time. This song was really what helped launch them to the biggest heights of their careers. Not only that, but it really did feel like a change in rock music at the time, leading the way for new things down the road. For RHCP it's arguable that Californication is their biggest song or not, they would go on to have bigger hits outside of that song. 

Which ends round 1 of the rock songs. It also means that there are two new matches for round 2.

Mr. Brightside VS Viva La Vida

In The End VS Blvd of Broken Dreams 

along with

All The Small Things VS Seven Nation Army
Bring Me To Life VS The Middle

Join me next time as I start diving into the Hip-Hop/R&B songs of the 2000s, something I totally know a lot about and won't be out of my element in... yep. 

Get Low (Lil Jon) VS Beautiful (Snoop Dogg and Pharell)

Empire State of Mind (Jay-Z) VS Stronger (Kanye)

Yeah! (Usher/Luda/Lil Jon) VS Work It (Missy Elliot)

What's Luv? (Fat Joe/Ashanti) VS. Temperature (Sean Paul)