Far Out 40: the best songs of 2004
Some of the biggest years in popular music come from the entire world getting shaken up. Whether it was the massive arrival of MTV in the 1980s or the rise of alternative music in the 1990s, there’s usually a certain circumstance that caused everything to change overnight and for people to evaluate what they were listening to in between the pop songs that still clog the radio to this day. Although 2004 was still a solid year for music, you can see that change was in the air looking at what every genre had to offer.
Because while rock and roll still had a firm grip on the zeitgeist, it seemed like we still didn’t know what to do in the wake of the nu-metal movement taking over. The idea of hearing people complain about their problems over massive guitar licks wasn’t the style anymore, and some of the biggest names in indie music knew how to make the genre actually sound fun again.
Outside of acts like Franz Ferdinand making their first major splashes this year, hearing tracks like ‘The Rat’ by The Walkmen stopped people in their tracks the first time they heard it, if only for the insane drumming going on in the background. But while rock held prominence in the pop sphere, it was also starting to spread its wings a little bit more.
Let’s not forget that this was the same year as giants like The Killers burst onto the scene, and the rise of emo was slowly starting to infiltrate the mainstream with the rise of acts like My Chemical Romance and even psychedelic rock coming back with Dungen’s ‘Ta Det Lunget’. There were even artists that most people didn’t even know what to categorise as, like Arcade Fire, but once they burst onto the scene with Funeral, people started taking notes on how they could make their own rustic form of folksy indie rock.
But the music of 2004 wasn’t just eclectic; it was angry. With 9/11 still being a very raw wound and the Iraq War beginning, the best songs from this era came from acts that wanted to throw this war right back into George Bush’s face, with Green Day’s American Idiot becoming a massive hit that year and Eminem throwing his hat into the ring when he wasn’t intentionally trying to piss people off on Encore.
Because the best of 2004 wasn’t reserved for music that falls under the ‘rock’ umbrella. Looking through the pop charts, it was also a major time for alternative hip-hop to infiltrate the mainstream, from OutKast having some of their last huge hits on the charts to Kanye West having hits and marking the first and last time that he would be considered conceivably relatable.
Outside of the fresh blood on the scene, the old guard was also holding their own on the charts, with U2’s reign of terror actually producing some decent tracks from How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and George Michael crafting his final album, Patience. Although some would prove to be the end of their relevance, acts like Velvet Revolver proved there was also life after death for people like Slash.
Although 2004 can be a bit of a mess now, that’s a testament to the times. It was tense back then figuring out where the world would be heading next month, let alone in a year, but listening to these tunes meant that just because the world seemed on fire didn’t mean it had to be all bad.
40 best songs of 2004:
- ‘The Rat’ – The Walkmen
- ‘Wake Up’ – Arcade Fire
- ‘Evil’ – Interpol
- ‘Breathless’ – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
- ‘ID’ – Kasabian
- ‘Girl is on My Mind’ – The Black Keys
- ‘American Idiot’ – Green Day
- ‘Hey Ya’ – OutKast
- ‘The End of the World’ – The Cure
- ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ – The Libertines
- ‘Mr Brightside’ – The Killers
- ‘Walking With a Ghost’ – Tegan and Sara
- ‘Tive Razão’ – Seu Jorge
- ‘All Caps’ – Madvillain
- ‘Leaving New York’ – REM
- ‘The Bucket’ – Kings of Leon
- ‘Blood On Our Hands’ – Death From Above 1979
- ‘Elephant Woman’ – Blond Redhead
- ‘Coast to Coast’ – Elliott Smith
- ‘Take Me Out’ – Franz Ferdinand
- ‘Jesus Walks’ – Kanye West
- ‘The Letter’ – PJ Harvey
- ‘First of the Gang to Die’ – Morrissey
- ‘Ride’ – The Vines
- ‘Dry Your Eyes’ – The Streets
- ‘Dead and Lovely’ – Tom Waits
- ‘Before I Forget’ – Slipknot
- ‘Walk Idiot Walk’ – The Hives
- ‘Cinnamon Girl’ – Prince
- ‘Ta Det Lunget’ – Dungen
- ‘Triumph of a Heart’ – Bjork
- ‘Float On’ – Modest Mouse
- ‘About Today’ – The National
- ‘That’s Us’ – Arthur Russell
- ‘Hounds of Love’ – The Futureheads
- ‘Arawan’ – Tinarawen
- ‘Sprout and Bean’ – Joanna Newsom
- ‘Galang’ – M.I.A.
- ‘Staring at the Sun’ – TV On The Radio
- ‘La Ritournelle’ – Sébastein Tellier
