Top Songs — 2009
▶ Spotify PlaylistWhen I was growing up, my parents subjected me to endless car rides tuned to 101.1 CBS FM — an "oldies" station dominated by doo-wop from the '50s. It was unbearable. And it's not like their generation lacked great music. They were teenagers in the '60s! Maybe because of this, as I got deeper into music, I developed a deep-seated fear of slipping into my own generational irrelevance. By the 2000s, that fear became real.
At my core, I'm a rock fan. So watching rock fade from the mainstream throughout the aughts was unsettling. The shift started with Radiohead's "OK Computer," which ushered in an era of experimental electronic music that gradually edged rock out. By 2009, the transformation was undeniable — "Merriweather Post Pavilion" by Animal Collective dominated the indie scene, and I just wasn't on board. It felt like the music world had moved on without me.
For much of the 2010s, I felt like I was limping along musically. But my tastes evolved just as rock started creeping back into relevance, and eventually, I shook off the malaise. Still, every time I flip to the retro alternative stations on SiriusXM, I get a chill thinking about how easily I could've gotten stuck in that rut.
1.⭐ Green Day — The Static Age
2.⭐ Miley Cyrus — Party In The U.S.A.
3.⭐ Girls — Lust For Life
4.⭐ Metric — Help I'm Alive
5.⭐ The Airborne Toxic Event — Sometime Around Midnight
6.⭐ The Big Pink — Dominos
7.⭐ Animal Collective — My Girls
8.⭐ Lily Allen — The Fear
9.⭐ OneRepublic — Good Life
10.⭐ The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart — Young Adult Friction
11.⭐ Passion Pit — Moth's Wings
12.⭐ Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Zero
13.Green Day — Last of the American Girls
14.Pearl Jam — The Fixer
15.Frightened Rabbit — Swim Until You Can't See Land
16.Eels — Beginner's Luck
17.Julian Casablancas — 11th Dimension
18.The Decemberists — Annan Water
19.Weezer — (If You're Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To
20.Pearl Jam — Just Breathe
21.The Big Pink — Velvet
22.Miike Snow — Animal
23.Green Day — 21 Guns
24.Kesha — TiK ToK
25.Phoenix — 1901
26.Matt and Kim — Daylight
27.Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Heads Will Roll
28.Röyksopp — The Girl and the Robot
29.The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart — The Tenure Itch
30.Vampire Weekend — Horchata
31.Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson — The Sound
32.Robyn Hitchcock;The Venus 3 — Up to Our Nex
33.Green Day — Murder City
34.Camera Obscura — French Navy
35.Animal Collective — Bluish
36.Lady Gaga — Bad Romance
37.The Rural Alberta Advantage — Don't Haunt This Place
38.OneRepublic — Secrets
39.Green Day — Christian's Inferno
40.Grizzly Bear — Two Weeks
41.JAY-Z;Alicia Keys — Empire State Of Mind
42.U2 — Unknown Caller
43.Girls — Hellhole Ratrace
44.The Cribs — Cheat on Me
45.Wilco — You and I
46.Jay Reatard — It Ain't Gonna Save Me
47.Gomez — If I Ask You Nicely
48.Friendly Fires — Jump in the Pool
49.Animal Collective — Summertime Clothes
50.The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart — Stay Alive
51.Yo La Tengo — Nothing To Hide
52.Julian Casablancas — Out of the Blue
53.Phoenix — Lisztomania
54.The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart — This Love Is Fucking Right!
55.The Breakaways — Walking Out On Love
56.Bon Iver — Blood Bank
57.The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart — Contender
58.The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart — Come Saturday
59.Paramore — All I Wanted
60.La Roux — Bulletproof