20 Iconic Songs That Somehow Turn 10 In 2018
2018 sees a bumper crop of songs turning 10, and we've picked out some of the key releases from a 2008 that saw the decline of emo and a massive pop renaissance.
It's been a full, action-packed decade since 2008, a year of immense chaos and hope - the year of the global financial crash and the election of US President Barack Obama. The Dark Knight, the Large Hadron Collider, the Beijing Olympics, Kosovo's declaration of independence, and more all hit the big 1-0 next year - but the world of music was crammed with tumult as well, with the titans of emo and alt. rock giving way to a popvolution (hey Katy Perry, hey Adele, hey Lady Gaga) and indie-pop explosion.
Relive the warm and fuzzy days of 2008 with our 20 tracks that turn 10 this year...
10
Florence + The Machine - "Dog Days Are Over"
"Dog Days Are Over" was, for many people, their first encounter with the then-21-year-old Florence Welch and her ragtag Machine. That simple harp and handclap introduction has become nothing short of iconic in the decade that's followed, offering a fresh alternative to its accompanying B-side - the band's bombastic rework of club classic "You've Got The Love".
The track, which peaked at 23 in the UK charts, had two official videos, released in 2009 and 2010. The former sees a tuxedo-wearing Welch stumbling around a forest before being kidnapped by clowns and doused in her signature gold glitter, whilst the latter takes a more conceptual turn, eschewing glitter for all-over body paint.
Like many of Welch's songs, it's difficult to extract a meaning from her dramatic, abstract lyrics. What we do know, however, is that the song's title was inspired by an installation by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone. Mounted outside the Hayward Gallery on London's South Bank, Welch used to see the piece daily as she cycled across Waterloo Bridge. PW
Release Date: 1 December 2008
Album: Lungs
9
Los Campesinos! - "You! Me! Dancings!"
During twee-pop's halcyon days Los Campesinos! fired off this beaut. It was actually a re-recorded version of a track from 2007, but the altered edition made its way onto 2008 debut Hold On Now, Youngster... and won hearts the world over. The song was famously used in a pretty major ad campaign by Budweiser in 2010 - frontman Gareth David spoke to Pitchfork, about the aftermath, and it makes for pretty interesting reading.
"There comes a time when people have to accept if they're going to illegally download music, then bands are going to have to make money elsewhere," he says. "We were actually offered a larger sum of money for 'You! Me! Dancing!' from Southern Comfort just after it was released, and we turned it down. I still think we were right to, because at that stage of our career people would have just wanted to hear that version of the song over and over. But when it came back up it was just the easiest decision to make because that money is now enabling us to be a band for another two years. And the response has been overtly positive, I think because we've not shied away from it like a lot of bands probably would."
"[We were paid] a substantial figure," he continues. "And the ad itself has been really successful and has won awards. They did all these different versions and kept being like, 'we want to run it for another eight months, can we give you more money?' Sadly, as individuals, we haven't seen a penny yet. Apparently, the nature of publishing money being paid back is slow, so we have to wait another 18 months before we actually realize where we stand."
Release Date: 22 February 2008
Album Hold On Now, Youngster...
8
Pendulum - "Propane Nightmares"
Remember Pendulum? They were a big thing for a short while, huh? The Aussie fusion kings launched the worlds of metal and drum and bass into a head-on collision, and made some serious mainstream noise for a brief time before splitting.
"Propane Nightmares" was everywhere in 2008, and in the video above (pre-HD... what a world 2008 was), you can see English actor Marc Baylis - who is perhaps better known as Rob Donovan in Coronation Street. That's pretty much the only interesting thing we could find about this song; we kinda just wanted to remind you Pendulum existed. LD
Release Date: 18 April 2008
Album: In Silico
7
Mariah Carey - "Touch My Body"
"There is no full-blown meaning; it is just cute and it's one of those songs that makes me happy. I wasn't taking it that seriously. It was just fun experience," Carey said of the song, kinda killing any intrigue behind it. Thanks for that.
It might be strange to see 30 Rock's Kenneth The Page (aka Jack McBrayer) in the video considering the year "Touch My Body" was released, but the acclaimed sitcom was already well underway when Carey dropped her hit... it started in 2006. But the best bit about the merging of worlds is that McBrayer thew a frisbee into Mariah Carey's freaking face by mistake. LD
Release Date: 12 February 2008
Album: E=MC²
6
Panic! At The Disco - "Nine In The Afternoon"
Before Brendon Urie went full-on sex god, he plied his wares as a more traditional frontman in Panic! At The Disco with the likes of Ryan Ross and Spencer Smith playing major roles as lead guitarist and drummer respectively. Following up game-changing emo classic A Fever You Can't Sweat Out was always going to be impossible, but no-one really expected them to return with something like Pretty. Odd. - it's basically a Beatles tribute record.
The album sits at an awkward junction in Panic!'s canon, with half of the group splintering off to form the short-lived Young Veins shortly afterwards, but it did manage to spawn "Nine In The Afternoon" - one of the group's biggest tracks ever. The video itself makes numerous obvious references to The Beatles, especially the "I Am The Walrus" vid and the Sgt. Pepper era in general, with Urie & Co.'s frequent collaborator Shane Drake back at the helm to steer the ship.
The dessert bit was actually a mistake, with a typo in the writing process - it was supposed to be a desert wasteland, but was written as a dessert wasteland. Fortunately that ended up working even better. LD
Release Date: 29 January 2008
Album: Pretty. Odd.
5
Katy Perry - "I Kissed A Girl"
Shortly after major label debut "Ur So Gay" - which has aged really well - Pezza unleashed one of the biggest songs of the century so far. "I Kissed A Girl" took over the summer of '08 with countless parodies and controversies and even some genuine admiration, with pristine pop production and even some writing from Max Martin. It's got one hell of a chorus, that's for sure.
"The chorus actually popped into my head when I woke up," Perry told the BBC at the time. "It was one of those moments where you hear artists talking about songs they get in dreams or in the middle of the night. I was like 'wow, what an interesting subject matter to kind of pop into the head' and I didn't do anything with it for about a year and a half."
"When we're young, we're very touchy-feely," Perry added in a chat with The New Gay. "We have slumber party sing-a-longs, we make up dance routines in our pajamas. We're a lot more intimate in a friendship than guys can be. It's not perverse but just sweet..."
As for who it's about... Perry's been a little bit coy, simply stating that it was inspired by Scarlett Johansson but more explicitly about someone from her teenage years: "I did kiss her. I was totally obsessed with her. She was beautiful - porcelain skin, perfect lips." Miley Cyrus seems pretty sure that means her, but the jury's out. LD
Fun fact: Macy Gray almost ended up singing it!
Bonus fun fact: Kesha was in the video!
Release Date: 29 July 2008
Album: One Of The Boys
4
Vampire Weekend - "Oxford Comma"
Whip-smart NYC crew Vampire Weekend enjoyed almost instant success with their debut record, thanks to its seamless blending of African styles, Western Classical, indie, punk, and retro pop. Tracks as bombastic as "A-Punk" helped a bundle too, with cerebral twentysomethings Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Baio, and Christopher Tomson thrilling as they skipped through pop culture and history with puppy-like fervour.
"Oxford Comma", named after the oft-disputed punctuation mark, isn't all that concerned with grammar as happens. Speaking to Vanity Fair, Koenig explained that he first heard of the Oxford Comma on Facebook, or more specifically via a group launched by students at Columbia University (where the members of Vampire Weekend studied) called Students For The Preservation Of The Oxford Comma. "[The song] is more about not giving a fuck than about Oxford Commas," he revealed in the interview.
As well as all that, the song features a leftfield nod or two to crunk icon Lil Jon, who was a fan of the namecheck and ended up cameoing in the band's "Giving Up The Gun" video. We like to think they're still good pals to this day. LD
Release Date: 26 May 2008
Album: Vampire Weekend
3
Adele - "Chasing Pavements"
Adele is one of the biggest-selling artists of all time, and it's crazy to think she's still a relatively new artist - the star only kickstarted her career in 2007 with the release of debut single "Hometown Glory". A few months later she followed it up with her first hit proper: the incomparable "Chasing Pavements".
In a chat with the Daily Mail, the then-20-year-old Adele revealed that the track is about a boyfriend who had cheated on her. After discovering his infidelity, Adele went straight to the bar he was at and punched him in the face... to be thrown out moments later... and on the way home she came up with the lyrics, recording it all on her phone when she got back.
Interestingly, the song reportedly received a ban in the US from a number of radio stations after they thought that 'chasing pavements' meant to 'chase gay men'. It turns out that was actually just something that was written on Urban Dictionary (of all places). LD
Release Date: 14 January 2008
Album: 19
2
Beyoncé - "Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)"
This was released alongside mega-ballad "If I Were A Boy" as a AA-side to show off the two contrasting sides of Queen B's album I Am... Sasha Fierce. The song has been called "the only public statement [Beyoncé and Jay-Z had] ever made about marriage" by co-writer Christopher Stewart (aka Tricky), and it was released just a few months after the pair's secret wedding. If you're gonna make a statement, you may as well make a goddamn statement.
But just as famous as the track is the "Single Ladies" video - the iconic clip was actually inspired by a Bob Fosse dance routine entitled "Mexican Breakfast" from a 1969 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show. But perhaps even more (in)famously it was also at the heart of Kanye West's notorious MTV Awards rant, spawning the entire Taylor Swift vs. Ye feud that's been going on for 10 years. LD
Release Date: 13 October 2008
Album: I Am...Sasha Fierce
1
MGMT - "Kids"
2008 was an absolutely vintage year for all permutations of 'indie' (let's pretend that word means something for now). Foals dropped "Cassius", M83 put out "Graveyard Girl", Hot Chip thrilled us with "Ready For The Floor", Fleet Foxes charmed us with "White Winter Hymnal", Bon Iver made us weep with "Skinny Love", Noah and The Whale made us smile with "5 Years Time", Friendly Fires made us dance with "Jump In The Pool", and The Joy Formidable, Chairlift, Metronomy, Black Kids, Passion Pit, Bloc Party, Kate Nash, Danananaykroyd, Beck, Death Cab For Cutie, Bombay Biycle Club, and many more released seminal cuts.
And all of that makes MGMT's key 2008 release all the more impressive. How do you top all the above numbers? By unveiling "Kids", of course.
The track initially appeared on 2007 LP Oracular Spectacular, but was given a full single release just over a year later. Since then it's become embedded in the zeitgeist, with numerous cover versions and remixes (Chiddy Bang also sampled it heavily during ""Opposite Of Adults"), countless TV and film appearances, and even a high-profile lawsuit involving Nicolas Sarkozy, then President Of France. A true modern classic. LD
Release Date: 13 October 2008
Album: Oracular Spectacular
Writers: Larry Day, Jess Goodman, and Pip Williams.
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