2002's Top 10 Singles
What can you say about a year where Nickleback's "How You Remind Me" and Puddle of Mudd's "Blurry" were the most played songs of the year, each over 315,000 times? What a waste of airplay. Pay no heed to that, this list won't glorify that shit. Enjoy! The pickings were pretty slim, so if you've got a problem with them, tell me.
20. Nelly ft. Kelly Rowland
Dilemma
A soulful ballad about infidelity. Massive hit. Makes sense to me.
19. White Stripes
Fell In Love With a Girl
Brilliant, lightning-fast garage rock that was overplayed. Besides, the rest of the album is brilliant too.
18. Snoop Dogg
From the Chuuuch to the Palace
It’s true that Snoop has smoked himself stupid (what the hell is a chuuuch??), but it’s also true that this is his strongest single in a long time. Thank the big Neptizzle for that one.
17. Cam'ron
Oh Boy
Ecstacy was the drug of choice this year for rappers (taking a cue from Missy’s last album) and this beat is like a high off E itself. Whoa, this is fucked up. Plus talk about constant airplay.
16. U2
Electrical Storm (William Orbit Mix)
Recorded exclusively for their greatest hits, it’s one of their strongest songs since...well, their last ones. Spacey, anthemic; were you expecting techno?
15. Moby
We Are All Made of Stars
An innocent, simple New Wave-esque song. Something positive in a year devoid of such feelings.
14. Queens of the Stone Age
No One Knows
Dave Grohl’s drumming is so tight in this song, it’s like a pimp-slap to the ass. Talk about the double threat. A hungry mealworm eating into your brain.
13. Nappy Roots
Awnaw
Thick as molasses, laid back like a low-rider, in full pimp paraphernalia. This is the real South.
12. N.E.R.D
Rock Star
The Neptunes, once again. This heavy slice of ironic, raging fury was probably the best thing on radio this year. Flipping a finger to “posers” for rocking out, while rocking twice as hard as all of them: only they could have pulled that off.
11. Avril Lavigne
Complicated
She’s 17 and she rocks. Sure, she’s as manufactured for mass consumption as Britney is, but she’s Canadian. Plus she plays guitar, gotta love that.
10. The Hives
Main Offender
The guitars sound heavy without reaching the watered-down Nickelback-grunge sound, the singing is horribly out of tune, and the two screeches would deafen dogs for blocks. My God, I’ve never felt so alive!!
9. Oasis
Stop Crying Your Heart Out
Perhaps the deepest, most affectionate, and real ballad Noel Gallagher has ever written. And the record buyers don’t even bat an eye. What a terrible shame.
8. Clipse
Grindin'
Okay, so the Neptunes are now officially one of the most fucked-up production team ever. This beat is undoubtedly their meanest, most clastrophobic neck-snapper yet; in fact, it’s pretty much all beat. Electro if ever there was such a thing.
7. Eminem
Without Me
Before Rabbit, this was a gleefully rude song, our Slim sounding like a bee with ADD. Single of the year material, in fact. After Rabbit, it was rendered irrelevant. May this be Slim’s epitaph, and really continue without him.
6. Missy Elliott
Work It
If you thought Missy and Timbo couldn’t top that heaving, sweaty “Freak”-fest, shame on you. Shake that bom-bom-bom. Freak it in reverse. Represent in Chinese. Holy shit.
5. Sugababes
Freak Like Me
What a freaky, freaky song. Digital squalls and electro-farts, a song about being very nasty. How un-British...
4. Coldplay
In My Place
A lost-puppy of a song, this is a copper-bottomed classic. More mature and heartfelt than anything they’ve done before. Gotta love that spine-tingling guitar line, destined for the Hall of Riff Fame.
3. Nelly
Hot in Herre
Perfectly timed, this Neptunes-produced joint dropped right as the country suffered a tremendous heatwave. Extreme overexposure, sing-alongs, and ubiquity follows. If you took your clothes off at any time this year, it was because Nelly told you to.
2. Nirvana
You Know Your Right
It’s a true testament to Kurt Cobain’s power and true talent that an afternoon’s work on a Sabbath-esque song could scorch anything on the bloodless rock radio circuit eight years after being recorded. Punishing, cruelly ironic, this is Cobain’s self-penned epitaph. Rest in peace.
1. Eminem
Lose Yourself
Even after a hit album with two great singles and more amazing rhymes, Marshall Mathers completely switches his style in the mind of Rabbit Smith, writing a hungry rap that displays his true lyrical dexterity over a grimy, guitar-driven track. He’s so ridiculously far ahead of the pack that it’s astounding.
