20 Most Influential Songs Since "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Part 4: 5-1)

Let's wrap up the 20 Most Influential Songs Since "Smells Like Teen Spirit" with the top 5. While none may have an altering effect on music the way that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" did, they all contributed someway, somehow to the way songs were developed in the last twenty years. Now would I make a playlist and listen to these 20 songs? I don't think so  (I have them all in my music library even Britney thanks to a NOW CD). But they all deserve some recognition for being very influential on music as the past two decades have moved forward. Chances are, as you are reading at least one if not several of these songs gauged the way you looked at and enjoyed music over a twenty year span. As always, feel free to comment and let us know if you agree or disagree with any of the picks or there order.

In case you missed 20-6, here's the rundown so far with links provided for more in depth looks at the songs.

20. Sublime-What I Got
19. Amy Winehouse-Rehab
18. Korn-Freak On A Leash
17. Counting Crows-Mr. Jones
16. Mazzy Star-Fade Into You
15. Jay Z-Empire State Of Mind
14. Arcade Fire-Wake Up
13. The Prodigy-Firestarter
12. The White Stripes-Seven Nation Army
11. Oasis-Wonderwall
10. Alanis Morrisette-You Oughta Know
9. Rage Against The Machine-Killing In The Name
8. The Strokes-Last Night
7. Britney Spears-Baby One More Time
6. Pearl Jam-Jeremy


20 Most Influential Songs Since "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Songs 20-16)
20 Most Influential Songs Since "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Songs 15-11)
20 Most Influential Songs Since "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (Songs 10-6)


And Now The Big 5.
___________________________________________________________________________________

5. Coldplay-Yellow (June, 2000)

Quick Hit: Filled the gap for anthem friendly crowd pleasing songs that was sorely missing at the beginning of the century.
Other notable similar and influenced artists: Keane, Snow Patrol, The Fray, Blue October, Aqualung, Doves, Starsailor, Elbow, Blackbud, Kings Of Leon
The Case: With U2's "Pop" being clumsy, the stage was set for the next big anthem stadium rock bands to surface as their heir apparent. Radiohead had the right of way to claiming that spot in 2000 with their much anticipated "Kid A" album. Instead of uniting fans of the band and fans of those who wanted to hear anthem like rock songs fill their eardrums, Radiohead shied away with their own fantastic foray into electronica and left the door wide open for another British band just starting up. Watching Coldplay's "Yellow" do this was like seeing a friend in high school get the keys to a brand new car for their birthday. You were happy for them, but there was a hint of jealousy "Really, they get the new car?" "Yellow" is nothing but a shimmering love song whose atmospherics ring supreme to the weary and even if it is absent of a big sing along chorus (like most Coldplay songs) what Chris Martin and company made it up with was a big sound meant to be heard in front of a large crowd. Anyone looking for a band inspiring to be the next big thing fell in love with Coldplay as they eventually took hold of the throne by the end of the decade (ironically, Brian Eno, U2's main producer, helped get them there). But if Martin didn't have "Yellow" in his arsenal, then we'd be talking about some other band. Instead, for ten years, bands inspiring to be the next big thing have used "Yellow" as their guide. To me, it's the most influential song on other songs and artists to be released in the past decade, and Coldplay themselves, may be the most INFLUENCED band of the past twenty years. Well played Coldplay.


___________________________________________________________________________________

4. Shania Twain-Man I Feel Like A Woman (March, 1999)

Quick Hit: Gave the female country star mainstream stardom with female self empowerment and image.
Other notable similar and influenced artists: Carrie Underwood, Lady Antebellum, Sara Evans, Martina McBride, Dixie Chicks, Faith Hill, Lee Ann Womack, SheDaisy, Taylor Swift
The Case: Before Shania Twain hit big, or shall we say huge, with "Man I Feel Like A Woman", female artists didn't have to worry about image with their songs. If you look at artists, even Twain herself, before her blockbuster "Come On Over" album, they looked and sang the part of a country woman. But "Man I Feel Like A Woman" changed all of that. Not only did Twain raise the stakes of female country stars fortunes being based on looking like a country "diva", you now also had crossover potential to make it into the pop charts. And just about every female country artist since has used this formula with wild success. It was a song that started this movement that still goes on today (Carrie Underwood and Taylor Sift have reaped the most recent success). It's probably why critics and some fans have recently leaned on a Gretchen Wilson or Miranda Lambert as the saviors of a new voice in country music to break this pattern and it's worked somewhat. But "Man I Feel Like A Woman" put such a stranglehold on what a female country song should be to become successful, it's going to take something pretty big to break this pattern. That's how influential it is.


___________________________________________________________________________________

3. Green Day-Longview (February, 1994)

Quick Hit: Took traditional punk music and made it more accessible. Spawned hundreds of similar bands in its popularity's wake.
Other notable similar and influenced artists: Blink 182, NOFX, Pennywise, The Offspring, Bowling For Soup, Fall Out Boy, Suicide Machines, MxPx, Sum 41, Rancid
The Case: I don't know if mind slipped a bit in 1994 when Green Day released "Longview" but I never got into the idea of punk being pop. I would've been foolish enough to put money down on Rancid as blazing this trail because they represented more of the 70's punk I'd known growing up. But I was catastrophically wrong looking back now. Rancid didn't have the mainstream appeal that Green Day was gifted with. "Longview" influenced a whole slew of punk pop bands looking to cash in on a new movement. But none hit the teenage gut as hard as Green Day's breakthrough single, "Bite my lip and close my eyes, take me away to paradise." If you were a skateboarding teen from 1995 to say about 2001, then "Longview" was your "Stairway To Heaven". Maybe Blink 182 came close to popularity with this genre, but they were too childish in their demeanor and when they grew up the scene finally died down. But Green Day always had the smarts as a band to keep things grounded and have gone on to be quite successful. Without "Longview", geez, success would have been "pretty vacant" (Mr. Rotten anyone?) in the punk pop scene.

Click Here For Green Day's "Longview" video
___________________________________________________________________________________

2. Dr. Dre-Nuthin' But A G Thang (January, 1993)

Quick Hit: Took gangsta and west coast rap to the top of the charts. Defined rap music for the rest of the 90's.
Other notable similar and influenced artists: Warren G, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Timbaland, Nate Dogg, 2Pac, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Ice Cube
The Case: Here's a point in music that you can look directly at and say, "Hey, every rap song that was big in the next ten years was influenced by the popularity of one song." That song would be "Nuthin' But A G Thang", hands down the turning point in hip hop and rap music in the nineties. It made artists who were more carefree up to that point have to rearrange there resume, because if you weren't from the west coast and you didn't have Dr. Dre's uncanny production and lyrical references to everyday life on the streets, you wouldn't succeed. Not even Public Enemy, the cream of eighties rap bands, could keep up with Dre's new direction. Of course, Dre's old band N.W.A. had success with "Straight Outta Compton" in 1988, but it was nowhere as close as being influential as his debut album "The Chronic". If you look at the charts over the rest of the decade, all songs that had the credentials and influence of "Nuthin' But A G Thang" and "The Chronic" were huge hits. Notorious B.I.G. helped swing some momentum back to the east coast by the end of the decade, but the themes pretty much stayed the same. To be successful, you had to rap about life as you saw it on the streets. "Nuthin' But A G Thang" was the game changer. No more being 2 Legit to Quit.


___________________________________________________________________________________

1. Beck-Loser (March, 1993)

Quick Hit: Showed us there was no definitive rules. Defined a whole generation of ramshackle, unkempt kids whose slacker demeanor still reigns today.
Other notable similar and influenced artists: The Flaming Lips, Cornershop, Hot Chip, the Beta Band, Eels, Luscious Jackson, Weezer, Super Furry Animals, Badly Drawn Boy, Sebadoh, Ween, The Apples In Stereo, Folk Implosion, Built To Spill, The Shins, Guided By Voices
The Case: Why Loser? Why not. Like generation X in general, "Loser" had no direction. It was ramshackle and disjointed in every sense of their terms. It opened the door to doing whatever you wanted...no strings attached. If "Smells Like Teen Spirit" led the rebellion forward in the nineties, Beck's "Loser" was the song that stepped in because the rebellion seemed to be taking itself a little too seriously. It was time to loosen up. Beck was truly a monkey in the time of chimpanzees. He used a lot of tricks that the Beastie Boys and Dust Brothers dug up on "Paul's Boutique" in 1989 throwing out references and lyrics that were off the wall and musically threw in whatever the hell he wanted to. A banjo, slide guitar and harmonica in a song in the grunge era. Are you kidding me? Lo-Fi music had no place in the mainstream. But it wouldn't have meant a damn thing if it wasn't such a tremendously successful song. "Loser" helped open the doors to lots of similar and successful acts in the alternative scene all the way through the current indie scene today. And unlike other genres, there is always something fresh and exciting lurking around any corner. "Loser"'s carefree who gives a....attitude in general made that possible. Beck has gone on to craft several exceptionally good albums and a huge dosage of great singles. But "Loser" remains the most pivotal point in music since "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Without it, artists may still be taking their craft a bit too heavy handed. I never thought that a song I first heard in a bar in college with some guy talking about getting crazy with cheese whiz would be the most influential song in the past twenty years but I succumb, it really is. "Soy un perdedor".

Source: http://www.jhostation.com/2011/06/20-most-influential-songs-since-smells_24.html

The Lucksmiths The Ting Tings Mean Red Spiders Mother Mother