2000 Great Songs #1101: Minneapolis. 90s alt.rock/power-poppers That Dog with another geographically-themed crush story. Sweet, charming, yet doomed from the start, 'cuz who's following some indie rock dude to the Midwest?

2000 Great Songs #1100: Garoux Des Larmes. A brief explosion of whirling dervish energy from @throwingmuses.bsky.social, Kristin Hersh & her rhythm section battling for domination.

2000 Great Songs #1099: Never Mind. Late 60s pop-psych act The Moon remain sadly obscure (despite a Beach Boys connection), but this jangly gem--somewhere between Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd & the early Bee Gees--holds up.

2000 Great Songs #1098: The Momur. By the early 80s, Adrian Belew was everywhere--playing with Bowie & Talking Heads, fronting a new King Crimson. This cut from his solo debut perfectly captures his hyperactive (yet catchy!) silliness and guitar pyrotechnics.

I took a run at naming 10 definitive Death Cab For Cutie tracks on the latest Toppermost. Plenty of room for debate, of course...

2000 Great Songs #1097: Big Fat Monkey's Hat. 80s Boston indie rockers Scruffy The Cat, with some delightful Americana-flavored jangle-pop, undeservedly lost to history on an out-of-print indie label vinyl compilation, revived here just for you!

2000 Great Songs #1096: Itchycoo Park. The perfect midway point between whimsical British Invasion pop and impending late 60s psychedelia... and one of the first tracks I heard as a kid that opened me up to UK bands beyond the Beatles/Who/Stones/Kinks.

2000 Great Songs #1095: Anxious. 80s British jangle from the Housemartins, who at the time felt like a more cheerful alternative to the Smiths. A perky, jittery tune that still feels kinetic.

2000 Great Songs #1094: Hooray for Tuesday. The Minders, an indie pop act from the 90s Elephant 6 scene, mash up Rubber Soul & XTC, weaving jangly guitar lines and British Invasion-flavored pop into an irresistible earworm.

2000 Great Songs #1093: Mambo Sun. Marc Bolan & T. Rex get slow and slinky, a song that's all about the groove.

Been a bit since I last updated my running playlist of the best music of 2025 (so far). Added recent-ish tracks from the Beths, Superchunk, Tamar Berk, Ryli, Say Sue Me, Wavves, etc. Enjoy!

2000 Great Songs #1092: Dear Friend. Long lost 80s jangle pop band Flying Color only stuck around for one LP, highlighted by this magical, deliriously melodic shoulda-been-a-hit single.

2000 Great Songs #1091: Everyday People. Sly & The Family's Stone's pop crossover hit remains undeniable despite decades of cultural saturation, its quaint egalitarian message all too poignant in the era of the orange turdgoblin's America.

2000 Great Songs #1090: I Don't Know Why I Love You. Shoegaze pop from House of Love--not exactly shaking things up from prior work, but so shimmery and effervescent it's hard not to like.

2000 Great Songs #1089: Don't Let's Start. The deliriously quirky, unforgettable introduction to @tmbg.bsky.social; plenty of nostalgic value as one of those songs we played to death back on the college station, but remains absolutely unique 4 decades later.

2000 Great Songs #1088: Simple. A rollicking riff forms the basis of one of @phish.com's most enduring live showcases, an instance where the inherent silliness of their early lyrics is surprisingly endearing.

2000 Great Songs #1087: Do Ya. Chunky power chord swagger, booming glam packed with testosterone & cowbell--first by The Move, then remade by ELO when Jeff Lynne shuffled over--with a shout-along chorus that's pure early 70s FM radio bombast.

2000 Great Songs #1086: Pink Turns To Blue. Among the relentless din of Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade, Grant Hart crafts a surprisingly effervescent pop song buried in blistering fizz.

2000 Great Songs #1085: Colours. On the 1968 remake, Donovan adds a light psychedelic touch to an earlier folk single, and ends up with one of the great cinematic needle-drops outside of Scorsese.

2000 Great Songs #1084: The Big Sky. Never been a huge Kate Bush fan, but something about this massive, steadily building anthem just feels monumental. The rare example of dated 80s production actually working.

Watertown! In which we kvell about Frank Sinatra's Sgt. Pepper, Led Zeppelin, and the latest dizzyingly peripatetic episode of Andrew Hickey's wondrous @500songspodcast.bsky.social podcast.

I had mixed feelings about Supertramp, but I've always loved their eponymous debut, a cool, jammy, Traffic-like album that's long forgotten--doesn't stream, rarely acknowledged by the band itself. Never too late to check out this lost gem! www.jitterywhiteguymusic.com/2020/03/supe...

2000 Great Songs #1083: My Past Lives. Too Much Joy close out the 80s with some silly guitar bombast that seems to predict every post-grunge mid-90s alt.rock novelty song, a dopey yet fun expansion of Sympathy for the Devil (or We Didn't Start The Fire).

2000 Great Songs #1082: Forever Far Out. I try to avoid recent tracks which have yet to withstand the ravages of time, but DC indie pop act @dotdashdc.bsky.social crafted such a perfect, mixtape-ready jangly power pop track, full of earworm hooks, it was just too hard to resist.

2000 Great Songs #1081: Child Of The Moon. The Stones' brief (and underrated) psychedelic era comes to a close with this wonderfully tuneful ditty, unfairly relegated to a mostly-forgotten b-side.

There is literally nothing quite the unexpectedly pretty lost-in-time pop of Epic Soundtracks. And if you haven't explored the work of this dearly missed artist, here's a Toppermost to help get you started!

2000 Great Songs #1080: Pictures Of You. @thecure.com perfectly meld their darker goth side with their more radio-friendly pop flare, a track endlessly haunting with spine-tingling flourishes yet melodic enough for a more upbeat mixtape.

2000 Great Songs #1079: Suite Judy Blue Eyes. CSN's debut single is one of those lumbering FM dial dinosaurs I astutely avoided in my cooler youth, but have since come around on as a masterclass in harmonies and acoustic guitar dynamics.

2000 Great Songs #1078: Horror Head. 90s UK shoegazers Curve land somewhere between shimmering dream pop and harder-edged menace. Simultaneously pretty and spooky.

2000 Great Songs #1077: The Bitterest Pill. The Jam approach the end of their astounding run, shifting into the blue-eyed soul Paul Weller would pursue with the Style Council & as a solo artist. I never liked that work nearly as much as the Jam, but this somehow slays.

2000 Great Songs #1076: Neat Neat Neat. While I spend a lot less time with The Damned than most of their British punk OG peers, they had some great tracks, and it's hard not to hear this pithy little amphetamine-fueled blast of energy and not get excited.

2000 Great Songs #1075: Sample And Hold. Neil Young's brief electronica phase was divisive, but this one had enough Crazy Horse stomp to outlast the of-the-moment novelty, and songs about robotic lovers still feel strangely current.

When your worlds collide…

2000 Great Songs #1074: My Lucky Day. Textbook example of 90s power pop done right, courtesy of Jason Falkner.

New Releases: @thebeths.bsky.social' 4th LP is out today, and one of the best bands of the past decade is, refreshingly, still awesome. More of the crunchy indie noise pop we've come to expect, tempered with some gentler jangle and hints of sadness around the edges.

Revisiting last week’s spectacular @mymorningjacket.bsky.social Berkeley show as the sun tries to break through over the Bay.

2000 Great Songs #1073: Backsliding Fearlessly. Years before Mott The Hoople's better-known glam/rock hits, @IanHunterdotcom pulled out his throatiest growl and went pure Dylan, Like A Rolling Stone reconsidered as a slow, folkie dirge with a rousing, anthemic refrain.

2000 Great Songs #1072: Lisa Smokes Pot. Taking a break from the usual suspects to share a song off the demo tape recorded by an old college friend's 80s high school band. Introducing... The Volatile Molecules!

2000 Great Songs #1071: Bad Days. The Flaming Lips, at their pivot point from guitar-oriented indie rock to more arty experimentation, create our generation's update to Take This Job And Shove It (Slack Motherf*cker part 2, perhaps).

Album recommendations: I've raved about them before, but if you're a fan of 70s-era McCartney/Wings, you'll love Famous Groupies' sprawling double album Black Apple. Loaded with kitschy baroque pop deeply indebted to Sir Paul (and Emitt Rhodes & late-period XTC).

2000 Great Songs #1070: Bohemian Rhapsody. I largely try to skip the cliched monster hits you find on most lists, but Queen's 1975 chestnut was the first single I ever bought, perfect cheese for a preteen kid just discovering the wonders of pop radio.

New Releases: @superchunk.bsky.social remain on the shortlist of artists still releasing vital work decades into their run. Songs In The Key Of Yikes offers all the horror and resignation one expects from a Trump II-era document, but at least the tunes are catchy!

2000 Great Songs #1069: Police On My Back. Another example of a cover song far surpassing the original, as @theclash.com elevate Eddy Grant & The Equals' catchy but minor freakbeat single into a raging monster of fury & paranoia.

2000 Great Songs #1068: Going Down To Liverpool. First recorded by Katrina & The Waves with ex-Soft Boy Kimberley Rew at the helm, later re-recorded with Katrina on vox. Plus a dynamite Bangles cover. Delightful, chiming power pop in any configuration.

@mymorningjacket.bsky.social at Berkeley’s Greek Theater… nothing compares.

2000 Great Songs #1067: Bad Texan. British neo-psychedelic rockers The Lucid Dream take a dark, dreamy, extended groove and add just enough of a shimmering hook to make you want to dance a bit before blissing out.

New Releases: Just as Pete & Roger hit the road for their "final" farewell tour (43 years after teenage me saw their first farewell tour), The Who open the archives for a peak performance from the Who's Next era.

2000 Great Songs #1066: Made Up In Blue. Deliriously perky New Zealand jangle from The Bats, the sort of catchy, endearing indie pop song that would be #1 with a bullet in a universe where the Feelies were as influential as the Beatles.

2000 Great Songs #1065: Losing True. The Roche sisters once again augment their unique harmonies with some atmospheric Frippertronics courtesy of producer Robert Fripp (on break between King Crimson eras), elevating their gentle folk into something truly haunting and viscerally rich.

2000 Great Songs #1064: Paper Planes. M.I.A. fits squarely in the "not really my thing but had that one cool song" category, and though the Straight To Hell sample is an unfair lure for us Clash fans, the song is relentlessly entertaining on its own.