top 12

I don't often indulge in Vh1 shows of any kind mostly because I didn't have access to Vh1 for the last several years of my life. But then you're flipping through channels with your homemade margarita and a big bowl of pasta with a lot of pesto, and you can't help but unmute the tv. Especially when it's the top 100 songs of the 00's. My jams. I grew into the person I would BECOME as a result of this music. Change your life, change your day, change your attitude, change your mind music. Music I fell in love to, music I wept to, music I grew to, music I handed to people with confidence that they too would be changed because of, music that can only be appreciated when hearing at just the right moment, usually really loud, sometimes at a wedding or on a dance floor or in your car or on a plane with your headphones in. I can't show 100 videos on my blog, but some were so formative in my music appreciation that I have to post the most epic 12. Please take a moment to enjoy at least 25 seconds of each song. I will say - not all of these are songs were my favorite or the best, but they played a huge role in ages 12-20 for Stephanie Parker, and it is likely that some of them did the same for you.

1. Beautiful Day:
The heart is a bloom. You hear this and feel like someone who finally gets poetry after never understanding anything William Blake or Lord Byron was saying in your high school English classes. I can't really explain the power of U2; even a sarcastic, cynical, pop-music loving middle schooler like me heard this song and was moved to tears. It has continued to stir something up in me every time I've heard it since, and I never get tired of it. It reminds me of growing up and learning to embrace life as is.




2. Since U Been Gone:
I don't want to say you have to be drunk and white to fully experience this song, but it might be true. Or just like a girl. I don't care if you are super indie and have never heard of Kelly Clarkson, you've heard this song and jammed to it. You've done this and felt empowered as a woman whether or not you recently got dumped. I mean, you may find me and my husband singing this song at the top of our lungs if it comes on and strikes our fancy.


3. Empire State of Mind:
No words. This song is a masterpiece. People from every realm - famous people, athletes, different nationalities, people from the city, people from the back woods in Mississippi, this song strikes a nerve.


4. Lose Yourself:
I don't even know what to say. "His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy..." you're already getting pumped up to in the beginning; I feel like pastors have at one point listened to this before they preached, boxers have practiced to this, ballerinas have warmed up to it, and moms have rapped their whole way through it in their mini van on the way to pick up kids from school. It's just that good.


5. Poker Face:
Sophomore year of college, this song hit me like a ton of bricks on a car trip with one of my room mates, and I couldn't get it out of my head. That's why this song is what it is. You'll be singing it tomorrow. Go ahead and push play. Then tell me you're not singing it tomorrow.


6. Gold Digger:
As I navigated my way through Rap and R&B, looking for the good stuff in high school, I remember my young life leaders recommending this song on the bus home from Windy Gap in North Carolina. These influential persons shall remain nameless. I took notes though, and I remember this song, Get Your Freak On, and Dirt Off Your Shoulder were among their suggestions. Also Chicken Noodle Soup. See #10. As Vh1 noted, "even gold diggers were rocking out to this song saying, "yo he wrote this song for me!" Good point.


7. Yeah!:
If you can get away with a chorus being "yeah" and it being played at every wedding up to 15 years since its release, you've got a hit. This song broke me down when I was convinced rap was for heathens. I also decided then and there to never question what the words meant - I just wanted to memorize them. Especially that one line, "She asked for one more dance and I'm like yeah, how the hell am I supposed to leave?" In 2004 I might have said "how the h", but oh well.


8. Single Ladies:
Cliche maybe, but you can't go an entire 00's list without this song. You just cannot. It changed the face of every wedding bouquet toss and the compatibility of every couple who thought they were better than being single. I have never wanted to be like Beyonce as bad as after I saw this video or thought of any female artist as a goddess until she came up with this brilliance (Crazy in Love and Survivor were close, but this song is her timeless, unitard-endorsing, no-one-will-ever-measure-up hit). Nailed it. We didn't even know what "it" was until she nailed it.


9. Hurt:
This was a song that gave me and every other 17 year old pause as we suddenly realized the beauty of real music and not this other garbage (such as numbers 1-8 and 10-12). We hung our heads at anything we once deemed "epic", wiped a tear from our eyes, and began hunting through our grandparents attics for his "Best Of" albums. Of course soon after, Johnny Cash dies, and we have only Walk the Line to get a mere taste of how fantastic he was. ;)


10. Chicken Noodle Soup:
Not a big one from the '00s, but let's be real. There is no dance like this one, and it's super catchy. This will forever stay on my crappy 2007 iPod until I die...or until it dies, whichever comes first.


11. I Gotta Feeling:
I don't care who you are. This song beckons you to rise. The times when it has been most epic in my life have been at my bestie's 21st birthday party at our house of 9 girls in Knoxville, TN and then at the reception of one of my best friend's weddings right before the bride and groom headed off to their hotel. We had a feeling. And I bet we were right.


12. On Call:
 Back when Kings of Leon was wonderful. Back when I made my discovery of their brilliance, but before Caleb Followill cut his hair and I decided he was adorable...not just because he's from a tiny town in Tennessee. He can sing, y'all. Good stuff too.


The end - that was refreshing, I know.