Download the 2003 mix.

I remember the first time I heard "Hey Ya." I had already heard the original first singles ("She Lives in My Lap" and "Ghettomusik" were posted on the Arista website) a number of times, and I had been somewhat disappointed in the Andre song; a little too much Prince. I was searching for two new Speakerboxx songs, new single "The Way You Move" and "Church" (which, in my opinion, turned out to be the best song on the album) when I came across "Hey Ya," the now first single from The Love Below. The guitars took me by surprise, and the hand claps were simply shocking. Outkast making pop? I had no idea the song would blow up the way it did, but it's catchiness is immediately obvious. It's a fantastic song, and the first real monster on any of these mixes.

The rest of this mix is not exactly made up of runner ups. An easy observation to make from these two mixes is that pop had a much better year in 2003. "In Da Club," "Seven Nation Army," "Move Your Feet," "Ignition (Remix)," is there any pop genre that did not have a smash? Add on to that the dance punk fad, some My Bloody Valentine-like electronic tracks and that excellent Johnny Cash cover, and you've got a really spectacular set of songs.

Some songs I left off: Killer Mike: A.D.I.D.A.S., Alicia Keys: If I Ain't Got You, Radiohead: There There, and anything from Shine a Light, Lemon of Pink, and Greetings From Michigan. I also decided to ignore crunk, though I know it is a big omission. Perhaps this will be addressed in the 2005 mix (possibly with a song from Hustle and Flow). For now, get your crunk on Mtv like everyone else does.

If you have comments, suggestions, or complaints, please don't hesitate to post them below.

1. Hey Ya! - Outkast - 3:55
2. Such Great Heights - The Postal Service - 4:26
3. Jacknuggetted - Manitoba - 3:29
4. Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes - 3:51
5. Milkshake - Kelis - 3:06
6. Crazy in Love - Beyoncé - 3:55
7. Ignition (Remix) - R Kelly - 3:09
8. Slow - Kylie Minogue - 3:14
9. In Da Club - 50 Cent - 3:13
10. Lucky Star (Feat Dizzee Rascal - Basement Jaxx - 4:31
11. Move Your Feet - Junior Senior - 3:01
12. House of Jealous Lovers - The Rapture - 5:05
13. Me and Guiliani Down by the Schoolyard - !!! - 9:04
14. Maps - Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 3:39
15. Hurt - Johnny Cash - 3:38
16. He War - Cat Power - 3:31
17. Bird Stealing Bread - Iron And Wine - 4:21
18. Run Into Flowers - M83 - 4:09
19. She Moves She - Four Tet - 4:41

Let's see how this goes, shall we?

2004

Last year was pretty decent, though there weren’t any seriously huge singles. There were a few difficult choices: picking “Jesus Walks” over “Slow Jamz,” putting a Danger Mouse remix over a Black Album original, and “Dry Your Eyes” over “Fit But You Know It.” There are a few lesser known songs on here, most notably Mirah’s “Jerusalem” which displays the Indie rock/Folk crossover nicely, and Wiley’s “What You Call It,” which is a great track about the difficulty in naming Grime/Garage/Eskibeat/2-Step/Urban.

I originally had “Banquet” on here, since it was technically released in 2004 and was a huge hit in Britain, but I’m American so I’ll hold onto that track for this year.

Some other notable tracks I left off: Ghostface: Run, Fabolous: Breathe, Annie: Heartbeat, and Usher: Yeah! I hate that last song almost as much as I hate: J-Kwon: Tipsy.

The basic gist here is if you have suggestions or complaints, post them below. Be kind, as I am but one man, and I'm not pretending to have a final word on all music that is important.

1. Can't Stand Me Now - The Libertines - 3:23
2. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) - The Arcade Fire - 5:12
3. Jesus Walks - Kanye West - 3:13
4. Jerusalem - Mirah - 2:20
5. Dry Your Eyes - The Streets - 4:31
6. Oceania - Björk - 3:24
7. Mosh - Eminem - 5:17
8. Why (Remix) - Jadakiss feat. Styles P, Common, & Nas - 4:02
9. Boulevard Of Broken Dreams - Green Day - 4:20
10. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand - 3:56
11. Ladyflash - The Go! Team - 4:09
12. Toxic - Britney Spears - 3:24
13. Galang - M.I.A. - 3:27
14. Float On - Modest Mouse - 3:29
15. Drop It Like It's Hot - Snoop Dogg - 4:26
16. Dirt Off Your Shoulder - DJ Danger Mouse - 3:59
17. All Caps - Madvillian - 2:10
18. What You Call It - Wiley - 3:17
19. The Rat - The Walkmen - 4:27
20. Your Cover's Blown - Belle & Sebastian - 6:03

UPDATE: Here is the Chris Martin version of "Dry Your Eyes" for replacement.

Mix By Year

Here are the rules:

1. Each mix must only include songs from the specified year. In the cases where a song came out one year but became popular in a different year, the correct year is arguable.

Ex: The Hives' Veni, Vidi, Vicious was released in 2000. However, the song "Hate To Say I Told You So" was not a huge success until 2002, during the rock revival. This song will be on the 2002 mix.
However, "Cry Me a River," from Justin Timberlake's Justified was released in 2002, yet did not become a single until 2003. Since the record was out in 2002, people were talking about it, and the only reason it did not become a single until 2003 is that they wanted "Like I Love You" to get time as the first single. Therefore, "Cry Me a River" will be on the 2002 mix.

2. There are five main ways in which songs will be evaluated for inclusion:

a) Quality.

The most important measure, quality is also the most subjective. Many people will object to some of the inclusions on this ground, just as while I recognize the importance of the song, I will never have "Get Ur Freak On" on any mix of mine.

b) Cultural importance.

This includes popularity which places the song in the collective memory of the public ("Hey Ya"), but it also includes major trends (The Rapture's "House of Jealous Lovers").

c) Influential sounds.

This will become more important as the mixes get older, but generally this includes songs that will affect musical trends in future years. Dizzee Rascal's "I Luv U" is a good recent example of this.

d) Stand-alone strength.

There will be times when it will be tempting to include a song simply because the record surrounding it is so strong. This is will be avoided as much as possible, as the purpose of this mix is not to create a sampler, but rather a collection of singles which represents a specific time.

e) Broadness of genre.

It is a goal of this project to include as many important genres as can be included in an 80 minute cd (this is a specific reference to the length of many dance songs). I'm aware that there are hundreds of musical genres that I'm not aware of, and so it can be clearly understood that the purpose of this project is to create mixes that represent the popular and critical opinion of American music listeners. Genres will be ignored if it can be legitimately argued that there is no case for true development and attention.

3. All mixes will be posted here, after which there will be an amount of time for people to respond to the mix and suggest alterations. Eventually, the final mix will be constructed and reposted.

4. Any of these rules can be broken when I feel like it.