The Most Meaningful Songs of 2001

ROCK955 Hosts Angi Taylor, Klinger, Marris, Maria Palmer, and Walt Flakus each pick one song that they feel is the most meaningful from 2001.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome once again. It is theRock ninety five five Top five. Yeah,
it is the five of us allin the same room together, giving
our top five each of our favoritesongs from the year two thousand and one.
Everybody got a favorite song from thatyear. I mean it was an
amazing year, right, it wasan amazing Everybody was dropping records in two
thousand and one. It was asad year. There was definitely like a

(00:23):
big switch between like where we werein the nineties and then everything in two
thousand and one kind of changed andit led to a new renaissance in rock
music. So it's gonna be kindof interesting to hear from like grunge to
new metal. Yeah ty yeah,exactly. So it's gonna be interesting to
hear what everybody picked. And everybody'sgot a song, and we're gonna throw
down and we'll see and you guyscan vote online on the instant Instagram.

(00:47):
We're gonna put the poll there andyou can vote for which one you think
of us had the best song oftwo thousand and one. Well, let's
get this thing going. I'm gonnastart over here to my left with ANGI
oh yeah from the Angie Tailor song, Oh Maris is like, get the
hell out of here, all right? So I'm going soft for my two

(01:07):
thousand and one That's no, thatis what she said. You don't ever
want to hear that, but I'mgoing soft. My song from two thousand
and one that I loved was IncubusWish you were here? Oh now,
now a song I didn't realize theIncubus. I was reading about Incubus earlier.

(01:27):
I didn't realize that they were sortof Christian leaning? Is that right?
Did anybody know that? I didnot. I never heard like a
rock rock band, rock band,a little Christian leaning. However, wish
you were here? I loved thatsong. It's sort of always reminded me
of I don't know, just likethe one that wasn't there anymore, Like

(01:48):
it sounded like a beautiful summer morning. Is that cheesy? But music and
gave you then that's great. I'mnot gonna be honest. I was coked
out of my head in two thousandand one, so I think you wouldn't
have been the only one I wrotethat which you were here. It was
probably in my mind, like Iwish your brain was here right now.

(02:08):
But I love I do love Incubus. I love them and I love a
lot of their songs, but wishYou Were Here just is very moody and
for me like kind of one ofthose if I had a convertible, the
top would be down. You're driving, you know, down the street like
the sun is setting. It's beautiful. I love that song they had.
They were definitely on top of theirgame in two thousand and one, coming

(02:30):
after Drive and now this and thenPardon Me, I mean like part of
Me is great, show so manygreat songs from that era. Adding the
turntable stuff in there, Yes,that was very unique sign of the time
thing, and we get to celebratethere too. We're kind of the greatest
Hits tour this summer with playing MountainView and entirety. Yeah. Great.
I love that you brought the turntablepart up of it because, like,

(02:53):
I think it's so cool and rockband's experiment with different instruments that are maybe
not rock centric or you know,throwing a rapper on it or throwing like
just different genres together and Incubus,that was really cool that they did that.
I love that. Do we everfind out who the mustache guy was?
No? And they're not even togetheranymore, are they incubis? Oh,

(03:13):
they are there, but they brokeup for a minute. And on
their album art they had a guywith the mustache. Who is the mustache?
Does he hang out with the Nirvanaguy with the wiener the baby,
the baby, the one that's suingeverybody? Does he hang out with the
B girl. That's a different discussion, which we should spend some time talking

(03:34):
about that guy. Sometimes money grabbingguy. Agreed, Agreed. I in
my mind, the mustache guy ismarried to B girl, you know,
the Bi girl. Yes, byemelon Bie girl. They're they're married and
they have bee babies with mustaches.It's cute, all right. So let's
move on, Clinger. You've gota song from two thousand and one,
What do you Do? I do? And Uh? The song I'm going

(03:58):
to Take is the first single fromthis particular band's third record, which dropped
on nine to eleven two thousand andone. The record actually dropped, and
the record's called Silver Side Up.Oh and Nickelback. So the song is
how You Remind Me Now. It'sinteresting because over the past couple of times

(04:20):
people have made fun of Nickelback,but sure as fuck everybody was in line
to buy that record because they've donesix million here in the States, two
million in Europe, and then soldthat probably another million around the globe.
And I find that interesting because everybodycame to the party for Nickelback, record
after record after record, and Ithink the reason why everybody started then making

(04:43):
fun of them, everybody that ownedthe record, because we all do,
was because it was just oversaturated.We got too much Nickelback. But what's
interesting is Creed is doing the samething. They're Summer of ninety nine and
beyond tour. I think we're allcoming back slowly back to the party and
redisc covering these songs. And Ifeel like how You Remind Me was just

(05:03):
kind of a sign of the times, kind of like incubus, Like these
are now songs and we play howYou Remind Me a lot of radio stations
do, and I just think it'sone of those songs that is like a
just a big like exclamation point inthe ground, nostalgic. Yeah, everything
is going that way. I feellike everybody is like dying for that time

(05:24):
coming back. Yeah, the musictime, like the music was so good.
Yeah, they was. They hadno idea either, because they They
opened for Stabbing Westward at a smallclub in ninety eight I think in Vancouver.
They were the local support band.Why are you bringing up Stabbing Westward
will because because part of the Nickmackstory, Because honestly, but how you

(05:46):
could tell people How You Remind Mewas my second choice, and because I
would would have gone there as well. We were playing a festival I think
outside of Minneapolis in May of twothousand and one, and one of the
guys in the band comes up tome. He's like, hey, man,
good to see you. We openfor you guys at the Star or
whatever it was in Vancouver. I'mlike, oh, cool, what's the

(06:08):
name of your band. We're NickelbackCool. I'm like, so, h
is that that Basilica festival? Sowhat do you What are you up to
right now? You're like, Oh, we just finished recording our new album
and we're dropping our first single nextweek, so we're excited. It's gonna
be pretty cool. I'm like,oh, cool, best of luck to
you. That song was How YouRemind Me. They know, they don't
know. They just did the musicthat was next in their evolution, and

(06:30):
it turned out to be this this, this enormous thing that's set up an
entire decade plus. You know,that's an interesting story because it's this is
kind of a cheesy word to usearound the rock business, but innocence.
It's almost like the conversation he washaving was kind of an innocent way because
they didn't know what was gonna happenwith They didn't know, and now,
of course they won't take my phonecall, but I mean, like,

(06:51):
but nonetheless, it's like it wasawesome and then so I actually felt like,
hey, that's pretty cool that youdid this, and like you had
you know, it's just your naturalprogression. We did a record, it's
coming out, and nobody knew thenthat in three months it was it would
be the biggest record of the yearbecause it was the number one song of
two thousand and one in rock Isit Chad Kroger or Chad Kruger Kruger Ruger

(07:14):
exactly exactly a decade? Well,so I didn't ask you. I asked
him about that earlier in twenty twentythree, I interviewed him again, and
one of the things he said was, when you're doing an interview and you're
getting you know, you're exchanging pleasantriesand stuff. It's the interview is going
really really fast, and when there'sfinally a little time to take a break
ten minutes into the interview, Ididn't then want to go back and say,

(07:35):
you mispronounced mine. I've heard thatfrom a lot of celebrities, so
I don't want to correct people.I don't want to seem rude, but
it's your name. It is.I feel like there are other avenues to
keep that informed, Like he didn'thave like, oh know, a bubbli
sist or a manager or it wenton and on and on for years exactly.
You have never corrected for multiple decades. I'm still calling him Chad Kroger.

(08:00):
Hi, I do want to saythis. I do want to wrap
about how you remind me with this. I feel like the true measure of
a song is how it does overtime, and I feel like, yeah,
twenty three years later, the songis is just incredible. It is
so all the Nickelback haters that claimto be Nickelback haters. I remember when

(08:20):
we were giving away all the Nickelbacktickets here on Rock ninety five to five,
how people were going co razing.But I was like, oh,
you you acted like a hater,but here you are, and they're like,
I love Nickelback, I love Nickelback, and then show him That show
in Tinley Park sold out twenty eightthousand, one of the largest sheds in
the country exactly, and it wasfilled with Nickelback fans, right, So

(08:46):
there closet fans, classic fans comeand made them so damn rich, come
out of the closet. We're hereto support you and bring back the raalmen
noodle hair. It was a goodlook. Wow, it was for sure.
Maris my friend. Yeah, thatlovely year of two thousand and one.
I graduated from eighth grade. You'rea welcome, so I would like

(09:11):
to read a course for you guys. Hold on, Yeah, you get
the snaps. I ain't happy.I'm feeling glad. I got sunshine in
a bag. I'm useless, butnot for long. The future is coming
on The Gorilla is Clint Eastwood.And you got to start with the title

(09:33):
there because it just pulls you in. It's like, why are we talking
about Clint Eastwood and not talking aboutClint Eastwood. Yeah. So it was
just one of those bands that caughtme as part of the MTV generation because
I mean I was in video cartoonsis absolutely amazing, and then just an
amazing song in general, and it'sgot an amazing groove, the vibe that

(09:54):
just laid back, and then theanimation is amazing. Yeah, it's so
good, and that kind of signifiestheir entire career because the animation and all
their videos and all their concerts andstuff, those virtual character reign supreme.
And what I also like is thatDamon is originally from Blur, and Blur

(10:16):
was massive during the eighties, mideighties and early nineties and stuff, and
they he did such a good jobof just starting another band right, and
they are to this day have madeso many badass songs. Yeah, they
continue to be successful. And I'mgoing to just out myself as a terrible
fan. I had no clue whoany of these people were until I went
to see them in concert last year, and I was just like, I

(10:39):
didn't know what a Gorilla's show wasgoing to be in person without the cartoons,
and it was fucking amazing. Wasit like a VR experience? No,
I'm getting the genesis of why youlike because I know Maris It's better
than I know myself at this point. And he liked the cartoon band,
so basically this was like the Muppets, and you were like, yes,

(11:01):
I love it and I love that. The cartoonists pulled me in, and
then it was like this song isa vibe. And then like they kept
putting out the records and I waslike, this is nice. It had
a nice little feel of a raprock starting with the renaissance that we were
talking about Incubius and this new soundand the you insinuating new metal there early
I think there Walt, but yeah, it was just a cool sound at

(11:24):
that time for me. Yeah,I love it. That's a great song,
and it's such a good band.Glad you pulled that one out,
good one. The way they wrotethat song, I don't like that.
The dum dunt dun dun. Thatwas just like a preset on like some
version of the keyboards synth type thing, and then they wrote on top of
that like yeah, I love apiecemeal kind of deal. Love it all,

(11:48):
love it, I love it allright, Maria, you're up.
What do you got to? Forus? Two thousand and one. Two
thousand and one, it was ajam in second grade year For me,
it was really backing out Weezer's hashpipe. Yeah, it's a bad that

(12:09):
Chunky dun't do. And then hetakes the vocals and goes dun that.
We go all the way down coopsjoking a done. When you think he's
gonna stop, he doesn't. Andit's the most badass sounding song written about
gay sex probably ever. There's alot of great songs written about that's a

(12:31):
badass, but that's a badass one. That's a badass song about gay sack.
I love that. I also justread that Rivers Quomo he's like he's
he's very meticulous typically, but withthat song, it was a product of
him like going out and taking shotsof tequila and like riddling and then and
then just like being absolutely bonkers withhis writing, which is why I came

(12:52):
out. So Rivers looks like likeuh Fred Armisen like on call to like,
but weez are so great. Helooks like Buddy Holly, Yeah,
that's you saw. I saw Weezerfor the first time ever at Our iHeartRadio
Alter Ego Festival, and I didn'tknow what to expect from a Weezer concert,

(13:13):
and I was like, well,this might be a lot of nerd
rock rock. Yeah, so good. No, but they like they they
it wasn't just nerd rock. Theykind of meddled out for a little bit.
And then it was amazing because itwas right when they dropped the cover
of Africa from Toto and so tosee like fourteen year old girls screaming their

(13:33):
head off for a Toto Weezer cover, it was like, Wow, this
is awesome. They had a greatset and they played forever and I was
like, well, I forgot howmany bangers Weezer had, but that is
such a great Hashpipe is my favoriteas well. I love it with pork
and Beans coming in second controversial,second choice, pork and Beans. You

(13:56):
do I know, I'm a Weezer, stand it is? I don't know.
So many dorky, fun melodic vibeson that song. She just tried
to rock check her. Yeah.That was during Women's History Month. Discrimination
right, No one is happy Women'sHistory Month. I do love where Rivers

(14:26):
Cuomo writes from because I just readyesterday that uh what Beverly Hills is inspired
by Wilson Phillips because for yeah,because he said sehn, he said,
he said he wanted to wonder whatlife would be like if he were to
marry an established celebrity and then livethat lifestyle. That's what the song is
about. It's like, that's amazing. I had no idea. So,

(14:50):
I mean, I just love howhe tweets. He'll find something very narrow,
just go down that rabbit hole andthere you go. You got a
song like hash Pipe or Beverly Andthey don't the best videos too to say
you have a good a good pointwhere he was on Tequila and Ridlin.
Isn't it interesting how we hang onsome of our favorite songs in the whole
wide world. We just we hangon every word, and it's interesting to

(15:11):
hear them say, oh, wellI was kind of fucked up when I
did it. Yeah, that tome is like artistry, right, I
don't say that's like Also, themajority of rocks One really caught up in
those lyrics like this means so much? And then the artist isn't that awkward
position of like, well, Iwas linked me a lot. I was
trying to like need a deadline forthe label. We've been in the studio

(15:33):
all day, needed one last song, and I went and had a cigarette
or did a bong hit and cameback with these lyrics that's for some sugar
on me shit. Yeah, AndI feel like there it's always that one
like amazing smash from a band whereyou find out that they wrote it in
thirty seconds on the toilet and you'relike, this is a classic amazing song
and you wrote it that fast whereyou really think that, like the whole

(15:54):
process is so deep and I mean, here's the thing is like being a
songwriter in the room, It's likesome of those songs, those the best
songs flow out and they're done.They take no time. If you're banging
and working on something and retooling itthere, it's not it's not going to
probably be that big giant unless it'sBaby Bohemian Rhapsody or something like that.

(16:15):
Yeah, But like you know,a lot of songs, they just happen
like bam, like he split,You record it in half an hour and
everybody's got it the vibe and it'slike wow. Well when you get into
that groove though, as a songwriter, while when you get into that space,
do you sit there and say,all right, I just banged out
this amazing song, Let's do likefive more. Because you're in that groove
where you don't have writer's block orwhatever, or do you just you're like,

(16:37):
oh, I got this one,Like let me do. Trouble with
creativity is it's not there's not alight switch you can sit down and go
like I'm gonna write a great hitright now. You can't do it.
It has to come so like sometimeswhen you are in the in the vibe,
in the mode of all of thatkind of stuff, you have at
it and you write as many asyou can do. Drugs come into play,
not for me, maybe some wine, but well you know, but

(17:00):
that's when I fight with my husband. I would write amazing music. Creativity
already has that item. Yeah,I should hear like the the insults I
come up with when I've had acouple of glasses of wine. But I
can understand how that would be hardto constantly come up with something that you
think is a gem. Yeah,and then you then there comes a point
where you have to like write itfor yourself and hope that other people appreciate

(17:25):
it. You can't sit there.It's it's really hard to manufacture a hit
going like this is going to bea hit. Although that's what I did
with statement, and it's so personaland if somebody doesn't like it. You're
like, but this is my life, this is what's inside me, this
is my brain. Like, Yeah, as the writer of the thirst to
Day jingle, what you're saying isreally resonating with me. I get it.

(17:48):
It's like you really got to putyourself out there and be vulnerable.
You started getting royalties. Yet.First of all, all right, so
speaking of songwriting, what do youthink I pick for my song? Oh?
I figured it was going to bestabbing because two thousand and one was
a big year for your band.Yeah, but now I feel We released

(18:11):
our self titled record, uh,and it had the first single was so
Far Away, which actually was reallykind of a big comeback for us,
even though we didn't really go anywhere, but we were playing some of the
bigger festivals in the alternative world,like HF Festival in at RFK Stadium in
Washington, Weenie Roast in LA.We never played them before, but we

(18:33):
got that level when we played afterwe released that album and so Far Away,
So it was a very big yearfor that. But that's not my
song. Oh damn us, thisis an interesting record, but I played
but we did play with this bandfirst time. I ever saw them was
at that HF Festival at RFK Stadiumin DC, and I was just mesmerized.

(18:56):
They played like two bands after us, so like we played it like
three thirty, they played at fourthirty, which is weird because you think
that band should be headlining. Butthis was when they were just starting out
any ideas, No all right.They put out one of their their debut
album is one of the best debutalbums. It has no fat on it.
It is lean, meaning that thesongs are three minutes and it is

(19:19):
verse chorus, verse chorus, middlesection. Lincoln Park. Yeah put out
Hybrid Theory in October of two thousand, started releasing singles thereafter, and by
two thousand and one they released Ithink it was the third or fourth single.
It was in the End, whichis an amazing song, and it
has turned out to be their greatestsong, their most popular, well known

(19:42):
song. But I mean every songon that record going, you know,
paper cut, crawling, one stepCloser. It's like so many great songs
and all of them are There's nosections that you go like, oh,
that's a little you know, alittle indulgent, and they could cut the
fat. They're little. It wasso impressed by It was just straight solid

(20:03):
start to finish, and I wantedto do that so bad. After that,
listening to that record, it's like, all right, how can we
make these concise songs? But unfortunatelyI always write these epic things that are
seven minutes long. So coming fromthe Pink Floyd school, but I was
always impressed by that Lincoln Park HybridTheory album and in the end, in
the End is an amazing song.Yeah, do you love the Do you

(20:26):
like the jay Z remix? Notas much as I like the original?
Do you like the new Lincoln Parksong friendly Fire? Yeah? It's friendly
Fire? Uh, you know,it's late it's late era it is,
and it sounds like that and Ihave nothing there's nothing wrong with that.
I mean, if you go backto what was the Hunting Party album,
was that? Yeah, it wasa very heavy rock driven record. I

(20:47):
had a conversation with Chester once,going like, Dude, it sounds like
you listen to Ministry and He's justlike, Dude, Ministry my old tone
and it's like, we are kindredspirits with the love of Chicago's very so
it just dropped Like I was justtalking with Chester one time, but it
was but it was about it wasabout that record where he was allowed to

(21:07):
do that. But then after thatthey went on in One More Light,
uh and amazing ballads and what anincredible song that is, but it had
a more pop sensibility to it forthe era. So they've kind of been
able to bounce with the trends andthe phases of music over the past twenty
years. And I respect that,you know, because but there's still always

(21:29):
the core of Mike Shinoda with hisrap and then Chris Chester Bennington with his
amazing voice in his vocals. Yeah. And so we also get paper Cuts
next month, which is their GreatestGreat Sets album, which is going to
be obviously filled with nothing but thegreat I mean, like last year,
one of the one of the biggestsongs a rock and alternative was lost from
the Metiora sessions because it's still thatgreat, and it was cut from the

(21:52):
album, I mean, because theyalready had that sound with Numb, didn't
need another song that sounded like that. They want every song to be a
little different, and so they cutlost and here it comes twenty years later
and it still sounds great, andthat's really incredible to think about because if
it was one of the biggest songson radio last year, like they've been
sitting on that ship for two decades, they forgot about it. Yeah,

(22:12):
and it shows you what kind ofstaying power Like. Yeah, I always
get nervous when they dig something outof the archives because I don't feel like,
all the time it wasn't meant tosee the light of day. Yeah,
and it isn't quality like you expect. And then you're like, eh,
but like the Lincoln Park stuff thatthe rock, Yeah, but when
they dropped friendly Fire a couple ofweeks ago, it kind of makes me

(22:33):
feel like, hey, you know, Lincoln Park is no longer a band,
but you're just I don't know.It's certainly not a cash grab for
them because they don't need it now. So then they go back and they
maybe retool a couple of these songsand say, hey, what do you
guys think, And well, ifit's anything like Lost, we think great
of it, right right, It'llbe interesting to see what friendly Fire does.
Yeah, you know, it's it'sit's great to get that new music.

(22:56):
I mean because so passionate about theband, love all of this stuff
that they put out. Throughout allof the years, and then to get
more when we thought that there wouldn'tbe anymore. To hear Chester's voice still
today amazing. You know what elsein the end, I love the ending
where I mean they it starts kindof mellow and then just crushes it and
then they finished with piano and Ilove it. It's so much drama there

(23:19):
at the very end. It isballet, so much drama. So if
they were on at four point thirty, who headline that show? Oh and
here's the thing. They had itdialed in doing festivals. We did so
many vessels with them that year.They would wheel their amps on these racks,
wheel them right on the stage.They had lights already like strapped to

(23:41):
the amps, so they didn't haveto do anything but plugging a couple of
wires and they had their entire show. And it was amazing. They didn't
have they did, but I meanit was very easy for them. They
knew they were doing a lot ofthese festivals where they didn't have time to
throw throw up their own production orwhatever. So they strapped it to their
amps, wheeled it up up,plugged it in and bam, they had
their own light show. It isreally great, and I respected the fact

(24:03):
that they they had that dialed in. That's so cool. That is cool.
Yeah, so rose, so amazingchoices all around. Thank you.
What we do for the next one, I don't know. We gotta well,
we'll have to talk offline and figureout what year we gonna come back
and do, and then we'll dothis again. Last time was nineteen ninety
one. We did two thousand andone. Here, Oh, we got

(24:25):
to pick one now, I thinkyou want to do it one out?
All right, go for it.We picked one. We got that later.
Can we go as a grown upwhen I had any what if we
did like twenty twelve? Twenty twelve? Have we been bouncing? Is it
a ten year split between them?Well, we've uh do whatever, right,
we can do whatever. This isour podcast. This is a rock

(24:48):
station, you guys. We breakthe rules. I mean there's we haven't
done the eighties either, but don'tget me started on the love to be
good decades for bye. Well,well, we'll talk offline and we'll get
one. But this is the Rockninety five five Top five. Vote for

(25:11):
your favorites on Insta. I loveto get your thoughts on who had the
better song. This is a lotof fun. I love talking music with
you guys. Yeah. I likeyou and it's so good to hear your
stories. Yeah. Well, okay, stabbing West words, look at it
Wall, you're cooler than us,all right, I don't know about that.

(25:33):
All right. We'll be back nextmonth with another decade, or at
least another year, and our favoritesongs from that year on the Rock ninety
five to five Top five. Seeyou then,