I love it but I hate the taste



16. All My Life by Foo Fighters

-Here is a song that sounds 100x better live than it does on the album ... even though the album version still slaps pretty hard. Low or Times Like These might have had a case, but All My Life always kicks off their live sets and its impossible to not hear the song without getting extra hyped. Just one of those songs that needs to be LOUD.

I like Times Like These more though All My Life is decent.

Gonna have you naked by the end of this song



15. Rock Your Body by Justin Timberlake

-Song wise, I go back and forth with this and Cry Me A River as the best song from this album, but since this is a 2002 chart I'll give the nod to the better video. Plus, I remember not wanting to like Justin's solo album back in the day, resisting Cry and Like I Love You (featuring Clipse!) but Rock Your Body is pictured next to "ear worm" in the dictionary and won me over. Would have to be a real hater to continue insisting this song is nothing special.

Nail in my hand from my creator



14. Show Me How To Live by Audioslave

-Audioslave was a supergroup featuring Soundgarden's Chris Cornell on vocals and Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morrello on guitar. This first album is very badass, also featuring the likes of Cochise and Like A Stone (which I saw Serj Tankien perform at Sonic Temple 2019 as a tribute to Chris ... RIP ... but at the same time Chris killing himself also triggered Chester to kill himself so maybe slightly less peace than usual?)

Do you care if I don't know what to say?



13. There Is by Boxcar Racer

-Boxcar Racer is Tom + Travis from Blink-182. At first I was all like "who cares if Mark isn't there?" but damn does this song hit the feels during the chorus. Feels wrong to leave it out of the top ten ... but once again there's just nothing else to move down.

Forgot that existed, though it sounds mostly inseparable from the Tom Blink 182 songs. I Feel So is solid too.

Suddenly, suddenly I don't feel so insecure anymore



12. The Hell Song by Sum 41

-I remembered this video being in stop motion but the real thing is so much better ... well for Sum 41 that is - kings of goofy music videos.

I don't know where the sun beams end and the star lights begin, its all a mystery



11. Fight Test by The Flaming Lips

-This is the very last song on the list that I didn't hear until later in life. It was during my dorming days in college and I'm quite glad that I saved it till then, even if it was unintentional. This whole album is something else, featuring the also excellent "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots" and "Do You Realize." It might even end up being #1 on the other side of the charts!

If I could fall into the sky



10. A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton

-Another iconic music video, but should it be? I mean, she's talking about walking a thousand miles but in reality its just her magic piano doing all the work. I guess it could be like a vehicle from the flinstones, but then why is it moving sideways? I need answers. Or I could just shut up and listen to an awesome song.

You were everything i wanted, but I just can't finish what I started



9. My Friends Over You by New Found Glory

-A very rare anthem for male to female friendzoning. Though I guess from the girl's point of view the whole thing could be blamed on immaturity. Might take some mental gymnastics to get around the "no room left here on my back" line.

Unexpectedly busy day, but that might've been a good thing cause the montony was getting to the point where I would need to formulate a plot or end up in jail or shot. And its not quite time for that yet. So just gonna take the day off here and come back strong tomorrow with the entire top 8!

Your lipstick, his collar, don't bother angel. I know exactly what goes on



8. Cute Without The E by Taking Back Sunday

-What an epic and unforgettable opening line! Gets the people going. The fall of 2002, also known as the emosplosion, had people in a strange state of mind. 9/11 will do that to you, though at the time this kind of music wasn't treated seriously at all. Weird times.

Is it worth it, can you even hear me?



7. The Taste Of Ink by The Used

-Unrelated to 2002 since it happened in like 2018, but this is my best karoake performance ever. Not an easy song to sing either! Bert does it effortlessly, as with the many other memorable tracks from this album that played consistenly throughout my first year in high school.

Its a damn cold night



6. I'm With You by Avril Lavigne

-Even though Avril is known for the pop-punk / riotgrrl in the mall style, on half of her albums it is a ballad that stands out as the best song (IWY, Dare to Love Me, Head Underwater vs Take Me Away, Runaway, Smile.) The million dollar question - is this the same Avril or was she replaced?????

There's a heavy dose of emo music to start your day (well most of you are probably closer to the day ending ... but you get what I mean.) Will the genre stay dominant into the top 5???


...No, it will not. But 4 out of the top ten aint bad!

Top 5 coming soon!

That's your Avril pick? Plus you didn't mention her best ballad of all time, When You're Gone

Cute Without the E is definitely an emo classic

This life is more than just a read through



5. Can't Stop by Red Hot Chili Peppers

-This video is a lot sillier than I remember ... I had completely forgot about the camera going through the hose for the epic opening riff. But honestly its as it should be. Lots of great choices from the By The Way album, but Can't Stop wins cause of that riff.

If IWY didnt exist I probably would've gone with Losing Grip over Complicated and Sk8er Boi ... though I do love those songs too.

We get some rules to follow, that and this, these and those



4. No One Knows by Queens Of The Stone Age

-So for alot of these new (for me in 2002) bands, I needed some time to warm up to them. Not Queens of the Stone Age. I saw their name in rollingstone, checked out this song and was instantly hooked. I wonder if Flava'd in 2000 would have had the same reaction to the legendary "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer."

Can I break away? Push me away, make me fall, just to see the other side of me



3. Downfall by TrustCompany

-This one goes out to 8th grade Flava'd cause this band never came up again in my life lol. But damn, this was my song back in the summer of 02. Got me so hyped whenever it came on the radio or MTV (on the late night rock-block of course, TC never got on TRL.) I might have even bought the cd for $15!

Can't Stop is definitely one of their best songs

Top 2 - Lose Yourself and idk, a Wilco song? Hopefully not Work It. I think you wouldn't rate alt rockers like 3 Doors Down this high unless it was Kryptonite's year.

Hmm I totally forgot about 3 Doors Down but Here Without You probably deserves to be on here somewhere. Great song.

Definitely not Missy though I do like Get Your Freak On from her 01 (I think?) album.

Wilco is kinda close in one way but pretty far off in others.

A trouble that can't be named, a tiger's waiting to be tamed



2. Clocks by Coldplay

-The Scientist had always been my favorite Coldplay song until I finally got to see them live a couple years ago. Clocks live is ... magical. Such a powerful piano riff that feels unique and inspirational. The lyrics could also be taken as inspirational, or they could just be downright depressing. I love the contradiction in line with the melody, which also could be heard as beautiful or haunting.

No real point in delaying any further since #1 is super obvious so lets get to it!

There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti



1. Lose Yourself by Eminem

-Eminem was the hero we needed in 2002. All institutions we trusted had failed us in the previous year. Yet here is our reliable antihero Eminem coming back with one of the best albums ever ... and he was like "you know, I'ma hold this one back for my movie." How crazy is that? This song that has meant for much for so many debuted in a freakin movie trailer lol.

I listed this as my #3 favorite of all time back in 2017 on my GOAT list. Not sure if it would be in the same place, a revival of that one will be saved for a few years from now, but here's what I had to say back then:

"Peak Shady! So I have three defining moments for this song. After slaying the music world with The Eminem Show, Em completed his all-timer year with a crossover the likes of Mayweather v McGregor, the semi-autobiographical movie 8 Mile. I was already sold on it being a huge fan, but I think the rest of the world got on board when they first dropped this track in the trailer. I was hyped and when the full song was finally released, we all sat in marvel. The best movie song ever instantaneously, and maybe the best Eminem song ever? Yes, but we couldn't have known that at the time. That trailer with this song opened the movie to 50 million in 2002. Think of all the movies that failed to hit $50m total this summer. It was insanity over on the box office mojo forums (RIP.) Next came 92.3 Xtreme Radio's top 92 songs of 2002 New Years Eve countdown. Eminem was so huge in 2002 that even the rock stations had to start playing him. I wasn't expecting much from Lose Yourself since it was so recent, but I was expecting "Without Me" to chart very high seeing as how it did so well on the daily countdown in the summer. Well it landed at #33 and you can imagine 2002 Flava'ds disappointment. I love "Creatures (For Awhile)" by 311 but how could that beat every Eminem song. Well it is a rock station after all, but then, to the shock of the world (of Cleveland rock fans) Lose Yourself clocked in at #2!! You can be sure that I fist pumped in the air. "Aerials" by System of a Down was #1 and that song is great too, so I won't wear the grudge like a crown. Lastly came the Oscars, which Em refused to perform on cause they didn't want him to swear or something. I was hoping, though not optimistic, but that hope was rewarded with a freakin win! Now its 2017, 8 Mile is mostly forgotten, Xtreme Radio is long gone and the oscars haven't produced such a deseving winner since (well maybe ROTK for BP.) Lose Yourself lives on though. It is such a powerful song, both sonically and lyrically. The beat is hard and Eminem flows at the speed of light. And while the song is mostly describing the last scene of the movie, its deep enough to apply to anybody who is looking for that one life changing. Eminem is trying his best to prepare us for that crucial moment, but its up to us to not let it slip."

Most of that is still true, except for the dig at the oscars since they've done a decent job lately lol.

You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow, this opportunity comes once in a lifetime