A good answer would be Seven Nation Army, but there were a lot of other great rockers released.


Boulevard of Broken Dreams, In the End, Chop Suey,

1. The Middle / Jimmy Eat World - This pretty much defines the 2000s in rock from head to toe.  It's an emo song with enough pop punk sensibilities that it appealed to all sorts of people.

2. How You Remind Me / Nickelback - One of the only #1 rock songs the entire decade, and the first in a long streak of pop-post-grunge hits that made Nickelback inescapable this decade.

3. Boulevard of Broken Dreams / Green Day - This almost made it to #1, but was easily one of the most played rock songs of the year.

4. Girlfriend / Avril Lavigne - Avril Lavigne was one of the quintessential figures of 2000s pop culture, and this #1 hit represents her best.

5. It's Not Over / Daughtry - American Idol was a core part of 2000s culture, and Daughtry was easily the most successful male Idol alumna.  Unsurprisingly, this breakthrough single of his bears a huge resemblance to Fuel's 2000 song Hemorrhage (which was considered Daughtry's best Idol performance), but it also represents 2000s rock music to the core.

6. The Reason / Hoobastank - Hoobastank had a few other popular songs besides this in the 2000s, but this one was particularly ubiquitous in 2004, blurring the lines between pop and post-grunge more than ever before or since.

7. Numb / Linkin Park - In my opinion, people overestimate Linkin Park's influence on 2000s rock, as despite the group's incredible success during the decade, their first two albums were solid millennial era DJ-influenced rap-rock.  Minutes to Midnight took a drastically different stylistic direction, even though it only came out in 2007.  I went with this song because it's basically Meteora's equivalent to In the End and has less rapping than that track.

8. Here Without You / 3 Doors Down - 3 Doors Down appealed not only to top 40 radio fans, but also soldiers and veterans of the Iraq War.

9. Clocks / Coldplay - One of the most overplayed songs of the decade, though not for reasons unwarranted.

10. B.Y.O.B. / System of a Down - Nu-metal was an integral part of the 2000s rock scene, and System of a Down were the most successful group of this category.  This explosive song not only made the top 20 (which not even anything from Toxicity could achieve), but also perfectly reflects the political attitudes of the time.  All of the tough, cool kids I knew growing up in Southern California absolutely raved this song back when it came out.

Other notable songs:
- Lips of an Angel / Hinder
- Seven Nation Army / The White Stripes
- Somebody Told Me / The Killers
- Sugar, We're Going Down / Fall Out Boy
- I Miss You / blink-182
- Bat Country / Avenged Sevenfold
- Chasing Cars / Snow Patrol
- Last Nite / The Strokes
- Take Me Out / Franz Ferdinand

Definitely Numb by Linkin Park.

All Star by SmashMouth define The 2000s just as much as it does Shrek.

ThreeDaysGrace - I Hate Everything About You. This song defined early YouTube AMV's.

Evanescence - Bring Me To Life

Taproot - Poem

ThreeDaysGrace - Animal I Have Become

There is one more I remember in my head, but don't feel like searching for it.

Linkin Park is probably the most quintessential rock band of the 2000s, so yeah Numb!!!

All Star by SmashMouth define The 2000s just as much as it does Shrek.

Smash Mouth was strictly a millennial era band.  They first caught on in 1997 with Walkin' on the Sun and then vanished after I'm a Believer from the Shrek soundtrack.  Their 2001 album produced no hit singles of its own, and their 2003 follow-up Get the Picture? went entirely unnoticed by the public.  Not to mention, All Star was originally a big hit in 1999, and it sure sounds like it, what with its chirpy melody and constant DJ scratches.  Which reminds me, why do so many people, when considering the "2000s," always bring up stuff from 1999, while simultaneously believing the 90s continued until 2003/2004?

Smash Mouth was strictly a millennial era band.  They first caught on in 1997 with Walkin' on the Sun and then vanished after I'm a Believer from the Shrek soundtrack.  Their 2001 album produced no hit singles of its own, and their 2003 follow-up Get the Picture? went entirely unnoticed by the public.  Not to mention, All Star was originally a big hit in 1999, and it sure sounds like it, what with its chirpy melody and constant DJ scratches.  Which reminds me, why do so many people, when considering the "2000s," always bring up stuff from 1999, while simultaneously believing the 90s continued until 2003/2004?


Wait, why does a song need to be a hit to define a era? I had no idea All Star was release in 1999 since I first heard it in Shrek. I just go by the sound. All Star sound incredibly 2000s to me. I can't say 2004, but 90s influence did last until 2003.

Wait, why does a song need to be a hit to define a era? I had no idea All Star was release in 1999 since I first heard it in Shrek. I just go by the sound. All Star sound incredibly 2000s to me. I can't say 2004, but 90s influence did last until 2003.


It peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1999.  And how is the track incredibly 2000s?  It has all the elements of millennial era pop, which mostly vanished by 2002.  Those constant DJ scratches and drum shuffles are hallmark traits of late 90s/very early 2000s pop, going as far back as 1997 with Hanson's Mmmbop and Sugar Ray's Fly, and continuing with songs like Vitamin C's Smile, Britney Spears' (You Drive Me) Crazy, Limp Bizkit's Nookie, and LFO's Summer Girls.  Once the Neptunes became popular, this style started to sound passé, with the exception of Linkin Park.  It shouldn't be of any surprise that Smash Mouth rose and fell in tandem with the teen pop and rap/rock movements of the late 90s and beginning of the 2000s.

It peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1999.  And how is the track incredibly 2000s?  It has all the elements of millennial era pop, which mostly vanished by 2002.  Those constant DJ scratches and drum shuffles are hallmark traits of late 90s/very early 2000s pop, going as far back as 1997 with Hanson's Mmmbop and Sugar Ray's Fly, and continuing with songs like Vitamin C's Smile, Britney Spears' (You Drive Me) Crazy, Limp Bizkit's Nookie, and LFO's Summer Girls.  Once the Neptunes became popular, this style started to sound passé, with the exception of Linkin Park.  It shouldn't be of any surprise that Smash Mouth rose and fell in tandem with the teen pop and rap/rock movements of the late 90s and beginning of the 2000s.


Really. I can't explain. Its just me. I don't go into the Millennial era pop debt as much as I like the detail. I just see the Late 90s as the Late 90s, Early 2000s as Early 2000s. We all have different perspectives. I'm sorry if its a big deal to you.

Really. I can't explain. Its just me. I don't go into the Millennial era pop debt as much as I like the detail. I just see the Late 90s as the Late 90s, Early 2000s as Early 2000s. We all have different perspectives. I'm sorry if its a big deal to you.


Despite not even belonging to the same millennium as each other, 1999 and 2000 are actually extremely similar years for popular culture, with music being no exception.  Both years represented the peak of millennial-era teen pop, rap/rock, nu-metal, latin pop, and DJ-influenced drumbeats.  Significant change didn't start rolling in at a fast rate until 2001, when teen pop and rap/rock began to fade out, Britney Spears became an adult, the Neptunes emerged as the dominant top 40 producers, second wave pop punk expanded beyond blink-182's Enema of the State, Ja Rule grew popular, Nickelback's How You Remind Me went to #1, and The Strokes released Is This It.  It's because of all these developments that I have trouble categorizing songs like All Star with most of the early 2000s.  The early 2000s had a lot of roots from the 2000/2001 school year but were really dominant from September 11, 2001 to about the end of 2003 in particular.

Sometimes it's really, really hard to resist correcting people on what actually happened during the Y2K era (which I still insist that the core years are the entire years of 1998-2002) by posting a million links. Really hard. Especially on Pop Punk. I was apart of that scene back in the day and most of you guys get wrong what actually happened back then.

I believe most songs that Linkin Park made during the 2000s defined the decade.

1. The Middle / Jimmy Eat World - This pretty much defines the 2000s in rock from head to toe.  It's an emo song with enough pop punk sensibilities that it appealed to all sorts of people.

2. How You Remind Me / Nickelback - One of the only #1 rock songs the entire decade, and the first in a long streak of pop-post-grunge hits that made Nickelback inescapable this decade.

3. Boulevard of Broken Dreams / Green Day - This almost made it to #1, but was easily one of the most played rock songs of the year.

4. Girlfriend / Avril Lavigne - Avril Lavigne was one of the quintessential figures of 2000s pop culture, and this #1 hit represents her best.

5. It's Not Over / Daughtry - American Idol was a core part of 2000s culture, and Daughtry was easily the most successful male Idol alumna.  Unsurprisingly, this breakthrough single of his bears a huge resemblance to Fuel's 2000 song Hemorrhage (which was considered Daughtry's best Idol performance), but it also represents 2000s rock music to the core.

6. The Reason / Hoobastank - Hoobastank had a few other popular songs besides this in the 2000s, but this one was particularly ubiquitous in 2004, blurring the lines between pop and post-grunge more than ever before or since.

7. Numb / Linkin Park - In my opinion, people overestimate Linkin Park's influence on 2000s rock, as despite the group's incredible success during the decade, their first two albums were solid millennial era DJ-influenced rap-rock.  Minutes to Midnight took a drastically different stylistic direction, even though it only came out in 2007.  I went with this song because it's basically Meteora's equivalent to In the End and has less rapping than that track.

8. Here Without You / 3 Doors Down - 3 Doors Down appealed not only to top 40 radio fans, but also soldiers and veterans of the Iraq War.

9. Clocks / Coldplay - One of the most overplayed songs of the decade, though not for reasons unwarranted.

10. B.Y.O.B. / System of a Down - Nu-metal was an integral part of the 2000s rock scene, and System of a Down were the most successful group of this category.  This explosive song not only made the top 20 (which not even anything from Toxicity could achieve), but also perfectly reflects the political attitudes of the time.  All of the tough, cool kids I knew growing up in Southern California absolutely raved this song back when it came out.

Other notable songs:
- Lips of an Angel / Hinder
- Seven Nation Army / The White Stripes
- Somebody Told Me / The Killers
- Sugar, We're Going Down / Fall Out Boy
- I Miss You / blink-182
- Bat Country / Avenged Sevenfold
- Chasing Cars / Snow Patrol
- Last Nite / The Strokes
- Take Me Out / Franz Ferdinand


These were pretty much the same songs that I was going to mention. "The Middle" (despite being an early 00's hit) was a hugely important song in setting the stage for the popularity of Emo in the middle part of the decade, while the massive popularity of "Sugar, We're Goin Down" helped to solidify the genre in 2005.

"Last Nite" by The Strokes has become kind of a forgotten pivotal 00's song. The incredible hype that song received in late 2001/early 2002 (mostly from music critics that were tiring of the domination of mainstream Rock by Nu Metal and Post-Grunge) led a whole slate of other groups lumped into the "Garage Rock" genre to rocket up the charts in the early and mid 00's, including The White Stripes, The Bravery, The Killers, early Kings of Leon, and The Libertines just to name a few. It's honestly kind of amazing just how quickly The Strokes fell off the map, though. I remember people on MTV in late 2001 calling them the "next Nirvana", and basically saying that they would single-handedly be the saviors of real guitar based Rock music. But, by the time their second album came out in 2003, they had, in many ways, already become an afterthought.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned "I Write Sins, Not Tragedies" by Panic at the Disco. That song was a pretty big hit back in 2005 and was integral to the Emo scene.