I did not plan to make this, or any of the volumes to follow (two more, at least). I was just thinking to myself that this was the first time in a long time that I didn’t have to, or even want to, put a decade-end list together, and the feeling left me a bit wistful but mostly relieved. And then, strangely, inspired. 

So I grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and jotted down any song I could think of from the 2010s. Then I moved that list into a spreadsheet. Before I knew it, I had about 150 songs. I started cutting and paste from one column to another, and within about 30 minutes, the bones of this show were finished. Adjust some volume levels and a couple transitions, and boom, it was finished. I’ll never again make a two-hour show this quickly.

Track listing, for the curious: 

1. Franz Ferdinand — Always Ascending
2. Django Django — Default
3. Arcade Fire — Everything Now
4. The Rubens — Hallelujah
5. Foster the People — Houdini
6. Miike Snow — The Heart of Me
7. The Weeknd — Secrets
8. CHVRCHES — Lies
9. Hey Champ — Shake
10. New Order — Tutti Frutti
11. Tame Impala — Let It Happen
12. Duran Duran — Face for Today
13. OMD — The Future Will Be Silent
14. White Lies — Is Love
15. Kaiser Chiefs — Cannons
16. Ride — Cali
17. Death Cab for Cutie — Doors Unlocked and Opened
18. Johnny Marr — Back in the Box
19. My Chemical Romance — Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)
20. Muse — Reapers
21. IAMDYNAMITE — Stereo
22. The Like — He’s Not a Boy
23. Twenty One Pilots — Heavydirtysoul
24. Charli XCX — Break the Rules
25. Alphabeat — I Don’t Know What’s Cool Anymore
26. Panic! At the Disco — Don’t Threaten Me with a Good Time
27. LSD — Genius
28. Emily Haines — Fatal Gift
29. Florence + the Machine — Delilah

Volume II will arrive shortly. It’s a lot poppier than this one, and I make up for that on Volume III. 

Thank you, as always, for listening, and have a great rest of the year, everyone. 

 

About the Author

David Medsker

David Medsker used to be "with it." But then they changed what "it" was. Now what he's "with" isn't "it," and what's "it" seems weird and scary to him. He is available for children's parties.

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