According to ABC News, Britian’s Q magazine recently published the twenty most important songs in the last two decades, and guess which song took number one? Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
And no, I’m not kidding. Here’s the video in case you’ve never seen it:
I would never write a disparaging comment about the grunge movement; after all, Nirvana did dethrone Right Said Fred’s “I’m Too Sexy” from the Billboard Charts, but quite truthfully, the best thing to come out of the whole thing was “The Foo Fighters.” I understand that Nirvana helped shine a light on the disenfranchised and apathetic youth of my generation, but the whole angst-ridden lyrics got old real quick. Rock has yet to shake off that irritating lyrical trend. Staind, I’m lookin’ at you.
My pick for the best single in the last twenty years? Tenacious D’s “Tribute.”
Calm down””hear me out.
Musically it’s an important song because it brought Metal back into the spotlight, even though it’s really not a metal song. Like any timeless song, it’s epic in scope, and even more importantly, it prominently features Jack Black’s rock-hard, tasty abs glistening in the sun. Dave Grohl also makes a cameo as the Devil, and Ben Stiller shows up as well.
And if all that doesn’t qualify “Tribute” as the most important song in the past two decades, we shouldn’t forget that JB specifically proclaims the song as “the greatest and best song in the world.” So there’s that.
Here’s the video: