‘Vous Avez Dit Bizarre’ N°317 – Vintage 2000s Music Videos

1 . Lady Sovereign – Love Me Or Hate Me

Lady Sovereign’s “Love Me or Hate Me” slaps listeners with a cheeky blend of grime and hip-hop, landing like a rebellious anthem for the mid-2000s misfits.

Released in October 2006 as part of the album *Public Warning*, the single grabs attention through its bold declarations of individuality, touching on topics like body image and class without ever sounding preachy.

The production, courtesy of Dr. Luke, keeps things punchy and accessible, though its commercial polish may rub grime purists the wrong way.

The track etched itself into pop-culture lore, earning top spots on MTV’s *Total Request Live* and appearing in *The O.C.*, *Ugly Betty*, and video games like *Need for Speed: Carbon*.

Its music video, directed by Brian Beltric, plays with absurd visuals, like Sovereign morphing between *Tetris* blocks and bluntly delivering her lyrics—all with a tongue-in-cheek arrogance that charms more than it alienates.

While the Missy Elliott remix injected additional clout and airplay, it’s the unapologetic swagger in Sovereign’s delivery that sticks.

As Def Jam’s first non-American female signee, she sidesteps glamour for grit, a quality that keeps this track memorable even as its beats and boastful chorus age into nostalgia.

Featured on the 2006 album “Public Warning”.

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2 . The Little Ones – Ordinary Song

“Ordinary Song” by The Little Ones plants itself firmly within the fertile ground of late-2000s indie rock, trading in breezy guitar work and buoyant rhythms that feel tailor-made for the golden hour.

The track arrives with a clear mission: to evoke an air of lighthearted nostalgia without bogging itself down in sentimentality.

With its jangly, infectious hooks, it leans closer to a backyard picnic playlist than a moody, introspective think piece.

The vocals, delivered with a straightforward earnestness, sidestep over-polished theatrics, instead opting for something that feels authentically unpretentious—perhaps too much so at times, as the simplicity flirts with tedium during repeat listens.

Yet, the song is saved by its shimmering arrangement, which neatly balances the warm ambition of indie rock with the digestible snap of pop sensibilities.

It’s both accessible and fleeting, the kind of song that lives comfortably in the periphery of memory, inviting listeners to tap along but seldom demanding they lean closer.

While its remixes by X-Press 2 and Electrelane aim to amplify the tune’s carefree energy through dancefloor-ready interpretations, the changing tempos occasionally obscure the original track’s wholesome charm.

Still, these variations underline the tune’s crossover appeal, subtly proving that maybe “Ordinary Song” isn’t as ordinary as its title self-deprecatingly suggests.

The accompanying music video, available on TheLittleOnesVEVO, offers appealingly low-stakes visuals that reinforce the song’s ethos of uncomplicated pleasure.

Overall, it’s a pleasant amble through familiar territory, feeling comfortably worn but perhaps lacking in any striking flourishes to make it truly memorable beyond its immediate moment of play.

Featured on the 2008 album “Morning Tide”.

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3 . Badly Drawn Boy – Born Again

“Born Again” by Badly Drawn Boy slides in as a curious musical offering from the album *Have You Fed the Fish?*, released in late 2002.

This track barely grazes the charts as a single, yet its parent album managed to nestle comfortably at number 10 in the UK Albums Chart, a respectable feat that positions the artist’s unique mélange of alternative rock, indie, and folk under the wider spotlight of the early 2000s music scene.

The song itself showcases Damon Gough’s characteristic knack for blending introspective lyrics with swirling melodies that feel simultaneously retro and futurist, creating sonic layers that meander without ever unraveling completely.

Aided by producer Tom Rothrock, who once sculpted records for Beck and Elliott Smith, “Born Again” builds on a genre-defying foundation that hugs leftfield quirkiness while keeping a foot in something resembling accessibility.

The personnel list on the album is intriguing to say the least—Gainsbourg and Birkin’s contributions feel almost symbolic, adding a faint sheen of French cool to an album designed more to be admired than loved universally.

As with much of Badly Drawn Boy’s catalog, the track flirts with sentimentality but doesn’t overcommit, delivering a piece that feels both personal and performative, like an earnest diary entry read aloud to an audience unsure whether to clap or sit contemplatively in silence.

Live performances from 2003 portray Gough in his element, connecting with intimate venues rather than vying for stadium-scale singalongs, a detail that further defines his unwillingness—or inability—to conform to mainstream expectations.

The music video accompanying “Born Again” offers visual intrigue but never detracts from the track’s essence, standing as a quiet artifact from an era teetering between MTV dominance and the budding ubiquity of YouTube.

The album title itself throws out the rhetorical question, *Have You Fed the Fish?*, which reads partly like an existential elbow nudge and partly as a window into Gough’s playful-yet-melancholy artistic temperament.

The lingering impression of “Born Again” is that of a modest piece of a puzzle, one that’s content to exist without demanding universal acclaim—a song tethered to quirky charm, for better or worse.

Featured on the 2002 album “Have You Fed the Fish?”.

Lyrics >> More by the same : Official Site

4 . Fall Out Boy – America’s Suitehearts

“America’s Suitehearts” takes its place within Fall Out Boy’s 2008 album, *Folie à Deux*, offering a satirical lens on the spectacle of celebrity obsession and its ripple effects on societal values.

The song’s clever pop-rock hooks are underscored by a layered production that nods to both mainstream accessibility and ironic commentary, blending exuberance with a caustic edge.

Lyrically, it teases the paradox of idolizing public figures while simultaneously critiquing the very culture of mythmaking that sustains them.

The accompanying music video bursts with a surrealist blend of circus freakery and hyperreal Hollywood caricatures, as the band dons costumes that slyly reference the album’s themes.

Influences from both Federico Fellini and *Who Framed Roger Rabbit* emerge in its aesthetic, making the spectacle intentionally absurd—a fitting amplification of the song’s sardonic narrative.

The track’s reception reflected moderate commercial success, as chart placements hinted at a divisive pull between its accessible melodic composition and the more polarized appeal of its darker thematic content.

Still, its Gold certification by the RIAA signals its resonance with a fragment of a media-savvy audience that perhaps recognized the self-aware critique buried beneath the glamorized chaos.

The performance history of the song, spanning appearances on *Conan O’Brien*, *Ellen*, and at the MTV Inaugural Celebration, exposes its versatility—functioning both as a pop spectacle and a subversive jab at those same platforms’ dependence on stardom.

Remixes featuring names like Lil Wayne and Mark Hoppus further underscore Fall Out Boy’s willingness to blur lines between genres and artist communities.

This is not a track searching for subtlety—it’s loud, layered, and tongue-in-cheek in holding up a mirror to modern fame’s constructed theater.

Featured on the 2008 album “Folie à Deux “.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Official Site

5 . Kasabian – Processed Beats

Kasabian’s “Processed Beats,” released in 2004, is a jagged slice of indie rock with an electronic undercurrent, pulling listeners into its wiry grooves and sharp-edged rhythms.

The track lives on the band’s self-titled debut album—an ambitious record that retrofits psychedelia with modern electronic textures while still nodding to the hedonism of a bygone Madchester era.

“Processed Beats” arrived as a glimmer in the UK music charts, securing a decent No. 17 spot, but its real staying power lies in its energetic experimentation and refusal to walk a straight line musically.

Drummer Ian Matthews appears in the video, the visual itself a curious mix of warehouse grit and woodland detours. He wouldn’t become a full member until later, making this moment feel like a preamble rather than a definitive statement.

Fans called them heirs to The Stone Roses and Primal Scream, though the comparison misses some of Kasabian’s sharper, almost industrial edges—it’s less hazy nostalgia and more streamlined chaos.

The single came with various formats (maxi CD, mini CD, vinyl), adding remixes and live tracks to its arsenal. For a track buried in its influences, “Processed Beats” somehow manages to look forward, if not sprinting, at least taking confident steps toward its own path.

Featured on the 2004 album “Kasabian”.

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6 . The All-American Rejects – Gives You Hell

“Gives You Hell” by The All-American Rejects hits like a sarcastic slap in the face, blending rock bravado with radio-friendly hooks.

Released as the lead single from *When the World Comes Down* in 2008, the song catapulted the band into wider mainstream consciousness, driven by its biting lyricism and power-pop sensibilities.

Written by Tyson Ritter and Nick Wheeler during a trip to Vancouver, the track revels in spite, offering a melodically dressed-up middle finger to someone who’s brought nothing but grief.

Its chorus, equal parts anthem and taunt, ensures it buries itself in your head whether you like it or not.

The music video, helmed by Marc Webb, adds a layer of humor, casting Ritter in a suburban rivalry between his dual personas—a nod to the absurdity of self-serious grudges.

The track peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, dominating the airwaves in 2009 and becoming the most-played song that year on iTunes.

It also crossed cultural boundaries, popping up in *Glee*, *Rock Band*, and even hockey arenas, proving its versatility as an unrelenting earworm.

A remix by The Bloody Beetroots lent it a frenetic energy, though the original remains the definitive version—a sharp, cheeky anthem for airing grievances with a smirk.

Featured on the 2008 album “When the World Comes Down”.

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7 . Jarvis Cocker – Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time

“Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time” finds Jarvis Cocker navigating the murky waters of emotional limpness with his signature brand of wry observation and sardonic wit.

Originally penned for Nancy Sinatra’s 2004 self-titled album, the song circles back to Cocker’s own debut solo effort, dressed now in glossy pop-rock trappings with faint nods to Dion’s “Only You Know” through a clever sampling choice.

Released in 2007 as the flagship single from *Jarvis*, the track made modest waves on the UK Singles Chart at number 36, while unsurprisingly topping the indie charts—a space perpetually fond of clever commentary paired with hummable hooks.

The song’s narrative warns against wasting precious time on a romantic dead-end, a theme both universally relatable and perfectly suited to Cocker’s bemused, world-weary delivery.

Contradictions run rampant here: the buoyant instrumental arrangement brushes up against the sobering lyrical advice, creating an intriguing tension that sticks with you longer than the track’s three-and-a-half-minute runtime.

Produced by Tony Hoffer and recorded in France, the song retains a certain cinematic texture, mirrored vividly by its music video, which reimagines Cocker as a taxi driver adrift in a surreal metropolis—a role both fitting and faintly absurd.

The melancholic sense of longing embedded in the harmonies is softened by the humor intrinsic to Cocker’s narrative, demonstrating his knack for blending wistfulness with sharp-eyed humor.

Performances of the track, such as the 2006 *Later… with Jools Holland* rendition, retain the song’s crisp charm, with Cocker masterfully balancing his performative detachment with just enough emotional weight to keep the listener hooked.

Even live, the punchy juxtaposition of poignancy and levity remains airtight—never collapsing under the weight of its own cleverness.

While its chart performance may not set the house on fire, “Don’t Let Him Waste Your Time” holds up as both a sly critique of relational stagnation and a polished example of Cocker’s ability to tell layered human stories without undue sentimentality.

Featured on the 2006 album “Jarvis”.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Official Site

8 . Metallica – The Unnamed Feeling

Metallica’s “The Unnamed Feeling” captures a claustrophobic tension that has both intrigued and divided listeners since its release on January 12, 2004, as part of their *St. Anger* album. Recorded during a tumultuous period in the band’s history, the song funnels raw emotion into a meditation on anxiety, a sentiment underscored by James Hetfield’s turbulent vocal delivery.

Eschewing the polished aesthetics of their earlier works, “The Unnamed Feeling” opts for a blunt, unvarnished sound—nu-metal with jagged edges. The production, steered by Bob Rock, amplifies the album’s ethos of imperfection, a choice that earned as much derision as praise. It’s restless and grating, much like the mental state it depicts, making the track feel less like a song and more like a visceral confrontation.

The Malloys-directed music video literalizes this mood, shooting the band in a shrinking room that mirrors the song’s sense of emotional entrapment. While hardly subtle, the imagery complements the blunt-force aesthetics of the track’s themes. The song’s live renditions in 2004, though relatively short-lived, added further grit to its already abrasive character, framed within Metallica’s era of creative reinvention.

The single’s release in Australia and the UK came packaged with B-sides from Metallica’s live performances, giving fans additional glimpses into the chaotic energy of this phase. It gained commercial traction in various countries, peaking at number one in Hungary and Spain, yet remained a polarizing artifact of a divisive album. “The Unnamed Feeling” neither transcends its context nor tries to, but perhaps that is its peculiar stubborn charm—it refuses comfort, just as anxiety does.

Featured on the 2003 album “St. Anger”.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Official Site

9 . White Lies – To Lose My Life

“To Lose My Life” by White Lies captures a brooding energy that tiptoes between existential dread and fleeting romance, a reflection of the band’s post-punk revival ethos.

Released in January 2009 under Fiction Records, the track dodges the sentimental while reveling in its macabre optimism, pairing ominous lyrics with sleek, panoramic instrumentation.

White Lies’ knack for melodrama shines here, with Harry McVeigh’s baritone delivering lines like an oracle forewarning doom, set against synth flourishes and echoing guitar riffs that keep the despair oddly danceable.

The production by Ed Buller sharpens the track’s edge, balancing shadowy textures with towering choruses, a sound that finds comfort in anxiety rather than evading it.

Chart-wise, it didn’t dominate, peaking at No. 34 on the UK Singles Chart, but its cinematic bleakness resonated internationally, landing on Denmark and Israel’s airplay charts.

Its inclusion in video games like *DiRT 2* and shows like *The Vampire Diaries* underscores its knack for atmosphere—less song, more soundscape for existential crises.

Andreas Nilsson’s music video adds an extra layer of Lynchian unease, visually marrying the band’s austere stage personas with surreal imagery that doesn’t shy away from the song’s morbid romance.

What’s striking is the tension between the track’s narrative of intimacy and its stadium-sized production, a contradiction that fuels its appeal rather than detracts from it.

Its remixes, like the Filthy Dukes’ version, strip the track down to its skeletal rhythm, revealing just how adaptable White Lies’ inherent drama really is.

If nothing else, “To Lose My Life” serves as a fitting prologue to a debut album obsessed with mortality, cementing White Lies as architects of melancholy you can sway to on a foggy night.

Featured on the 2009 album “To Lose My Life or Lose My Love”.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Official Site

10 . The Crimea – Lottery Winners on Acid

Released amidst the indie rock surge of the early 2000s, “Lottery Winners on Acid” by The Crimea is a curious blend of laid-back melody and cheeky lyrical absurdity.

First appearing in 2003, the song rode underground circuits before its re-release under Warner Bros. Records in 2005, pairing it with the band’s debut album, “Tragedy Rocks.”

The track thrives on its intentionally unpolished production, layering jangly guitars with understated percussion while Davey MacManus’s vocals oscillate between deadpan and earnest.

The lyrics wander through surreal imagery, embracing their absurd nature with lines that feel like a fever dream but stick long after the song ends.

Though it didn’t trouble major charts, the track found its legs on college radio playlists and mid-2000s internet platforms such as MySpace, where it became a small cult anthem.

A music video, uploaded in 2006, embraced a low-budget aesthetic, mirroring the band’s off-kilter personality and the song’s playful strangeness.

“Lottery Winners on Acid” also became a staple of The Crimea’s live performances, holding its own on larger stages like Glastonbury while retaining its scruffy charm.

The track’s unpretentious indie pop sensibilities marked it as an artifact of its time—a piece that sidestepped grandeur in favor of endearing oddity.

Featured on the 2005 album “Tragedy Rocks”.

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11 . Evanescence – Lithium

“Lithium” by Evanescence juggles the fraught juxtaposition between emotional numbness and raw vulnerability, wrapped up in the somber package of a midtempo power ballad.

This 2006 release marks the second single from their sophomore album “The Open Door,” with Amy Lee’s fingerprints all over its moody architecture, allegedly written when she was just sixteen.

Recorded at Record Plant Studios in Los Angeles and produced by Dave Fortman, its ethereal piano arrangement is punctuated by orchestral swells and leanings toward acoustic and nu-metal influences—just don’t expect any mosh pits forming in its honor.

Lyrically, the title alludes to lithium salts, evoking the paralyzing dilemma of choosing between blissful apathy and embracing passion and pain.

The accompanying music video, directed by Paul Fedor, weaves Lee through stark contrasts—her vocal intensity rippling through icy forests and water-soaked depths, making it visually as brooding as the track itself.

It managed a modest rise, peaking at 26 on the UK Singles Chart and carving out appearances on international rankings in places like Australia and Germany, though not exactly bursting into the mainstream consciousness.

“Lithium” also made its way onto the band’s live setlists, with performances during “The Open Door Tour” and an AOL music session in 2006, though the track’s calculated melancholy might not jive with every crowd seeking stadium-level catharsis.

Its later reinterpretation on 2017’s “Synthesis” reveals its flexibility in adapting to a more cinematic, electronic treatment, solidifying its place not only as a relic of mid-2000s alt-rock introspection but as a shape-shifter within Evanescence’s musical portfolio.

Featured on the 2006 album “The Open Door”.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Official Site

12 . Feeder – Buck Rogers

Feeder’s “Buck Rogers,” mixing Pixies-inspired grunge with quirky British charm, bursts out like a rocket after liftoff—a song born from heartbreak but strangely radiant with hope.

Written by Grant Nicholas, it was almost handed off to SR-71, a move producer Gil Norton vetoed, rightly sensing Feeder had an anthem on their hands.

Its opening line, about “a brand-new car,” might sound trivial, but its delivery transforms consumerist banality into a shout-along moment, catching the ear without pretense.

The song’s title, nodding to the 1920s space adventurer, seems only tangentially related to its themes, but it underscores the track’s playful nod to escapism—a point amplified by its eccentric music video set aboard an elephant-shaped spaceship in a dreary car park.

Commercially, the song made a splash, hitting No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart and hanging around alternative radio like your cool cousin who refuses to leave a party.

Critics, initially wary—with NME shrugging at its lack of edge—reluctantly came around as fans raised it to indie anthem territory.

Its inclusion in “Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec” and spots on *Top of the Pops* bolstered its run, making it less song-of-the-moment and more permanent fixture for the UK music scene of the early 2000s.

For a track about love lost and new beginnings, it’s oddly celebratory, sparking singalongs before listeners even know why they’re joining in.

“Buck Rogers” doesn’t pretend to change the world—it’s just here to have fun, and that’s precisely what makes it endure.

Featured on the 2001 album “Echo Park”.

Lyrics >> Review >> More by the same : Official Site