Less like television and movies, people miss out on great songs. No one gets into underground television and while everyone is aware that movies have independents, it's hard not to know of someone who has seen most of those. If no person recommends songs or albums, that music can all but disappear, buried in the dust bins of the record shop. This century has had plenty of artists making excellent songs, though it’s still easy to fall into the trap of thinking that modern music sucks. This is a list to prove that notion wrong. Bands and singers have ushered in some seriously great music in the last twenty-five years. Here are ten songs -- plus a bonus -- that people may have missed, fine music and fine bands both. The songs appear below in order of release dates. Tell a friend!
“What Do” – Vulture Whale – Vulture Whale (2007)
A full examination of life in less than five minutes. Wes McDonald sings with tongue in cheek to avoid despair. “What Do” builds, bit by bit, from McDonald and Les Newby's reverb induced, singular guitar notes to a full blown, strummed acoustic belting out the chords in a melody which evokes the gap in aging between who we were and who we are. Vulture Whale gets bonus points for how incredible it sounds on vinyl. Line of the song: “I’m still smoking/And I ain’t ever gonna quit” (See also: “Land It” from Vulture Whale’s other self-titled debut in 2006)
“Take Me to the Speedway” - The Dexateens, Red Dust Rising (2005)
The Dexateens’ Red Dust Rising still holds power and influence over twenty years later. No song encapsulates the anger of the early aughts like the slow burn “Take Me to the Speedway” opening with John Smith's slinky guitar riff to explode into the 'Teens' minor-key mayhem by song's end. The icing on the cake comes from Smith's reference to the assclown of a man Judge Roy Moore. Sadly, much of the song’s themes are still prevalent today: struggling in a world where politics hussles per usual. Going in circles, indeed. Line of the song: “I see a rich man peddle hate to pay his rent” (See also: “That Dollar” from the same Red Dust Rising)
“Can You Whoop It?” – The Dexateens, Singlewide (2009)
Four years later, The Dexateens were still going strong, albeit with some line-up changes. Most notably, original member Sweetdog was off the drums and now Brian Gosdin took the seat, laying down a rhythm loud enough to cover the three-guitar attack. The great news was that their songs hadn’t lost their power. With “Can You Whoop It?” John Smith doesn't ask rhetorically. Instead, with the guest appearance of the century, the late David Berman answers “Yes” (or "Yeah") each time as part of the chorus. Smith writes as if a companion piece to the main character in “Shit’s Crucial” (see below), and Smith relishes in getting philosophical about these men’s point of view and what that means for America. Line of the song: “I enjoy the feeling of a sharp crease in my jeans” (See also: “Pine Belt Blues” from Red Dust Rising in 2005)
“Low Probability” – Wieuca, There Is No Balance (2013)
The most underground and eclectic of the bands mentioned here, Wieuca are still somewhat of a mystery. In 2013, though, the Athens, Georgia outfit produced one of the best songs of the century with “Low Probability,” a look at the aftermath of a breakup where the narrator, unlike other songs in that genre, acknowledges his wrong as much as his partner’s. This is lo-fi as its mean to be: catchy, punk, pop, and Southern -- with plenty of Georgia slide -- all at once. Line of the song: “And one thing that bothers me/Is maturity’s absent from either end”
“Teenage Wasteland” – Wussy, Attica (2014)
Perhaps the most well known of the bands listed, Wussy hails from midwestern Cincinnati, Ohio. In “Teenage Wasteland” – an obvious play on The Who’s “Baba O’Reilly,” a main aspect of the referential lyrics – the song manages to go beyond a thin piece of winking. Instead, it soars with intelligence to move beyond the superficial. In part thanks to Mark Messerly's piano notes painting the same thoughtful, emotional notes the lyrics convey. What a feat. All from listening to Keith Moon and Pete Townsend. The song sits so close to home because everyone knows the feeling of when music first affects. Here, Wussy gives it a soundtrack. Autumn never felt so nostalgic. Line of the song: “When your misery sounds like us/So far away” (See also: “Halloween” from the same album)
“Carry On” – Taylor Hollingsworth (2021)
Released only as a single, it's no diminishment of Hollingsworth’s rambunctious blues-rock “Carry On.” With a slide guitar that just barely hangs onto the beat, Hollingsworth encourages sarcastically for another person to continue to do the wrong that they’ve started doing. In 2021, that could be an entire group of people. The tune has lost none of its punch and the lyrics still fit with our times, five years later. Line of the song, somewhat of a Kristofferson reference: “So don’t show me yours/Unless I can show you mine” (See also: “Westfalia” from Hollingsworth’s 2009 album Life With a Slow Ear)
“Inside Out” – The Blips, The Blips (2021)
Only a few weeks into the Covid pandemic and the Blips had to push pause on the Birmingham supergroup’s effort of conquering the underground. The Blips, on their opening track on their debut, scream out the West Alabama guitar bend to begin and soon after Taylor Hollingsworth sings fun, unadulterated rock 'n' roll. It's part whimsy and part banger in the I-IV-V vein of music that's lasted all these years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Line of the song: "Sometimes I kick the beat down to my you-know-what" (See also: "Walking Home" from the same self-titled debut)
“Lizard People” – Lee Bains III + the Glory Fires, Old-Time Folks (2022)
The message of the pandemic was largely swathed in conspiracy thanks to people stuck at home and scrolling idiotic bullshit, but it stuck because there is a small daub of truth in each one. No one captured that paranoia like Lee Bains III did on “Lizard People” where his narrator co-works with someone whose wild tales of strange beings and people out to harm us mix with the reality of actually being tread upon. Where do the lines of truth and of fiction begin and end? Line of the song: "Everybody's good/Everybody’s evil/But why does it pay to play like lizard people?” (See also: “The Company Man” from Lee Bains + the Glory Fires’ 2014 album Dereconstructed)
“Rowans” – Sister Ray Davies, Holy Island (2026)
No album from this year sounded as big and cinematic as Holy Island, the debut of shoegaze Florence, Alabama band Sister Ray Davies. Don’t let the genre label fool you, though: it it's not to say that the duo lacks snappy, creative, memorable hooks. It’s no more evidenced than in “Rowans,” the thematic album’s centerpiece where Adam Morrow and Jamie Sego blend both echo and fuzz, where the sky seems forever. Lead singer Morrow's ephemeral voice comes and goes, much like life itself. Line of the song: “Grown from soil and soul and blood/Nothing changes” (See also: “Iona,” also on Holy Island)
“A World Away” – John R. Miller, The Great Unknowing (2026)
John R. Miller writes songs of the weary, working, and wandering. In “A World Away,” what starts as a buzz turns into strumming an electric guitar, part echoing jukebox in the singer's mind, part worry of what's to come. Miller presents a man reflecting on rough times and perhaps not too far away from where he is now. It's not someone who's had it easy, and there's a lot of us who can relate. Line of the song: “I can’t recall having worked one single day” (See also: “Old Dance Floor” from Miller’s 2021 album Depreciated)
Bonus Song: “Shit’s Crucial” – Ham Bagby, Shit’s Crucial is Track 7 (2012)
Not enough great music from the last twenty years? Good thing I don’t have to rank them. Bagby’s man of “Shit’s Crucial” is a person no one would like except his mamma. He’s more than a rascal, a being mythical in hell-raising come to life with snarling ego and whose code never bends. We all want to hold steady to our beliefs, but we falter. Not Ham Bagby with the speaker of “Shit’s Crucial.” Roscoe and Misty forever. Line of the song: it’s hard to pick just one, but let’s go with “That TV preacher always talking ‘bout sin/Hell, I chase communion with Seagram’s gin/Shit’s crucial” (See also: “Larry” from Bagby’s album Tryin’ Not to Die)
