Favorite Songs of 2002

In 2002, the main radio stations I listened to for music were 104.7-WRUF “Rock 104”, 100.5-WHHZ, and 105.3-WYKS “Kiss 105”. 2002 was the last year, up until now, when I actually enjoyed listening for lengthy periods to “top-forty” radio programming, which WYKS provided. Well, here are my favorites that I enjoyed during 2002:

Get This Party Started (Pink)
My Sacrifice (Creed)
Fade (Staind)
Standing Still (Jewel)
Can't Get You Out Of My Head (Kylie Minogue)
Blurry (Puddle of Mudd)
Toxicity (System of a Down)
Hella Good (No Doubt)
Amber (311)
Trust (Megadeath)
Here To Stay (Korn)
Warning (Incubus)
By The Way (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
For You (Staind)
No Such Thing (John Mayer)
One Last Breath (Creed)
Days Go By (Dirty Vegas)
Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz)
The Energy (Audiovent)
Where Are You Going (Dave Matthews Band)
Ariels (System of a Down)
In My Place (Coldplay)
Objection Tango (Shakira)
I Am Mine (Pearl Jam)
Cochise (Audioslave)
Flake (Jack Johnson)
Die Another Day (Madonna)
Not Falling (Mudvayne)
Electrical Storm (U2)


My “top song” back in 2002 was Korn’s Here to Stay. It really wasn’t indicative of the rest of the music on my list, but its angry, frustrated tone and message seemed to provide some catharsis that drew me to it. U2 and Pearl Jam were two older bands who made meaningful contributions to the year with the beautiful, eerie Electrical Storm and the philosophical (and inspirational) I Am Mine, respectively. Pink rocked the world with Get This Party Started, which was the perfect antidote to the anxiety pervading post-9/11 America. Staind displayed their wide emotional range with the sad Fade and the angry For You. Standing Still was Alaskan singer Jewel’s best work, in my opinion. Artists experimented around with their sound in 2002, and the results were great pieces such as Days Go By by Dirty Vegas and Ariels by System of a Down (both with excellent accompanying videos). It seemed that just when I was beginning to like Creed, they broke up right after coming out with the year’s best tearjerker, One Last Breath. Finally, grungy band Puddle of Mudd, whose songs I usually disliked, came out with the compelling Blurry.