The Listomania I make the lists, you shoot them down. Quid Pro Quo.

147. Yeasayer – 2080

It’s been scientifically proven that kids will like the things their parents liked just after their parents forget the stuff they used to like. Clinical studies have been carried out, but don’t bother looking them up. There’s proof enough in Yeasayer’s popularity starting in late 2007, when they released their debut album All Hour Cymbals.

This is just straight-up psychedelic rock, a little freak and middle-eastern influence thrown in, nothing new for the genre. This could easily be a mid-‘70s jam. What makes it so special now is that “2080” would’ve been a great song then, showing up the stuff on AM radio now relegated to daytime on Classic Rock 101. The dancing bass line, found-sound electronics, and vocals that sound like they’re coming from the other end of the Chunnel open the song on a beautifully weird note. The drippy high-harmonies in the chorus promote hippy culture more than Phish or hackey sacks ever have, CSNY with even dirtier beards. And when a rag tag chorus comes in yelling about farmers and progeny over guitar strums and loping synth hits, “2080” vaults into another category of pop nostalgia entirely – forget wanting the 1970’s back, we want the 1870’s. That a band in 2007 is writing songs this would make our parents proud. This is Age of Aquarius shit, a song from the 2000’s that sounds like the 1960’s and deals with a distant agrarian past, who knows when. Oh, and the best part of the song ends with kids gleefully yelling the refrain about sons and daughters. Perfect. Full circle.