Shapers: The Most Influential Songs of the Millennial Generation

“Shapers” is a four-part series that will outline the defining moments and projects from the Millennial Generation. Part one, “Shapers: Music”, will feature five hand-selected songs (Post-1990) that had the biggest impact on the music business and its culture. 

Future subjects include Film, Sports, and Current Events.

Foo Fighters – “Everlong” (1997)

Although it may be the least sonically influential song on this list, ask any musician from my generation if this song had any impact on them growing up and the answer is likely an immediate “Yes”. Hitting me at my most malleable age artistically, “Everlong” encouraged countless young kids to pick up an electric guitar and play it loudly in their parents’ garage.

“…And I wonder, when I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again”

Dave Grohl has continued his storied and successful musical career with the Foo Fighters, releasing their latest album, Concrete and Gold, just last year. But “Everlong” has continued to earn its spot among their set lists, usually as the last song of the encore. There isn’t much to say about it sonically; the drums are fast, the guitars are heavy and the melodies soaring — which is what makes it an intriguing pick as a definitive song. But since Grohl was still without a full-time drummer at the time of the album’s release in 1997, he handled duties on the studio performance, recording all of — you guessed it — drums, guitars, and vocals. The emotional resonance in the vocal track and the song writing is what makes it earn its spot among these songs.

It didn’t shoot up the charts when released as the second single from The Colour and the Shape — but even David Letterman has called it his favorite song. It didn’t break down any boundaries in the rock genre — but it maintained its place among the rock canon. Grohl cemented his place among rock songwriters, especially when the acoustic version of the song gave it a second life. One by one, critics and fans alike realized it was bigger than just a song written by the guy who used to play drums in Nirvana. It’s accessible, relatable, emotional and beautiful; the perfect recipe for a song that lives on in the face of an industry that remains as fickle today as it was at the time of its release.

Kanye West – “Say You Will” / “Love Lockdown” (2008)

It’s nearly impossible to overstate the impact this album has had on music as we know it today. Coming from the most influential artist on this list, 808’s & Heartbreak is arguably the most influential album of our generation. From the over auto-tuned vocals to the current state of “emo rap”, this album had it all when initially released in 2008. I can still remember Kanye’s world premiere of “Love Lockdown” at the MTV Video/Music awards that same year. He dropped the single soon thereafter, but received backlash when the vocal track sounded unclear and unfinished (and likely some backlash because of the 90-degree turn Kanye had suddenly made sonically). Kanye then released a new version with an updated vocal take (and I can’t remember such thing happening until 2016 when Kanye’s latest album, The Life of Pablo, went through many changes and releases).

Countless careers in hip-hop owe a debt to this album, including Drake — whose excellent freestyle over the “Say You Will” beat (which is remains a highlight of Kanye’s producing career as one of the few tracks on the album with a sole producing credit) certainly helped garner attention — along with Kid Cudi, who is featured on the album’s track “Welcome to Heartbreak”, and The Weeknd, who took the minimal R&B production of 808’s and brought it to a darker, smokier level on his initial EP’s which eventually became the Trilogy release. It was borderline unheard of to have artists in this genre talk about their darkest thoughts so emotionally and openly — especially regarding a break-up — and Kanye was certainly there to open the door for all of them.

The Postal Service – “Such Great Heights” (2003)

The lead single from a somewhat revolutionary idea of a “band”, sending CD-R’s and DAT tapes back and forth to one another in the mail with Jimmy Tamborello handling music and production and Death Cab for Cutie singer/songwriter Ben Gibbard writing the lyrics and adding the vocals (as well as addition instrumentation). This process led to naming the band after the very service that helped them create the album while living hundreds of miles away from one another.

“Such Great Heights” had lots of life after its initial release in 2003. It was used in the trailer for the influential, indie-rock heavy film Garden State (the film’s soundtrack also featured the excellent cover by Iron & Wine) and even finding its way into several ad campaigns including one from UPS.

The track and album were instrumental in establishing what would become a new “norm” for producing music amongst my generation. Technology now made it possible to create entire albums within the confines of one’s dorm room or bedroom across many genres including electronic, hip-hop, and house music – thus creating the term “bedroom producer”. Without “Such Great Heights” we may have never heard music from such bands as Phantogram and Sylvan Esso, and even entire genres such as the “chillwave” semi-boom of the mid-2000’s.

The Verve – “Bitter Sweet Symphony” (1997)

Not the first, and certainly not the last copyright infringement lawsuit that the music business has ever seen, but this one kicked off a whole new era of lawsuits that involved sampling. The band eventually lost the suit along with their songwriting credits and 100% of royalties, as the landmark decision haunts the band to this day. However, it is not only on this list because of its lawful precedent, it remains one of the soaring anthems of my generation due to the relevant lyrical content and haunting string sample (which happened to be the subject of the plagiarism lawsuit).

“‘Cause it’s a bitter sweet symphony, that’s life
Trying to make ends meet, you’re a slave to money
Then you die…”

“Bitter Sweet Symphony” remains one of the only songs The Verve exported from the UK that found success in the States. It even ended up as the finale song in one of the most successful teen dramas of the ’90’s, Cruel Intentions. In 2005, Coldplay’s Chris Martin invited The Verve singer Richard Ashcroft on stage to perform the song with the band — as Martin called it “the best song ever written”. The impact the song had on Coldplay’s catalog is tangible, particularly with “Yellow”. Although thematically different, the two songs share a similar impact with both atmosphere and scope eliciting similar emotions simply from a musical standpoint. The song retains its groove throughout, yet you feel more and more drawn in by its repeated string motif and fatalistic, existential lyrics that hit you in the gut with a self-realizing punch. As the Brit-pop golden-age was coming to an end, The Verve essentially released what became the genre’s swan song — and, boy, did it close with a masterpiece. 

MGMT – “Time To Pretend” (2007)

When Oracular Spectacular was released in 2007, it included a re-recorded version of “Time To Pretend” as the lead single from what would be their debut full-length album. The song initially appeared on an EP of the same name two years earlier. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden would end up using a considerable amount of the originally recorded tracks from the demo, and essentially remixed the song for the album with producer Dave Fridmann. You can hear more about the song’s conception on an episode of the excellent Song Exploder podcast.

The songs that impact us during our time away at college will often hold a considerable amount of significance when thinking back on their influences on not only ourselves but the entire idea of collegiate culture. The idea that graduating from college meant you’re required to get a job that you’ll probably hate, working with people you probably won’t like didn’t exactly appeal to the MGMT boys:

“This is our decision: to live fast and die young
We’ve got the vision, now let’s have some fun
Yeah, it’s overwhelming, but what else can we do?
Get jobs in offices and wake up for the morning commute?”

The appeal of rock-stardom was the obvious choice for them, and the decision had been made. But on a larger scale, the lyrics echoed the very same existential crisis college students everywhere were experiencing leading up to graduation day. The song rolls on (to the exact tempo of Abba’s “Dancing Queen”) as the opposition to “grown-up” reality feels heavier and heavier. We get a look in the opposite direction as nostalgia takes over in the second verse, longing for a simpler time when decisions had far less impact on the rest of our lives.

Ten years later when I saw the band perform the song at the Panorama Music Festival in New York, I (and pretty much the rest of the crowd) realized its impact was much larger than just a standard four-and-a-half-minute pop single; it holds up as an anthem of fighting against social norms that a lot of our parents’ generation saw as “the correct path” in life. The repeated lyric, “Fated to pretend…”, sounds like Ben and Andrew know exactly what they’re getting into when choosing the life of an artist: pretending to be happy with wealth and fame. Or, contrarily, choosing the office job: pretending that the nine-to-five life is one that will eventually make you happy. Whichever your choice, the notion stands as universal for college kids everywhere – no matter the generation.

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“Shapers” is a collective project by Slackie Brown’s staff and friends of the site.

Part-two, “Shapers: Film”, which will be released later this month.