For the bands trailing the age of the Spice Girls and Nirvana, this past decade was a challenge to plant their own roots and find their own sound. Some of the most original acts in recent memory popped up in the 2000s, many of them odd or controversial.

In 2000, Eminem’s “The Marshall Mathers LP” blew up on the charts and on the radio. Everyone from kindergartners to their mothers were curious about the “Real Slim Shady.” Oddly enough, the year after that particular angry album came out, Dido’s mellow hit album “I Want To Thank You” was on everyone’s mind. In 2002, punk princess Avril Lavigne burst onto the scene with her anti-pop sound. Matchbox 20 also made their presence known in ’02. Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” became the anthem of the broken-hearted in 2003. This was also the year of The Black Eyes Peas “Where is The Love?”, a heart breaking anthem of destruction. 2004 was a revolutionary year for Usher, with his “Confessions” album breaking sales records and effectively getting stuck in everyone’s heads. The Scissor Sister’s self-titled album also came out in 2004.

Towards the middle of the decade we heard Green Day with the “American Idiot” album. In 2006 KT Tunstall’s “Big Black Horse and a Cherry Tree” came out and planted itself in America’s mind. Daniel Powter’s “Bad Day” hit the airwaves in ’06 and made people think a little more positively at least for a few minutes. In 2007 My Chemical Romance came out with “Teenagers,” a semi-scary track about our generation and what else but authority.

2008 was the year of Katy Perry. “Kissed A Girl” was the summer anthem for wanna be rebellious girls everywhere. P!nk’s “So What?” was fresh on the mind of teens and challenging people, tricking everyone into thinking that they were rock stars. 3OH!3’s “Want” album came out in 2008, featuring tracks like “Don’t Trust Me” and “Starstrukk”. Taylor Swift’s squeaky clean “You Belong With Me” came out in 2009, leaving many girls sighing about the males in their lives. “Fireflies” hit the airwaves in 2009, catapulting the band Owl City into instant pop stardom.

All in all, 2000-2009 was a time for sugary sweet pop, white boy rap, and heavy hearted rock ballads. Despite what the music snobs out there may say, this was a fun decade for music, although some of the tunes could have used a little more substance.