40 Musician & Rock Star Jokes: The 2005 “Demon Days, Gold Diggers & The Emo Peak” Edition

In 2005, the digital revolution officially swallowed the music industry. We watched the birth of YouTube, the rise of the “blog rock” scene, and Kanye West becoming the most talked-about person on Earth. It was the year Gorillaz proved cartoons could be cooler than real people, Rihanna told us to “Pon de Replay,” and My Chemical Romance led an army of teenagers in black parade uniforms.

The 2005 Soundboard Top 10: “Feel Good Inc., Late Registration & We Belong Together”

1. The Gorillaz “Demon Days” Domination: Why the laugh? Because “Feel Good Inc.” proved that a virtual band, a De La Soul rap, and a catchy bassline were all you needed to define the vibe of the mid-2000s.
2. The Kanye West “Late Registration” Brilliance: Why the “Gold Digger” sample? Because Kanye teamed up with Jon Brion to prove he could make orchestral hip-hop that ruled both the clubs and the critics’ year-end lists.
3. The Mariah Carey “The Emancipation of Mimi”: Why the comeback? Because “We Belong Together” stayed at #1 for 14 weeks, proving you should never count out the Queen of the Octaves.
4. The Coldplay “X&Y” Fever: Why the “Fix You” organ? For the album that turned Chris Martin into a stadium god, even if half the world was still making jokes about the “Speed of Sound” video.
5. The Panic! At The Disco Debut: Why the long title? Because “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” taught us that closing the goddamn door was the most important rule of the emo era.
6. The 50 Cent “The Massacre”: Why the hype? Because 50 Cent was still the king of the “Candy Shop,” proving that G-Unit’s momentum was unstoppable in 2005.
7. The Foo Fighters “In Your Honor”: Why the double album? Because Dave Grohl wanted to show he could be the loudest man in rock and the most sensitive guy with an acoustic guitar at the same time.
8. The Gwen Stefani “Hollaback Girl” Madness: Why the bananas? Because Pharrell and Gwen created the first digital single to sell a million copies, teaching an entire generation how to spell.
9. The Fall Out Boy “From Under the Cork Tree”: Why the “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” video? Because Patrick Stump’s voice and Pete Wentz’s eyeliner officially made pop-punk the biggest genre in America.
10. The Arctic Monkeys (The Internet Birth): Why the MySpace hype? Because a band from Sheffield became the biggest thing in the UK before they even released an album, just by giving their music away for free online.

The Full 2005 Musician & Rock Star Archive

11. The System of a Down “Mezmerize/Hypnotize”: Why the double whammy? For the band that released two #1 albums in one year, proving that political metal and “B.Y.O.B.” were a chaotic necessity.
12. The Rihanna Debut: Why the “Pon de Replay”? For the moment a girl from Barbados stepped onto the scene and changed the face of pop music forever.
13. The White Stripes “Get Behind Me Satan”: Why the marimba? For Jack White ditching the electric guitar for a piano and bells, and still sounding like a blues legend.
14. The Nine Inch Nails “With Teeth”: Why the “Hand That Feeds”? For Trent Reznor returning from the shadows to show the new kids how industrial rock was actually done.
15. The James Blunt “You’re Beautiful”: Why the shirtless snow video? For the song that was so romantic it eventually became a national nuisance in the UK.
16. The Black Eyed Peas “Monkey Business”: Why “My Humps”? For the song that was so bad it was good, proving that will.i.am had the secret formula for global earworms.
17. The Kelly Clarkson “Since U Been Gone” Peak: Why the air guitar? For the anthem that every person—from indie rockers to pop fans—secretly loved in 2005.
18. The Queens of the Stone Age “Lullabies to Paralyze”: Why the dark woods? For the album that proved Josh Homme could lose his bandmates but never his cool.
19. The Common “Be” Renaissance: Why Kanye on production? For one of the smoothest hip-hop albums of the decade that brought soul back to Chicago.
20. The Death Cab for Cutie “Plans”: Why the “I Will Follow You into the Dark”? For the indie band that broke into the mainstream and made every sensitive kid cry.
21. The Green Day “Bullet in a Bible”: Why the giant stadium? For the victory lap of the American Idiot tour that proved punk was now a global theatrical event.
22. The Sugababes “Push the Button”: Why the elevator? For the peak of British girl-group pop that was actually smarter and cooler than it had any right to be.
23. The LCD Soundsystem Debut: Why “Daft Punk Is Playing at My House”? For James Murphy proving that being a “failed” musician in his 30s was the perfect setup to becoming the king of cool.
24. The Kaiser Chiefs “Employment”: Why “I Predict a Riot”? For the peak of the “Landfill Indie” era where every band had a catchy chorus and a Fred Perry shirt.
25. The Madonna “Confessions on a Dance Floor”: Why the pink leotard? For the Queen of Pop returning to her roots and proving that “Hung Up” could sample ABBA and rule the world.
26. The Young Jeezy “Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101”: Why the “Snowman”? For the birth of the trap era as we know it, where the ad-libs were just as important as the lyrics.
27. The Arcade Fire (The Continued Glow): Why the Coachella “Neighborhood #1” moment? For the year indie rock officially became the new “alternative.”
28. The Backstreet Boys “Never Gone”: Why the rock-ballad shift? For the boy band attempting to grow up by sounding like a stadium rock group.
29. The Oasis “Don’t Believe the Truth”: Why the return to form? For the Gallagher brothers finally stopping the fighting long enough to release a decent record.
30. The T-Pain Debut: Why the Auto-Tune? For the man who turned a pitch-correction tool into a signature sound that would dominate the next five years of R&B.
31. The Avenged Sevenfold “City of Evil”: Why no screaming? For the metalcore icons trading the growls for Guns N’ Roses-style dual guitars and radio hits.
32. The Jack Johnson “In Between Dreams”: Why the flip-flops? For the ultimate “chill” album that made everyone want to move to Hawaii and learn three chords.
33. The Missy Elliott “The Cookbook”: Why “Lose Control”? For Missy and Ciara reminding us that hip-hop was still about the best dancing on the planet.
34. The Franz Ferdinand “You Could Have It So Much Better”: Why the faster tempo? For the Scottish band trying to outrun their own debut’s success.
35. The Carrie Underwood “Some Hearts”: Why the Idol win? For the moment country music found its new crossover superstar who could outsell almost everyone else.
36. The Nickelback “All the Right Reasons”: Why “Photograph”? For the album that stayed in the charts for two years, making them the most successful—and most roasted—band in the world.
37. The Bruce Springsteen “Devils & Dust”: Why the acoustic tour? For the Boss proving he could still hold a crowd with nothing but a harmonica and a story.
38. The Chamillionaire “Ridin’”: Why the “They see me rollin'”? For the song that became the ultimate meme before we even really used the word “meme.”
39. The Death of Luther Vandross: Why the velvet voice? For the loss of a soul legend whose “Never Too Much” will forever be the definition of smooth.
40. The 2005 Final Music Vibe: Why did the year feel so transformative? Because of the birth of YouTube, the Rise of the MySpace Top 8, and the realization that the “blogosphere” was now more powerful than the radio, all while we waited for our iPod Shuffles to finish charging.