Best Coast was but a glinting roach in Bethany Cosentino’s eye in 2004 when the then-17-year-old was beginning to fall in love with music via the sudden explosion of indie rock in the aftermath of The Strokes and their peers’ post-punk revival campaign at the turn of the century. The gentler sounds of Rilo Kiley, Death Cab for Cutie, and The Shins—as well as more brooding material from Interpol, Modest Mouse, and Bright Eyes—happened to enter her life alongside her first boyfriends, but didn’t disappear when those early romances ended. Up until recently it felt like Millennials just had a certain bias toward this era of music that coincided with our teenage years, but after two decades, it’s become abundantly clear that it actually was that good.
Cosentino was the perfect figure for the job of hosting Nevermind Media’s new podcast 2004: The Year Indie Rock Broke, an examination of this pivotal year in music with special guests pulled from the era’s indie-rock A-list: Spoon’s Britt Daniel, Metric’s Emily Haines, Tegan & Sara’s Tegan Quin, and more (the first episode dropped today and features Death Cab’s Ben Gibbard and Nick Harmer, The Shins’ James Mercer, and The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy). The inevitable nostalgia of looking back on the era is balanced out with first-hand accounts by the figures at the forefront of the movement, who help explain how these bands pushed out of the underground and to the forefront of alt-rock before crossing over into the mainstream shortly thereafter.
In honor of the podcast launching today (new episodes drop every week for the next seven weeks), Cosentino selected 13 of her favorite tracks from 2004 (or thereabouts) and reminisced on the teenage angst that fueled her love for them over 20 years ago. Needless to say, there’s more than one reference to The O.C. mixed in. Check it out below, and listen to the podcast here.
Rilo Kiley, “It’s a Hit”
When I hear the intro to this song, I am instantly transported back to being 17 years old, driving in the suburbs in my red Ford Focus with a “Buck Fush” (fuck Bush) bumper sticker. I listened to this album so many times—I still know every single lyric. When Rilo Kiley did their reunion shows last year, Jenny [Lewis] invited me to come to their dress rehearsal show, and it was one of the first times I’d been out since having my daughter. I just sat in the corner on a stool, crying my eyes out. Rilo Kiley forever and ever, amen.
The Walkmen, “138th Street”
My very first boyfriend got me really into The Walkmen, and we went to see them play when Bows + Arrows came out. When they had their big needle drop with “The Rat” on The O.C. I felt really cool because I already knew who they were, while the rest of the world was just discovering them thanks to ultimate dream boy Seth Cohen.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Maps”
I cried to this song one million times in my bedroom as a teenager. One of the best love songs of all time, honestly. There’s such a tenderness to Karen O’s vocals in this song, it really pulls on your heartstrings. To be a 16-year-old girl hearing this song for the first time was magical.
Death Cab for Cutie, “The Sound of Settling”
I first discovered Death Cab when I bought a copy of We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes from my local Goodwill. I played it so many times I think the CD eventually just broke. When Death Cab exploded in 2004 thanks to Transatlantisim, I felt like my friends were getting really popular and I was super happy for them. Later on in life, Best Coast got to tour with them, which was a dream come true for teenage me!
Interpol, “Not Even Jail”
My favorite song off Antics. I drove to San Diego to see them play this album for my 17th birthday, and then went to Tijuana with my boyfriend and best friend at the time. We definitely got drunk and then…drove home! Don’t follow in my footsteps, kids! I was giving big Marissa Cooper energy at that age, whoopsie!
The Shins, “Kissing the Lipless”
Impossible to hear this song and not scream-sing along. My high school best friend and I still listen to this album and Oh, Inverted World when we’re together and it feels like we’re teenagers all over again. Perfect and timeless song.
Tegan & Sara, “Walking with a Ghost”
This song will be stuck in my head for months if I even hear a 10 second clip of it. It’s so good. So hooky. Perfection. Tegan & Sara are iconic and some of the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting in this industry. God bless ’em!
Modest Mouse, “The World at Large”
I remember going to the record store to buy a copy of Good News for People Who Love Bad News and listening to this song over and over again in my car. I definitely was pretending I was in a music video—like, staring out the windows in a Taco Bell parking lot, probably smoking a parliament light, trying to figure out what lie I’d tell my mom about why I smelled like smoke.
The Postal Service, “Such Great Heights”
One of the best songs of this era. I absolutely played this CD out. I got to see them play this album when it came out at The Ford Theater in LA. It was so epic. I feel so grateful to have been able to see them on that tour, and then I got to see them play it all over again a few years ago at the Bowl.
Wilco, “Heavy Metal Drummer”
This song reminds me so much of this one boy I had a crush on after I dropped out of high school. He was, like, the ultimate cool “indie” guy. I used to drive across town to hang out with him at his mom’s house and he showed me Wilco, who seemed way cooler than any of the other bands I liked at the time. Little did I know it was considered dad music (complimentary!).
Cat Power, “I Don’t Blame You”
I taught myself this song on piano and played it all the fucking time. I got to see her play the Troubadour when You Are Free came out. It was so epic. One of the most haunting and beautiful voices ever.
Broken Social Scene, “Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl”
I mean, literally the anthem for a 17-year-old girl, a.k.a. me. I 100 percent was a depressed teenage girl crying to this song in my car on some Girl, Interrupted shit.
Bright Eyes, “Land Locked Blues”
When my first boyfriend and I broke up, I would listen to this song and cry my eyes out. I’m pretty sure we got back together at some point and listened to it in his bedroom and then we cried together. We probably broke up again like a week later. The best music for teenagers with huge feelings who barely know the real pains of the world yet. The lyric “Baby don’t go away, come here” still kills me.
