The 2000s was the decade the music industry fell apart and rebuilt itself. Illegal downloading decimated record sales. The CD single died. Albums became loss leaders for tours. And British music — defiant as ever — produced some of its greatest moments just as the old model collapsed around it.
2000-2001: Garage, Pop, and a New Century
The year 2000 opened with 'The Millennium Prayer' by Cliff Richard. Not an inspiring start. But UK garage was bubbling under the surface — Craig David's 'Fill Me In', So Solid Crew's '21 Seconds', Artful Dodger's 'Re-Rewind'. The sound of inner-city Britain finding its digital voice.
Coldplay released 'Yellow' in 2000. Parachutes followed. Chris Martin's falsetto, simple piano, anthemic choruses. They would become one of the biggest bands in the world. Dido's 'Thank You' — sampled by Eminem on 'Stan' — introduced a gentle, literate pop to a generation.
2001's biggest British story was Robbie Williams — by now the biggest solo star in Europe. 'Rock DJ' sparking controversy. 'Better Man'. His Knebworth shows in 2003 selling out in hours.
2002-2004: The Indie Landslide
The Strokes started the garage rock revival in 2001 — but they were American. Britain answered with the Libertines. Pete Doherty and Carl Barât. Albion, romance, chaos, heroin, crime, tabloid scandal. 'Up the Bracket' (2002) and the self-titled second album (2004) were ragged, brilliant, and deeply British. 'Time for Heroes' still makes you want to join the revolution.
Franz Ferdinand emerged from Glasgow in 2004. 'Take Me Out'. The angular guitar riff. The art-school swagger. They won the Mercury Prize. The indie party was on.
And then, 2005. Sheffield's Arctic Monkeys released 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor'. Their debut album 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not' became the fastest-selling debut album in British history. They were the first band to break big through the internet — MySpace demos, fan forums. The future of music discovery had arrived.
2005-2007: The Indie Golden Age
The mid-2000s was an embarrassment of riches. Kaiser Chiefs' 'I Predict a Riot'. Maxïmo Park's 'Apply Some Pressure'. Bloc Party's 'Banquet'. Editors' 'Munich'. The Kooks, the Wombats, the Pigeon Detectives, the Fratellis. Every week brought a new indie disco anthem.
Festivals exploded. Glastonbury became an annual institution. Reading and Leeds sold out in hours. The festival became the defining British music experience of the decade.
And then there was Amy Winehouse. 2006. 'Rehab'. 'Back to Black'. A voice that belonged to another era — 60s girl group, Motown, jazz — filtered through a Camden council estate. The album was perfect. The tragedy was still to come.
'When Amy came through, everyone knew she was special. That voice. That style. She was like nothing else around. You'd hear 'Back to Black' and it sounded like it had been dug up from 1963 — but it was brand new. The tragedy of what happened to her is inseparable from the music now. But in 2006, she was just brilliant.'
— Robbie Williams
2007-2009: Grime Breaks Through, CD Dies
Grime had been bubbling since the early 2000s. Dizzee Rascal's 'Boy in da Corner' (2003) won the Mercury Prize. Wiley, Kano, Skepta, Lady Sovereign. But 2007 saw grime's first proper crossover — Dizzee's 'Dance wiv Me'. The sounds of the council estate were heading for the mainstream.
The CD single effectively died by 2007. Download sales took over. The charts became strange — one week it was Rihanna, the next it was a charity single. Adele's 'Hometown Glory' (2007) hinted at what was coming. By 2008, 'Chasing Pavements' announced her as Britain's biggest voice.
2009. 'H.A.P.P.Y.' by Happy Days cover? No — properly: The Prodigy returned with 'Invaders Must Die'. Florence + the Machine's 'Lungs' won the Mercury. Mumford & Sons emerged with banjos and beards. The decade ended with Susan Boyle's 'I Dreamed a Dream' — a shy Scottish woman who became a global phenomenon in a week. The 2000s could always surprise you.
The Songs That Defined the 2000s
Arctic Monkeys — 'I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor' (2005)
The fastest-selling debut single of the decade. Alex Turner's lyrics about a club. 'Your name isn't Rio, but I don't care for sand.'
Amy Winehouse — 'Back to Black' (2006)
The greatest vocal performance of the decade. A 60s girl-group song updated for the 2000s. Mark Ronson's production was perfect.
Coldplay — 'Clocks' (2002)
The piano riff that launched a thousand bedroom keyboardists. Arena-sized emotion in four minutes.
Franz Ferdinand — 'Take Me Out' (2004)
A song in two halves. Stop-start, gunshot guitar. The indie disco explosion in one single.
Dizzee Rascal — 'Bonkers' (2009)
Grime meets pop. A relentless, brilliant, inappropriate anthem for the end of the decade.
Why the 2000s Matter
The 2000s was the decade British music survived its own industry collapse. Illegal downloading could have killed it. Instead, British artists adapted — they toured harder, they made festivals bigger, they used the internet to find audiences directly. The Arctic Monkeys proved MySpace could launch a band. Adele proved great vocals could still sell millions.
It was also the decade British music became diverse. Grime, garage, indie, folk, electro-pop — they all coexisted. The old hierarchies broke down. For better or worse, the 2000s was when music stopped being something the record industry controlled.