End Hits

7. Dixie Chicks, "Truth No. 2" (Open Wide/Sony): What country music should be in 2002: traditional and timely, down-home and uptown all at once. There's picking but not much grinning as the Chicks sit on the back porch of a penthouse.

8. The Flaming Lips, "Fight Test" (Warner Bros.): Wayne Coyne and the boys followed up this generation's Pet Sounds with this generation's Smile, and "Fight Test" set the tone.

Kevin Westenberg

Doves were part of the soundtrack of our lives in 2002.

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More About

• The Vines (Musical Group)
• Zac Crain
• Craig Nichols
• Hip-Hop and Rap
• Hardcore Rap

9. Missy Elliott, "Work It" (Elektra): Sticks in your head like autopsy photos, despite (or because of?) its back-masked chorus. Miss E's prolly the only rapper around who can give decades-old samples that new-car smell.

10. Ash, "Envy" (Infectious): What would happen if the Undertones heard the Supremes' symphony. Pick up Ash's import-only singles collection Intergalactic Sonic 7"s (only $19 at Tower) and hear what you've been missing all this time.

11. Interpol, "PDA" (Matador): Not sure if I like this because I actually like it or if it just reminds me of other bands I already like (Joy Division, Echo & The Bunnymen). Works either way, I guess.

12. Goldenboy, "Sing Another Song for the Winterlong" (b-girl): Nick Drake sits in with Grandaddy, and they all cheer up for a few minutes.

13. Morcheeba and Slick Rick, "Women Lose Weight" (Warner Bros.): Slick Rick's still the ruler. Don't let the government deport him.

14. Norah Jones, "Cold Cold Heart" (Blue Note): Jones' voice is all smoke and Sunday morning, sounding like the angel that brought Hank Williams to heaven. If that's where he went.

15. Antipop Consortium, "Ping Pong" (Warp): The Wu-Tang Clan, if everyone in the group took as many drugs as ODB. Hip-huh?

16. Elvis Costello, "45" (Island Def Jam): This year's model is older, but it runs better than it has in almost a decade.

17. Josh Rouse, "Feeling No Pain" (Rykodisc): Rouse doesn't like to be called a singer-songwriter. Too bad he's such a great one. In Rouse's hands, "mature" isn't merely a synonym for "boring."

18. Guided by Voices, "Back to the Lake" (Matador): I hope I get old like Bob Pollard before I die.

19. Jurassic 5, "One of Them" (Interscope): A line in the sand, a grenade with the pin pulled, a fist in the air, a kick in the junk. You're either with J5 or against them.

20. The Vines, "Ms. Jackson" (EMI): This smoked-out version of the OutKast hit is the only remotely worthwhile thing Craig Nichols and the Vines have done. And it's so over-the-top good, it almost justifies the music media's crotch diving. Too bad they didn't write it.