'00s Adult Alternative

Don’t be put off by fancy terminology: “adult alternative” is just another name for modern rock and pop that’s got enough going on upstairs to appeal to those who’ve left childish things behind, but enough locomotion — with the accent on motion — for anybody who likes to crank it up and bounce around. U2 bursts into view like the first bold beams of morning sun, making it clear that a big, bright “Beautiful Day” is on the way. You can shake a tailfeather to the funk-fortified R&B grooves of Maroon 5’s “This Love,” but it’s also got enough pure-pop hooks to stock a bait-and-tackle shop. And if the sound of madness is anything like the head-spinning swirl of Gnarls Barkley’s R&B/pop crossover phenomenon “Crazy,” then sign us up for a straitjacket, pronto!

How do we rock thee? Let us count the ways, in Next Steps.

If the first decade of the new millennium has shown us anything about music, it’s the fact that there are more ways to rock than there are cat videos on YouTube. Scottish firebrand KT Tunstall proves you can unplug and still tear the house down, with her thumping, pumping, acoustic rocker “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree.” Eras collide when No Doubt reaches back to the ’80s for Talk Talk’s independence anthem “It’s My Life,” painting it in big, bright, new colors for another generation aching to stand up and be counted. And Liz Phair’s “Why Can’t I?” proves that an edgy queen of the underground can reinvent herself as a spinner of sweet pop melodies and still push the pedal to the metal.

Enter a ’00s pop paradise with crafty covers and sunny serenades, in Deep Cuts.

The adult alternative landscape of the ’00s was about more than just revved-up rockers; there was still plenty of room for sharp-eyed pop pioneers to make their mark. British “bad girl” Lily Allen loaded up sizzling slices of pop perfection like “Smile” with ska-flecked beats, crafty, cutting lyrics, and a heaping helping of wise-girl attitude. If ever there was an ideal theme song for the solar-power movement — or for suntan lotion — it’s the blissful bounce of Sheryl Crow’s summery sensation “Soak Up the Sun.” And whether or not you know Joni Mitchell’s original version of “Big Yellow Taxi,” Counting Crows’ hip-swaying, finger-snapping cover brings the song’s sneaky environmental message into a new era, with a coy, cooing vocal assist from Vanessa Carlton.

Decades from now, if your offspring come scooting up on their airboards and ask, “What did you listen to in the ’00s?” you can proudly pull up this playlist and let them know there was more to the era than teen pop and screamo. It was a time when all was fair in rock and pop, whether it was the arms-in-the-air, post-Britpop power balladry of Coldplay’s “Clocks,” the impassioned techno-folk flair of David Gray’s “Babylon,” or the joyful Graceland-goes-to-Williamsburg Afro/ska/indie-rock collision of Vampire Weekend’s “A-Punk.” In the ’00s, if you wanted tunes that gave your brain something to chew on without ignoring your minimum daily requirement of head-bobbing, these were your go-to guys and gals, and now they’re all in one place — this is what a brand-spanking-new millennium sounds like.