To celebrate the 30th anniversary of World Cafe, we're looking back and posting playlists from each year of the show. As music has evolved over the years, so have our playlists, which have grown to reflect a much wider range of music than when we first set out.
2005. Whew — simply put, it was an amazing year in music. By the end of the year, the pop charts were filled with hits from Gwen Stefani (the indelible "Hollaback Girl"), Mariah Carey, Snoop Dogg and Pharrell and The Fray. And despite hearing "My Humps" ad nauseum on almost every commercial radio station in the world, there's no denying the Black Eyed Peas impact that year with the album Monkey Business.
The richness of the year was borne out in albums including LCD Soundsystem's self-titled debut, Art Brut's Bang Bang Rock & Roll, Kanye West's Late Registration, the still-brilliant Illinois from Sufjan Stevens and Antony and the Johnson's stunning I Am a Bird Now. We were also introduced to exciting new artists like Brandi Carlile.
The year was also notable for music by bands-on-blogs — which would become something of a sub-genre also known as "blog rock" — that's best represented by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, whose 2005 debut still stands as a classic.
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