From Anastacia to Alice Deejay: the albums that deserve a 20th-anniversary celebration

Next year is set to be pretty packed out when it comes to 20th anniversaries celebrating so-called classic albums. You’re soon going to get really sick of reading overly reverential tributes to Radiohead’s Kid A and D’Angelo’s Voodoo, though, so here’s a reminder of the records from 2000 you thought you’d forgotten, but that say more about 2020 than we could ever have imagined …

Oasis: Standing on the Shoulder of Giants
Back in 2011, Noel Gallagher said the band should have never made their fourth album, explaining: “At the time, I had no reason or desire to make music.” But make it they did and it casually set the wheels in motion for Liam’s hugely successful solo career two decades later, thanks to Gallagher Jr’s first writing credit on the wafty Little James. Funnily enough, Liam didn’t do the song at his recent arena tour, but he did give the album’s Noel-penned Gas Panic! a whirl. Noel must be absolutely livid.

Robbie Williams: Sing When You’re Winning
Here, Robbie Williams assumed his final form as a consummate, wild-eyed showman. He quit trying to be a knockoff Britpop lad and instead embraced end-of-the-pier charm, chucking in some Ian Dury swagger on Rock DJ and an attempt to rut Kylie on Kids. The former boyband tearaway was now – and still is – the nation’s somewhat unhinged sweetheart.

Anastacia: Not That Kind
The influence of Anastacia can be most strongly felt in 2020’s look. It’s now pretty much impossible to buy a pair of sunglasses that haven’t been inspired by the severe Matrix-style specs the singer sported on the cover of 2000’s Not That Kind. Brilliantly, Anastacia actually had laser eye surgery in 2005, but continues to wear glasses because otherwise nobody knows who the hell she is.

Limp Bizkit: Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water
It is strange to think of how big Limp Bizkit actually were in the early 2000s. They headlined festivals and people willingly watched them play. Fred Durst dated Paris Hilton. They invented the dreadful genre “sports metal”, now being revived by the likes of Poppy and Rina Sawayama. And this album, with a title that referenced both bumholes and urine (they said it couldn’t be done!) became the fastest-selling rock album ever in the US. Proof that people cannot be trusted.

Alice Deejay: Who Needs Guitars Anyway?
How were the Dutch trance stars to know that, just a year down the line, the Strokes et al would arrive to remind everyone that, yes, sometimes we really do need guitars. It wasn’t a total waste of time, however, as we’re pretty certain Alice Deejay is responsible for Grimes.

Composite image: Fred Duval/FilmMagic; Gareth Davies/Getty Images; Kurt Krieger/Corbis; Patrick Ford/Redferns