The Dandy Warhols “Welcome to the Monkey House” released 20 years ago today, May 5th, 2003. Extremely notable for including Duran Duran members Simon Le Bon on backing vocals (“Plan A”) and Nick Rhodes on synths (multiple tracks) plus Nick produced the majority of the LP which explains….everything, really. Plus Nile Rodgers on guitar (“I Am a Scientist”)! Weirdly, even actress Parker Posey makes an appearance playing mandolin (“I Am Sound”). It’s no wonder this was my favorite album of the early 00’s and I continue to put some of its tracks on playlists 20 years later.

I adore this record from start to finish, but I do have several songs that rise above the rest. The single “We Used to Be Friends” is gloriously catchy alt-pop; it went to #18 in the UK and has been featured as the theme song to Veronica Mars and was featured on The O.C. and Wonderfalls (so so aughts!). “Plan A” is another favorite that also was a single, going to #66 in the UK. The new wave funk of the above-mentioned “I Am a Scientist,” which sample David Bowie’s “Fashion,” is amazing and produced to sound like a Duran dead-ringer, the loopy falsetto of “The Dandy Warhols Love Almost Everyone” is delightful, and I love 80’s-styled “The Dope (Wonderful You),” too. Plus the single “You Were the Last High” in all of its whispery awesomeness — the fact that its video is an almost exact recreation of Duran Duran’s “Planet Earth” doesn’t hurt either. Welcome to the Monkey House‘s second single, I’m not sure that “You Were the Last High” charted but the band considers it one of the best songs they’ve ever done.