Saturday, December 31, 2005
Year End Lists, Volume 1: The Top 25 Singles of 2005
Ah, another year is coming to a close. 2005 was a year of meteorological disasters, of zombie starving and of once again waiting with baited breath until Chuck Norris returns from his self-proposed dormancy to roundhouse kick George W. Bush in the face. But it was also a year of music! And mostly good music, because I intelligently replaced my car's shitty radio with an mp3/CD player, thus giving me the ability to ignore the shitty music on the radio and listen to anything interesting I chose to discover. Not that there was a total lack of shitty music; FAR from it, and it shall be picked apart and presented to you fine folks another day. Today, we laud those songs that really stuck out from the crowd this year.
Top 25 Singles of 2005
25. Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We're Going Down: This is my guilty pleasure song, and you can't take it away from me! Seriously though, I just found out earlier this month that this song was being played on the radio, nevermind MTV. Overplayed, emo-ish, lowest common denominator tripe it may be, but FUCK is it catchy.
24. All-American Rejects - Dirty Little Secret: Attention! All-American Rejects now have TWO small pieces of pop wonderfulness in thier catalog. Do not be ashamed to listen to them. That is all.
23. Thrice - Image Of the Invisible: Thrice is a band that is greater than the sum of it's parts, and one of the few bands getting mainstream attention that isn't afraid to push boundaries, explore the artistic possibilities of their genre (post-hardcore). A little repetitive, but this song works.
22. OK GO - A Million Ways: I'll be honest; this is on here almost exclusively because of the greatest music video of all time. Find it, watch it, love it, re-enact it with your friends. The song's damn fine too.
21. My Chemical Romance - Ghost Of You: I know, I know, it's My Chemical Romance. That doesn't take away from the fact that this was the best song on an otherwise unremarkable album (the song about prison rape makes me chuckle, though) and one unique and moving enough to deserve praise.
20. Kanye West - Diamonds Of Sierra Leone: The most intelligent song on pop radio all year; describing how africans in africa die mining and selling the diamonds african-americans spend thier lives trying to obtain. "I thought my Jesus piece was so harmless/'Til I seen a picture of a shorty armless" Word.
19. Weezer - We Are All On Drugs: The best song on the worst Weezer album yet.
18. Bloc Party - So Here We Are: This band is shockingly good. Cockney Brits combining keyboards and the spirit of The Clash. This is the requisite "slow" song on the album, but it's still oh-so-good.
17. Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body: Death Cab For Cutie gets played on Clear Channel stations now. Kinda scary, isn't it? Gorgeous song though.
16. Lamb Of God - Now You've Got Something To Die For: One of the best bands in American metal today throws down the gauntlet with a great chant-along chorus and a violent nihilism.
15. Green Day - Holiday: How this got played on corporate radio at all boggles my goddamned mind. The most political song on the best, most political album of last year that basically calls the president a Nazi warhawk was #1 in the country. Tells you something, doesn't it?
14. Arch Enemy - Nemesis: PURE FUCKING METAL.
13. The Chemical Brothers featuring Q-Tip - Galvanize: This was the very first song I used to test out my car's new stereo, and I learned something: my rear speakers actually WORK! Hands down the best song Chemical Brothers have ever released. Forget thier Block-Rockin' Beat past, and embrace Galvanize. Beats, strings and a touch of A Tribe Called Quest; what's not to love?
12. Beck - E-Pro: If radio stations had embraced Hell Yes, that would be here. However, this was the first taste of new Beck we had in 3 years, and damned if we didn't all love it initially.
11. eels - Hey Man (Now You're Really Livin'): I am convinced that, if radio had given this song a chance, eels would have blown way the fuck up. Catchy as shit, kinda funny/kinda sad, energetic as all hell...why hasn't America adopted E as our new savior yet?
10. Avenged Sevenfold - Bat Country: You don't hear NEARLY enough bad-ass guitar solos in popular music anymore. While the album, as a whole, was a serious step down from Waking The Fallen, this song best captured the spirit of that Black Album for a new generation.
9. Kanye West - Gold Digger: This would be much higher if it didn't get so damned overplayed, but those first 300 times, those were magical. Hip hop with a wit; such a thing is usually only found in the underground.
8. The Killers - All These Things That I've Done: Continuing thier quest to be the Duran Duran for a new generation, The Killers saved the best song on the album for last. I got soul but I'm not a soldier.
7. The White Stripes - My Doorbell: Possibly the oddest and most innocent-sounding song on the radio all year. Not one guitar to be found on the whole damn thing, and yet it's absolutely perfect. This song put a smile on my face after my accident, so it's A-OK in my book.
6. The Mars Volta - The Widow: Anything that gets more people listening to The Mars Volta is fine by me. Hands down the most creative band in rock today. God, I love prog.
5. Nine Inch Nails - Only: The best track Nine Inch Nails has done since Closer. So awesome.
4. System Of A Down - B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bombs): "Why don't Presidents fight the wars?/Why do they alway send the poor?" And with that, System Of A Down put out the most reactionary mainstream single of the past few years. Loud, jumpy, and featuring a minimum of Daron Malakian singing. The only thing I'm disappointed with is that they didn't decide to release Sad Statue-easily the best song in thier entire catalog-as a single.
3. Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends: After riding the tops of the charts for over a year and releasing three #1 singles in a row from the best album, not only of your entire career, but of the past DECADE, what would you do? Release the best, slowest and most moving track on the album as the last single, of course. An unapologetic power ballad that might actually make you tear up a little. Beauty and volume, it's a lovely thing.
2. John Legend - Ordinary People: Holy shit, I'm not used to hearing real, old-school-style soul/R&B on the radio, let alone on MTV. Just a beautiful, beautiful song on a mediocre album. Just a piano and a voice, and it WORKS. If there were more of this stuff on the radio, I might be inclined to switch off the CD player every now and again.
1. Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.: Can this cartoon band do no wrong? You couldn't escape this song all year, and it never made you want to. Lyrics about windmills and insane fucking laughter, somehow, really connected with the American mainstream, but I'm not complaining. An absolutely sick bassline, Damon Albarn's coolest 5th-grader vocal impression to date, and De La Soul. What the hell more do you need?
|
Ah, another year is coming to a close. 2005 was a year of meteorological disasters, of zombie starving and of once again waiting with baited breath until Chuck Norris returns from his self-proposed dormancy to roundhouse kick George W. Bush in the face. But it was also a year of music! And mostly good music, because I intelligently replaced my car's shitty radio with an mp3/CD player, thus giving me the ability to ignore the shitty music on the radio and listen to anything interesting I chose to discover. Not that there was a total lack of shitty music; FAR from it, and it shall be picked apart and presented to you fine folks another day. Today, we laud those songs that really stuck out from the crowd this year.
Top 25 Singles of 2005
25. Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We're Going Down: This is my guilty pleasure song, and you can't take it away from me! Seriously though, I just found out earlier this month that this song was being played on the radio, nevermind MTV. Overplayed, emo-ish, lowest common denominator tripe it may be, but FUCK is it catchy.
24. All-American Rejects - Dirty Little Secret: Attention! All-American Rejects now have TWO small pieces of pop wonderfulness in thier catalog. Do not be ashamed to listen to them. That is all.
23. Thrice - Image Of the Invisible: Thrice is a band that is greater than the sum of it's parts, and one of the few bands getting mainstream attention that isn't afraid to push boundaries, explore the artistic possibilities of their genre (post-hardcore). A little repetitive, but this song works.
22. OK GO - A Million Ways: I'll be honest; this is on here almost exclusively because of the greatest music video of all time. Find it, watch it, love it, re-enact it with your friends. The song's damn fine too.
21. My Chemical Romance - Ghost Of You: I know, I know, it's My Chemical Romance. That doesn't take away from the fact that this was the best song on an otherwise unremarkable album (the song about prison rape makes me chuckle, though) and one unique and moving enough to deserve praise.
20. Kanye West - Diamonds Of Sierra Leone: The most intelligent song on pop radio all year; describing how africans in africa die mining and selling the diamonds african-americans spend thier lives trying to obtain. "I thought my Jesus piece was so harmless/'Til I seen a picture of a shorty armless" Word.
19. Weezer - We Are All On Drugs: The best song on the worst Weezer album yet.
18. Bloc Party - So Here We Are: This band is shockingly good. Cockney Brits combining keyboards and the spirit of The Clash. This is the requisite "slow" song on the album, but it's still oh-so-good.
17. Death Cab For Cutie - Soul Meets Body: Death Cab For Cutie gets played on Clear Channel stations now. Kinda scary, isn't it? Gorgeous song though.
16. Lamb Of God - Now You've Got Something To Die For: One of the best bands in American metal today throws down the gauntlet with a great chant-along chorus and a violent nihilism.
15. Green Day - Holiday: How this got played on corporate radio at all boggles my goddamned mind. The most political song on the best, most political album of last year that basically calls the president a Nazi warhawk was #1 in the country. Tells you something, doesn't it?
14. Arch Enemy - Nemesis: PURE FUCKING METAL.
13. The Chemical Brothers featuring Q-Tip - Galvanize: This was the very first song I used to test out my car's new stereo, and I learned something: my rear speakers actually WORK! Hands down the best song Chemical Brothers have ever released. Forget thier Block-Rockin' Beat past, and embrace Galvanize. Beats, strings and a touch of A Tribe Called Quest; what's not to love?
12. Beck - E-Pro: If radio stations had embraced Hell Yes, that would be here. However, this was the first taste of new Beck we had in 3 years, and damned if we didn't all love it initially.
11. eels - Hey Man (Now You're Really Livin'): I am convinced that, if radio had given this song a chance, eels would have blown way the fuck up. Catchy as shit, kinda funny/kinda sad, energetic as all hell...why hasn't America adopted E as our new savior yet?
10. Avenged Sevenfold - Bat Country: You don't hear NEARLY enough bad-ass guitar solos in popular music anymore. While the album, as a whole, was a serious step down from Waking The Fallen, this song best captured the spirit of that Black Album for a new generation.
9. Kanye West - Gold Digger: This would be much higher if it didn't get so damned overplayed, but those first 300 times, those were magical. Hip hop with a wit; such a thing is usually only found in the underground.
8. The Killers - All These Things That I've Done: Continuing thier quest to be the Duran Duran for a new generation, The Killers saved the best song on the album for last. I got soul but I'm not a soldier.
7. The White Stripes - My Doorbell: Possibly the oddest and most innocent-sounding song on the radio all year. Not one guitar to be found on the whole damn thing, and yet it's absolutely perfect. This song put a smile on my face after my accident, so it's A-OK in my book.
6. The Mars Volta - The Widow: Anything that gets more people listening to The Mars Volta is fine by me. Hands down the most creative band in rock today. God, I love prog.
5. Nine Inch Nails - Only: The best track Nine Inch Nails has done since Closer. So awesome.
4. System Of A Down - B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bombs): "Why don't Presidents fight the wars?/Why do they alway send the poor?" And with that, System Of A Down put out the most reactionary mainstream single of the past few years. Loud, jumpy, and featuring a minimum of Daron Malakian singing. The only thing I'm disappointed with is that they didn't decide to release Sad Statue-easily the best song in thier entire catalog-as a single.
3. Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends: After riding the tops of the charts for over a year and releasing three #1 singles in a row from the best album, not only of your entire career, but of the past DECADE, what would you do? Release the best, slowest and most moving track on the album as the last single, of course. An unapologetic power ballad that might actually make you tear up a little. Beauty and volume, it's a lovely thing.
2. John Legend - Ordinary People: Holy shit, I'm not used to hearing real, old-school-style soul/R&B on the radio, let alone on MTV. Just a beautiful, beautiful song on a mediocre album. Just a piano and a voice, and it WORKS. If there were more of this stuff on the radio, I might be inclined to switch off the CD player every now and again.
1. Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.: Can this cartoon band do no wrong? You couldn't escape this song all year, and it never made you want to. Lyrics about windmills and insane fucking laughter, somehow, really connected with the American mainstream, but I'm not complaining. An absolutely sick bassline, Damon Albarn's coolest 5th-grader vocal impression to date, and De La Soul. What the hell more do you need?
