Today I continue my ten-part series showcasing my personal picks for the best songs of last year.
40. Phoenix – Lisztomania
It’s been a long time coming, but thanks to Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the French quartet are now a festival circuit band and one of the biggest groups in the world. Their jazz-fused, stream-of-consciousness take on upbeat pop is clearly expressed through this track, featuring an unconventional chorus that, like so many things Phoenix, works perfectly, even if it’s a bit outside the boundaries of what we normally hear on CHR.
Today I continue my ongoing feature showcasing my personal picks for the best songs of the past decade, posting ten songs at a time.
240. Menomena – Wet and Rusting
The finest track from Friend and Foe begins with Menomena’s trademark effects layered across an odd strumming pattern. By the time we reach the second chorus, the track turns into a cavalcade of rolling drums and scaling piano lines. And to top it all off, it’s simply beautiful.
Today I continue my ongoing feature showcasing my personal picks for the best songs of the past decade, posting ten songs at a time.
250. Rage Against the Machine – How I Could Just Kill a Man
For most of the decade, 3/4 of Rage were in shitty solo projects or the inevitably dreadful Audioslave. The other 1/4 released a new song every once in a while and lived off his earnings from the 90’s (that one is Zach). There were a few reunion shows – most of which sent people to the hospital – but overall the boys weren’t really raging much in the 2000’s. But at the turn of the century, before the nasty breakup, Rage put out their final studio album Renegades, a pretty kickass covers album. And although this Cypress Hill remake is a pretty straightforward take on the original, it still hits hard, the way these guys always knew how to.
Today I continue my ten-part series showcasing my personal picks for the best songs of last year.
50. The Thermals – Liquid In, Liquid Out
The shortest song from the group’s poppiest album, and quite a singalong at that. It’s a shame they don’t play this live, but I suppose it was intended as a mere interlude for the middle of the disc. What might have been unintentional is the song’s surefire infectiousness.
Occasionally I browse the pop music world/charts/blogs and see what the kids are listening to. Sometimes I am pleased with what I find, most of the time I am not. This is a journal of my discoveries.
Sunday marked the 30th anniversary of the release of my favorite movie of all time – Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of the Stephen King novel The Shining. The film, which is far superior to the book, is now regarded as a horror classic, though it was not initially given that esteemed honor upon its release in the spring of 1980. Quite the opposite, in fact. Kubrick’s re-transformation of the story confused viewers, critics, and even Stephen King, who publicly detested the film.
One of my favorite bands, the Sacramento-based Deftones, released their sixth full-length album, Diamond Eyes, on May 4. In light of this, I am going back, re-listening to, and analyzing their previous albums, along with the new disc, in order to gain a perspective of the band’s past and their future.
It’s clear from the start of Saturday Night Wrist that Deftones read the writing on the wall. Their previous effort was a commercial flop and certainly not a fan favorite. And while the disc wasn’t a disaster by any spark of the imagination, it definitely was hit-or-miss compared to the rest of the band’s catalog. Chalk it up to growing pains; on SNW, the group clearly has their shit together.
Today I continue my ten-part series showcasing my personal picks for the best songs of last year.
60. tUnE-yArDs – Sunlight
Simple, repetitive, and one-note at first, but the tracks then grows with an excellent chorus and layers of bass and guitar after the listener gets used to the unique drum pattern. As we continue listening, more layers of sound surface, including what sound like sampled background vocals. The song builds to an final explosive chorus that, by this time, you should be able to sing along with. An unusual, but powerful, demonstration of progression in pop, “Sunlight” is a treat every time.
Today I continue my ongoing feature showcasing my personal picks for the best songs of the past decade, posting ten songs at a time.
260. The Teenagers – Homecoming
All of my guy friends find this song pretty hilarious, yet every girl I’ve ever played it for is repulsed by its lyrics. Think of “Summer Nights” on Grease, but with a techno beat and the word “cunt” in the chorus. You know what? I’ll just let the lyrics speak for themselves.
Chorus:
Guy: I fucked my American cunt
Girl: I loved my English romance
Guy: It was dirty, a dream came true, just like I like it, she’s got nice tits
Girl: It was perfect, a dream came true, just like a song by Blink 182
And like Grease, it’s a singalong. Hilarious, right? Maybe? Ladies?
