Red
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Post by Red on Nov 22, 2019 22:32:31 GMT -5
{THE LIST SO FAR}11) Tame Impala - Let It Happen 12) Future Islands - Ran 13) Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams - Get Lucky 14) Muse - Reapers 15) The Dear Hunter - A Night on the Town 16) The Joy Formidable - Whirring 17) Gang of Youths - The Deepest Sighs, the Frankest Shadows 18) The Dillinger Escape Plan - Farewell, Mona Lisa 19) Vampire Weekend - Step 20) Band of Horses - Laredo 21) Nothing But Thieves - Graveyard Whistling 22) Agent Fresco - See Hell 23) Jay-Z and Kanye West ft. Frank Ocean and The-Dream - No Church in the Wild 24) Nothing but Thieves - Amsterdam 25) TV on the Radio - Killer Crane 26) Gorillaz ft. Mos Def and Bobby Womack - Stylo 27) CHVRCHES - The Mother We Share 28) Mount Eerie - Ravens 29) Robyn - Dancing on My Own 30) Slowdive - Star Roving 31) Ghost - He Is 32) Danny Brown - Ain't It Funny 33) A Perfect Circle - TalkTalk 34) Deftones - Leathers 35) Kendrick Lamar - Swimming Pools (Drank) 36) Arcade Fire - Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) 37) Lonely the Brave - Black Mire 38) Avatar - Bloody Angel 39) Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker 40) M83 - Reunion 41) mewithoutYou - Julia (or, 'Holy to the LORD' on the Bells of Horses) 42) Damien Rice - It Takes a Lot to Know a Man 43) Deftones - Diamond Eyes 44) Lupe Fiasco - Mural 45) David Bowie - I Can't Give Everything Away 46) David Bowie - Dollar Days 47) Nine Inch Nails - Copy of a 48) Kanye West ft. Rihanna - All of the Lights 49) Grimes - Flesh without Blood 50) Chevelle - Hunter Eats Hunter 51) The Birthday Massacre - In the Dark 52) HEALTH - Tears 53) Nothing But Thieves - I'm Not Made by Design 54) Ghost - From the Pinnacle to the Pit 55) Kanye West ft. Jay-Z, Rick Ross, Nicki Minaj, and Bon Iver - Monster 56) Weyes Blood - Movies 57) Deafheaven - Dream House 58) Muse - Animals 59) Queens of the Stone Age - ...Like Clockwork 60) Chelsea Wolfe - 16 Psyche 61) Queens of the Stone Age - Feet Don't Fail Me 62) Leprous - Mirage 63) Daft Punk ft. Julian Casablancas - Instant Crush 64) Ghost - Cirice 65) Deftones - Tempest 66) The Dear Hunter - Gloria 67) Carly Rae Jepsen - Run Away with Me 68) Kendrick Lamar - Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe 69) Kanye West - Blood on the Leaves 70) Ellie Goulding - Lights 71) Lights - Portal 72) Manchester Orchestra - The Gold 73) Wolf Alice - Giant Peach 74) Creeper - Suzanne 75) Chelsea Wolfe - Twin Fawn 76) The Chain Gang of 1974 - Sleepwalking 77) The Wonder Years - Cardinals 78) Arcade Fire - Reflektor 79) Lights - Siberia 80) Ulver - Rolling Stone 81) TR/ST - Rescue, Mister 82) Rolo Tomassi - The Hollow Hour 83) Of Monsters and Men - Mountain Sound 84) Chromeo - Don't Turn the Lights On 85) ÆGES - Fault 86) Kings of Leon - Wait for Me 87) Converge - Reptilian 88) The National - Carin at the Liquor Store 89) Failure - A.M. Amnesia 90) Robyn - Call Your Girlfriend 91) Metallica - Spit Out the Bone 92) La Roux - Let Me Down Gently 93) Rolo Tomassi - Rituals 94) Radiohead - Burn the Witch 95) Nothing But Thieves - Itch 96) David Bowie - Blackstar 97) Kanye West ft. Bon Iver - Lost in the World 98) The Strokes - Machu Picchu 99) Frank Ocean - Thinkin Bout You 100) WHITE - Living FIction 101) Deftomes - Poltergeist 102) The War on Drugs - An Ocean in Between the Waves 103) Daft Punk - Giorgio by Moroder 104) Alcest - Kodama 105) Queens of the Stone Age - Smooth Sailing 106) Mastodon - The Motherload 107) Deftones - Sextape 108) Pearl Jam - Sirens 109) Lights - Toes 110) Daft Punk ft. Paul Williams - Touch 111) Arcade Fire - The Suburbs 112) The Naked and Famous - Hearts Like Ours 113) Arcade Fire - Ready to Start 114) Kanye West - Dark Fantasy 115) The National - The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness 116) The War on Drugs - Red Eyes 117) Radiohead - Daydreaming 118) Muse - Supremacy 119) Kanye West ft. Pusha T - Runaway 120) Cold War Kids - Miracle Mile 121) CHVRCHES - Recover 122) Rammstein - Deutschland 123) Alter Bridge - Cry of Achilles 124) Gorillaz ft. DRAM - Andromeda 125) Highly Suspect - My Name Is Human 126) Black Country, New Road - Sunglasses 127) Agent Fresco - Dark Water 128) Deftones - Rosemary 129) Converge - Under Duress 130) Queens of the Stone Age - Keep Your Eyes Peeled 131) Foo Fighters - White Limo 132) Ghost - Square Hammer 133) Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks 134) Alice in Chains - Phantom Limb 135) IDLES - Colossus 136) Deftones - Hearts/Wires 137) Meg Myers - Desire 138) Mastodon - Sultan's Curse 139) Rex Orange County ft. Benny Sings - Loving is Easy 140) Grimes - REALiTi (Demo) 141) The 1975 - Somebody Else 142) St. Vincent - Los Ageless 143) FKA twigs - Hours 144) The Dillinger Escape Plan - Limerent Death 145) Daft Punk ft. Panda Bear - Doin' It Right 146) Mutoid Man - Kiss of Death 147) Lemon Demon - Touch-Tone Telephone 148) Wolf Alice - Moaning Lisa Smile 149) Red Fang - Wires 150) The xx - I Dare You 151) Adele - Someone Like You 152) Foals - Inhaler 153) Bob Moses - Tearing Me Up 154) Royal Blood - Figure It Out 155) Metric - Speed the Collapse 156) Failure - Hot Traveler 157) Deftones - Entombed 158) Muse - The Handler 159) Highly Suspect - Lydia 160) TV on the Radio - Careful You 161) M83 - Solitude 162) Mastodon - Chimes at Midnight 163) Ghost - Mummy Dust 164) Kitten - G# 165) Jose Gonzalez - Far Away 166) Alter Bridge - Slip to the Void 167) Silversun Pickups - Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings) 168) Bob Moses - Heaven Only Knows 169) Queens of the Stone Age - I Sat by the Ocean 170) The War on Drugs - Strangest Thing 171) King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard - Planet B 172) Agent Fresco - Howls 173) Ghost - Rats 174) Nothing But Thieves - I Was Just a Kid 175) FKA twigs - Pendulum 176) Leonard Cohen - Treaty 177) Ladytron - White Elephant 178) Mutoid Man - Melt Your Mind 179) Crosses - The Epilogue 180) Royal Blood - Loose Change 181) Leprous - From the Flame 182) Converge - I Can Tell You About Pain 183) Kanye West - Black Skinhead 184) American Football - Silhouettes 185) Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math 186) Ellie Goulding - Figure 8 187) Nothing More - Ocean Floor/This is the Time (Ballast) 188) Agent Fresco - Wait for Me 189) The Dillinger Escape Plan - Prancer 190) Royal Blood - Ten Tonne Skeleton 191) FKA twigs - Two Weeks 192) Girls - Vomit 193) Kendrick Lamar - King Kunta 194) Foo Fighters - Bridge Burning 195) Death From Above 1979 - Right On, Frankenstein! 196) Gorillaz - Rhinestone Eyes 197) Crystal Castles ft. Robert Smith - Not in Love 198) The Gaslight Anthem - 45 199) Deftones - Royal 200) Childish Gambino - Me and Your Mama
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2019 22:39:30 GMT -5
ok but we already know what your #1 is
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Red
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Post by Red on Nov 22, 2019 23:18:49 GMT -5
ok but we already know what your #1 is Just know that I hate that you're making me like this.
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singingrulebritannia
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Post by singingrulebritannia on Nov 23, 2019 23:07:57 GMT -5
bracing for impact
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Red
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Post by Red on Dec 2, 2019 19:37:20 GMT -5
{200-191} Alright, it's showtime. I'm going to try to post a minimum of 10 songs a day for as long as it takes to complete this top 200. There may be days where I post 20, however! Fair warning: There's going to be a day coming up in the next two+ weeks it takes to complete this project that I probably won't be able to post an update.
VideoDeciding on the last song for this list was not an easy task. There's a couple of songs, in particular, that do not feel right leaving off this list (and we'll go over those as we progress through the top 200). I eventually decided on including a Childish Gambino song...but which one? I really like both "Redbone" and "This is America", but I didn't feel entirely comfortable putting them on this list, and I think that the reaction to me putting a song like "Heartbeat" on this list would have been...um...divisive, at best. In the end, I went with the safest pick, the song with the best moment of Donald Glover's music career. The middle of "Me and Your Mama" is just killer, and deserves inclusion in decade-end lists by itself.
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janinho
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Post by janinho on Dec 3, 2019 12:12:43 GMT -5
Thumbs up for Not In Love and Rhinestone Eyes.
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Red
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Post by Red on Dec 3, 2019 17:46:16 GMT -5
{190-181} I have enough done right now to be able to post the first 40 songs, but let's just take care of 190-181, for now.VideoThere actually isn't going to be as much Royal Blood representation on this list as you may expect. Their debut album is one of my favorite albums of the decade, and almost half of the album still made my top 200, but there isn't 7 or 8 songs from the album on this list, like I expected. Instead, my four favorites made it, the first being the song with the most titanic riff on the entire album. The riff in "Ten Tonne Skeleton" could move mountains, and it carries what would otherwise be a solid Royal Blood song to another level. VideoSpeaking of artists who will not have as much representation on this list as you may think, The Dillinger Escape Plan were a vital part of this decade for me, but I felt that only a couple of songs really deserved to make this top 200. "Prancer" absolutely deserved to be here soemwhere, though. I'm definitely going to use the word "evil" a little too much over the course of this top 200, but if there's any one song here that DESERVES to be labelled as "evil", it's "Prancer". If I told you after listening to this song that this song was made for a horror movie, you'd believe me, right? The most awesome thing is that it wasn't made for a horror movie. It's just The Dillinger Escape Plan at their most terrifying. VideoSpoiler: There's an Agent Fresco song that is not too far away from "Wait for Me" later on in this list. Why do I bring this up? Because I struggled hard with whether to place this song or that one higher. If we were ranking the songs based on the performance of the lead singer, Arnor Dan Arnarson, "Wait for Me" would be higher. This song is, arguably, his greatest vocal showcase, taking a decent, maybe even solid song in good hands and turning it into one of the most powerful vocal performances of the decade. Given how personal the song is to Arnarson, that is not surprising whatsoever. VideoHey, speaking of songs that are probably way too low, hello, "Ballast"! This is the only time in the entire top 200 where I had to include two songs, because I can't imagine listening to "Ballast" these days without "Ocean Floor" before it. It is the perfect one minute intro to what follows, and what follows remains one of the most enjoyable mainstream rock songs of the 2010's. It's a shame that they have not really been able to top it since, but there's still time for Nothing More to prove me wrong. VideoOh, what has become of Ellie Goulding? I remember when I could count on her to release quality pop music. Remember Lights? Remember the album this song is on, Halcyon? Those were good times. I simply can't count on her to release a good tune anymore, and that breaks my heart, because I know what she's like when she's at her best...like "Figure 8", for example, which is just wonderful. Maybe we'll see Ellie return to this greatness someday...maybe. VideoYou can consider this the "Manchester Orchestra song du jour" spot. "Simple Math", "The Moth", "I Know How to Speak", "The Grocery"...the list goes on and on. I specifically chose "Simple Math" over those other songs because it reaches a level that the other songs only achieve in moments, not throughout the song. This is probably the best Manchester Orchestra song this decade...though not necessarily my favorite. VideoWell, it was bound to happen eventually, but we have encountered the first song that will be on my 2019 list. So yeah, uh, spoilers for my 2019 list are going to make themselves known, if you really care about that sort of thing. As you may have guessed by what the graphic tells you, there are a mere six songs on this list that made the 2019 list, though that's mainly to avoid recency bias. "Silhouettes" is good enough to make the YE top ten in just about any year, and it's definitely good enough to make this top 200. VideoRemember when I said "one artist REALLY benefited from this in the 2010's, but we'll get back to them" back when I was talking about Crystal Castles and feeling uncomfortable about including them in a list like this? Step right up, Kanye! Whereas I could have avoided Crystal Castles entirely, though, there was no avoiding Kanye. Simply put, any best albums of the decade list I could have come up with would have been incomplete without both My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Yeezus, and "Black Skinhead" is a clear highlight off of the latter. VideoListening to this song for the first time was the quickest I ever went from zero to 100 on a song. The quick intro was fine, but nothing spectacular, and then the song begins in earnest, and MY GOD. The aggression in this song is just unbelievable. Since listening to "I Can Tell You About Pain", I've went back and discovered more Converge songs, and I quickly fell in love with the band. Even though there are Converge songs I like more, none had the immediate impact that "I Can Tell You About Pain" had on me. VideoSpeaking of introductions, this is the song that, generally, introduced me to Leprous...and what an introduction to lead singer Einar Solberg! The music is certainly interesting, sure (especially after the second chorus), but "From the Flame" is Einar's showcase, effortlessly going from falsetto to normal singing and back to falsetto like it's nothing. As you'll be able to see later on, a strong vocal performance carried a LOT of weight with me in this decade, and "From the Flame" had one of the strongest vocal efforts of all.
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Red
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Post by Red on Dec 4, 2019 18:37:04 GMT -5
{180-171} I have done literally zero work beyond what I've already completed in the last 24 hours. This could take a while.
VideoPeople never give this song enough credit. Royal Blood's greatest attribute is arguably their way of knowing how to end songs, especially on their debut, where they turned the ending of songs into an art form. The last minute of "Loose Change" is especially awesome, because it takes what is, to be fair, a pretty below average song (on that album, anyway) into a god damn banger. It's the dichotomy between the first 90 seconds and the last 60 that really puts this song over the top as one of my favorite Royal Blood songs. VideoYes, Chino Moreno found a way to add to his Songs of the Decade total without even being in his main band. Much more laid back and chill than his Deftones fare (which is fairly standard for a bunch of his side projects), "The Epilogue" is Chino Moreno dabbling in trip hop, and it works remarkably well. I really like "Telepathy", too, but "The Epilogue" is Crosses' strongest song. (Also, I'd like for Crosses to come back sometime. Maybe 2020? Please?) VideoGood old fashioned hard rock wins my heart more often than people may expect, and "Melt Your Mind" is some REALLY good and fiery hard rock. The riffs in this song are just so fun, and, really, that's just the word to describe this song: "fun". You're not going into "Melt Your Mind" to look for something deeper, to find something meaningful. You're listening to to the song to have a little fun, while enjoying some kickass music along the way. VideoLadytron's best achievement this decade is probably the song (certainly the single) that sounds the least like Ladytron. Words like "beautiful", "gorgeous", and "haunting" are not words I would tend to use to describe a Ladytron song, but "White Elephant" really is all three of those things and more. I love "Ace of Hz" as much as the next Ladytron fan, but I've heard Ladytron perform that kind of song before. I had yet to hear Ladytron pull off a song this intricate and dreamy before, and "White Elephant" pulls it off in spades. Video"Treaty" is literally the exact opposite of "Melt Your Mind". You're not listening to "Treaty" for the music, really. It's there, and it's nice enough, but what hooks you in are its incredible lyrics. I love You Want It Darker dearly, but it's obvious that some songs are on a completely different level compared to the songs surrounding them, and "Treaty" is one of those songs. Aspiring songwriters really need to study this song, because it is a masterclass in how to write an effective song. VideoAs much as I love "Two Weeks", two songs have always grabbed me more from LP1. You probably know one of them, based on my use of the song elsewhere, but the other, "Pendulum", has always fascinated me. It's probably my favorite vocal performance on LP1, and the way that everything comes together in the hook is just wonderful. Have I mentioned that I love LP1 yet? VideoThe next couple of songs are the first entries for bands that had a pretty huge impact on the second half of the decade for me. The first is a band that most people really only know for one song outside of Pulse, and though I really, really like "Trip Switch", Nothing But Thieves are so much more than that. Spoiler: "Trip Switch" does not appear on this top 200. But you know what does? The first song on their second album, Broken Machine. "I Was Just a Kid" just rules, from top to bottom. VideoIt's time for one of the year-end heavy hitters! It's also time for the first (and not the last) appearance by Ghost, who had a two year period where I was obsessed with them, and then a two year period after where I still definitely loved them. While "Rats" falls into that latter period, there's no denying the main riff and catchiness of this song, two traits that are common in (almost) all of the Ghost songs that wound up making an appearance in this top 200. VideoUltimately, I settled on placing "Howls" higher than "Wait for Me" because it's just slightly more memorable and interesting. I love the verse instrumental dearly, because there's a surprising amount going on in the background, though nothing tops the hook for sheer euphoric bliss. Arnor Dan was one of my favorite vocalists this decade, and it's on songs like "Howls", especially on the chorus, where he was at his absolute best. VideoImportant note: The version of "Planet B" that is one of my absolute favorites of 2019 (and the one that made this list, of course) is the single version. I feel like the album version loses a slight bit of its power (and I do mean slight) in translation, whereas the single version loses no power whatsoever and is just a MONSTER of a song because of it. Funnily enough the single version of "Planet B" feels like the more complete version. Go figure, right? But yeah, this may be the most kickass song ever released about environmental negligence.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2019 18:42:45 GMT -5
The Epilogue is so damn good
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Red
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Post by Red on Dec 6, 2019 22:06:32 GMT -5
{170-161} Well, there goes my consecutive days streak.
VideoI think that A Deeper Understanding is better than people remember it being. I think that the big issue facing it is that it's being compared to Lost in the Dream, which is one of the definitive Indie albums of the decade, but the best of A Deeper Understanding holds its own with the best of Lost in the Dream, and the best of A Deeper Understanding remains the song that follows the 1-2-3 punch of "Up All Night"/"Pain"/"Holding On". There's definitely people that would go with "Thinking of a Place" instead, and that's not entirely unwarranted, but when that second guitar solo kicks in on "Strangest Thing"...sorry, nothing tops that on this album. VideoOh, look, a song from ...Like Clockwork. I'm sure this will be the only song from that album to make an appearance here--checks notes--oh. Well, let's talk about the first of many songs from (very likely) my favorite album of the decade. Part of me thinks that "I Sat by the Ocean" would have been a much better fit on Era Vulgaris, but it actually works remarkably well where it sits on ...Like Clockwork, and it stands out as one of the album's catchiest songs. VideoAnother spoiler: Two Bob Moses songs made the top 200, and I struggled pretty mightily with which song to place higher, because I really like both songs about the same. In the end, I went with the slightly older song, but there's no denying that "Heaven Only Knows" is so damn good. I didn't think that it was possible for Bob Moses to get to the level that they had reached a couple years prior, but "Heaven Only Knows" does so by not trying too hard to be like what it followed and simply make a retread. It follows its own path, and it does so with a considerable amount of menace and brooding. VideoIt hit me as I was putting the finishing touches on this list that I had not put a Silversun Pickups song in my top 200. Even though I would argue that their best work was pre-2010, not putting a single Pickups song in my top 200 would have been a mistake, because they had a pretty decent impact on my taste in music this decade. There were a couple of songs that I considered for the token Pickups entry, but I went with the one that simply impacted me the most. Part of the reason I was a little disappointed when "Nightlight" was the lead single from Better Nature is that it broke the streak of great first singles from SP albums that "Bloody Mary" continued effortlessly. VideoAlter Bridge know how to make a god damn opening track. They made an even better opening track this decade, but "Slip to the Void" sets the tone for AB III with a (for lack of a better word) epic opener that most bands would KILL to have in their discography. It's in the second half that this song really shines, especially with Mark Tremonti taking souls with his guitar playing. I don't think it really hit me until "Slip to the Void" just how good of a guitar player Tremonti really is. If you only know him from his days in a certain other band, get ready to be surprised! VideoI go back and forth on what my favorite video game of the decade is constantly. Most days, it's Mass Effect 2, but there are days where other games enter that space, with two games in particular hogging the spotlight. One is the first season of Telltale's The Walking Dead, while the other is Red Dead Redemption. As much as I love the previous two games, though, neither of those games had the best moment of the entire decade in games: The trip to Mexico, complete with Jose Gonzalez's transcendent "Far Away". This song and that moment are one and the same, and it's impossible for me to talk about either separately. Without "Far Away", the moment would not be as strong. VideoI don't think that anyone knows just how much I love this song, which is going to be rare in this top 200. I do think that some of you are aware of how much I like Kitten and Chloe Chaidez, though, and that definitely is still the case. Funnily enough, I've had plenty of experience with this song in the past, but I also didn't know who was performing the song, nor did I know the song title. That would be because this was a FIFA song, specifically on the FIFA 13 soundtrack. I only found out that this was by Kitten after I really got into them a couple of years ago, and it immediately became my favorite song of theirs. This song is just wonderful. VideoGhost are not really a scary band, despite what their style and makeup suggests, but "Mummy Dust" is the closest the band have come to truly sounding creepy. Tobias Forge's vocals go to a place they very rarely go, sounding downright diabolical. This vocal performance and the song's instrumental come together to create a dark environment that not even Ghost's other dark songs reach. And yes, the song is badass, too. What do you expect? It's a hard rock Ghost song. Ghost (almost always) do not go for half-measures. VideoSpeaking of badass songs, Mastodon! The 2010's were not as kind to Mastodon as the 2000's were, but there were definitely highlights for the band this decade, and "Chimes at Midnight" is one of the big ones. It's funny that Once More 'Round the Sun is maligned (well, for a Mastodon album, anyway), because two of my three favorite songs from Mastodon this decade are songs from that album, including "Chimes at Midnight". Have Mastodon made songs like this song before? Sure, but, outside of maybe one song on Emperor of Sand (and not the one that's in this top 200), I don't think Mastodon reached these epic heights this decade. Sometimes, doing what you know is the way to go. VideoThen, there are times where you go so far out of your comfort zone that it's kind of admirable. Actually, there's no "kind of" about it, it IS admirable when it is done the way it is done on "Solitude". I can understand the criticisms that surround this song, but every time the drums kick in here, I'm hooked, and I just sit back and let the music wash over me. The second half of this song, in particular, is just lovely. Strings for days. Once you accept that this isn't going to be one of their banger types, like "Midnight City" and "Reunion", I would argue that "Solitude" and its airy atmosphere is much easier to accept.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2019 22:11:59 GMT -5
yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeah
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Red
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Post by Red on Dec 8, 2019 19:10:40 GMT -5
{160-151} At the rate we're going, I may finish this before the year is over. Maybe.
VideoI've definitely been talking a lot about maligned projects from beloved acts recently, eh? To be fair, Seeds is definitely TV on the Radio's worst album overall. I rarely revisit it, and, when I do, I tend to find myself only caring about a couple of songs in particular. Still, when this album gets good, it gets good, particularly "Careful You", which is the only song on the album that stacks up with TVOTR's best material. TV on the Radio are a pretty great band when they reach a dream-like state with their music, and that's the case here on "Careful You". On days where I really need something to soothe my soul, this is one of the first songs from this decade that I will gravitate to. VideoOkay, enough dreaming, let's face reality, specifically a love life (and life altogether, really) crumbling due to addiction. I initally fell hard for "Lydia" because of its filthy guitar riffs and Johnny Stevens' piercing vocals, but it's the desperation that surrounds this song that really keeps bringing me back, especially in the last chorus, where Johnny is practically begging someone to help him get out of his dilemma, only to find himself falling even deeper into his vices and becoming accepting of the idea that even the love of his life is expendable. I am convinced that Highly Suspect will never reach this level of complexity again. VideoI bet this song will be surprisingly low to some, but hey, this was a super tough list, what can I say? It doesn't help the cause of "The Handler" that Drones has grown off of me, for the most part. Simulation Theory really made me re-evaluate my own fandom of Muse, and Drones and The 2nd Law suffered the most because of it. Still, "The Handler" remains a glimpse of what could have been, had Muse kept being...well, Muse. Chris Wolstenholme's bass playing is a particular highlight, an underrated facet of Muse's brilliance that really comes to the forefront here. VideoSomething Deftones have been remarkably consistent with over the years is slower, dreamy songs like "Entombed". I love their more metal side as much as the next person, but I actually get more excited when Deftones slow things down, because that's when they tend to be at their best. "Entombed" is no exception, just a stunning little song that is yet another showcase for Chino Moreno's sublime vocals. VideoI'm a little ashamed to admit that this was my introduction to Failure. Not Fantastic Planet, not Magnified, this. Having said that, I mean, I've fallen hard for Failure in the last couple of years, and it's entirely possible that this would not have happened without "Hot Traveler" and The Heart is a Monster. I will readily admit that "Hot Traveler" is not one of Failure's best songs, but it sure as hell will always be a personal favorite. I do like one song on the album more...but we'll get back to that one later. VideoMetric in the 2010's have been uneven, at the best of times. Pagans in Vegas was...not particularly good, and Synthetica has a lot of problems. It does seem like Art of Doubt has them back on the right track, but, before then, "Speed the Collapse" was, in a way, the last gasp for old Metric, a band I fell hard in love with after seeing them in concert as the opening act for Muse in 2010. Fantasies remains a personal favorite album because of that, but hot take: "Speed the Collapse" is at least on the level of the best songs on that album, if not a step above most of them. VideoRemember this from the "Loose Change" blurb?
NOWHERE is that more apparent than on "Figure It Out". The first two minutes or so are pretty good mainstream rock fare, but it's the last 50 seconds that turns this song into one of THE hard rock bangers of the 2010's. Ben Thatcher's drumming in these last 50 seconds is immense. For a lack of a better term, he just hammers the drums, like the drums said something mean about his parents. It is one of the wildest rides of the decade. VideoThe reason that I love this song as much as I do is fairly simple: "Tearing Me Up" is one of the smoothest sounding songs I have ever heard. I can get lost in this song on an endless loop, and it still amazes me that this wasn't some underground song that few people have heard of, but a song that actually got played on the radio. Whereas "Heaven Only Knows" blazes through its runtime, "Tearing Me Up" saunters through. Right now, I prefer "Tearing Me Up". Next week, it may be "Heaven Only Knows". Either way, both songs are great. VideoSo...this is the only Foals song to make the top 200. Bet you were expecting another Foals song to be on this list, eh? Well, I really do love "Mountain at My Gates" still, but "Inhaler" has stuck with me more since I listened to it for the first time a few years ago. As much as I love the buildup to the climax of "Mountain", "Inhaler" has an even better explosion that, and this is the most important part, you get to hear more than once! It took a while for me to come to this realization, but, once and for all, I can say that "Inhaler", not "Mountain", is my favorite Foals song after all. (Sorry, "Spanish Sahara".) VideoI waffled on where to put this on this list for a while. Mostly, it was lower than this point, and it really did not feel right. I don't even feel right placing "Someone Like You" below the top 150. Regardless, one of the greatest piano ballads of the current millennium simply had to make this top 200, and, honestly, it's the one single from 21 that hasn't lessened in impact for me in the eight years since its release. I still really, really like "Rolling in the Deep", "Rumour Has It", and "Set Fire to the Rain", don't get me wrong, but "Someone Like You" stings just as much now as it did in 2011. At this point, it may outlive us all.
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Post by Red on Dec 13, 2019 18:13:09 GMT -5
Okay, so I am definitely behind schedule now. Here's the deal: I'm actually pretty far along with the work needed to complete this top 200, but I just haven't been posting the updates regularly. Starting tonight, I plan on posting at least two sets a day up until we get to the top...50? Let's say top 50, for now.
The next update will be up very shortly.
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Mylo13 💜
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Post by Mylo13 💜 on Dec 13, 2019 18:20:09 GMT -5
Figure 8, Black Skinhead and Someone Like You are all great!
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Post by Red on Dec 13, 2019 18:24:19 GMT -5
{150-141} Like I said, "very shortly"...
VideoHere's a pick that at least one poster won't hate at all. (Smell the sarcasm.) Ever since listening to "I Dare You" for the first time a year ago, it has just kept growing and growing in my estimation. Romy Madley Croft's vocals are particularly entrancing, and they hook me in every time they appear on this song. And that beat, god, the beat. It fits the song perfectly. This song is just gorgeous and lovely all around. VideoThis song just nails the stoner rock vibe. It's like if Mastodon and Queens of the Stone Age had a baby, only they left the quirkier tendencies of both bands at the door and just focused on rocking out to the best of their ability. There's no pretense here. It's just really, REALLY good rock and roll, complete with yet another of my favorite buildups and climaxes of the decade and a guitar solo that rules without having to do too much whatsoever. VideoI've always really liked "Moaning Lisa Smile", but I think I underestimated just how much I loved it for a long time. It only hit me, I believe, a little over a year ago that "Moaning Lisa Smile" really is one of the best songs of its kind in a long time. This is, genuinely, one of the best songs of the decade at creating a real grungy vibe. This would not have been out of place in the mid-90's, and that is the single best compliment I can give "Moaning Lisa Smile". It feels like it was transported from another era altogether, and it still works incredibly well. VideoNeil Cicierega is a freaking genius. His fingerprints are all over the modern internet, but his biggest impact on me personally wasn't the iconic "Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny", nor was it "Bustin". Instead, it was his ode to a conspiracy theorist, "Touch-Tone Telephone", that won my heart. I did not encounter a single song like it this decade, and it stuck with me long after listening to it for the first time for that fact alone. I've probably already used the word "singular" once too many within this top 200, but really, what word better describes "Touch-Tone Telephone"? "Common"? Video"Melt Your Mind" may be pure fun, but "Kiss of Death", for lack of a better word, outbadasses it. That main instrumental (especially the riff) is just so heavy, good lord. It is heavier than quite a bit of the metal releases I've heard this decade, and it absolutely revels in how heavy it is. There's an element of fun to this song, too, mainly in the lyrics. But, as with "Melt Your Mind", you're not listening to "Kiss of Death" for the lyrics. And really, with that awesome of an instrumental, why would you focus on the lyrics, anyway? VideoSpoiler: This is not the last time a song from Random Access Memories will be showing up here. I still love (most of) the album, and five songs have stuck with me beyond simply loving them. To me, this is the most contentious pick of the five, especially when "Give Life Back to Music" isn't in the top 200, but I've just always been drawn in to the minimalism and simplicity of "Doin' It Right" more often. Is it repetitive? You bet. But this is a case where I wouldn't have it any other way. VideoThe Dillinger Escape Plan know how to set a mood. If that mood is "terror", they do it better than most. What can I say? I mostly prefer the DEP songs that sounds downright diabolical, and "Limerent Death" is DEP at their most diabolical-sounding. Yet another awesome DEP album opener (and one is still yet to come), the way this song ends, never, EVER fails to get my head banging. The way it builds to the end is especially wonderful, a true sprint to the finish. VideoThis was the song that ultimately convinced me that FKA twigs was more than just a critical darling that was getting pushed on everyone for the sake of needing an artist to push. "Hours" might be the sexiest song of the decade, which is funny, because I always feel a little bit of an unsettled feeling whenever I listen to "Hours". I just push it to the back of my mind whenever I get that feeling and focus on the sensuality and Tahliah Barnett's incredible voice. VideoIt was quite the task to decide which MASSEDUCTION song should make the top 200, this or "Happy Birthday, Johnny". As much as I love the gorgeous "Johnny", "Los Ageless" hits me in every sweet spot possible. This song finds a sweet balance between its focus on the obsession of staying young and vibrant in the City of Angels and its focus on sounding extremely cool and also, well, vibrant. Annie Clark is an artist that I've always wanted to like more than I actually have liked her (and I still like her quite a bit), but on "Los Ageless", I do not have that issue whatsoever. VideoUgh, this song, man. It has become kind of cool to both love and hate The 1975 in recent years, but I've always struggled to do either. Well, really, the former. I've never had any issues with The 1975, really, but I've rarely ever loved them, either. There have been songs that I have loved, like "It's Not Living (If It's Not With You)", but most of the time, it feels like The 1975 are keeping me at a safe distance. "Somebody Else" is the bridge between me and the band, the song that is simply too good to ignore. New ground may not be broken here, but "Somebody Else" is performed so well that, honestly, it may be impossible for anyone else to follow the same path.
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Mylo13 💜
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Post by Mylo13 💜 on Dec 13, 2019 18:27:57 GMT -5
Los Ageless was my most played song this year haha, fantastic tune!
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Post by Red on Dec 13, 2019 19:22:00 GMT -5
{140-131} And here's today's other set!
VideoThis is probably not the first Grimes song you expected to show up. It's also only one of two to appear on this list, so yes, "Kill V Maim" did not make it. Of course I love "Kill V Maim" still, but I've connected to "REALiTi" a lot more recently, and this really is the closest Grimes has come to matching the pop perfection of her other song in this top 200. I'd even argue that the chorus here is better than the one in my favorite Grimes song. VideoI never thought of myself as much of a yacht rock person, but "Loving is Easy" ensnared me so much in 2018 that it single-handedly inspired me to listen to more yacht rock. I enjoyed what I heard, but I couldn't connect to the other songs the same way. It happens, you know? Hell, I haven't been able to connect to Rex Orange County the same way since then, despite listening to songs that other people like more. "Loving is Easy" may just be a once in a lifetime song. VideoLook, this song does not reinvent the wheel. It does not try to do anything different. What "Sultan's Curse" is basically amounts to a swift kick to the face of those who think that Mastodon have lost the ability to create truly great songs. This would not have been out of place on their late-2000's albums, which is big praise coming from me. This is not my favorite Mastodon song from this decade, but it is the one that reaffirms my faith in the band more than any other. VideoI'm really glad that Meg Myers is getting more attention now, because that should bring more ears to her earlier material, especially "Lemon Eyes"...but ESPECIALLY "Desire". Very few songs this decade have grown on me to the extent of "Desire". The best way I can describe this song is what would happen if the inner workings of a sexual beast decided to make a song, and it sure as hell sounds like it. This is one of the creepiest songs to get radio airplay this decade, and it might be the most intentionally creepy. And I love every creepy, haunting second of it. VideoAgain, Deftones really know how to do slower songs, and this, the clear highlight from their most recent album Gore, is no exception. "Hearts/Wires" grabs me from the first second, but, as per usual, it's when Chino's vocals enter the mix that things are elevated to another level. Have I mentioned that I really, REALLY like Chino Moreno? I have? Well, screw it, we're doing it again, because Chino is just a master of the vocal performance. VideoI knew when I was listening to the beginning of the opening track on my 2018 album of the year, Joy as an Act of Resistance, that I was listening to a winner, but I had no idea just what was in store for me when I listened to "Colossus" for the first time. As the song continues to build, I keep expecting a blowoff of the steam, only for the song to keep building up...and building up...and then it seems to grind to a halt. I checked to see how much time was left on the song (around a minute and a half), and I thought to myself, "Wait, is that it? I mean, it was still pretty good--12" BAM. The last minute and a half of "Colossus" is one of the greatest releases of tension in any song I can think of, not just because it comes out of nowhere, but also because GOOD LORD, it rocks. VideoWhile "Your Decision" will always hold a soft spot in my heart, this and "A Looking in View" are the real highlights from the Duvall era of AiC, two long beasts that compliment each other pretty well. There was a brief period where I thought the most awesome riff Alice in Chains had come up with since their resurrection was "Stone". Then I heard this song. Bye, "Stone"! The beginning of this song, in particular, is earth-shaking. Just a massive, massive song. VideoThis song just makes me so happy. I love the chorus of "Little Talks", I love the horns, and I especially love the duelling vocals of Raggi Þórhallsson and Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir (on an unrelated note, damn, do I love Icelandic names). They have a chemistry that I just gravitate to every single time I listen to Of Monsters and Men, and that's especially the case on "Little Talks". Still, as much as I love "Little Talks", there's a OMAM song I do like a little bit more... VideoI still contend that this is the catchiest song Ghost has ever, and will likely ever make. They certainly tried to match this on Prequelle, but "Square Hammer" is just not a song that is easy to replicate. "Square Hammer" was the perfect storm, the right song at the right time for the band. Is it Ghost's best song? As you'll see later on, no. But the place this song has in their discography is locked up tight. Whether this is their defining song is up for debate (personally, I think it's "Cirice"), but "Square Hammer" might as well be Ghost: The Song. VideoThe Foo Fighters Songs of the Decade representatives are both from Wasting Light. Surprise. And I doubt it surprises anyone that "White Limo" is one of them (and the higher of the two). This goes harder than pretty much any previous Foo Fighters song...and any Foos song since, really. I especially love the last 20 seconds, with Dave unleashing a mighty scream. The Foos have never sounded this badass.
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Red
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Post by Red on Dec 14, 2019 23:20:22 GMT -5
{130-121} Two more sets, and both are going to happen right after the other, so get ready!
VideoYou want to talk about a tone setter? The first song on ...Like Clockwork is a TONE SETTER, capital letters and all. Dirty, gritty, dark, brooding, all of these are words I can use to describe "Keep Your Eyes Peeled" effectively. Part of the reason I love this album so much is because every song is perfectly placed on the album, and "Keep Your Eyes Peeled" is perhaps the most perfectly placed of all. VideoThis song is the equivalent of two fists just repeatedly hammering you in the face until the song is over. The main riff and instrumental of "Under Duress" is just so freaking heavy, and it's complemented by Jacob Bannon matching the instrumental tit for tat. It's hard for me to talk about this song, really, because "Under Duress" really is one of those songs that just speaks for itself. VideoI like three songs more than "Rosemary" on Koi No Yokan, and I guarantee you that two of them are controversial...at least in terms of putting them ahead of "Rosemary", anyway. "Rosemary" is one of the unquestioned highlights on Koi, a seven minute journey that never once wears out its welcome. I like to think of this song as the even better "Hearts/Wires", which, given that "Hearts/Wires" also made this top 200, is a pretty big compliment. VideoEven though "Howls" and "Wait for Me" are both great songs, neither of those songs could possibly have the soft spot in my heart that "Dark Water" has. Why? Well, that's simple: "Dark Water" is the song that introduced me to Agent Fresco. If it wasn't for "Dark Water", I wouldn't have listened to the follow-up single, which would have subsequently led to me not listening to Destrier, which would have cost me a chance to listen to the album that would become one of my favorite albums of the decade. So thanks for being so awesome, "Dark Water"! VideoIt would be a lie for me to say that no song this decade won me over harder over the course of one first listen than "Sunglasses", but I'd say that it wasn't far off from earning that distinction. I was won over the moment the first lyrics were sung, but this song just keeps reaching new heights the further along it goes. There's the first peak of "things just aren't built like they used to be, the absolute pinnacle of British engineering", and then a second peak as the song begins to break down, only to build toward a spectacular final three minutes that are as fantastic as any song released in 2019. It wouldn't surprise me if "Sunglasses" eventually winds up being my favorite song released in 2019 someday. VideoAs complex as "Lydia" is, no Highly Suspect song wowed me more initially than "My Name Is Human". "Lydia" was their introduction, but "My Name Is Human" is the song that firmly cemented Highly Suspect as one of the biggest breakout US rock bands of the decade. This song shattered any expectations I had for Highly Suspect's second album, and I had pretty damn high expectations for that album going in. Sadly, few songs on The Boy Who Died Wolf even get close to this one, though it was always going to be hard to top "My Name Is Human". We found that out the hard way this year. (Seriously, have I mentioned how much Highly Suspect have disappointed me in 2019?) VideoBack in 2017, "Andromeda" was the lone song on Humanz that felt like it could stand up to the best of Gorillaz in the long run. Two years have passed, and, if anything, that opinion has only grown stronger with time. Nothing else on Humanz has had the same staying power as "Andromeda", and it's not hard to understand why when listening to the song. This is the song on Humanz that GETS Gorillaz better than any other on the album. The combination of the music being undeniable and the content being meaningful and, at times, heartbreaking. I wanted more of this from Gorillaz this decade. VideoI almost forgot about this song. I won't mention rankdowns TOO much here, but when I hosted my second Red's Favorite Songs rankdown, I included "Slip to the Void". I do not regret that decision, ultimately, but I do wish that "Cry of Achilles" was in its place instead, because, as much as I love "Slip to the Void", "Achilles" is better. It was so good that Alter Bridge released a retread song a few years later that was pretty damn good, simply because it was a retread of "Cry of Achilles". The guys from Creed (- Scott Stapp) made this song. Let that sink in for a minute.
VideoI had been waiting for this song for around 15 years. Rammstein have released songs and albums since Reise, Reise, some of the songs being really, really good...but they just were not quite on the same level as everything that came before it. When it was revealed that Rammstein were working on a new album, I was very excited, but I was also a little worried because of the long layoff between albums. Did they still have what it takes? About 50 seconds into this song, my doubts went away in a flash. This is, unequivocally, the best song Rammstein has made in 15 years, and a song that will likely hold its own as one of their very best. VideoThere are just two CHVRCHES songs in this top 200. I know, I'm surprised, too. But there was no way that "Recover" wasn't going to be one of them. Some songs are harder for me to talk about than others, and "Recover" is definitely one of those songs where I struggle to come up with the words to describe why I love the song as much as I do. Ultimately, more than any of their other songs, "Recover" just puts me in a trance. The combination of Lauren Mayberry's vocals and the soothing synthpop music backing her up just grabs me every single time I listen to it. I listened to "Recover" specifically to write another blurb about it for this top 200, and I found myself being transfixed by the song again.
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Red
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Post by Red on Dec 14, 2019 23:34:09 GMT -5
{120-111} I wasn't kidding.
VideoI continue to be hung up on the "I was supposed to do great things" line, because it continues to act as a self-fulfilling prophecy for Cold War Kids in the years since. This is the moment that everything finally seemed to be coming together for CWK, once and for all. Of course, they wound up finally becoming a much bigger name on Alt...three years later. And they just haven't been the same band since. VideoIt took over 80 songs, but we have finally reached the point where My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy songs start showing up. Unlike pretty much everyone else, the first one of many is the one many people would rank the highest. "Runaway" is perhaps the only song on this list that I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with. There are days where I just can't get into this song as much as I would like to, but on those days where this song hits me, it hits HARD, harder than a good chunk of the songs that are higher up in the top 200. I could not justify leaving "Runaway" off of my top 200, because when it impacts me, it impacts me in a way few songs above or below it do. font]
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This is only the second Muse song on this list, and we're close to reaching the top 100. I know, I'm surprised, too. Fair warning: There's not really a lot of Muse songs in the top 100, either. What can I say? The 2010s were not a particularly great decade for my favorite band. They still had highlights, though, the opener of The 2nd Law being one of them. It almost feels like they made that album as an excuse to put this song on an album when it was rejected as a potential James Bond theme song. I mean, it's not hard to come to that conclusion when listening to this song. It goes as well as you would expect it to.
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As some of you may know, I wasn't the biggest fan of The King of Limbs. I felt that it was uneven, at best, and even the highlights were sub-standard...for Radiohead, which means that it was still good, but just not good enough. When I first listened to "Daydreaming", I knew that A Moon Shaped Pool was going to be better right then and there. No song on The King of Limbs can match the pure beauty of "Daydreaming", even on its best day. I'm sure that I'm now angering the big TKoL fans out there. Hey, I'll gladly talk to you about that album and I'll try to keep an open mind. Just know that you're already fighting a bit of a losing battle, because "Daydreaming" is on another level.!
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Funnily enough, it didn't really hit me until about a year ago that I actually really, really, REALLY liked "Red Eyes". That's not to say that I ever disliked it. Far from it, I've always loved it. I did believe that it constantly overshadowed "Under the Pressure" a bit, but that didn't taint the song for me. I will say that I have never felt that it's one of the two best songs on Lost in the Dream. While that opinion has not changed (spoilerr), "Red Eyes" is closer to entering the top two than ever before, thanks, in no small part, to me listening to this song on a loop for about an hour one day in June of last year. It finally, truly clicked. Took me long enough.
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Without this song, I do not have the drive to check out The National's discography. Without "The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness", I wouldn't have made quite a few great song discoveries, I wouldn't have listened to Sleep Well Beast and discovered another of my favorite songs this decade, and I wouldn't have re-connected to and fallen HARD for another National song from this decade. I couldn't justify ranking "The System" higher than this, ultimately, but there's no underselling just how important it was for me to fall in love with this song, either.
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There was a point in 2011 when I would start every day listening to "Dark Fantasy", because it would pump me up to go to college and go forward with the rest of my day. I could wax poetic on the beat, the catchiness of the song, the bombast of it all, and so much more in "Dark Fantasy" that makes it a personal favorite on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, but, really, this song is only as high in my estimation as it is because it was there for me at a time when I needed it. Sometimes, it really is that simple.
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Speaking of songs that were there for me when I needed them in college, boy, was "Ready to Start" needed when I was heading off on a new journey. This song was practically a part of me at the end of 2010, and, frankly, I'm amazed that it wasn't in my top 20 for that year. I have always thought that it was in the top 15 or even higher, especially considering some of the songs I ranked higher (I won't name them, because I'm kind of ashamed that they were higher in my estimation at the time). And yet, despite all of this, "Ready to Start" is not my favorite song from The Suburbs...
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Here's another song that has just kept going up and up in my estimation over the course of this decade. The other Naked and Famous singles before 2019 have all been varying degrees of good, but I have always gravitated to "Hearts Like Ours" the most. I feel like most people would rather go with "Punching in a Dream" and espeically "Young Blood", which is all well and good, those are both really good. I feel like "Hearts Like Ours" goes for an emotional punch that those other two songs don't really hit, though, and I suppose that's why I've always liked it a little more. I mean, it's such a good and memorable song that they made a retread a few years later...and it was still good, because it was a retread of "Hearts Like Ours".
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Yes, I know, rankdown participants, I placed the song from another rankdown higher than a song in my Favorite Songs series. I'm (somewhat) surprised, too. As much as I connected to "Ready to Start" on a personal level, "The Suburbs" is just a slightly better song overall. Obviously, if you've been following where I've ranked songs (or not ranked songs) over the years, then you can see that this was not always the case. In fact, for a couple of years, "Ready to Start" was my absolute favorite song on The Suburbs. Over time, however, a few songs wore me down, including "The Suburbs"...even if it's just barely ahead of "Ready to Start" here..
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Post by fearlessarrow on Dec 14, 2019 23:37:12 GMT -5
I'm unfamiliar with most of the songs here but very happy to see "Rats" and "Square Hammer"! I got into Ghost somehow this year through "Dance Macabre" and been listening (or at least have been trying to) listen to more of their stuff.
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Post by Red on Dec 16, 2019 22:30:52 GMT -5
{110-101} I'm done trying to pretend that there's going to be any set schedule going forward.
Also, there proved to be a big issue that, honestly, I don't really feel like fixing...you'll know it when you see it.
VideoThe four song stretch on Random Access Memories that starts with "Instant Crush" and ends with "Get Lucky" is just really, really good. One of the songs ("Lose Yourself to Dance") did not make my top 200, but it would have made a top 300 or 400. The other three did make it, and "Touch" is the first...which might surprise some people? Maybe? For most albums, saying that a song is my fourth favorite on the album makes it seem like this song might be an afterthought. It's anything but. If anything, it's the centerpiece of Random Access Memories. The last couple of minutes, in particular, are just wonderful. What a beautiful trip this song is. 109) Lights - ToesVideoOkay, so...apparently, this is the one graphic I did not save. While I COULD go back and fix this, it would be a hassle that, right at this moment, I can't afford to deal with. This will be the only song in the top 200 without a graphic...for now, anyway. I may get around to this and add a graphic later, if I feel bold.
Alright, now let's talk about this song. It was only a matter of time before we got to Lights, really. She was one of my favorite discoveries of the decade, and "Toes" was the song that fully got me on board the Lights train, falling in love with the singer and the tight and bouncy beat. There's one or two songs of hers that I prefer overall (and yes, spoiler, they will be higher up the list), but no Lights song has more importance to me than "Toes". VideoI think it's heartbreaking that there's only one Pearl Jam song in this top 200. They've only released a couple of albums this decade, sure, but Pearl Jam songs would absolutely take decent-sized chunks out of top 200s in the previous two decades, especially the 90's. Instead, just one Pearl Jam song impacted me very hard this decade, but if there was ever going to be one song to pull it off, it was always going to be "Sirens". I thought at the time that it was the best song Pearl Jam have released in at least a decade, and I stand by that today. It's the one song this decade that stacks up with their greatest hits. VideoWe have not seen a single harder, rougher around the edges Deftones song since way back at the beginning of the top 200, and that isn't changing right now, either. "Sextape" is another song that has only grown in my estimation over time, eventually reaching a point where I can comfortably say that it's one of my personal favorite Deftones slow songs. This song is fucking gorgeous. Incredibly, it's not even the slow-tempo highlight on Diamond Eyes, but that says more about the quality of Diamond Eyes than anything else. This song would be the absolute top highlight on most albums released in the 2010's. VideoI never thought that loving "The Motherload" would be such a controversial opinion on the internet, but, apparently, this absolutely awesome and catchy song is divisive amongst the Mastodon fanbase. I have to ask...why? Is it really because it sounds like a "radio song"? Well, a couple of years later, Mastodon released another song that was catered to the radio even more than "The Motherload", and "Show Yourself" was a low point for the band. The difference between this and "Show Yourself" is that, even as they are creating a more catchy, friendlier song, Mastodon don't lose sight of their past here, either, and find a way to meld both old and new into one glorious package. "Show Yourself" simply couldn't match the awesomeness of this song's incendiary guitar solo, even if it tried really hard. VideoI could make an argument that "Smooth Sailing" is one of the most batshit insane songs of the entire decade. It's like if "I'm Designer" was given a 2010's makeover, only it's even more filthy and ridiculous. The groove on this song is just RIDICULOUS, easily one of the grooviest songs that Queens of the Stone Age have ever made, and that is saying a lot. It works even better on the album as the descent into madness before "I Appear Missing" and the title track put a rest to everything. There was simply no way this wasn't making the top 200. VideoOut of every song on this list not to make one of my year-end charts, "Kodama" has to be one of the most surprising. In fact, I remember thinking to myself as I was looking for it, "Wait, this didn't make my 2016 list? Really?" This is, pretty clearly, one of my favorite songs of that year, and this all seems like a pretty glaring oversight, especially for a song as epic as "Kodama". The standout on the album of the same name, "Kodama" is a nine minute behemoth that does not wear out its welcome at any point. If anything, I almost want it to keep going when it was done, like there's still unfinished business, somehow. When a nine minute song has me clamoring for even more, you know the artist in question is doing something right. VideoWhile "Touch" is a beautiful, downright gorgeous song, "Giorgio by Moroder" is the real adventure on Random Access Memories. It takes you through the progression of Giorgio Moroder's life through song, but it also serves as a musical interpretation of the evolution of electronic music through the decades. It all builds to an explosive finale, which...might be my favorite moment on Random Access Memories, even if the song itself is not my favorite on the album. The way this song winds and weaves its way to the ending is nothing short of genius, and it perfectly illustrates why I love this album as much as I do. VideoThere are two long masterpieces on The War on Drugs' seminal album Lost in the Dream, and while this is the lower (and shorter) of the two, there's no denying that "An Ocean in Between the Waves" is really, really good. As much as I've really, really come around to "Red Eyes", "An Ocean in Between the Waves" is basically the longer, slightly better version of "Red Eyes". Why? Well, obviously, because there's more of it. Yes, it really is that simple. Seven minutes of this song is better than five minutes. This has been the latest (or first?) installment of "How To Do Simple Math, Starring a Tube Vent". VideoThe song that just (and I mean just) missed the top 100 is yet another Deftones song, this time one that has the unfortunate task of preceding "Entombed" and following "Leathers", and I think it gets lost in the shuffle a little bit because of that fact. That's a shame, because the groove on "Poltergeist" is absolutely insane and simply undeniable. I don't think it's too crazy to suggest that this is one of Deftones' heaviest songs, and it is as massive as that accolade would suggest. The slower songs on Koi are the most acclaimed, but songs like "Poltergeist" showcase how good Deftones could be on Koi when things needed to be taken up a notch, too.
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Red
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Post by Red on Dec 16, 2019 22:32:14 GMT -5
{100-91} Alright, here we go...it's top 100 time. And let's start with...a choice, to be sure.
VideoIf you had told me even a year ago that this would just barely sneak into my top 100 songs of the entire decade, I would have laughed it off. I had grown to love this song immensely, but I would not have considered this as one of *the* songs of the decade before this year. It was this year where it really hit me just how effortlessly this song has stayed on my mind. It has remained in my playlist, in some form, ever since listening to it for the first time, but it was 2019 where "Living Fiction" became an unshakeable virus. I can't stop myself from coming back for more, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Video"Thinkin Bout You" may be about Frank Ocean's first love, but it's hard for me to think about this song and not think about my own first love, a person that I never really talk to anymore. At this point, I might as well be a stranger to her. But this song has a habit of reminding me of the good times we had, all with the context that things did not work out. Most songs that remind me of my ex are songs that I struggle to listen to even today, but "Thinkin Bout You" has an advantage that those other songs don't: It is simply stunning, complete with Frank Ocean's passionate performance. VideoAt this point, this may very well be my favorite Strokes song. Not exactly the most common pick out there, but "Machu Picchu" hooks me in a way that even my other favorite Strokes songs (like "12:51", "Reptilia", and "Someday") do. All of those songs that I mentioned are very good, but "Machu Picchu" is also extremely catchy and vibrant. It sounds positively new wave-y, and that's probably the real reason why I appreciate it so much. It doesn't sound like a cut and copy Strokes song. "Machu Picchu" is its own beast, and it stands out quite a bit because of that fact. VideoThere was simply no way this couldn't close My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I mean, technically, it doesn't...but really, "Lost in the World" is 100% the album closer. On an album full of great beats, "Lost in the World" has one of the most immediate and most pulse-pounding of them all. There's a lot going on in the instrumental, and that overshadows the fact that there's only one real verse on the song. I think it's a pretty good Kanye verse, but this song is all about the beat and the production, both master-class. VideoThere was a time where I overlooked "Blackstar" for some of the other songs on David Bowie's last album. That thought process has decidedly faded into the ether over time. The title track of one of my favorite albums of 2016 is just a wonder, a song that flirts with experimentation throughout and never sounds like it's losing steam at any point over its ten minute runtime, especially after changing from a jazz song into a classic Bowie glam rock jam. And to think, I didn't think this was one of the 100 best singles of 2015 OR 2016. I have no idea what I was doing in those years. I mean, I made up for it in 2016 somewhat...but still, no spot for "Blackstar" anywhere? VideoFirst off, a quick note: The year could be any one from 2013 to 2015 for this song. I went with the earliest this song was released, but 2014 and 2015 would also work. Now, with that said, let's be real: Unless the song doesn't have a MV or didn't see a single release, I'm going to be baffled every time I see a song in this top 100 that didn't make one of my YE lists. To be fair, "Itch" has a better excuse than most: I simply did not know it existed until 2016. By that point, it was probably too late to consider it for a YE list, even if I should have just put it on the 2016 list and been done with it. I like the music in this song a lot, but the best Nothing But Thieves songs are the ones where Conor Mason just carries the whole song up to another plane of existence, and "Itch" is certainly no exception. VideoThere may be over 90 songs higher than "Burn the Witch", but it's arguable that no song better exemplifies what the 2010's felt like on a personal level than this one. As some of you are already well aware of, I have been dealing with mental illness for a large chunk of my life, though it only became blatantly obvious in the last decade. Suffering through depression and especially anxiety on a daily basis makes you feel like you're on the edge of a full-blown panic attack every single day, and "Burn the Witch" practically sounds like a panic attack that is growing in intensity. This song is, obviously, about much more than that, but it resonates with me on a much deeper level than Radiohead may have intended. VideoThe first ten seconds do not prepare you for what "Rituals" is about to give you, not even close. Hell, even with the subsequent buildup that follows, I don't think it can really prepare you for what immediately follows the buildup. You may think that you have an idea of what's coming, but you really don't. Simply put, what follows is one of the most ferocious songs I have ever heard. This song almost sounds like it would fit in remarkably well in a horror movie. s**t, it might as well be its own horror movie. VideoI loved "Bulletproof", but nothing La Roux previously released hits me as hard as "Let Me Down Gently". It convinced me that La Roux was capable of more than (admittedly pretty damn good) catchy pop songs. It showed that Elly Jackson was capable of creating material that resonated beyond being "just a pop song". The second half of this song, after the buildup that it followed, is simply exquisite. Apparently, Elly is releasing a new album in 2020. It's about time, really. I have high expectations for that album, though I can't imagine that she has something in the works that could top this. VideoTwo Metallica songs released in the last 20 years have given me...perhaps false hope that Metallica were still capable of creating songs on the level of their 80's peak. The first was "All Nightmare Long" off of Death Magnetic. With proper production, it would likely stand alone as THE song from said album. The second does not have the same production issues and is, arguably, a better song because of it. "Spit Out the Bone" was initially one of two absolute standout songs on Hardwired...to Self-Destruct, but "Moth Into Flame" fell off a little bit because I just cannot get over the fact that it's a remake of "Disposable Heroes". "Spit Out the Bone" is its own song, and the closest Metallica has come in the last three decades to reaching the greatness of the 80's.
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Red
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Post by Red on Dec 24, 2019 1:02:42 GMT -5
{90-81} I'm just posting updates whenever I feel like it, at this point.
VideoIt's very, VERY hard to separate this song from its incredible one long shot music video, which may just be my favorite music video of the entire decade. While the video for "Call Your Girlfriend" is on my mind every time I listen to it, the song itself is more than capable of holding its own. It takes on its adult subject matter with serious intent and with grace, and it would have been the song that set the trends for what would follow in the decade to come...if not for the fact that Robyn herelf had already made an even better song previously. Even with the shadow that that other song casts over the rest of Robyn's material this decade, "Call Your Girlfriend" is special and stands out. VideoI love "Hot Traveler" dearly, but the song that won me over immediately from The Heart is a Monster was "A.M. Amnesia". I love "Hot Traveler", but it wasn't the Failure that I really got into. "A.M. Amnesia", on the other hand, is Failure. I revisited this after I really fell hard for Failure and Fantastic Planet last year, and I would say that it has only gotten better with time. What a gorgeous song. VideoHave The National made songs like this in the past? Absolutely. Hell, I saw this song compared to "Pink Rabbits" a LOT, even at the time, and it makes sense. "Carin at the Liquor Store" almost feels like a direct sequel to "Pink Rabbits". But I think that's an incredible compliment, because "Pink Rabbits" is one of my absolute favorite National songs, and so is this. Every time I hear the opening piano in "Carin", I immediately lose myself and fall hopelessly into the music. It's downright intoxicating. And that guitar...my goodness. This song hits every note about as perfectly as possible.
VideoOver time, it hit me that "Reptilian" may just be my favorite Converge song. It probably isn't the BEST one, because songs like "Concubine" and "Dark Horse" exist, but "Reptilian" holds a very special place in my heart as the song that ends my favorite album in 2017 with the biggest buildup and, arguably, the biggest explosion on the entire album. It definitely sounds like it's going to be a bit of a slow-burner at first, only to suddenly turn on a dime and create a suffocatingly heavy and galloping song that fucking ROARS its way through the rest of the song. It all comes to a head at the end, as the last 25 seconds wraps everything up with one of my favorite song endings of the decade. That's in a decade with some VERY strong climaxes. Such is the power of "Reptilian". VideoOkay, "Wait for Me", you win. You're my favorite Kings of Leon song. I've tried to deny it, I've tried to pretend that one of the older Kings of Leon songs, like "The Bucket", is my favorite...but this truly is the Kings of Leon song that I like the most. The atmosphere "Wait for Me" creates is something that I didn't think modern Kings of Leon was capable of, and it would have been difficult for even early Kings of Leon to pull it off. Most of their contemporaries would not have been able to create a song like this, for sure. I think time is going to vindicate "Wait for Me" more than it already has. VideoI don't remember how I was introduced to this song (I believe it was an old friend making a recommendation), but what I distinctly remember was just how cool this song sounded, from beginning to end. There's bits and pieces that I feel like I've heard before, but I still don't recall hearing a song quite like this in the 2010s. The guitar riffs in this song are unreal, and the DRUMMING, good LORD, it is fiery. Add the distortion and the effects, and you have one of the most distinct sounding songs of the decade. It's a shame that barely anyone remembers or even knows of "Fault", because it absolutely deserves to be remembered. VideoBack in 2010, I believe that I referred to Chromeo as the "modern day Hall & Oates". It was "Don't Turn the Lights On" that cemented that thought. I actually remember exactly where I was when I heard this song for the first time. I remember that it was a fall day in 2010, and I was eating at the campus cafeteria, and the video for the song randomly popped up on MTV2. If you've ever watched the video for "Don't Turn the Lights On", you know this is one hell of a way to introduce the song (and Chromeo themselves) to someone. It worked like a charm, because I wasn't going to forget about this song after seeing the insane music video, and I made sure to find this song and listen to it (and maybe watch the video again, too). I'm really glad I did, because this groovy tune is, undoubtedly, one of my favorites of the 2010s. Video"Little Talks" is the song that everyone knows, but "Mountain Sound" was always the song I liked more from Of Monsters and Men. "Little Talks" may be more distinctive, but "Mountain Sound" takes its sound and performs it at the maximum possible level. This isn't just a well-performed folk song. This is an extremely well-performed folk song. It's also extremely catchy, almost unbelievably so. There was a point in 2013 where I just could not stop listening to the song at all. It had completely taken over my life and was THE thing for me in music, and that was back when my Muse fandom was still at or near its apex. I love "Little Talks" dearly, but "Mountain Sound" will always be the best Of Monsters and Men song. (Sorry, "Alligator".) VideoI love "Rituals" so much, but "The Hollow Hour" is the pinnacle of Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It. As much as I love both "Rituals" and "Aftermath", it's here where the album really begins to take shape and establish itself as one of my favorite albums of the last couple of years of the 2010s. The moment when Eva Spence's ferocious vocals kick in with the rest of the instruments is simply magnificent, and the bipolar feel of the song only helps add to the song, rather than subtract. I love when the song shifts into a much softer and brooding song around the halfway point, and I LOVE when the speed and the power come barreling back in before things slow right back down. f**k, I love this song. If anything, I think it may be too low in my ranking. VideoI actually don't remember exactly how I found myself listening to "Rescue, Mister" for the first time. All I remember is how blown away I was by the sounds this song was emitting. The beat here never, ever, ever fails to impress me. There's just so much going on that it can overwhelm the senses, but it all comes together on "Rescue, Mister" in a way that few electronic songs could hope to accomplish this decade. This song is just a marvel, an assault of the senses that I can't help but revisit every so often, just to be wowed all over again.
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Red
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Post by Red on Dec 24, 2019 1:12:44 GMT -5
{80-71} I swear, this is not "100-91" again.
VideoOne of the greatest journeys any song took an unsuspecting soul on in the 2010s. It does not wear out its welcome whatsoever in its 9+ minutes. If anything, I feel like this song could have went on forever, and I would have been fine with it. I sensed something special was coming even as the song was just beginning, but at the one minute mark is where things really start to get good. That beat and groove is downright electrifying, and, when the beat and groove are combined with the vocals, it creates a feeling of groovy bliss that few songs even came close to this decade. Add an unforgettable hook and a super extended ending, and you have one hell of a song. VideoI loved "Toes" and had always had a bit of appreciation for Lights before I sat down to listen to Siberia for the first time. I was sort of worried when the first song started out the way it did, only for Lights' vocals to take away most of the fears. The remaining fears went away as I found myself listening to the song more than any other on the album. I adore "Toes", but the song I've always gravitated to off of what was, at the time, my favorite album of 2011 is the title track. VideoThe combination of Arcade Fire and James Murphy should have been an absolute slam dunk, on paper. Ultimately, though, Reflektor the album is marred by inconsistency. The best songs on that album are still pretty good, but all of the songs on that album are overshadowed by the seven and a half minute behemoth of a title track. It almost feels like Arcade Fire and James Murphy made a song together, realized how incredible it was, and then decided, "Let's make an album full of songs around this beast. Why not?" If every song on that album had been as good as the title track, we'd be talking about one of the greatest albums of the decade. Instead, I can only wonder what could have been. Video"Cardinals" means a lot to me on a personal level, easily among the ten songs this year that impacted me the most beyond purely being just a song. I won't go into details, but I will say that the subject matter of the song hit me particularly hard of a situation close to home. Since then, things have, thankfully, gotten better in that regard, but "Cardinals" has lost none of its power. It remains one of the best songs of its kind this decade, maybe even the best, and I would have loved the song even without the connections I was able to make to things going on in my personal life. Those connections brought this song up to an even higher level, however. VideoThis is another song that could have perfectly described me in this decade. Clearly inspired by at least one song that will be higher up this list, "Sleepwalking" feels almost like the "complete" version of the song in question. While I will always have a bigger soft spot for the other song, "Sleepwalking" serves as a "what if", in a way, of what that other song would have been like if it had more of a traditional structure. If you're going to practically rip off one of the most iconic synthpop songs of the decade, you might as well give it your all, right? VideoMost of Chelsea Wolfe's Hiss Spun album has held up pretty well in the last two years, though three songs, in particular, just continue to destroy me every time I listen to them. One, "The Culling", was on the shortlist for this top 200, but it didn't quite make the cut. The other two are pretty damn high in this top 200, including "Twin Fawn", which starts out fairly unassuming, with a beautiful vocal performance by Chelsea Wolfe herself. As I listened to the song for the first time, I was waiting for the song to kick into high gear. Oh boy, did it ever. "Twin Fawn" follows a fairly basic song structure (soft, then HEAVY, then back to soft, then HEAVY again), but when it works as well as it does here, it is just so damn satisfying. VideoThis surprises me more than it does anyone else, probably, but not only is this the only Creeper song in this top 200, but it's actually significantly lower than I expected. I don't think it's too much of a stretch for me to say that this would have been in my top 50 a year ago. While it has dropped ever so slightly since that point, that chorus remains one of my favorite things in any song from this decade. The last chorus, in particular, with the buildup...*mwah*. Wonderful. VideoI want to live in a world where this song became the big rock hit that it deserved to be. I mean, sure, we did get "Moaning Lisa Smile", and that's all well and good, but "Giant Peach" has always been the real winner from Wolf Alice's early work. Wolf Alice mostly have focused on making slower, dreamier songs, but I've always been intrigued the most when they let loose and rock out (well, with some exceptions), and "Giant Peach" is the band at their absolute rocking best. VideoThe more I think about "The Gold", the more it has stuck with me. In fact, while I don't think that I would go as far as to say that it's my favorite Manchester Orchestra song ('I've Got Friends" still holds onto that distinction...for now), it's closer now than it has ever been to grabbing a hold of that title. "The Gold" just hits all of his notes perfectly. There isn't a wasted moment, nor is there an aspect of the song that feels out of place. I don't think that I could bring myself to call this a "perfect" song, because only two or three songs I have ever listened to have been absolutely "perfect"...but I really don't know what I would change about "The Gold", if anything. VideoWhile I prefer the album that preceded Little Machines, and as much as I adore "Siberia", the opening track off of the follow-up to my album of 2011 (well, at the time, anyway...hell, maybe it still is) is the pinnacle of Lights' career so far. Almost all of the other songs that I really like from Lights are much more bouncy, full of life, energetic. "Portal" is much slower, more subdued. This is a trait that another one of my favorite Lights songs ("Cactus in the Valley") has, but I think that this song accomplishes what "Cactus in the Valley" was attempting and gets to the finish line. "Portal" is Lights realizing her potential.
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Red
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Post by Red on Dec 25, 2019 18:31:33 GMT -5
{70-61} Christmas update? Christmas update.
VideoEvery song since "Lights" that Ellie Goulding has released has been in its massive shadow. She's certainly released strong material since then (especially on Halcyon), but nothing she has made since "Lights" has matched its frenetic energy, its quality production, and its awe-inspiring desperation. Given the songs that have been released recently, I'm beginning to wonder if Ellie may have just peaked at the very beginning and is slowly falling down from that peak. Even if it would be disappointing if that winds up being the case, the peak was so freaking good that it was worth it just to have that brief moment happen. VideoKanye West is an enigma at the best of times, and a genuinely complicated and sometimes even not very good person at the worst of times. His music tends to be a representation of both sides of the musical equivalent of Jekyll and Hyde, but when his music is on the best side and it is firing on all cylinders, it is simply unbelievable. Case in point, "Blood on the Leaves", a song that could very well be a disaster in lesser hands, given that it has the audacity to sample Bille fucking Holiday (and not just any Billie song, "Strange Fruit", no less). And yet, because Kanye West is a mad genius at his best, he's able to turn what should never work into one of the best beats of the 2010s, as well as, improbably, one of this decade's best rap songs. Video"Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe", on the other hand, goes for a much different...well, vibe than "Blood on the Leaves". It's much more chill, laid back, and far less in your face. There are some days where I prefer that in your face mentality, but I tend to go to the chill well more often, and that's where this song comes in. Forgive me for being terribly unhip, but "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe" is a mood. That beat is also one of the best of the decade, and Kendrick's flow combined with that beat is pure bliss. As good as Kendrick could be in this decade, I don't think he ever topped "Bitch, Don't Kill My Vibe"...well, other than one song, anyway. VideoAnd here's where I fully endear myself to Pulse as a whole. Hell, "Run Away with Me" is practically a meme on this forum, it is so beloved and known. As for me, I loved this song back in 2015, but this song just kept sticking around. It eventually got to the point where I could not deny that this was one of the best songs of the decade, in some capacity. I don't think there was ever a point where I felt like this song was overrated here, despite the amount of love "Run Away with Me" has received over the last four+ years. Some songs are just that damn good, and "Run Away with Me" is that good. VideoIt is very, VERY easy to hate The Dear Hunter, but it's still hard to deny that, even if you hate them, at least they're performing a style of music to the absolute best of their ability. Of course, whether you think they have a lot of musical ability is up for debate, but "Gloria" is my exhibit A for those who think that they aren't capable of creating a damn good rock song. It doesn't have the excesses that plague the other Dear Hunter song that I love way too damn much, instead removing the fat and creating a leaner antidote to the proggier, less restrained tendencies of some of their other songs. That doesn't mean that there aren't moments of bombast, however. I mean, it's The Dear Hunter.
VideoI go back and forth constantly on which Deftones album was better this decade: Koi No Yokan or Diamond Eyes? (Shut up, Gore. You're not invited to this conversation.) For a while, I thought that Diamond Eyes was the answer, because I thought that its highest points get to a level that not even Koi could get to. And yet, the more I thought about it, the sheer quantity of high points on Koi was very difficult to ignore. "Tempest" may not even be the best song on the album, which says more than you can possibly imagine about how damn good Koi No Yokan really is.
Oh, I didn't answer the question of which Deftones masterwork is better...to be continued. VideoThe song that introduced me (and, I assume, a bunch of you) to a Swedish band with a dark Pope as a lead singer and faceless, mask-wearing men behind their leader. It's hard to undersell how fresh "Cirice" sounded at the time, especially given how little presence music like this had on rock radio in the US at the time. There was nothing like this on the airwaves at the time, and it's arguable that there's very little on the radio that's like "Cirice" today, certainly in terms of music released recently. Ghost have always had a bit of a throwback vibe, but what has separated them from other throwback bands is their musicianship, which is probably why we haven't seen a lot of bands try to imitate Ghost. It's hard to top. VideoOn any other album, "Instant Crush" would be my favorite song, 100%. It wasn't always this way. I've always liked "Instant Crush", but it took a while for it to become a personal favorite. You'll notice that it was only #84 in my top 100 list back in 2013. The following year, it had leaped up nearly 70 spots. There's a good chance that, if I allowed for a song to make three different year-end lists, "Instant Crush" could have been in my top 10 in 2015. This little song just kept growing on me and gnawing at me until I simply could not avoid it anymore. More than any song on Random Access Memories, "Instant Crush" is the song that just keeps getting better with age. VideoThe earlier work of Leprous this decade was a pretty big miss for me, even among the many albums or songs that I did not listen to this decade. Still, I can't imagine that there are a lot of songs in their discography that are better or more interesting than "Mirage". I've seen non-prog fans really get into this song, and I think that has a lot to do with what it does with the song's structure, particularly in the freaking 17/16 time signature of the verses. I don't think I've heard many songs play around with the idea of what prog can be in the same way that "Mirage" does. And sure, let's end it with a phenomenal last minute, why not? This song just fascinates me. Video"The Way You Used to Do" might be the most disappointing Queens of the Stone Age song I've heard. It's not a bad song, far from it, but you have to keep in mind that it was the first new Queens song since ...Like Clockwork bowled me over four years prior. Compared to what it followed, it simply isn't good enough. A teaser for the album dropped sometime around the time that "The Way You Used to Do" dropped that featured a brief snippet of a song that IMMEDIATELY grabbed my attention. When the full song dropped, I immediately dropped what I was doing so I could listen to it. Lo and behold, it lived up to my lofty expectations and then some. There are some good songs on Villains, but its opener, "Feet Don't Fail Me", is the one song on that album that could have comfortably fit on ...Like Clockwork and not felt out of place, at least as far as quality is concerned.
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Red
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Post by Red on Dec 25, 2019 18:40:21 GMT -5
{60-51} Will I finish this before the end of 2019?
VideoI loved "16 Psyche" in 2017, but I became downright obsessed with it in 2018. Honestly, even when compared to many of the other songs on Hiss Spun, the composition of "16 Psyche" is fairly simple and straight-forward. The devil, as always, is in the details: Chelsea's persuasive vocals, how it seems like everything is being elevated to another level on the chorus, the extended instrumental after the second chorus, how the song just stops on a dime whenever Chelsea wants it to stop...really, though I love the music, it's Chelsea Wolfe herself that continues to grab my attention here. What a commanding and assured performance this is. VideoI hear plenty of songs from ...Like Clockwork get talked about: "Keep Your Eyes Peeled", "My God is the Sun", "I Sat by the Ocean", "Smooth Sailing", "Fairweather Friends", "I Appear Missing"...you know what song never gets brought up enough, and it baffles me every time? The title track. This is, 100%, the PERFECT ending for the album. "I Appear Missing" finds the protagonist of the album takes their last breaths and leave this mortal coil, which is where "...Like Clockwork" comes in and helps guide the protagonist through their first moments in the afterlife, coming to terms with their numerous regrets and watching as everything they've ever known fades into nothingness. "I Appear Missing" on its own is fantastic, but add the title track to it and it reaches another level of greatness. VideoThere have been no songs like "Animals" in the Muse discography this decade, and, honestly, even for me, it's difficult to think of a Muse song that sounds exactly like this one from their past material. The themes are classic Muse tropes that have been in both big Muse hits and lesser known album cuts, but the music is where the magic lies, going out of their comfort zone to create a song revolving around a 5/4 time signature and in the E minor key. Despite how much Muse like to experiment, "Animals" was the first time Muse flirted with either concept, and, surprisingly (or perhaps not surprisingly?), they work exceptionally well. Muse going out of their comfort zone has led to some...less than optimal results in recent years, but "Animals" was one of the cases where trying something new paid off. VideoHonestly, I don't know if the last 7 minutes live up to the first 2 minutes of "Dream House", but oh my fucking god, that first minute, especially...holy crap. Listening to this song for the first time was like having an entire new world FLING open and thrust me in. There were a LOT of great 60 seconds in songs released in the 2010's, but the opening minute of "Dream House" may very well be my favorite of the decade. It's likely unfair to say that the rest of "Dream House" isn't very good, though, because it is. Even without the first minute or so, it would be the best song on Sunbather, and it would not be close. But, really, how could anything follow the beginning of "Dream House"? Nothing could. VideoOnly two "2019" songs made the top 100 (that "2019" will make more sense about 20 songs from now), but they both had to make the top 100 somewhere, because they are simply too good to ignore. "Movies" is my actual song of the year 2019, and there was never going to be any doubting that come the end of the year. I've listened to this song at least 100 times this year, and it continues to work its enormous magic on every single listen. The change at 3:39 is just...my god. And believe me, I love what preceded it, but the last two minutes of "Movies" is soul-affirming. It's almost rapturous. VideoThis song should not work. At all. There's barely any structure, it's an excuse for (just about) everyone involved to show off what they're capable of, and, in lesser hands, this song would have been insufferable. What separates "Monster" from other, similar songs? The talent involved. There's Kanye, of course, creating that thumping, forceful beat and providing his own verse, but Jay-Z is also here, as is Bon Iver on the closing ver--okay, stop, let's be real. This song has long been one of my favorites on MBDTF for one reason, and you all know exactly what it is. As hard as Kanye and Jay try to make the song theirs, Nicki Minaj shows up, and, within the first five seconds of her verse, the song is hers. This one verse is why I've given Nicki more leeway this decade than she may have deserved. Her verse takes what was a pretty good song and makes it a must-listen. VideoThis song is pure evil, and I love every damn second of it. That opening bass riff is just so badass, and the rest of the song follows that badass train all the way into the badass station. The first time I heard this song, it felt like I was left in a puddle on the floor, having been liquified by this song's awesomeness. I love "Cirice" as much as the next person, but "Pinnacle" has always been the one of the two songs that I kept coming back to for more and more repeated blasts to the face. VideoOn one song, in one fleeting moment, I'd argue that Nothing But Thieves out-Mused Muse this decade. Of course, I'm referring to the chorus of "I'm Not Made by Design", where Conor Mason uses a falsetto over one hell of a backdrop to create a defining moment this decade for the band. And this doesn't even mention Conor's voice absolutely taking over near the end, stopping the song because the music simply can't contain him anymore. And yet.. this isn't even one of the two best songs made by Nothing But Thieves. VideoRockstar just knows to pick them, eh? We had Jose Gonzalez perform a song for Red Dead Redemption earlier, and now, we have HEALTH and the signature song from Max Payne 3. Unlike "Far Away", where I simply can't separate the song from its moment in the game, "Tears" works very well even without context. The beat is intoxicating, the vocals are both haunting and even a little creepy, and it sets its tone from the very beginning and never lets up. The atmosphere "Tears" creates is second to none. VideoI've been the biggest proponent of The Birthday Massacre on Pulse for a while now, but even I would admit that most of their songs would not sniff this top 200. That is mostly because the competition is just too fierce, but it's also slightly because most of their songs are merely good, not great. It's when their songs are *great*, though, that they reach heights few could claim this decade, especially "In the Dark", which is the band perfecting their sound. Almost every song the band has made since is influenced at least somewhat by this one.
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Red
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Post by Red on Dec 27, 2019 15:34:35 GMT -5
{50-41} We're going to go with a slightly different look for the top 50...graphics-wise, anyway.
VideoThe most Chevelle song that ever Chevelled, and god, does it ever rule. "Hunter Eats Hunter" does not try to play any tricks with you. It doesn't try to fool you or catch you by surprise. It is there to do one thing, and that is to kick the listener's ass. Another two of my favorite moments in any 2010s song happen here: 3:26 and especially 3:54. WHEN HUNTER...MEEEEEETS...HUNTER. VideoGrimes' greatest attribute has been her ability to take the concept of pop music and tweak it to create something that almost sounds like a pop song, but has undercurrents that remind you exactly what you're really listening to. "Flesh without Blood" is my favorite example. This is about as traditional of a pop song as Grimes could come up with, except little about the song is conventional. How could it be conventional with its constant use of reverb, its echoing effects, and an unrelenting, underlying sense of uneasiness that permeates the entire song? And yet, it's just not easy at all to resist "Flesh without Blood". It is as catchy as your average pop song with supreme production and confident performing that matches the catchiness every step of the way. VideoFor the longest time, "Monster" was my favorite song on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. As much as I love Nicki's verse, though, the rest of the song simply cannot compare, as hard as Kanye tries to hold his own. "All of the Lights" does not have the same issues that plague "Monster" and prevent it from being on of the all-time greats. Kanye is at or near his absolute peak as a performer, commanding your attention the moment he first appears on the song. As great as Kanye is at rapping on "All of the Lights", though, his production is even better. On an album with phenomenal beats, "All of the Lights" still stands out, being bombastic and grand in all of the right ways. VideoAs someone who has loved Nine Inch Nails as long as I have seriously loved music, I don't think I can properly explain just how excited I was after listening to "Copy of a" for the first time. The first fifteen seconds alone made me the most excited I have ever been for a new Nine Inch Nails release. I enjoyed what Trent was making in the previous decade, but "Copy of a" was like hearing Trent looking deep within himself, finding the old Trent, and grabbing him to perform on one glorious song in the modern day. Is it angry? Not really, certainly not when compared to truly angry and furious songs that Trent has released previously. But "Copy of a" is brooding, dark, and, most importantly, groovy as hell. For one brief moment in 2013, Nine Inch Nails sounded like the Nails of old. Video #1 | Video #2 I just cannot separate these two songs. I can't. "Dollar Days" and " I Can't Give Everything Away" are intertwined. The last two songs of David Bowie's last album are as incredible of a final statement as any artist has ever given us, and it's after these two songs that I really understood the brilliance of Blackstar and how David Bowie was still outshining everyone else even at the very end. On their own, these two songs are still spectacular, and they would be undisputed career highlights if they were performed by just about anyone not named David Bowie. Together, though, "Dollar Days" and "I Can't Give Everything Away" create a 1-2 punch that was almost unparalleled this decade. If I had to pick one song between the two, though...I suppose it would be "I Can't Give Everything Away". Barely. Video I've always had a soft spot for him, and some of his early work is among my favorite rap songs ever (especially "The Cool"), but "Mural" is Lupe Fiasco's true masterwork. It is Lupe realizing his massive potential, once and for all, reaching Super Saiyan levels by making a nearly nine-minute rap song engaging throughout, not repeating itself once and always finding something new to rap about, all while yet another one of the finest beats of the decade follows him word for word. I knew that Lupe was always capable of making a song that was this fascinating and captivating, but it's wonderful to actually see Lupe finally do it. Video2010 was the year that Deftones went from being merely a band that I loved to one of my three favorite bands. "Diamond Eyes" the song was a pretty good start to that year for Deftones, and the album was even better, but it wasn't until I saw them in concert, and particularly when they played this song, that my love for the band went through the roof. This song was just phenomenal live, even better than the studio version, and it elevated what was already one of my favorite songs of the year to an all-timer. This isn't even the best song on the damn album! What a decade Deftones had. VideoMost of My Favourite Faded Fantasy has...well, faded over time, though I do still love the album. I don't love it as much as I used to, but it definitely still has its charms. There's one song that hasn't faded at all, however, and it's the album's centerpiece. "It Takes a Lot to Know a Man" is Damien Rice's best song, a nine minute long and winding road of a song that, I would argue, has been the logical endgame for Damien Rice. Every song Rice has made up until this point was building to this very moment, where all of his best qualities come to the forefront and create a masterpiece of sorrow and heartbreak. I haven't heard anything about Damien making any new material lately, and maybe that's for the best, because how could he top this? VideoThis will be a spoiler to some and painfully obvious to others, but it has to be said, because it's important for context: Hello, first year-end #1. I could not justify ranking "Julia" any higher than this, at least for now, because it still feels too soon. In a year's time, though, I may be looking back at where I ranked this and think that I must have been crazy, most likely because it's too low. There was a point earlier this year where I was listening to this song multiple times per day, which is something I just don't do anymore. That is how much this song captivated me at its peak.
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singingrulebritannia
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Post by singingrulebritannia on Dec 27, 2019 15:40:58 GMT -5
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fearlessarrow
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Post by fearlessarrow on Dec 27, 2019 16:06:11 GMT -5
I'm somehow managing to know at least one song in each update so far since I've commented the first time, so that's good, lol. Now that also means I have tons of great music to check out as well.
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Red
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Post by Red on Dec 29, 2019 10:33:11 GMT -5
{40-31} Well, I'm probably not going to get this completed before January 1st...but it actually looks like we're going to finish this, which is still impressive for me.
VideoAnthony Gonzalez has always had a fascination with the 80's, and "Reunion" is M83 at its most blatant 80's worship. It sounds like it could have fit in on one of John Hughes' 80's movies soundtracks. I even thought when I listened to the song for the first time, "This song could have easily been 'Don't You (Forget About Me)' if it had been released in 1985." If you know me, you know that I am all about the 80's, and I'm always going to appreciate someone trying to bring back the best parts of 80's music. "Reunion" rises above the other 80's copycats by simply doing it better than everyone else. There's no half-assing, no complacency. It's every band member performing at their maximum efficiency, and it's all glorious. VideoWhen you're an artist as legendary as Leonard Cohen, it would be easy to coast on your past glories and end your career on a whimper. After all, your legendary status has already been assured. A poor last record wouldn't change any of that. Instead, Cohen created one of his greatest albums at the very end, topped off by one of his best songs. That latter statement is especially arguable, given how many classic songs Cohen has, but "You Want It Darker" was one of the rare times when Cohen created a song where both the music and the lyrics were equally great. The music is simple, sure, but it is suitably dark and gloomy. The lyrics...I mean, it's Leonard Cohen. The guy could have written about the Yellow Pages and created a masterwork. What a way to go. Video"Bloody Angel" wasn't even on my radar until two years ago, so that should probably give you an idea of how much I've grown to love this song in such a short period of time. From the moment I first became acquainted with Avatar, I was fascinated by them, but nothing they've released before or since "Bloody Angel" has grabbed me the same way. There's an epic feeling to this particular song that no other Avatar song has, as hard as they have tried to match it. I would argue that the band has never sounded better. Hell, I'd argue that Johannes Eckerström has never sounded better, growling and snarling his way through the song effortlessly. Everything came together for one perfect moment, and the result is that "Bloody Angel" is THE Avatar song, the song that all other Avatar songs must be measured by. VideoGo figure, my two favorite Pulse discoveries of the 2010's are back-to-back. As much as I love "Bloody Angel", though, I simply have more of a personal connection with "Black Mire". Even if that connection didn't exist, "Black Mire" would still be incredible. The main instrumental and the chorus of "Black Mire" are just massive, one of the most powerful walls of sound this decade had to offer, and (sadly, former) vocalist David Jakes leaves his heart on his sleeve with a performance for the ages. We'll always have this one moment, Lonely the Brave, a moment forever etched in time. Video #1You're damn right that my favorite Arcade Fire song is a Regine song! But when that song is "Sprawl II", how can you really deny that choice? This song may be the precursor to everything that would follow for Arcade Fire, both good and bad. I would not hold that fact against "Sprawl II", if you want to blame it for Everything Now. The problem is that Arcade Fire already perfected the sound they would further experiment with later on, and everything that followed (with the possible exception of "Reflektor") was merely an attempt to re-create the magic. It's hard to re-create magic, especially a lightning in a bottle situation like "Sprawl II". Video #1As soon as two years ago, this song being one of my highest rap songs (and higher than any Kanye West solo song) in a 2010's decade list would not have really occurred to me. I never thought that this song was bad or anything crazy like that, but I never really gave it much thought, either, other than to think "I mean, yeah, this is pretty good." It was only in the last couple of years that "Swimming Pools (Drank)" completely ensnared me. It took a little while still, but it aboslutely clicked in 2018, and I've been listening to this regularly ever since. What a damn song this is. VideoI will stand by "Leathers" being one of Deftones' best songs until long after they stop making music. I've thought from the very beginning that "Leathers" is Deftones performing their signature sound to a level that they have not reached often. It is safe, for Deftones standards, but it's hard to deny Chino Moreno is giving everything he has on "Leathers", a song that he carries to another level almost by himself. The music is great, sure, but "Leathers" is the ultimate example of what can happen when Chino decides that a song needs to be elevated simply through force of will and effort. VideoI think most of us can agree, at this point, that Eat the Elephant was a bit of a disappointment. Then again, how could it not be? It was the first A Perfect Circle album in well over a decade, and their first "real" album in 15 years. It wouldn't be irrational to think that the long wait between albums was a reason to be concerned. The first song released from the album. "The Doomed", was really good, though, and the followup was even better. "TalkTalk" is classic A Perfect Circle, angry with the way that those with power in the United States have refused to take accountability for their actions. It's scathing, angry, powerful...it's A Perfect Circle, and I'd argue that "TalkTalk" is the only time on Eat the Elephant where they really tap into what made the first two A Perfect Circle albums so great. VideoThere's a couple of songs on this list that had more memorable journeys up this list, but "Ain't It Funny" is the song that made the QUICKEST move up the decade-end list. I wouldn't say that this song was an "afterthought" until fairly recently, because I've always really liked this song, but the way this song has grown on me in the last year or so has been nothing short of remarkable. There was a point where I listened to this song at least once a day for months. There's just something about "Ain't It Funny" that sticks with you long after listening to it for the first time. I read a comment in a RYM review of this song that described this song as "the musical equivalent of a Looney Tunes cartoon gone batshit on heroin". Couldn't have put it any better myself. VideoFor much of the second half of the decade, "From the Pinnacle to the Pit" was the song I would mention every time I'd talk about Ghost with someone who was unfamiliar with the band. It was my favorite song by the band, to be sure, and it kept being completely and totally awesome after hundreds of listens. A funny thing happened last year, though: There were a couple of really good slower songs on Ghost's latest album, Prequelle, and I wanted to check out "He Is" again. So, I did...and I found myself listening to it over and over and over. As much as I love "Pinnacle", no Ghost song has inspired me to listen to it on repeat in the same way. This song is downright entrancing, and if it were on almost any other metal album, it would be the clear standout.
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