Alan Jackson Album Series (Complete)

[tim]

Just about everyone that has participated in the series thus far has submitted, so I'm going to go ahead and announce that this will be the LAST CALL for Drive. If anyone else is still interested, please make sure to get your lists in by either tonight or tomorrow morning as I plan on jumping into the reveals before the weekend.

Participants for Drive:
1. tim
2. Kanenrá:ke
3. gardyfan
4. George Strait Junkie
5. Cody Wants Out...
6. someguy
7. castleoblivion26
8. bboat11
9. 🌺CountryLineDancer
10. .indulgecountry
11. kw9461
12. Kris Kringle

SPOILER: Click to show

{Previous Participants}bboat11 George Strait Junkie taylor is terrified castleoblivion26 Cody Wants Out... tim 🌺CountryLineDancer ClevelandRox fearlessarrow Troublemaker gardyfan .indulgecountry Kanenrá:ke kw9461 Kris Kringle someguy

SPOILER: Click to show

{Country Rankdown Tags}CoJoFan Adrian C. 🍓 austin BB🌕 bboat11 bigfan101 George Strait Junkie taylor is terrified castleoblivion26 ccarter1023 cedric Cody Wants Out... HeyHeyHey g8erboi tim onebuffalo LBTrocks ClevelandRox McCreerian Crimsonio Fancy fearlessarrow Troublemaker hydraflare .indulgecountry James Leo ✔ born Kanenrá:ke The Brazilian Guy 🇧🇷 kimberly kw9461 lady𝓐fan Kris Kringle Mylo13 💜 Darkest Hour RobbyFlorida sabre14 someguy zaclord 🌈 SwiftlySheeran Au$tin toomuchboy @xfer

SPOILER: Click to show

{General/Chart Rankdowns Tag List}Adrian C. 🍓 alexcuse Alex1901 American Idiot anthony11554 anorable avatar Az Paynter yuh yuh BB🌕 Beno boysilver400 Private Dancer taylor is terrified castleoblivion26 cedric charmander78 CF15 Cody Wants Out... g8erboi tim @crapkuki23 eidde Crimsonio fearlessarrow Exclusive filthy gabe GP @greento GrinningLikeADevil hydraflare .indulgecountry @jadenlefranks janinho Leo ✔ born Kanenrá:ke Juanca Mr. Thonk Eyes jtd Thee Stallion Fire kimberly lyhom mamooshka shootingstar16 @matthewlam @mirza Mayman MoD Mylo13 💜 netti Nick P SHOOTER Taiga Red RobbyFlorida samo🦕 sergejdordij @sklohiorawr stallie zaclord 🌈 SwiftlySheeran tallen2001 tanooki Au$tin thelegends Rose "Payola" Nylund 𝓲𝓽'𝓼.𝓰𝓿 toomuchboy trilogy Ty woods @waffle walt91 weaver wheatsquares33 mako willapted33 wrip wyckyd Zach

[tim]

Drive

Album Rankdown Results

Final Participant List:
1. tim
2. Kanenrá:ke
3. gardyfan
4. George Strait Junkie
5. Cody Wants Out...
6. someguy
7. castleoblivion26
8. bboat11
9. 🌺CountryLineDancer
10. .indulgecountry
11. kw9461
12. Kris Kringle

---

Here are some pre-reveal questions to get us started:

1. What will be #1?

2. Which song will be the runner-up?

3. Which two songs will be the first to exit?

4. How will each one of the albums four singles perform and will any of them miss the top 5? (Where Were You, Drive, Work in Progress, That'd Be Alright)

5. What will be the highest placing album track and how many of them will make the top 5?

6. Which songs will be most polarizing? Least polarizing?

7. Any other thoughts or predictions?

[bboat11]

1. What will be #1? Gonna be bold and go with "Designated Drinker"!!!

2. Which song will be the runner-up? "Drive". Although I could easily see this winning and DD takes the #2. I have little doubt that they will be the top 2 though, considering how many detractors the other singles have.

3. Which two songs will be the first to exit? Wow, this is hard, as nothing even remotely deserves the shame... Maybe "I Slipped and Fell In Love", and maybe one of the ballads like "Bring On the Night" or "Once In a Lifetime Love"?

4. How will each one of the albums four singles perform and will any of them miss the top 5? (Where Were You, Drive, Work in Progress, That'd Be Alright) "That'd Be Alright" will be #7, with "Where Were You" being #5 and "Work In Progress" being #4.

5. What will be the highest placing album track and how many of them will make the top 5? "Designated Drinker" will be highest, with at least one other joining it ("The Sounds" for sure).

6. Which songs will be most polarizing? Least polarizing? Most: "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)", Least: "Designated Drinker".

7. Any other thoughts or predictions? Can't wait to see how this plays out! This album is perfect, lol.

[tim]

Now that most of the April Fools shenanigans have subsided, I wanted to go ahead and jump into this. I'll kick things off with the bottom 2 songs tonight and then will sprinkle out the top 10 over the course of the weekend.

[tim]

I hope that you're feeling the way that I feel
It's just like flying but you're standing still
The birds and the bees are sure powerful stuff
Whoops, I slipped and fell in love

12. “I Slipped and Fell in Love”

Track: #11
Songwriters: Harley Allen, John Wiggins

Total: 119
Average: 9.92
Std Dev: 2.35

Kanenrá:ke - 5
George Strait Junkie - 6
castleoblivion26 - 9
bboat11 - 9
Cody Wants Out... - 10
.indulgecountry - 10
tim - 11
🌺CountryLineDancer - 11
gardyfan - 12
someguy - 12
kw9461 - 12
Kris Kringle - 12

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
A Little Bluer Than That
Bring On the Night
Designated Drinker
Drive (For Daddy Gene)
First Love
Once in a Lifetime Love
That’d Be Alright
The Sounds
When Love Comes Around
Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)
Work in Progress

[tim]

As correctly predicted by bboat11, “I Slipped and Fell in Love” is in fact the first song to bow out from what I think most of us would all agree upon is a very strong album overall. This in fact mostly hovered in and around the top 10 for the better part of its run before sliding back into the bottom 2 towards the last half. It eventually found itself in the back of the pack as our two final participants, kw9461 and Kris Kringle, both put this at the bottom of their list. They were joined there earlier by both someguy and gardyfan with only Kanenrá:ke giving this some top 5 support.

This song has always been one that has fallen to the back of the album for me if only because I just never seem to be in the right mood for it. It does get a bump, though, as to my ears at least sounds like something George Strait could pull off with his humor and charm.

[tim]

When the sun goes down
You know how to set things right
Let's put the day behind us
And bring on the night

11. “Bring On the Night”

Track: #3
Songwriters: Alan Jackson, Charlie Craig, Keith Stegall

Total: 110
Average: 9.17
Std Dev: 1.40 (LOWEST!)

tim - 7
castleoblivion26 - 7
Kanenrá:ke - 8
.indulgecountry - 8
Cody Wants Out... - 9
someguy - 9
George Strait Junkie - 10
🌺CountryLineDancer - 10
kw9461 - 10
Kris Kringle - 10
gardyfan - 11
bboat11 - 11

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
A Little Bluer Than That
Designated Drinker
Drive (For Daddy Gene)
First Love
Once in a Lifetime Love
That’d Be Alright
The Sounds
When Love Comes Around
Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)
Work in Progress

[tim]

“Bring On the Night” exits next and rounds out our bottom 2. This in fact only settled back into that position in the final moment as before that it pretty much steered clear of the bottom 3 overall. While this didn't pick up any rankings for last place, both gardyfan and bboat11 put this in their bottom 2 with a few others also putting it in their bottom 3. It didn't help matters that it failed to garner any top 5 support with only myself and castleoblivion26 placing it just a couple spots shy of that.

I've always thought of this as one of the stronger album tracks, so it was disappointing for sure to see it fall back into the bottom 2 towards the very end. I hope that it's just a testament to how strong of an album this is overall, but even then this song is miles better than say "Work in Progress" which has already overstayed . Anyways, I initially had this a spot higher and closer to my top 5 before it eventually came down one notch. Not that it would've made any difference, but still...

[tim]

Here are the Top 10:

A Little Bluer Than That
Designated Drinker
Drive (For Daddy Gene)
First Love
Once in a Lifetime Love
That’d Be Alright
The Sounds
When Love Comes Around
Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)
Work in Progress

I'm going to stop there for tonight and will pack back up with reveals over the weekend. Any guesses to how much further we'll get before a single bows out?! Stay tuned!

[tim]

Good morning! I hope everyone is having a great start to their weekend. Let's go ahead and unveil the next two songs so we can find out what the top 8 looks like. Luckily for most of you, we'll only see a couple of top 5 losses while a handful of others lose their last place.

[tim]

Too many times I've lost a good love
And I can see now I let it down
But if love comes back to me
It won't see the same old me
This time I'll be ready
When love comes around

10. “When Love Comes Around”

Track: #10
Songwriters: Alan Jackson

Total: 108
Average: 9.00
Std Dev: 2.45

.indulgecountry - 4
Kris Kringle - 6
George Strait Junkie - 7
🌺CountryLineDancer - 8
kw9461 - 8
tim - 10
Kanenrá:ke - 10
gardyfan - 10
castleoblivion26 - 10
someguy - 11
Cody Wants Out... - 12
bboat11 - 12

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
A Little Bluer Than That
Designated Drinker
Drive (For Daddy Gene)
First Love
Once in a Lifetime Love
That’d Be Alright
The Sounds
Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)
Work in Progress

[tim]

“When Love Comes Around” leaves next which also just happens to be the same spot it can be found on the album. While the melody to this is a bit of an earworm and is rather catchy overall, it just never really stands out enough on its own above everything else I think. That is made evident by the rankings as the majority of the group did put this down in their bottom 3 which included a pair of last place rankings from Cody Wants Out... and bboat11. I'm definitely slightly surprised to see that as I think a couple other songs were more worthy of that designation, but to each their own! This did manage to pick up a lone top 5 from .indulgecountry with Kris Kringle putting it just outside of that.

[tim]

Up next we see the first single exit from the album...I wonder what it could be?!

[tim]

I'm sorry I got mad waitin' in the truck
It seemed like hours you gettin' all dressed up
Just to go to Shoney's on a Wednesday night
I read that book you gave me about Mars and Venus
I think it's sinkin' in but I probably need to reread it
But I'm startin' to see now what you've been sayin' is right

9. “Work in Progress”

Track: #4
Songwriters: Alan Jackson

Released: June 2002
Billboard Hot Country Songs Peak: #3
Placement in Singles Rankdown: #60 out of 65

Total: 106
Average: 8.83
Std Dev: 2.59 (3rd Highest)

George Strait Junkie - 5
Cody Wants Out... - 6
kw9461 - 6
bboat11 - 7
.indulgecountry - 7
gardyfan - 9
Kris Kringle - 9
someguy - 10
Kanenrá:ke - 11
tim - 12
castleoblivion26 - 12
🌺CountryLineDancer - 12

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
A Little Bluer Than That
Designated Drinker
Drive (For Daddy Gene)
First Love
Once in a Lifetime Love
That’d Be Alright
The Sounds
Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)

[tim]

It shouldn't come as a surprise that “Work in Progress” is the first single from the album to bow out as it also exited in the bottom 10 of Alan's artist rankdown. What might be surprising, though, is that this in fact was initially a contender for last place before being thrown a lifeline. That came in the form of a lone top 5 from George Strait Junkie followed-up by Cody Wants Out... who placed it just outside of that. While that might've bumped it up, it just as quickly found itself back down in the bottom 3 as two additional bottom rankings came in from castleoblivion26 and then 🌺CountryLineDancer shortly thereafter. Another near top 5 from kw9461 was just enough to bump this outside of the bottom 3 where it would eventually settle as the rankdown came to a close.

While this wasn't initially my last place, the more I revisited the album and this song the more I remembered how much I dislike it. I immediately want to hit skip whenever I hear the first few notes and just never really have any desire to listen to the rest of the song. This is certainly one of Alan's weaker singles and I think there were much better options to chose from from this album...which will only become more evident once we reach the top 5!

[tim]

Here are the Top 8:

A Little Bluer Than That
Designated Drinker
Drive (For Daddy Gene)
First Love
Once in a Lifetime Love
That’d Be Alright
The Sounds
Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)

We're down to only three singles while five album tracks remain! Which songs will exit before the top 5 and how many of the album tracks will make it in?! Stay tuned!

[tim]

Good morning, y'all! Let's unveil the next two songs which will then get us a bit closer to finding out what the top 5 songs will be.

[tim]

My first love was an older woman
There's been many since
But there'll never be another
Built in 1955, snowshoe white, overdrive
I never should've sold her, I'll always love her
She was mine

8. “First Love”

Track: #12
Songwriters: Alan Jackson

Total: 97
Average: 8.08
Std Dev: 2.54 (4th Highest)

🌺CountryLineDancer - 4
kw9461 - 4
.indulgecountry - 6
gardyfan - 8
George Strait Junkie - 8
someguy - 8
castleoblivion26 - 8
bboat11 - 8
tim - 9
Cody Wants Out... - 11
Kris Kringle - 11
Kanenrá:ke - 12

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
A Little Bluer Than That
Designated Drinker
Drive (For Daddy Gene)
Once in a Lifetime Love
That’d Be Alright
The Sounds
Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)

[tim]

Alan isn't lying when he sings about his first love being an older woman built in 1955, although in this case he's referring to his beloved ’55 Ford Thunderbird . Here's a quick background of some of the history behind both the car and the song:

Jackson began saving money when he was 12 years old and bought the car when he was 15. He restored it with his dad, Gene, and drove it throughout high school. In fact, Denise Jackson, Alan’s wife, agreed to a first date with her future husband because “he owned the coolest car in town.” After the couple married, Jackson sold his dream machine to make a down payment on their first home. Several years later Denise tracked down the car and gave it to Alan as a Christmas gift. The T-Bird served as inspiration for his 2002 song “First Love,” and, in 2008, the car (and Denise) appeared in Jackson’s music video “Good Time.”

This was initially one of our bottom 2 contenders as it failed to gain much traction from some of the early participants which included a lone last place from Kanenrá:ke as well as a bottom 2 from Cody Wants Out.... It found its footing towards the last half, though, as it would pick up a pair of top 5s from 🌺CountryLineDancer and kw9461. Even still, it was never able to get any higher than where it would eventually come to a rest at.

[tim]

And just for kicks, here is an early picture of both Alan and Denise sitting in his treasured '55 Thunderbird as well as a snippet of the car being featured in the "Good Time" video:

[tim]

Well, I know it's out there
I've seen it happen
And I know the way it should feel
'Cause there's no mistakin'
That good kind of achin'
Of once in a lifetime love

7. “Once in a Lifetime Love”

Track: #9
Songwriters: Alan Jackson

Total: 89
Average: 7.42
Std Dev: 3.06 (2nd Highest)

🌺CountryLineDancer - 2
gardyfan - 4
Cody Wants Out... - 5
Kris Kringle - 5
someguy - 6
Kanenrá:ke - 7
tim - 8
.indulgecountry - 9
bboat11 - 10
George Strait Junkie - 11
castleoblivion26 - 11
kw9461 - 11

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
A Little Bluer Than That
Designated Drinker
Drive (For Daddy Gene)
That’d Be Alright
The Sounds
Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)

[tim]

“Once in a Lifetime Love” is the next album track to exit and with it takes our first top 2 loss from 🌺CountryLineDancer. Three others joined him in the top 5 while a trio of others opted to place this down in their bottom 2. It pretty much was always at an arms length away from the other songs vying for a top 5 position and firmly found itself planted in the same position for most of its run. This is turn wound up being the second most polarizing song from the album.

[tim]

Here are the Top 6!

A Little Bluer Than That
Designated Drinker
Drive (For Daddy Gene)
That’d Be Alright
The Sounds
Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)

With an equal amount of singles and album tracks remaining, which song do you think will exit before the top 5 is revealed later this afternoon? Any guesses or predictions as to how the top 5 might look overall? Stay tuned!

[tim]

Alright ladies and gents, let's find out which song misses the top 5!

[tim]

Hey, go heavy on the good and light on the bad
A hair more happy and a shade less sad
Turn all the negative down just a tad
That'd be alright

6. “That’d Be Alright”

Track: #8
Songwriters: Tim Nichols, Mark D. Sanders, Tia Sillers

Released: December 2002
Billboard Hot Country Songs Peak: #2
Placement in Singles Rankdown: #45 out of 65

Total: 71
Average: 5.92
Std Dev: 2.47 (5th Highest)

Kris Kringle - 2
George Strait Junkie - 4
someguy - 4
tim - 5
gardyfan - 5
castleoblivion26 - 5
kw9461 - 5

bboat11 - 6
🌺CountryLineDancer - 7
Cody Wants Out... - 8
Kanenrá:ke - 9

.indulgecountry - 11

SPOILER: Click to show

{Songs Remaining}
A Little Bluer Than That
Designated Drinker
Drive (For Daddy Gene)
The Sounds
Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)

[tim]

“That’d Be Alright” does in fact bow out before the top 5 just as bboat11 predicted. Much like the previous song, this pretty much had a steady run and found itself planted just outside of the top 5 as it could never quite catch up to the songs out ahead of it. That's not to say it didn't have its fair share of support, though, as the majority of the group did in fact place this somewhere within their top 5 which included a top 2 from Kris Kringle. That it wasn't able to make the top 5 based on that alone is a testament I think to the overall strength of the album as we see only two of the albums singles make it into the top 5. There was a lone detractor, however, as this did receive a bottom 2 ranking from .indulgecountry.

[tim]

Here are the Top 5!

A Little Bluer Than That
Designated Drinker
Drive (For Daddy Gene)
The Sounds
Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)

We're now down to two singles vs. three album tracks! I plan on wrapping things up later on this evening, so make your predictions now and stay tuned for the finale.

[.indulgecountry]

As long was the treacly 9/11 song doesn't win, I'm good. The other 4 songs are all fantastic.

[castleoblivion26]

I'm rooting for "Where Were You" to be #1 because the lyrics of that song are incredible and seriously is something beyond anything else on this album. I've never heard another song better encapsulate a single event.

That said I do expect "Drive" to take the top spot.

[Cody Wants Out...]

Sad to see "Bring On the Night" out in the bottom two; it's beautiful, even if the melodies aren't very engaging.

I originally had "I Slipped and Fell in Love" as my last place, but I found it to be way too catchy to end up as my last place. My bottom three were kinda obvious, but are solid songs nonetheless.

As much as I love "Where Were You", I expect it to go no higher than #3 at this point.

Not sure how the top five will play out, but here goes...

5) A Little Bluer Than That
4) Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)
3) The Sounds
2) Designated Drinker
1) Drive