50
Don't Stop Believin' GLEE CAST
Journey’s "Don’t Stop Believin’" hasn’t just taken on another life, it’s going to outlive us all. What started as a top-10 power ballad back in 1981(it peaked at no. 9 on the pop charts) has become the song with more lives than nine cats. The most notable return to the pop culture zeitgeist came, of course, with the Sopranos series finale, but it’s also turned up in the current Broadway show Rock of Ages, as well as Laguna Beach (which landed the song on to iTunes Top 10 back in 2005) — even the memorable roller-rink scene in 2003’s Charlize Theron Oscar bait Monster.
And just when we’d thought we’d escaped the grasp of Steve Perry’s epic plea to "hold on to that fee-eee-ee-lin’" Fox’s Glee came along and put the ultimate earworm back in its rightful place: the number-one spot on iTunes.
Of course, it sounds slightly different in this Freaks and Geeks meets High School Musical pilot, but it’s a good kind of different. Even if you aren’t one for show choirs (which, is quite frankly, shocking), it’s pretty damn hard to resist. What do you think, Music Mixers? Are you loving Glee’s take on "Don’t Stop Believin’," or are you ready to ship it back on the midnight train goin’ an-y-where?
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9d28q_glee-dont-stop-believe_shortfilms
49
Uprising MUSE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8KQmps-Sog
One of my favorite moments of 2009 was definitely the night that I met the band MUSE in Atlanta. It was the night before they open for U2 in the 360° Tour.
My good friend Antoine invited me to have dinner at CRAFT, the restaurant where he works as a Captain. Sure, our meal, the wine and the "special" guest (Antoine's roomate) were memorable but nothing like the moment when I noticed Singer Matthew Bellamy and music mates having dinner in the table next to mine! (OH MY GOD!!!)
Almost 10 minutes later after I found this great surprise and encouraged by Antoine and company, I approached the band's table.
I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!! I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!!
My first instinct was to introduced myself, tell a lil' white lie (I told them that I flew from Lima, Peru just to see them play) and explain my fascination for "Starlight". They were the nicest people on earth! The singer introduced me to his fellow musicians and his other guests (Record Company Executives and Promoters). He even asked me if I wanted an autograph of every single member of the band, basically because they couldn't believe that I flew from a South American country just to see'em perform.
I know, lies are bad... but this little one got me a glorious moment and an autograph from one of the best rock bands of this new century.
48 (TIE)
I'm not alone CALVIN HARRIS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnBpUGmcsFo
&
Dance with somebody MANDO DIAO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nh931yRQIM
Mando Diao is an alternative rock band from Borlänge, Sweden. The band got their breakthrough with the release of the album Hurricane Bar in 204. Their main fan base is in Sweden, Germany, and Japan although their influence has recently spread to Western Europe thanks to the huge success of this song that released in early 2009.
48
Heartless KANYE WEST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co0tTeuUVhU
47
Warrior's Dance THE PRODIGY
This song is built around a vocal sample from the 1991 techno anthem "Take Me Away" by True Faith. It was originally written specifically for a Gatecrasher gig that the band were participating in. It was also the first song that Liam Howlett, Keith Flint and Maxim Reality had recorded together for a number of years and the catalyst to get the trio working together again. (The Prodigy's previous album Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, featured only Howlett musically).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxZJTRhcFg4&feature=fvst
Flint explained to The Guardian February 6, 2009: "It was the anniversary of 20 years of acid house and the rave scene, and we were a genuine part of that - a really significant British youth culture movement. That realization freed us up. We wanted to write something like a bootleg-type retrospective track that represented that, just to play live. It wasn't meant as the start of an album."
46
Let It Rock KEVIN RUDOLF & LIL WAYNE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0n4eMGXAyk
45
Brother Sport ANIMAL COLLECTIVE
"The very first version of the song was just me improvising singing over a couple guitar chords, I can't remember what effects I was running through with an acoustic guitar, but I was playing to a Moodymann sample. I'd taken a little piece of a song of his as a rhythm to make a song to. I didn't really want to use that as the final thing, but the first version of the song was that. It was really house-y sounding and I came across a weird Brazilian drum school sample that eventually became the thing we used as the foundation of the song. The guitar chords kind of came second after the rhythmic part of the song and then the lyrics were the very last thing, which is kind of typical for me - the lyrics are always the last part of the puzzle of the song.
Panda Bear
44
Paparazzi LADY GAGA
The epic eight-minute video for this song was helmed by Swedish director Jonas Akerlund, the man behind The Prodigy's controversial "Smack My Bitch Up" clip. It stars Lady GaGa and Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård, who played Meekus in in the 2001 Ben Stiller movie Zoolander and the vampire Eric Northman on HBO's True Blood.
Lady GaGa explained to The Canadian Press: "It has a real, genuine, powerful message about fame-whoring and death and the demise of the celebrity, and what that does to young people. The video explores ideas about sort of hyperbolic situations that people will go to in order to be famous. Most specifically, pornography and murder. These are some of the major themes in the video."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgKrzdaDQMw
The video won two awards at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Art Direction and Best Special Effects.
43
Gives You Hell THE ALL-AMERICAN REJECTS
Gives You Hell was the band's first to break into the Top Five on Billboard's Hot 100 and stayed in the Billboard Top 10 for over 13 weeks. It was also a success internationally and became the All-American Rejects best selling single worldwide. The track peaked in the Top Five in Canada and Australia and in the Top Twenty in several other countries including the UK, Ireland, Germany and New Zealand.
At the end of the decade, Gives You Hell was named the #1 Most Played Song of 2009 on Billboard's Top 40 Chart.
"We are thrilled that we have been played relentlessly over the past year, hopefully people aren't too sick of us by now," said frontman Tyson Ritter. "But truly, we have the best fans in the world. It's because of them that this band is where we are. They are the ones who kept our song on the charts and on the radio for so long and we thank them."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxUATkpMQ8A
42
Beautiful EMINEM
"It's the only one song I could actually listen to and feel OK about. It brings me back to a time when I was really depressed and down, but at the same time it reminds me of what that space is like and what never to go back to. There is a lot of honesty in that song that I wouldn't want to just throw away. I started writing the first verse and half of the second when I was in rehab going through detox. I didn't have a beat in my head or anything like that… I wrote the verse and just knew I wanted it to be a bounce-style, I guess. I got that first bit out and finished it when I got out of rehab, when I relapsed right back into taking pills. If you listen to that song and how it starts off, I'm just so f--king depressed."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgT1AidzRWM
41
Stuck On Repeat LITTLE BOOTS
Little Boots originally wrote the song with Australian dance-pop singer Kylie Minogue in mind.
The disco-pop nugget was co-written and produced by Hot Chip's Joe Goddard. His first contact with the Blackpool singer-songwriter came about after she handed to him a demo tape containing an early version of this song. After listening to it he tagged Heskith (aka Little Boots) as "The future of British pop." After posting the song on her MySpace page it became a blogosphere hit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxJmp7KUqjg
40
The Boy Does Nothing ALESHA DIXON
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn9lLnVurYI
The Boy Does Nothing resembles Lou Bega's 1999 UK #1 hit "Mambo No 5 (A Little Bit Of)" but started over as more jazzy, bluesy music and ended up going there.
We need a good feelgood song now, what with everything going on in the world...
39 (Tie)
Cornerstone ARCTIC MONKEYS
Alex Turner told Uncut Magazine that he wrote this breezy love song about meeting girls in pubs who remind him of the one he's trying to forget, "one morning, quite quickly."
He added: "There's something to be said for writing in the morning. At other points in the day you're a bit more defensive. I saw it as a challenge to write something in a major key, but that wasn't cheesy."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIQz6zZi7R0
&
Sweet Disposition THE TEMPER TRAP
The Temper Trap is an alternative rock quartet from Melbourne, Australia. Their name is a combination of their favourite song "The Lady is a Tramp" and their favourite movie The Parent Trap. The Temper Trap released their debut EP in 2006 in Australia, and two years later recorded their first album, Conditions with English veteran producer Jim Abbiss, who also helmed the debut albums by The Arctic Monkeys and Adele. This atmospheric single was the first release from the album. GREAT TUNE!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN7HQrgakZU
38
21 Guns GREEN DAY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r00ikilDxW4
37
E.S.T. WHITE LIES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SGmBjNzPCM
36
I'm Yours (Bass Over Babylon Mix) JASON MRAZ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkHTsc9PU2A
Already a classic tune from the first decade of the 00's. On the chart dated August 29, 2009 this song logged on for its 70th week on the Billboard magazine's Hot 100, breaking the record for most weeks spent on that chart. The track surpassed LeAnn Rimes "How Do I Live," which had a 69 week run on the survey between June 14, 1997 and Oct. 10, 1998. The song finally departed the Hot 100 after 76 weeks.
I'm Yours is one of 3 songs included in my TOP 100 Songs of 2008 countdown. Along with Just Dance and Single Ladies, this Jason Mraz' tune seems to never go away from the radio, TV and our own lives. It became a memorable 2009 Summer Anthem during a fun weekend at the Jersey Shore with my buddy/ex roomate Said. GOOD TIMES BROTHER, GOOD TIMES!!
35
The Climb MILEY CYRUS
It's a fact that I can't stand this annoying brat! But this song (that wasn't written by the chipmunk) got me soooo bad last year! Somber piano, Trilling stringss, Nondescript-yet-inspirational message about overcoming adversity. This song's got it all, and it bears mentioning that Miley sings the bejeezus out of it, too. It literally saved my life one night that I was so drown in dark thoughts. You can't deny it, The Climb is very uplifting...
Magnificent (Dave Aude Club Mix) U2
Talking about songs that can lift you up... Or in my case, save me from falling asleep...
During the beginning of the summer of 2009, I went to Rhode Island for the first time . Coincidentally it was the Providence Gay Pride Weekend(Lucky me!).
I went to the Pride Fair, drank beer, saw Debbie Gibson performing at the stage, drank beer, ate greasy food, drank beer, went to the bars and clubs, drank beer, danced and I ended up all drunk seating at the side of the dancefloor of the Mirabar club. I was soooo tired and ready to bed. I was falling asleep by the dancefloor!! (What was wrong with me!!)
Suddenly, Mr. DJ played this amazing remix!! I was so drunk that I couldn't recognized the music or the lyrics! Damn,NOT EVEN BONO'S VOICE!!
I was thinking to myself: What is this song? I know this song but who sings it? Where am I? What song is this?.. AND THEN... THE EDGE's RIFF hit me like an electroshock!!
That was the night that U2 saved my life! (and saved me from "all drunk falling asleep")
(Wanna experience this? Listen to the remix at the 5 mins 9secs time)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So0-pQpkCjY
33
Bonkers DIZZEE RASCAL AND ARMAND VAN HELDEN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci40ae8BlcE
Sometimes, the best thing a song can do is make you shut your eyes and jump up and down rapidly on the spot.
After ‘Dance Wiv Me’ annihilated dancefloors nationwide, no-one expected its follow-up to enjoy anything like the same level of success. Yet ‘Bonkers’ was such a cast-iron belter it made everyone from skinny-jeaned fops to sportswear-clad trainee muggers make the letter ‘T’ with their hands and bellow “TUNE!” long and loud.
32
Walking On A Dream EMPIRE OF THE SUN
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMJjF4LHOkY
D.O.A. [Death Of Auto-Tune] JAY-Z
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z13AjI8n4I
30
Seven FEVER RAY
The house-inflected, booming low end of The KNIFE's Silent Shout has been scrubbed away, leaving Karin Dreijer Andersson's voice naked and upfront for her first solo project album as Fever Ray.
Where those on Silent Shout had a witchy scale and ambition appropriate to the hugeness of the songs, Fever Ray's words feel so interior as to seem slightly unhinged.
Indeed, one of Fever Ray's most remarkable aspects comes from how Dreijer Andersson funnels little moments of humor, banality, remembrance, mania, and anxiety through her deadpan affect to create a central character worthy of any psychological horror.
You might even reasonably suggest this record is about psychosis...
"I've got a friend who I've known since I was seven/ We used to talk on the phone/ If we have time/ If it's the right time" she declares conspiratorially, amidst pattering drums and faintly tropical synths in this amazing tune.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I26syp0abpA
Fever Ray's self-titled debut was a constant fount of sinister music video greatness in 2009, and the clip for "Seven" continued that diabolical legacy.
I honestly have no idea what the video's feeble, half-crazed old woman is doing in a barn filled with cows and sheep (and a burly weirdo bodyguard with an out-of-control beard), but it makes for some seriously creeped-out, edge-of-psyche viewing.
29
Bad Romance LADY GAGA
In theory, she was an artist you want to root for all these ideas about art and celebrity and a flair for the dramatic. But the first few singles made the Lady Gaga project feel so presumptuous, her artsy entitlement overwhelming her songs' occasional strengths.
"Bad Romance" was the moment where the music didn't just live up to the (self-inflated) hype, but surpassed it. The track is epic in construction-- by the time she gets to the bridge, more than three minutes in, the realization that there are hooks yet to come is thrilling. It helps that RedOne's production matches the songwriting's torrential drama; the churning, earth-shifting low-frequency synths are a programmatic reflection of the singer's unsteady, perhaps unwise, infatuation. But it's Gaga's performance, the wholly unapologetic fools-rush-in carnal energy, that commitment to emotional bravery in a context of increasingly twee chart pop, that makes "Bad Romance" feel so necessary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrO4YZeyl0I
28
Boom Boom Pow BLACK EYED PEAS
A massive and global hit of 2009. The song was the top-selling single on iTunes last year. Billboard also named this as the best-selling song of 2009 in the US.
The song's first-week total of 465,000 downloads in the US overtook the previous record for a group. Previously the highest sum had been the 253,000 that Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" achieved in the week dated June 21, 2008.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m48GqaOz90
BOOM BOOM POW was the first US #1 for the Peas. Their previous best chart placing had been the #3 ranked singles "Don't Phunk With My Heart" and "My Humps." Fergie had previously recorded three #1s as a solo artist in 2006-07. Prior to this song reaching the summit, there had been only three other instances of groups following individual members to the peak position (excluding one-time acts like USA for Africa).
The first time this occurred was in July 1986 when "Invisible Touch" became Genesis' first chart-topper, following four #1 singles by Phil Collins in 1984-85.
In 1984 John Waite had a #1 hit with "Missing You." Five years later, as a member of the super group Bad English, he topped the chart again with "When I See You Smile."
In July 2000 Matchbox Twenty's "Bent" led the Hot 100 for a week. The previous fall, the band's vocalist Rob Thomas had spent 12 weeks on top as a featured artist on Santana's "Smooth."
27
Love Story TAYLOR SWIFT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xg3vE8Ie_E
"I was going through a situation like that where I could relate. I used to be in high school where you see [a boyfriend] every day. Then I was in a situation where it wasn't so easy for me, and I wrote this song because I could relate to the whole Romeo and Juliet thing. I was really inspired by that story. Except for the ending. I feel like they had such promise and they were so crazy for each other. And if that had just gone a little bit differently, it could have been the best love story ever told. And it is one of the best love stories ever told, but it's a tragedy. I thought, why can't you... make it a happy ending and put a key change in the song and turn it into a marriage proposal?"
26
Sleepyhead PASSION PIT
This song was originally included on Passion Pit's debut EP, The Chunk of Change, which they released in September 2008. The set was originally a belated Valentine's Day present, which singer Michael Angelakos put together for his girlfriend at Boston's Emerson College.
Sleepyhead samples Irish folk artist Mary O'Hara. Angelakos explained to Ireland's State Magazine:
"I'm big fan of '70s singer/songwriters and just general folk artists. Mary O'Hara was part of the revival over seas and also in the American '70s folk scene. When I came across her traditional folk stuff and I was absolutely blown away. Everything on the record is, it's like 25 tracks, everything is just utter perfect folk music in Gaelic. I was like 'Oh my god, this would be so perfect for me to sample right now. I need to sample this.' I cut it up, worked with it and I finally figured out a way to do it. I never thought I'd have to deal with copyright stuff y'know, the issues that come with another artists publishing. It's a traditional song, she didn't write the song, but I used her actual recording of it. I was a huge fan, a really big fan. I loved her voice. I loved her work with harp so I wanted to integrate it into a song."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zherMkcXdo
25
Halo BEYONCÉ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnVUHWCynig
24
Empire State Of Mind JAY-Z FT. ALICIA KEYS
2009 marked my 5th year anniversary living in this beautiful city. This HOV tune was the confirmation of this supreme pride that I have for living in the Big Apple.
Jay isn't at his best here. His vocal tone and delivery are a little ragged, and on paper "Empire" reads like the literal endpoint to Jay's "black Sinatra" fascination: a late-period piece that somehow becomes his biggest-charting hit. But then Alicia Keys' elemental voice blows in on the chorus, and suddenly, we are all holding hands together and singing along on top of the Empire State Building. That giddy, heart-swelling whoop is what transforms "Empire State of Mind" from über-schmaltz to, well, transcendent über-schmaltz, the sort of song that bids your singing voice up out of you before your conscious mind can even check it.
"In New York/ Concrete jungles where dreams are made of/ There's nothing you can't do," Keys sang. "Now you're in New York/ These streets will make you feel brand new/ The lights will inspire you/ Let's here it for New York, New York, New York."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjsXo9l6I8
23
The Fear LILY ALLEN
Lily Allen has at the very least a visitor's pass to the gauzy, half-real celebrity world she's singing about. That doesn't help "The Fear" work as satire, but it still cuts a good deal deeper than you'd expect.
That's partly due to the irresistible chorus and to Lily's blissfully callous performance-- the way her sweetness makes "I heard people die while they're tryin' to find them" chilling where it could be excruciating. But it's partly down to these crazy times, the consumer economy running off a cliff like Wile E. Coyote and the boom it magicked up melting into air. Lily's character in "The Fear" senses dimly that something's not real and that it might be her, and what makes her dread and confusion convincing is the fact that a lot of people know how she feels. This song, as delicate and pretty as a bubble, is about 2009 in ways its obvious zings can only hint at.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-wGMlSuX_c&feature=fvsr
22
I And Love And You THE AVETT BROTHERS
This definitely has to be one of the biggest grassroots success stories of the decade.
The Avett Brothers spent years self-releasing albums and self-promoting shows to gradually growing audiences, eventually signing to North Carolina indie label Ramseur before moving up to Sony/BMG/Columbia Records. For their major-label debut, the trio (which includes brothers Scott and Seth and unrelated bass player Bob Crawford) worked with producer Rick Rubin, whose involvement gives the album added critical and commercial cache. With a large and loyal fanbase, they could be as big as Dave Matthews and bring string-band rootsiness to the mainstream. Or not. One thing is for sure: After I and Love and You, they can no longer go back to being the Avett Brothers they once were.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj8HDe5M-Jo
Scott Avett once explained that the song was inspired by a gig at Brooklyn's Galapagos. "It was the coolest place we'd ever been, and the furthest from home we'd ever been in every sense," he said. "So the Brooklyn chorus kind of embodies the rest of the lyrics."
I and Love and You was the centerpiece of their live shows over the summer of 2009, it’s a song they’re obviously proud of and for good reason—it’s stellar!!!
21
The Way It Used To Be PET SHOP BOYS
For nearly 25 years, the Pet Shop Boys have been Euro-disco's poet laureates, setting epigrams worthy of Oscar Wilde to thumping Hi-NRG production. On their excellent 10th album YES, the music leans toward the ornate, with snatches of Tchaikovsky and spaghetti-Western atmospherics enveloping the synths and house beats. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe are now past 50, and some songs take a surprisingly philosophical turn.
Immersed in the moving "electro-melodies" of this album during 2009, I can say that quite possibly the finest thing they've written is The Way It Used To Be. This has a very melancholic feel right off Behaviour. And it captures the Pets other great quality in the way that Neil uses the past, nostalgia and memories to act as a salve for the future.
It could have come from late period Abba in the way it describes a tale of betrayed love with its lilting piano chords. The weird electronics two thirds in are fabulous and the Xenomania sheen, especially the female harmony vocal, is a perfect match for the Pets writing. Superb!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPDDNR2PCuc
If The Man Who Can't Be Moved was my break up song of 2008, This beautiful tune has to be the sequal of my everlasting love and devotion to a good man.
"I'd survive with only memories
If I could change the way I feel
But I want more than only memories
The human touch to make them real"
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