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The Best of the Best Week 8: Serious Little Freak Sister
ATRL Moderator
Member Since: 2/19/2003
Posts: 34,484
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The Best of the Best Week 8: Serious Little Freak Sister
In total contrast from last week, this week is STACKED with tough competition! A very diverse lineup: two female pop superstars whose groups have already played ( Fergie and Beyonce), a long lasting group whose lead singer has already played ( No Doubt), and the artist who, in my humble opinion, released the best album of the decade. I just cannot wait to play!
Fergie, performing Mary jane Shoes
Queens of the Stone Age, performing Little Sister
Beyonce, performing Baby Boy
Linkin Park, performing Breaking the Habit
Jet, performing Shine On
No Doubt, performing Hella Good
Sugababes, performing Freak Like Me
Duffy, performing Serious
The White Stripes, performing My Doorbell
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, performing Maps
Robyn, performing Bum Like You
Okay guys, you know the drill. Listen to all eleven songs. Post your comments in this thread. Send your rankings of the songs, from 11-1, to me. (Remember: 11 is your favorite song of the week, 1 is your least favorite. RANKINGS ARE DUE BY SUNDAY NIGHT AT 10:00 P.M.
And here are the artists playing in Week 9:
Foo Fighters
Amy Winehouse
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Eminem
The Hold Steady
Fiona Apple
John Mayer
Franz Ferdinand
Bloc Party
Maroon 5
Jimmy Eat World
Top fours (your favorite songs these artists have made in THIS DECADE) are due FRIDAY NIGHT AT MIDNIGHT. Remember, 1 = favorite/4 = least favorite.
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 9/24/2001
Posts: 10,763
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Fergie, performing Mary jane Shoes - Shut up, I like this song.
Queens of the Stone Age, performing Little Sister - Snarling good times ^_^
Beyonce, performing Baby Boy - Remember when Beyonce wasn't in our psyche every 7 minutes? I think I blame this song rather than CIL, as this song is far weaker and was a hit for little reason.
Linkin Park, performing Breaking the Habit - Angry sad rawk ^_^
Jet, performing Shine On - Eh.
No Doubt, performing Hella Good - Eh. Love the video, bored by the song, although I like the attempt.
Sugababes, performing Freak Like Me - Reason 1 why I love the 'babes, no matter how **** they become, and Reasons 1-27 why I love and worship Mutya Buena. Richard X made one sick remix to "Freak Like Me" and their vocals slide perfectly around the song.
Duffy, performing Serious - It's a cute breakup song of sorts. of course, Duffy probably should not be on this list but, unlike Kerli, we've heard of her.
The White Stripes, performing My Doorbell
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, performing Maps - The only reason I like the yeahs is watching Karen O lose her **** while singing this song.
Robyn, performing Bum Like You - I lurve the song, it's so stupid it's brilliant.
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Member Since: 9/3/2006
Posts: 27,884
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****. I forgot about this.
Mary Jane Shoes: Great song, her best IMO. It's so catchy.
Little Sister: Not their best, but still a good song.
Baby Boy: Ew. Overplayed.
Breaking the Habit: Ew. Part Two. Can't stand this song.
Shine On: Cute ballad.
Hella Good: WTF? They have a lot of better songs.
Freak Like Me: Eh. So generic.
Serious: Yay! Great lyrics, great vocals. Just great.
My Doorbell: Kinda boring, the Stripes have better tracks.
Maps: Great. They can be overrated sometimes, but Maps is awesome.
Bum Like You: Not that bad.
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Member Since: 7/24/2006
Posts: 4,281
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Can you please fix the Breaking The Habit link? It directs straight to Baby Boy. I've heard the song before but I just wanna get the MP3.
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ATRL Moderator
Member Since: 2/19/2003
Posts: 34,484
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Fixed! Will be back later with FYCs!
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Member Since: 2/26/2006
Posts: 62,897
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Fergie, performing Mary jane Shoes
I love the reggae sound of this song. One of my favorite tracks of The Dutchess.
Queens of the Stone Age, performing Little Sister
Good song. I love the intro.
Beyonce, performing Baby Boy
One of my favorite songs of Beyonce. Very Catchy. I overplayed this song 5 years ago, but I still like it.
Linkin Park, performing Breaking the Habit
Great song. One of the best tracks of Meteora. I love it.
Jet, performing Shine On
A little boring. Not my favorite song of them.
No Doubt, performing Hella Good
It's good, but they have better songs.
Sugababes, performing Freak Like Me
Nothing special for me.
Duffy, performing Serious
Nice vocals and song.
The White Stripes, performing My Doorbell
I liked this song. I should have included it my top four.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, performing Maps
One of the few songs I like of this band.
Robyn, performing Bum Like You
Nice beat.
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ATRL Moderator
Member Since: 2/19/2003
Posts: 34,484
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FYC TIME!!!!
This weeks FYCs are going to be a little incomplete; I have a lot of these bands albums, but I haven't listened to them completely yet! LMAO!
Amy Winehouse
Songs from Frank
Stronger Than Me
F- Me Pumps
Know You Know
Cherry
Love is Blind
You Sent Me Flying
Take the Box
In My Bed
Help Yourself
and ..
To Know Him is To Love Him
ANTI-FYC: Rehab, You Know I'm No Good, Back to Black - because we've all heard them!
The Hold Steady
You Can Make Him Like You
Massive Nights
Sequestered in Memphis
Stay Positive
Slapped Actress
Chillout Tent
Southtown Girls
Party Pit
Same Kooks
First Night
Fiona Apple
Well, only the songs from Extraordinary Machine are eligible, but ...
Extraordinary Machine
Better Version of Me
O'Sailor
Parting Gift
Waltz (Better Than Fine)
Oh Well
Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song)
John Mayer
Clarity
Come Back to Bed
Why Georgia
Neon
Love Song for No One
Back to You
Jimmy Eat World
CLOSER
Over
Disintegration
Sweetness
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ATRL Moderator
Member Since: 12/21/2002
Posts: 20,569
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FYC
Foo Fighters:
Miracle
End Over End
Red Hot Chili Peppers:
Don't Forget Me
The Zephyr Song
Midnight
Warm Tape
Dosed
Jimmy Eat World:
Work
Hear You Me
Sweetness
The Authority Song
23
Kill
Eminem:
Drug Ballad
Square Dance
Till I Collapse
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Member Since: 2/26/2006
Posts: 62,897
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FYC
Amy Winehouse
- Love Is A Losing Game
- Rehab
- Just Friends
- You Know I'm No Good
Red Hot Chili Peppers
- The Zephyr Song
Eminem
- Stan
- Cleanin' Out My Closet
John Mayer
- Your Body Is A Wonderland
Franz Ferdinand
- Do You Want To
Maroon 5
- Must Get Out
- Harder To Breathe
- She Will Be Loved
- Won't Go Home Without You
- Nothing Lasts Forever
- Little Of Your Time
Jimmy Eat World
- Always Be
- The Middle
- Work
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Member Since: 9/2/2007
Posts: 5,826
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FYC:}
Amy Winehouse:
-Love Is A Losing Game
-Some Unholy War (Demo Version)
-Wake Up Alone
-Just Friends
-F*ck Me Pumps
-You Sent Me Flying
-Tears Dry On Their Own
Anti FYC: Take The Box and for a once yes, I agree Any Back To black, Rehab, YKING
Maroon 5:
If I Never See Your Face Again (w/o Rihanna please, it's really better)
Makes Me Wonder
Harder To Breath
Little Of Your Time
Won't Go Home Without You
Anti FYC: This Love, She Will be Loved (extremely overplayed)
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Banned
Member Since: 12/29/2002
Posts: 19,803
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Oh man I'm voting this round only because of John Mayer! In the meantime here's my FYC:
FYC JOHN MAYER
I Don't Trust Myself (With Loving You)
Only Heart
Slow Dancing in a Burning Room
City Love
My Stupid Mouth
83
Something's Missing
Daughters
Love Song For No One
3x5
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ATRL Moderator
Member Since: 2/19/2003
Posts: 34,484
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TWO MORE HOURS FOR TOP FOURS.
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Member Since: 5/13/2007
Posts: 3,866
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I guess I'm too late to send the Top Fours....
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Member Since: 5/13/2007
Posts: 3,866
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In short...
Mary Jane Shoes - Fergie is rubbish. This song happens to be one of her only good ones.
Little Sister - I like it a lot.
Baby Boy - Not her best, but definitely a cool summer song. Sean Paul is awesome as usual.
Breaking the Habit - One of their best.
Shine On - Its quite good.
Freak Like Me - I prefer the Video version.......but anyway Best song of the early 2000s.
Serious - Any Duffy song is great!!
My Doorbell -Quite good.
Maps - Not bad. Actually its quite good.
Robyn - Not my fave from her but not bad.
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ATRL Moderator
Member Since: 2/19/2003
Posts: 34,484
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Fergie - Mary Jane Shoes
LMFAO! Now that Jessica Simpson's abandoned the pop world, Fergie's the campiest tranny we have left! But she actually gives a good vocal performance here? The song's ... charming, until it takes a turn for the worse. I can imagine her performing it, LMAO! Oh Fergie - how can anyone take you seriously?
Queens of the Stone Age - Little Sister
Good, if fairly anonymous, and the ending is sorta ass-kicking. I don't hear anything about this track that's distinctive, or definitively great. In a week like this, songs need to be.
Beyonce - Baby Boy
Easily the weakest of her number one singles. [Yep, even Check On It is better!] The song has charms, though - her slinky, sexy vocal; the bumping bass. It ultimately doesn't add up to anything really, really good, though? Most of Bee's songs are better than this one. Here's hoping she makes it to the next round, because her top three kills.
Also, what is she saying at the end? I've never been able to figure it out!
Linkin Park - Breaking the Habit
No. A Million Times No. I HATE YOU LINKIN PARK! YOU GO DIE NOW. LMAO I HOPE CHESTER EATS **** FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. I REALLY HATE YOU LINKIN PARK!
Jet - Shine On
Seriously, how did they make this list? At least Linkin Park's popular. And somehow Linkin Park's selection was more interesting? UGH WHY ARE ALL THE GOOD SONGS IN THE BOTTOM HALF. Why would anyone choose to opt to listen to this trash, when you know, the 70s Stones albums are still available on vinyl and on CD?
No Doubt - Hella Good
Finally, something alive! Unlike most of the trash I've been victim to this week, this feels alive! And funky as hell! I can feel the Neptunes' (and for that matter Nelle Hooper's) handiwork all over this, but who gives a ****? This is some BOSS ****. And that breakdown? Thanks guys for saving me this week!
Sugababes - Freak Like Me
Let's look at this song in context. This was released at the pinnacle of the mashup craze; when the sound of the underground still loved them, but the mainstream public was just opening up to them. It also was the first single the Sugababes released after being dropped from their first company, and replacing one of the original members who a former Atomic Kitten singer. Knowing all of this, it's hard not to see how (dare I say it?) revolutionary this single was? Combining the primal urgency of Adina Howard's Freak Like Me with the paranoid funk of Gary Numan's Are Friends Electric?, the Babes made a bold entry into the popular music landscape. This song is not so much sexual as it is - malevolent. It might be their second best single ever - six years later, everything still works. Only now, we can see how much this song shaped the pop music we know today.
Duffy - Serious
I do have a lot of issues with Duffy. I don't believe she belongs here; I mean, she released her first album THIS YEAR. I think her voice is special, but grating. Most of the songs I've heard by her are, well, unconvincing, to say the least. But this song? Is gold. She sells the pain of being neglected while infusing it with the naivete of a silly young girl. It's a really wonderful vocal performance. This song is better than she is! But most of it's greatness comes from her, so I can't ignore her contribution.
P.S. "Play the guitar now, Charlie, baby" is the best thing I've heard this year.
The White Stripes - My Doorbell
I voted for it, but I love everything about it. I love it's unabashed popness - it's like the White Stripes take on a Technicolor musical! And also a stripper's anthem? I want to do the Flashdance audition to it. In probably any other week this round (Besides 1, 2, 5 & 6 - I had a VESTED INTEREST IN THOSE WEEKS) this would be my number 11. The fact that's it's not stresses how strong this week is.
The White Stripes - Maps
I do love how their most overexposed song is only our number four. Good job guys! I didn't vote for this, but I love it still. I still punches me in the gut. I love how Karen O is channeling Chrissie Hynde, but not in an obvious way. And this song pretty much led to Since u Been Gone, so I could only help but love it.
Robyn - Bum Like You
When I voted for this, I meant the original 2005 version - but since it didn't play, it's still eligible! The new sonic atmosphere of the song kinda obscures the beauty of the track: the honest of the lyric, the sincerity of Robyn's vocal. But the 2008 version still has those elements, just combined with a dance beat. I would disagree that this song is stupid; it's just real. And heartbreaking, in only the way Robyn can be. And so it is the best song of the week.
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 11/6/2002
Posts: 10,641
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ace Reject
Linkin Park - Breaking the Habit
No. A Million Times No. I HATE YOU LINKIN PARK! YOU GO DIE NOW. LMAO I HOPE CHESTER EATS **** FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE. I REALLY HATE YOU LINKIN PARK!
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Silly Bart, you make me laugh.
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 9/26/2001
Posts: 22,475
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Mary Jane Shoes - This, right here, is a ****ing slap in the face to Bob Marley. Listen to "No Woman, No Cry", and then listen to this. Sense similarities? Because I sure as HELL do. And then the song turns into a freaking pop-punk song? What the hell? How can people even LIKE this ****?
Little Sister - Further proof that Bart, sometimes(SOMETIMES), has the tendency to lose his mind. "Anonymous"? "Non-distinctive"? This song *is* Queens of the Stone Age. There's no one else that sounds quite like them, and this song's sound is in its own league. If it tells you anything about just how much I love Queens, this song is my pick of the week, without a doubt...and I didn't even have it in my top four.
Baby Boy - Fergie better thank her lucky stars that this song is in the same group. I mean, there's absolutely nothing about this song that I like. At all.
Breaking the Habit - Here's the thing about "Breaking the Habit". I wasn't a big fan of this song, at first. When it became a single, I warmed up to it, but, after a while, I came back to my initial stance on the song. Five years later, I finally recognize what drives me back to this song. It is, by far, their most frantic, their most desperate, their most helpless tune, all melded into one. This is one of their best. Five years ago, that previous statement wouldn't even be a thought.
Shine On - Probably the most beautiful song Jet will ever make. I'm not really even that big of a fan of Jet, because, as Bart alluded to, a lot of their music sounds like Stones ripoffs, but this song is different. Looking back at my voting, I really wish I had voted this #1 and not #4. Listen to the song before you bash it, guys. Seriously.
Hella Good - Hey, shut up, this song's awesome. It didn't make my top four, but it was #5 or #6. A funky, vivacious, atomic bomb of a tune, made even more fun by Gwen's sexy vocals.
Freak Like Me - What the...? Really? What the ****? It's not really bad or anything, unlike a certain couple other songs I can think of this week(*cough*), it's just...odd. It lacks a bit of effort on the production side, too. I'm guessing that the mindset was like so: "Yeah, let's just get "Are Friends Electric" and slap it on as background music! And then, the 'Babes can sing "Freak Like Me" over it! GENIUS! And no one will be the wiser!" Like I said, it's not bad, it's just a bit odd and effortless.
Serious - Honestly, I'm not a big fan of Duffy's vocals. I'm not. I don't know what it is, but something turns me off. That's not to say that this song is bad, though. Actually, I kind of like it. The lyrics are quite cute and heartfelt, I like the sound in the background, and I can't deny that Duffy's voice is pretty unique. A bit generic, but I can overlook that.
My Doorbell - It wasn't in my top four, but it's not because it's bad, not at all. The White Stripes are such a good duo that four songs just isn't enough. It's a very cute, very poppy, very nice tune from a band who covers just about the entire music spectrum. 1:39, in particular, is amazing stuff, that, more importantly, does NOT feel contrived in any way. It just seems so easy with them.
Maps - Again, this wasn't in my top four, and, to be honest, I made sure that "Maps" wasn't there. I'm GLAD to see that it's only #4. That being said, my opinion of this song has changed quite a bit since it was first released. Oh man, I used to *hate* this song, like few others. But the brilliance of this song finally hit me around the time Rock Band saw its release. It's very minimalistic, but Karen just freaking LOSES it on this song, and the drumming is quite fun. We better ****ing see "Date with the Night" in the top three, though. That song makes this one look like a little puppy dog, in comparison.
Bum Like You - Ehhhhh. Not even close to being the worst of the week; with a beat like that, it's pretty impossible. But the song does sound pretty stupid, I have to say. I don't know. I'm iffy on this one.
Pretty tough week, actually. The songs that I have ranked sixth and seventh are songs that I wanted to rank in my top five.
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 9/25/2001
Posts: 7,563
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Quote:
Originally posted by Red
Fergie better thank her lucky stars that this song is in the same group.
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Yes, because I'm sure she's watching this competition at the edge of her seat
ATRL is make or break baby
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