JOS and SOS ^_^

Five Songs to Watch Out for in 2006!
These songs are all brilliant and in a perfect world, they would be on this list. But I think they're going to make their true impact as singles in the new year. Get ready!

Madonna - Sorry

Sugababes - Red Dress

Kate Earl - Officer

Relient K - Who I Am Hates Who I've Been

Mariah Carey - Mine Again

Before I move onto 45-41, here's another special chart - this time, dealing with my favorite visual medium: TV. Here are my top seven dramas, comedies, reality shows and animated shows of the year!

Top 7 Comedies!
1. Arrested Development
2. Gilmore Girls
3. The Comeback
4. Extras
5. Entourage
6. Weeds
7. The Office
Close Calls: Scrubs, My Name is Earl, Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends (It's made a comeback!), Out of Practice, How I Met Your Mother

Top 7 Dramas!
1. Everwood
2. Six Feet Under
3. Rome
4. Alias
5. Grey's Anatomy
6. Lost
7. Veronica Mars
Close Calls: The Closer, Related (SHUT UP!), The O.C. (When it's good, which is almost never these days, it's great)

Top 7 Reality Shows
1. Project Runway
2. America's Next Top Model
3. The Amazing Race - Only season 7
4. Road Rules/Real World: The Gauntlet
5. Big Brother 6
6. But Can They Sing?
7. Dancing with the Stars

Top 4? Animated Shows
1. South Park
2. Drawn Together
3. Robot Chicken
4. Family Guy

South Park & OC! Holla.

And we're back, with songs 45-41.


45. Mariah Carey - It's Like That

44. Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We're Going Down
Is this more than you bargained for yet
Oh don't mind me I'm watching you two from the closet
Wishing to be the friction in your jeans
Isn't it messed up how I'm just dying to be him
I'm just a notch in your bedpost
But you're just a line in a song
(Notch in your bedpost, but you're just a line in a song)

43. Kylie - Giving You Up/Made of Glass

42. Ayum Hamasaki - STEP you

41. Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc.
You've got a new horizon It's ephemeral style.
A melancholy town where we never smile.
And all I wanna hear is the message beep.
My dreams, they've got to kiss, because I dont get sleep, no..

Mariah, FOB, and Gorillaz! Holla.

Now bear with me. I haven't heard too many albums in full this yearm (I didn't but any ) but of the album tracks I heard, here are my favorites.

1. Ashlee - In Another Life
2. Madoo-doo - Get Together
3. Sugababes - Ace Reject
4. Girls Aloud - Whole Lotta History
5. Fiona Apple - Get Him Back
6. Ashlee - Say Goodbye
7. Girls Aloud - Watch Me Go
8. Sugababes - Gotta Be You
9. M.I.A. - Bingo
10. Rachel Stevens - Crazy Boys
11. Girls Aloud - Wild Horses
12. Mariah Carey - Circles
13. Fiona Apple - Extraordinary Machine
14. Sugababes - Joy Division
15. Ashlee - Dancing Alone
16. Sugababes - 2 Hearts
17. Rachel Stevens - Funny How
18. M.I.A. - Hombre
19. Sugababes - It Ain't Easy
20. Mariah - Say Somethin'

Ugh, I need to listen to more music. Download these songs and pray that they become singles!

Wow, I was expecting to hate your list for some reason O:-) Don't worry, I don't. I'm glad you have some stuff I've heard of, especially M.I.A., Fiona and Gorillaz ^_^!! Also, have I ever told you how much your avatar cracks me up?

And now we're into the home stretch - the Top 40. Special thanks to NG for the amazing graphics! BTW, please don't hate on my superlative taste, thanks! Let's get to it with a single that has been derided FAR too much.



Hilary Duff - Beat of My Heart

The way that you feel
Could never be real.
I want you to know I finished the deal.
So I'm sayin to you
I'll always be true.
To the rhythm inside,

To the beat of my,
To the beat of my,
To the beat of my heart,

There's been a lot of talk about this song and it's hook. Some complain that the hook is the song and really - is that such a bad things? Buidling on a robot-like procession of the main line, Beat of My Heart destroys everything one has come to expect from a Hilary Duff single. It's a never-ending maze of one phrase; structurally it's one of the most unique songs of the year. Good on ya Hilary.



Shakira featuring Alejandro Sanz - La Tortura
No pido que todos los días sean de sol
No pido que todos los viernes sean de fiesta
Tampoco te pido que vuelvas rogando perdón
Si lloras con los ojos secos
Y hablando de ella

Some cynics had written Shakira off as a flash in the pan. But with the release of La Tortura, her duet with fellow Latino superstar Alejandro Sanz, she proved them all wrong. This hynoptic, sensual tango had everyone grooving along to it, becoming the first Spanish language song to go into the top 20 of the Hot 100. La Tortura proves the point that language, when it comes sto music, is really iunimportant in the scheme of things.



Weezer - Perfect Situation

Get your hands off the girl,
Can't you see that she belongs to me?
And I don't appreciate this excess company.
Though I can't satisfy all the needs she has
And so she starts to wander...
Can you blame her?
Hmm. If there was a song released this year that defined the prototypical straight white teenage male's experience, it was this one. From the neverending doubt to the put upon bravado, it's so real that it becomes a true work of art. Perfect Situation embodies the angst of the young generation more perfectly than any emo or screamo band could ever imagine.



Lindsay Lohan - First
Is that someone you used to date
Why she's hanging around here, what's her story
Doesn't she know that its too late
That the party is over and the car is for me
And no, romantic angst from the other side. In a little over three and a half minutes, our dear Lilo captures the devastating highs and crushing lows of young love. It's especially powerful as a cautionary tale to other girls: He might not be that into you. Add production that gives this tale a propulsive ommph, and you have a near perfect pop song.



Jesse McCartney - Because You Live
Staring out at the rain with a heavy heart
It's the end of the world in my mind
This song presents another interesting dilemma. There's nothing special about the production or the lyrics or the vocals, at first listen. But dig a little closer, and a haunting quality comes out. Jesse's vocals become stronger and the song becomes more meaningful, even poignant on occasion. Usually, Jesse Mac is the blandest of the bland, which makes Because You Live a superb anomaly.


Beck - Girl
And I know I'm gonna steal her eye
She doesn't even know what's wrong
And I know I'm gonna make her die
Take her where her soul belongs
And I know I'm gonna steal her eye
Nothing that I wouldn't try

A peaceful Beck makes for a great song. Simply stunning, in a minimalist sort of way. And possible best video of the year?

35-30 should be up in a few hours! Get ready for more songs about love, L.O.V.E. and Brooklyn!

PS and Girl ^_^

good list

weezer, and beck rule

There we go! Hilary and Lindsay in the top 40

I predict that Hung Up will be #1 on this list....

And now it's time for a chart I like to call DAMN YOU MUSIC CHOICE. For those that don't know, Music Choice is a series of channels that play nothing but music. They have channels devoted to almost every type of music you can imagine. Two of the channels I listen to (Alternative and Hit List) usually only play singles. They played these following songs, letting me fall in love with them (if I wasn't already.) Unfortunately, they never became singles (to my knowledge) and thus they can't be in the main list. They are too brilliant to be ignored though, so they receive special recognition here.

DAMN YOU MUSIC CHOICE!

The White Stripes - Forever for Her (Is Over for Me)

Hilary Duff - Haters

Bloc Party - Two More Years

Ashlee Simpson - In Another Life

Beck - Heaven's Hammer

35-30 will be up later tonight!

And now we're getting closer to greatness. Let's start with song 34, a plea from one of the most underrated superstars around.


Ashlee Simpson - L.O.V.E.

All my girls stand in a circle and clap your hands this is for you
Ups and downs highs and lows no matter what you see me through
My boyfriend he don't answer on the telephone
I don't even know where the hell he goes
But all my girls we're in a circle and nobody's gonna break through

Building on a beat that sounds suspiciously like a song Gwen Stefani would sing, Ashlee promotes friendship in the face of relationship troubles. It's a wonderful message that we should ALL heed. Haters of this track need a little L.O.V.E. in their lives - let Ashlee give it to you.


Aqualung - Brigther Than Sunshine


I never saw it happening
I'd given up and given in
I just couldn't take the hurt again
What a feeling

Paraphrasing a professional critic's thoughts - Brighter Than Sunshine is the best song that Coldplay never recorded. In fact, it's better than most of the stuff Coldplay and their ilk released this year.


Lil' Kim - Lighters Up


Damn homie I'm so to'
I don't think I'm ever gon' smoke no mo'
And I don't think I'm ever gon' drink no mo'
But **** it, bartender you can gimmie one mo'
(We in the club like) Damn homie I'm so to'
(Lightin' the dutch like) I don't think I'm ever gon' smoke no mo'
(Passin' the cup like) And I don't think I'm ever gon' drink no mo'

Using a clever interpolation of an earlier hit (Damian Marley's Welcome to Jamrock), Our Kim gives a shout to her home - Brooklyn (and in a local version of the song) NYC at large. Her passionate, all-knowingly delivery proves one thing - she is one of the best rappers [male or female] in the game today. Not even jail can hold her back.



Natasha Bedingfield - These Words

Read some byron, shelly and keats
Resited in over a Hip-Hop beat
I'm having trouble saying what I mean
With dead poets and drum machines
I know I had some studio time booked
But I couldn't find a killer hook
Now you're gonna raise the bar right up
Nothing I write is ever good enough

A tricky song - a love song about writer's block - was subtly and wonderfully pulled off by the best? Bedingfield making music. It was a legitimate threat to the title of Pop Song of the Summer, with good reason. Let's hope she can make it - we need great songs in this country.


Backstreet Boys - Just Want You to Know

All the doors are closing
I'm trying to move ahead
And deep inside I wish it's me instead
My dreams are empty from the day
The day you slipped away

A song that fittingly desribes not only romantic peciddlios but their own tenuous comeback, Just Want You to Know perfectly combines dance and rock better than most people (excluding Xenomania) can do. It deserved to be a bigger hit than it was and the video - well it speaks for itself, doesn't it?

Awesome so far, Aqualung ?_? though.

good list so far. aqualung ^_^

This list is actually pretty good

Graphics!
Weez, Ash, Nat B. nice!

Kelly Clarkson - Because of You

I watched you die
I heard you cry
Every night in your sleep
I was so young
You should have known better than to lean on me
You never thought of anyone else
You just saw your pain
And now I cry
In the middle of the night
For the same damn thing

Ah, Kelly. With Because of You, Ms. Clarkson manages to make a could/should be trite, sappy song become something utterly vibrant, visceral and unforgettable. It's ultimately cathartic, not only for her - but for everyone listening as well.



Gwen Stefani - Cool

Remember Harbor Boulevard
The dreaming days where the mess was made
Look how all the kids have grown, oh
We have changed but we're still the same
After all that we've been through
I know we're cool
I know we're cool

Are there really any words for the greatness of this track? Coming off of the hyperkinesis that was Hollaback Girl, Cool represents a total about face into sunny introspection. Although the subject of Gwen's ex-boyfriend/current bandmate should be as tired as Madoo-doo's obession with her dead mother and distant father, Cool manages to unabashedly pull at the heartstrings of anyone who's ever loved and lost - and some who haven't. Plus, if the lyrics are too blah for you, there's always that amazingly laidback production - the 2nd best work Dallas Austin did this year. (The best is in the top ten. )


Death Cab for Cutie - Soul Meets Body

And I do believe it's true that there are roads left in both of our shoes, But if the silence takes you then I hope it takes me too.
So brown eyes I hold you near, 'cause you're the only song I want to hear
A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere.

Another shockingly yet subtly sweet song by a band that broke out in a big way this year. Yet if Cool is driving to the beach for warm reminscences, Soul Meets Body is stuck somewhere in between the dirty ground and the moonlit stars. This makes SMB a perfectly magical, soulstirring event - one that lights up a person everytime they hear it.


Green Day - Wake Me Up When September Ends

Here comes the rain again,
Falling from the stars.
Drenched in my pain again,
Becoming who we are.

Ignore the almost unbelievably terrible video and recognize Wake Me Up When September Ends as the best single Green Day has released in years. A song that grows, but never diminshes in power. A stadium anthem that has gravity to spare. A near-perfect moment. How it's only 26 is beyond me.


Girls Aloud - See the Day

Don't you see that I
I'm really worth a try
And I say to you
I know just what to do

Let's call a spade a spade. This is obviously an attempt by the Girls to expand their audience - one that currently includes tween girls, teen gays and twenty-something hipsters - to one that can include all those desperate housewives, and their mothers. It's so calculated that it's almost a turnoff (much like their 2nd #1 single, a cover of the Pretenders' I'll Stand By You). But, unlike that wrethedness, See the Day is actually near great in all of its excess. Sure, the Girls can rarely sell any kind of melancholic emotion, but that's beside the point. The production is so lush (and the video so cheap) that it basically demands the listener to revel in its cheesy bombast. Hey, if you can't - wait until the Girls single handily redefinine modern popular music. Again, for the 3rd(or maybe 4th?) time.