I am back once again atrl! You guys got mentioned in some press while I was gone so grats on that. TRL continues to live on after death. When we struck Damien down he became more powerful than we could ever imagine. Well not really.

So 2015, dominated by Star Wars, Donald Trump and ISIS. Too bad one point nine of those things are terrible. I'll give the Donald's showmanship a tenth of a point. His campaign was quite entertaining until it became a real thing about a month ago. ISIS gets zero points forever. Star Wars gets a thousand points to make up for it, despite being a little short on creativity.

Musically, 2015 could have easily become about what wasn't released. Several high profile artists decided to punt 2015 away, the most notorious being Yeezus himself. I'm gonna blame the Kardashians for that one, as James Harden also seems to have punted the 2015 portion of this season away. Instead several people stepped up, some cementing the sounds of the present and others giving me back the music I loved ten years ago. It's my most diverse list ever. And this is coming off a year where Taylor Swift won a normally rock-oriented countdown. So I hope that uncertainty leads to an entertaining experience for the readers I have left. To you, thanks for tuning in already!

So heres whats coming soon, in some order, hopefully all posted before the annual burn out.

Main event - Top 35 albums of 2015
Undetermined amount of close calls
Top 15 movies
Top 15 tv shows
Top 10 video games
Top 10 wrestling matches
Possibly a top 15 songs list but we know how that usually goes
Recaps of past years
?

So expect that to start up .. sometime soon!

#1 song: "Dead Inside" by Muse
#1 game: Fallout 4
#1 film: Inside Out

Album list recap-

37. High by Royal Headache
36. Mr. Misunderstood by Eric Church
35. Chaos and the Calm by James Bay
34. Twelve Spells by The Stone Foxes
33. Mr. Wonderful by Action Bronson
32. Natalie Prass by Natalie Prass
31. No Cities To Love by Sleater-Kinney
30. Kicker by Zella Day
29. Peace Is the Mission by Major Lazer
28. ii by Fuzz
27. Let The Good Times Roll by JD McPherson
26. Storyteller by Carrie Underwood
25. Kintsugi by Death Cab For Cutie
24. Revival by Selena Gomez
23. Higher Truth by Chris Cornell
22. Our Own House by Misterwives
21. Undertow by Drenge
20. Delirium by Ellie Goulding
19. Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit by Courtney Barnett
18. Summertime '06 by Vince Staples
17. What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World by The Decemberists
16. The Documentary 2.5 by The Game
15. The Incredible True Story by Logic
14. Future Nostalgia by The Sheepdogs
13. Postive Songs For Negative People by Frank Turner
12. Dark Sky Rising by Big Sean
11. The Most Lamentable Tragedy by Titus Andronicus
10. To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar
9. Jekyll + Hyde by Zach Brown Band
8. Dodge and Burn by The Dead Weather
7. Tell Me I'm Pretty by Cage The Elephant
6. E•Mo•Tion by Carly Rae Jepsen
5. Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes
4. Badlands by Halsey
3. Every Open Eye by Chvrches
2. The Desired Effect by Brandon Flowers
1. Chasing Yesterday by Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

I'm hooked from your write up

Ready for the diversity

I can't wait to see what's on the agenda of yours.

We're off to a great start as atrl died right before I posted this next part last night lol. Lucky for me, and you, the copy and paste functions made it to the iphone!

I should also mention that I don't have a computer at the moment and will be doing the entire list on my iphone. Hopefully the presentation doesn't suffer too much.

As is tradition, the history of #1s aka the thing that makes me feel old

#1 albums:

2003: "Meteora" by Linkin Park
2004: "Start Something" by lostprophets ft. Total A Whole Siiko Perv
2005: "Plans" by Death Cab For Cutie
2006: "The Black Parade" by My Chemical Romance
2007: "Sound of Silver" by LCD Soundsystem
2008: "Death Magnetic" by Metallica
2009: "It's Blitz!" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2010: "This Is Happening" by LCD Soundsystem
2011: "Something To Die For" by The Sounds
2012: "Be The Void" by Dr. Dog
2013: "Modern Vampires Of The City" by Vampire Weekend
2014: "1989" by Taylor Swift

#1 songs:

2003: "Faint" by Linkin Park
2004: "Ch-Check It Out" by Beastie Boys
2005: "Helena" by My Chemical Romance
2006: "When You Were Young" by The Killers
2007: "Through The Fire And Flames" by Dragonforce
2008: "All Nightmare Long" by Metallica
2009: "Panic Switch" by Silversun Pickups
2010: "Dance Yourself Clean" by LCD Soundsystem
2011: "Get Away" by Yuck
2012: "Little Talks" by Of Monsters and Men
2013: "Unbelievers" by Vampire Weekend
2014: "Oh My Darling Don't Cry" by Run The Jewels

So as usual these are what I thought then, not necessarily now.

rock took a walloping last year. I mean it had the #2 on both lists with Spoon on album side and Royal Blood's "Out of the Black" on the song side, but still.. And I think the rankings hold too. 1989 is pop perfection. Will things go back to form this year?

Though I might change a few others on the list, things are mostly good.

I'll be back tomorrow or monday to start on the close calls!

I would give ISIS negative points.

And holy ****, O! The gang's finally starting to come together again! I'M NOT ALONE!

Faint, Helena Already classic songs! Can't wait for this year's list

Can't wait|||||

The close calls list was getting completely out of control. Partly because of the enormity of it and partly because of my convoluted way of ranking them. I cut about half of them because of it. Sorry!

So last year I came up with the idea to rank the best songs from albums that did not make the main event or previous album lists. This could be explained by it getting shut out due to me only ranking 35 this year, or because the album came out last year, or because the album was just not very good other than one or two songs. And there's a one song per artist limit. These songs are still eligible for the song list if I end up doing it. If you're confused then you're doing OK in life. Anybody who understands what the heck I'm talking about it should consult a therapist immediately.

22. "TBD" by whichever of the final 36 gets bumped out
21. "Bad Blood" by Ryan Adams
20. "Where You At" by Bohicas
19. "Old War/New Friends" by Refused
18. "Hold My Hand" by Jess Glynne
17. "The Healing" by Gary Clark Jr.
16. "Cold Companion" by The Arcs
15. "Moaning Lisa Smile" by Wolf Alice
14." Spring (Among The Living)" by My Morning Jacket
13. "In Between" by Beartooth
12. "Living Zoo" by Built To Spill
11. "The Business Of Emotion" by Big Data
10. "Hello" by Adele
9. "Broken Into Better Shape" by Good Old War
8. "Ballad of Bull Ramos" by Mountain Goats
7. "Ship To Wreck" by Florence and the Machine
6. "Lifted Up" by Passion Pit
5. "Cool For The Summer" by Demi Lovato
4. "My Type" by Saint Motel
3. "The Shade" by Metric
2. "Sparks" by Hilary Duff
1. "Dead Inside" by Muse


Whew! A lot of heavy hitters on there. But we will get to them as they come. First off, I thought it would be appropriate to begin this list with the way the last one ended. Ryan Adam's ending up enhancing it even further, showing how well written the songs were with all the lights and bombast stripped away. Yet they were Taylor's songs, so you don't in the top 35 Ryan Adams. Bohicas have a mid 2000s alternative sound and did make a pretty solid album. Refused are some good ole rock, but this and "Elektra" were the only songs I really dug. Jess Glynne continues to pump out addictive songs even without the help of Clean Bandit. Gary Clark was someone I ranked super high in 2012 because it was album of the moment. I don't mean to disrespect that or this one, as they're both still good, but just wanted to explain how such a high profile artist got left off without releasing a turd. The Arcs are Dan Auerbach's new band and "Cold Companion" has a great solo. Wolf Alice are a promising new alternative band. They didn't hit for me this time, but I have high hopes for their sophomore effort.

My Morning Jacket are the first real big name to be left off. I didn't dislike their album but it'd be impossible to not call it a disappointment. "Spring" "Big Decisions" and even a few others are quite good and worthy of the MMJ name. But there's not even a "Victory Dance" to put among their best songs. I kept waiting but it never came. So while The Waterfall might even be a better album, musically, than the early stuff on the list, none of them gave me a lump of coal for Christmas and therefore get priority.

Beartooth temporarily satisfied my ADTR itch in the summer. I had never even heard of Built To Spill this year, and even though they missed out on the main event, I now have like 12 albums from the 90s and 00s to listen to lol. Big Date blew up last year with "Dangerous" but who knew they had an even better song hidden away? Adele really has no right to complain about a guy SHE BROKE UP WITH not calling her back several years later. Those are rich people problems and I guess Adele didn't really have anything else to be upset about. Good for you, girl. Keep selling millions and millions of albums in an era where nobody does that anymore. Since Beasties are retired, I think I'm gonna recoin the word Adrock to apply to Good Old War. As in all their songs are made directly for commercials. With that in made, they made some really really catchy songs and people are gonna buy stuff because of them. Just missed the list! Mountain Goats made a whole album about wrestling, but like old wrestling in Mexico. The Chavo Guerrero song is great too.

Florence album was decent but there aren't enough "Ship To Wreck"'s on it. "Lifted Up" is Passion Pit giving the people what we want. Demeh Lovato continues her streak of great singles, mediocre albums. At least her sexy phase has been as aesthetically great as we all wanted. :-D Saint Motel are the new Kings of Weenie Roast and would have surely made the list if they had released more than four songs this year lol.

Oh boy, Metric. Easily the biggest disappointment of the year. Writing about it will just make me sad so let's move on to something positive. Like the Duffster!!! "Sparks" was my jam of the summer along with "My Kind". I came to the "Dignity" party very late, and was really hoping that the Duff would make up for it. There just isn't enough to like after the first two though. Even putting the fantastic "all About You" on might have been enough to push it over, but I get why she didn't. It's been proven impossible to avoid bouncing during "Sparks" . Even trying it is known to cause spontaneous combustion. Even that hideous dance she does along to it works just because everything works with "Sparks".

All that being said, the gap between 1 and 2 is similar to the gap between the sun and the nearest star system. "Dead Inside" is the HEAVY favorite to be song of the year so I'll save my gushing until then. "Psycho" and "Revolt" are terrific too, but unfortunately I didn't care for much else on "Drones". Still worth a listen just for those three songs though!

Wow that was alot of writing! Most updates will be smaller!

11/21

Dead Inside + My Type + Cool For The Summer + Moaning Lisa Smile + Ship To Wreck + Hello + Bad Blood + Lifted Up (1985) <33

The Shade is an amazing and underrated song! Love My Type, Ship To Wreck.
I'm not the biggest fan of Adele but I love Hello!

1989 topping your albums list for 2014
Hello, CFTS and Sparks

hellO! Your year end is always a delight, and probably the most creative/hilarious out of any, so i'm thrilled to see this year's edition! And seriously, that you are doing all of it via your iPhone is tremendous. You are an inspiration to me and countless others!

Your Close Calls is a strong list, like how you formatted it: list first, and then combine it all in full paragraphs. And I feel like I understood what you said, so after i'm done writing this I will indeed contact my local therapist at 2:30 AM. My favs from the Close Calls: Ryan Adams (I was always meaning to ask you about this, as I know you are a big Swift fan and can't recall you having an opinion on Adams previously. I'm a big fan and rec his stuff!), Gary Clark Jr, The Arcs, MMJ Built to Spill (you just finding out about BTS this year is so cool! They are GREAT! And yet I missed this year's album, WTF is wrong with me? Thanks for the reminder!), Mountain Goats (YES), Adele, the new kings of the Weenie Roast Saint Motel. We've discussed this off-ATRL so i'm not surprised by your MMJ paragraph, but my jaw still dropped to the laptop mousepad (The Mask-style) reading it haha! We see The Waterfall very, very differently. But hey, at least you liked a few of the songs! Maybe one day you'll like it more, but I made that same comment back in May, and clearly nothing has clicked since, so oh well haha. That aside, I was nodding my head along to your write-ups, which were typically funny and explained why you liked them in a concise and fun way.

Excited for what's next!

"Reapers", "The Handler", "The Globalist", "Defector"...I mean, "REVOLT" and "PSYCHO" are your recommended songs, O? Your Drones talk disturbs me.

..."Dead Inside" is still boss, though.

Also, with "The Business of Emotion", you're thinking of Big Data. Joywave had his own album and what not this year with some other awesome songs. (*cough*"Somebody New"*cough*)

18. "Hold My Hand" by Jess Glynne
10. "Hello" by Adele
7. "Ship To Wreck" by Florence and the Machine
6. "Lifted Up" by Passion Pit
5. "Cool For The Summer" by Demi Lovato
3. "The Shade" by Metric
2. "Sparks" by Hilary Duff
1. "Dead Inside" by Muse

These are my favorites from your list. Too bad they didn't make it

Lol you're right I messed up on Big D.

Drones reminds me of The Hunting Party last year. I had wanted Muse/LP to go back to their signature sounds for years, but when they do I'm all like "meh". "Reapers" is cool with its "Eruption" homage opening, but the chorus bugs me hard and I cant get through the entire song. "Psycho" and "Revolt" are both super corny but also super catchy.

Wish they made it but oh well

Fun fact: That's actually the comparison I made when I saw Muse. Not even joking.

I get if you didn't care for the album that much..surprisingly, I get it. There are low points, and they are pretty low for Muse. So many people have had a similar reaction in this Best Of forum alone. It really DOES remind me of the reaction to The Hunting Party last year. The thing is, though, that the highs of Drones are so far ahead of the highs of The Hunting Party (and, as I said, every other album this year) that it's not even fair. "Reapers", "The Handler" and "Defector" became three of my favorite Muse songs ever almost instantly. If the rest of the album matched that quality, it would have been one of my ten favorite albums ever.

Shame that it doesn't, really.

Both of these are among my favorite albums of all time


From the close calls:
Looooove these

The Black Parade is a masterpiece! Nice #1 from that year.

I agree that Dead Inside is amazing. It might be my fave from the album, but The Handler gives it a run for its money!