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The 2008 YECA: Attack of the Ambition (Top 10 MVs + ??)
Member Since: 1/3/2007
Posts: 3,637
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4.25/5
0.25 for Slipknot  Aberinkula and Goliath are the best songs of The Bedlam In Goliath indeed.
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ATRL Administrator
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Much love for Gnarls, Coldplay, and Ladytron, among others. This list keeps being epic!
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Member Since: 8/7/2006
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ATRL Senior Member
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Attack of the Ambition: Top 80 Songs (40-36)
Okay, are you ready for some face-melting music that kicks major ass? Well, all forty of the songs in this top forty have that, and have it in spades. And, by the way, no, there will not be an "Ace of Spades" joke here. You can make one up yourself, thank you very much.
 
We begin the second half of the top 80 with a song that really should have been on last year's list, but, of course, I had other songs on my mind before "Paper Planes". Such is life. Thankfully, Pineapple Express opened up a bunch of people to the world of M.I.A., thanks to this song's appearance in its tv spots and trailers. Soon after, the song became an unexpected smash hit, peaking in the top five in America. More than likely, M.I.A. will be a one-hit wonder, though she's, obviously, more than just "Paper Planes", but I'm okay with one of her best songs being that one hit. If you can find a way to resist this song, well, I envy you and pity you at the same time. Fun fact: the main beat comes from a sample of one of the coolest sounding songs of all time, The Clash's "Straight to Hell". Seriously, listen to both songs, but find a way to listen to "Straight to Hell" first.
YouTube Link: "Paper Planes"
Look, I'll be the first to say that I was immensely disappointed in The Red Album. And you know why? Because "Pork and Beans" was so damn good, that's why! It made the previous album's first single, "Beverly Hills", look like a little puppy of a song. Written as a response to being told to make the band's sound more commercial, "Pork and Beans" wound up being their biggest hit on rock radio, ironically, spending 11 weeks at the top of the Modern Rock charts. The lyrics are what make this song such a special song, especially if you keep in mind what the song's about and the background information. Of course, this song will be remembered moreso for its video, featuring YouTube "celebrities" doing what they do best. And that's fine, I can live with that, as long as they appreciate how good the song is, as well.
YouTube Link: "Pork and Beans"
I'm still trying to figure out why some of you didn't like "Electric Feel". I don't get it. Is it the vocals? Is it the ending? Is it the music? Okay, no, it can't be the music, that's impossible. The music in this song is bliss. The verses feature just an awesome bass riff and the pounding sound of drums. This is a song(and, really, a band) that has no problem with and does not hesitate to take things a bit over the top, and, in that regard, "Electric Feel" is their masterpiece, a wave of sound that engulfs the listener.
YouTube Link: "Electric Feel"
"I got some bad news this morning, which, in turn, made my day." Actually, that line would have made perfect sense last year and would have probably put this song in the top 20, had it been released last year. Like that matters, though, because this is a great song, regardless of personal importance. This is a gritty, raw, gorgeous soul song, sung by a man who knows how to break hearts just by singing. I've listened to both albums, and even b-sides and rarities, but no song of theirs can match the vocals in this song, as Cee-Lo Green bares his soul (pun intended?) and then tears it apart in less than three minutes. This will wind up going down as one of the better break-up songs of the decade, I have a feeling, and the video will only help enhance that.
YouTube Link: "Who's Gonna Save My Soul?"
As you may be aware, Shiny Toy Guns have a new female lead singer. Sisely Treasure, while comparable, in some ways, to Carah Faye Charnow, her predecesor, is very much suited for the new direction that the Shinys went in for their latest album Season of Poison. Season is a very moody album, maybe even more moody than We Are Pilots, and her vocals are probably more suited for these songs than Carah Faye's would have been. Now, what makes "Ghost Town" so interesting is that the first single was "Ricochet!", which sounds so much different than the previous Shinys material, thanks to Sisely's vocal stylings, whereas "Ghost Town", despite the harder chorus, would have fit on We Are Pilots, if only for the music that surrounds the chorus. Imagine, if you would, "Hollaback Girl", but rock. That's "Ghost Town". Sisely's vocals are frantic in their tone, as she sings to a bouncing drum beat that, yep, sounds like a drumline beat, almost. This song is just really, really fun.
YouTube Link: "Ghost Town"
35-31should be coming today or tomorrow, and it features a smash hit all over the world, plus a song that many of you probably don't even realize that it exists. Good luck trying to guess what it is.
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Member Since: 2/26/2006
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Banned
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ATRL Senior Member
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That was an exceptionally badass set. 4/5
MIA: Def. a one-hit wonder. Bu I think her albums will sell well
Great for STG. I'm just starting to dig "Ghost Town". Then of course the awesome MGMT and Weez.
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ATRL Senior Member
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#45 - #41: 2/5 ----> "Psychosocial" 
#40 - #36: 4/5
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Member Since: 8/2/2006
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4/5
Amazing set!
<3 Paper Planes, Pork and Beans, Electric Feel
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 11/6/2002
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"Ghost Town" is my favorite song at the moment, it's just so damn good.
The other 4 are great too.
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Member Since: 1/9/2004
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4/5. I'm gonna have to take a listen to that Ghost Town
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ATRL Senior Member
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Gnarls, Weezer, M.I.A. <3333
I didn't expect to enjoy your list, Ryan. 
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Member Since: 2/22/2008
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Weezer  
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ATRL Senior Member
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4/5 **** you and your ****ing awesome taste too! 
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Member Since: 7/1/2008
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ATRL Senior Member
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Attack of the Ambition: Top 80 Songs (35-31)
I can't believe that I'm going to be 30 songs away from being done with this year's Ambition, after this update, barring the possibility of giving away more "Best" awards. At the rate I'm going, I may actually be done before Christmas.
The Music is a very interesting band for me, personally. The Music was one of my first glances over at the English music scene, a music scene that would, eventually, lead me to Muse and where I am today. Their biggest single in the US, "Breakin'", was one of my favorite songs of 2004, and, for those of you old schoolers, was, of course, the intro music for the ill-fated FreeWave Power Hour demo I did four years ago. That brings us to 2008, and The Music's back with Strength in Numbers. I haven't heard the album in full yet, and there's a similar case with another song coming really soon, but, out of the songs I have heard, one stood out from the beginning, and that was "The Spike". This song is a progression of The Music sound that came blasting onto the scene in 2002, sounding less like a dance song and more like a rock song. When compared to their previous two albums, this song sticks out like a sore thumb, but that is why I love it, BECAUSE it's more of a rocker than their previous material. It doesn't hurt that the chorus was one of the catchiest pieces of music I heard all year, too.
YouTube Link: "The Spike"
Well, while we're still in England, we might as well swing by one of the surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney. After his bitter and much publicized divorce with Heather Mills, you can understand that Paul was in the mood to bare his soul and get out the pent-up aggression within. Instead of recording another album under his own name, however, he decided to hook up with old friend and Killing Joke bassist Youth to reform The Fireman, Paul McCartney's more experimental alter-ego. Their first two albums, Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest and Rushes, were more of a case of Paul and Youth experimenting with sounds and left the vocals on the cutting room floor. That changed with Electric Arguments, as the vocals took center stage. This is apparent immediately in the opening song, "Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight", as McCartney channels his inner "Helter Skelter" and makes said song almost look soft, in comparison, with Paul's screaming vocals beating down on your ears, and the glorious sound of the instruments behind him providing an awesome backdrop for McCartney's soul searching. Oh, by the way, when you listen to this song, keep in mind that Paul McCartney is 66 years old. 66! That is amazing.
YouTube Link: "Nothing Too Much Just Out of Sight"
When you listen to "The Stone", there's something about it that you can't quite put your finger on. It's not a bad thing, either. There's something about the sound of the music, the vocals, the lyrics, that comes together in a perfect harmony and overwhelms the listener. Billy Howerdel knew exactly what he was doing when he made "The Stone" the first single from his latest project Ashes Divide. It is a perfect first impression of a band that is as progressive as they are badass. Maybe it's the fact that the beautiful vocals inhabit such a powerful and driven tune. Maybe it's the fact that the music that surrounds the vocals is, by design, meant to be taken in as a joint piece, not as a supplement or the main course. Whatever the case, there is something special that lurks within "The Stone". Or beneath, if you want to be cutesy. And, without a doubt, it is the perfect song to recommend to people to get people listening to the band.
YouTube Link: "The Stone"
Alright, confession time: I didn't like this song THAT much, at first, or, at least, not as much as everyone else did. I didn't understand why people were going so gaga over "All Nightmare Long", when there were so many other enjoyable and awesome songs to choose from. Of course, the more and more I listened to the album, "All Nightmare Long" began to stick out from the crowd of awesome songs that lurk within Death Magnetic and established its own identity. One of the longer songs on the album, "All Nightmare Long" is just about eight minutes long, and it feels like five, if not shorter. While the songs on the album all stand out for different reasons, this one stands out especially, because it's one of the few that sounds like it could possibly fit on the albums of the 90's, just...different, more than likely because it's more thrashy and, oh, I don't know, it sounds authentic, perhaps? Oh, and by the way, if you can find something wrong with the solo area of the song, then you're just nitpicking and looking for a reason to hate the song. In an album filled with awesome solos, this song may have the best of them all.
YouTube Link: "All Nightmare Long"
This will be the song that introduces most people to the world of Kings of Leon. I can live with that, as long as they keep in mind that they are much more than just "Sex on Fire". This is still a fantastic song, however, that is so filled with emotion and sexuality that it will drive some to have sex with their loved one (or, um, loved ones, if you're sick like that). Out of everything that is great about this song, what's really great is the vocals given to us by Caleb Followill. People who listen to Kings of Leon beyond this song know that Caleb, in general, is an amazing singer, but "Sex on Fire" is a highlight of Caleb's career. You can sense within his vocals that he CARES about what he's singing about, and feels emotion for what he's singing about. You can feel his emotion through your headphones, and it all makes sense.
YouTube Link: "Sex on Fire"
We hit the top 30 next, and that's where we start to get into the REALLY awesome songs of 2008. See you then, I hope?
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Member Since: 1/27/2007
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Member Since: 9/18/2005
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the spike and sex on fire.
priceless
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