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Roger's Best of 2012 (#1 Tune & Album Posted!)
ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 12/7/2008
Posts: 87,284
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These are my faves :
81. Coldplay f. Rihanna – Princess of China
82. Garbage – Blood For Poppies
83. Foster The People – Houdini
86. Ed Sheeran – Lego House
87. Snoop Dogg f. Bruno Mars, Wiz Khalifa – Young, Wild, & Free
88. Jason Mraz – I Won’t Give Up
92. Katy Perry – Wide Awake
94. Kelly Clarkson – Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)
96. David Guetta f. Nicki Minaj – Turn Me On
99. Linkin Park – Lost In The Echo
100. PSY – Gagnam Style
so
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Member Since: 5/9/2009
Posts: 6,397
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Funny to see the Gangnam Style on here and sure everyone is embarrassing them selves right now. I swear the video can reach a Billions views b4 2012 ends. Should I help it reach that feat? Never mind I just checked and has succeeded wo/ me. Sad to see that LITC is LP’s only song in the top 100. Guess it disappointed you that much. I take what I can get from them and appreciate what they do. I really didn’t like that Soundgarden song and glad that the album was the total opposite of that. That Electric Guest song just infectious because it’s crazy loony in a out of groovy. Woo. I like that Bush song, ok songs by Kelly & Olly. Wide Awake alarms you well, Jack just kills that song apart. Salute to him. Agree with you on Grouplove, nice the Boss is back, I Won’t Give Up is an interesting song on the first listen its like WTF anti-climatic much but hey don’t give up cause it grows and sound completely different now because you are used to it and like life. I like to relax and chill with that Snoop song. Good to be young, wild and free for the most part that is. That was my standout track from + and glad more people are aware that Gingers have souls, what a mix song by Blondfire, Hey the Kids Choir come running , a wonderful tune that cannot escape by FTP, nice Garbage song & decent Coldplay & Rihanna combo. Off to a great start sir and it will get better. More people should come and see your list.
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 3/19/2008
Posts: 37,076
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19/20
Blood for Poppies is definitely one of the bests this year. Great start!
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 10/1/2002
Posts: 14,726
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The comments are much appreciated guys! Hope everyone is having a fantastic Holiday season thus far. Let’s keep this freight train rolling with another two-fer set!
Roger’s Top 100 Tunes: Part 3
71. One Direction – What Makes You Beautiful
72. Two Door Cinema Club – Sleep Alone
73. Morning Parade – Headlights
74. Aaliyah f. Drake – Enough Said
75. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Look Around
76. Ne Yo – Let Me Love You
77. Gaslight Anthem – 45
78. David Guetta f. Chris Brown, Lil’ Wayne – I Can Only Imagine
79. Nicki Minaj – Pound The Alarm
80. Usher – Numb
This set definitely leans a little CHR-heavy, and it kicks off with what is ultimately the soundtrack to most weekends of this past summer. Usher was a bit of a commercial disappoint with “Looking 4 Myself” failing to live up to even modest expectations, nonetheless he delivered top-notch club ready hits including ‘Numb’. Nicki Minaj found herself in a similar place with “Pink Friday: Reloaded”, which may not have disappointed to the same extent as Usher did commercially, but many still expected it to be bigger. Nonetheless, she continued to pump out Superbass type of hits as ‘Pound The Alarm’ was another step towards grimey dubstep, which frankly, is a nice change of pace from her over the top true hip hop tracks like ‘Beez’ and ‘Roman Reloaded’. Some Pop front runners did live up to expectations though, as David Guetta’s “Nothing But The Beat” was essentially a greatest hits album, and he shows up with his 2nd of three to come from that album. And although Ne Yo’s “Red” cannot be classified a commercial success by any stretch, ‘Let Me Love You’ is likely one of his biggest multi-format smashes since a couple of albums back. But the top of the pop game in this set have to come from those bratty Brits, One Direction, who scored two 1-million+ sellers in North America alone this year. ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ is one of those genuinely well written pop tracks, and as cheesy as it is, there was a place for it on radio this year and rightfully so.
The alternative format takes shape in mostly new-ish bands still yearning for format staple status, accompanied by a band who often take that status for granted. I finally saw RHCP live this year, and god damn they were on target. But again, it was their greatest hits that got the biggest reaction and not the material off “I’m With You”. Nonetheless, ‘Look Around’ is a quirky jam, and it has a similar in your face punch to ‘Can’t Stop’, but the immediacy isn’t quite there. Two Door Cinema Club had a big hit last year on the year-end with ‘What You Know’ at #15, and they modestly followed up this year with the catchy enough ‘Sleep Alone’. Morning Parade and Gaslight Anthem both showed the value of longevity – as their tracks spent months on the Alternative chart and had good shelf life throughout the end of the year. I think Gaslight has a potential big hit in 2013 with “Here Comes My Man”.
Kind of on it’s own aside – how creepy is Drake’s obsession with Aaliyah? While it seems less likely his posthumous Aaliyah album may not actually see production, ‘Enough Said’ was regretfully, classic Aaliyah. Smooth, rich vocals, and a searing vulnerability. An all too real reminder of a serious talent lost.
Roger’s Top 100 Tunes: Part 4
61. Florence + The Machine – No Light, No Light
62. fun. – We Are Young
63. Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis – Thrift Shop
64. M83 – Reunion
65. Lana Del Rey – Born To Die
66. Shins – Simple Song
67. Ellie Goulding f. Bassnectar – Lights (Remix)
68. David Guetta f. Sia – Titanium
69. Sheepdogs – The Way It Is
70. John Mayer – Shadow Days
A couple of good reminders in this lot about the prominence of EDM this year. David Guetta sees his final showing on the chart with arguably his biggest mainstream hit ever, ‘Titanium’ – a track that Sia smoked and sizzled. Also, Ellie Goulding did the unthinkable by taking a nearly 2-year old track to the top of the US charts this year. ‘Lights’ saw remarkable remix treatment from Bassnectar, which gave the song a new life this past summer.
Besides that – this set is a bit of a hipsters dream. FATM take the crown jewel off “Ceremonials” to #61 with ‘No Light No Light’ – a song that was very accessible in 2011 but got its proper due this year. But still, feels kinda out dated. Completely relevant though is Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis, who may have a huge early 2013 hit with ‘Thrift Shop’, an ingenious ode to anti-commercialism and quick wit rhymes.
Three albums highly regarded as top of the class for 2012 see some representation here in fun., The Shins, and John Mayer – all of which will make my best of albums list for the year and get their proper due there. “We Are Young” – arguably one of the biggest success stories of the year, is indeed a fine song, but will always live in Gotye’s shadow in my eyes, and frankly, “Some Nights” is the better track of the big two. The Shins “Port of Morrow” is a fantastic record, and ‘Simple Song’ is by far the most accessible track of the lot. John Mayer has always been a favorite of mine, and while ‘Shadow Days’ was a bit of a puzzling choice for lead single as it strays slightly from the essence of the album as a whole, it is a reliable Mayer record at the very least.
M83 had a breakout year with ‘Midnight City’ – but the true gem for me was ‘Reunion’- an 80’s nostalgic trip that sounded great with the car windows rolled down. Speaking of breakout, how about Lana Del Rey? She went from being the most overrated artist this year to the most underrated – that’s what relentless touring earns you. ‘Born To Die’ was my first exposure to her, and while I thought it was her crown jewel for some time, it became obvious very quick that ‘Video Games’ was the track to behold; more on that later.
I alluded to a hopeful Sheepdogs breakthrough last year – but no such luck. They did release another album this year that was with modest success in Canada, and ‘The Way It Is’ is yet another in the lot of vintage classic 70’s feel that these guys keep pumping out reliably. Check them out if you haven’t yet – I’m not sure they will get a chance to go Stateside at this rate.
Next: we will slow things down a bit and start going 10 at a time for the singles, and we’ll finally break open that albums list. Keep safe everyone.
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Member Since: 12/22/2008
Posts: 14,438
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Member Since: 2/11/2008
Posts: 10,964
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71. One Direction – What Makes You Beautiful
72. Two Door Cinema Club – Sleep Alone
62. fun. – We Are Young
63. Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis – Thrift Shop
64. M83 – Reunion
68. David Guetta f. Sia – Titanium
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Member Since: 1/26/2006
Posts: 17,384
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Quote:
72. Two Door Cinema Club – Sleep Alone
73. Morning Parade – Headlights
75. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Look Around
77. Gaslight Anthem – 45
78. David Guetta f. Chris Brown, Lil’ Wayne – I Can Only Imagine
61. Florence + The Machine – No Light, No Light
62. fun. – We Are Young
64. M83 – Reunion
65. Lana Del Rey – Born To Die
66. Shins – Simple Song
67. Ellie Goulding f. Bassnectar – Lights (Remix)
68. David Guetta f. Sia – Titanium
70. John Mayer – Shadow Days
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I like those ones from this sets, 13/20
Sleep Alone, No Light, No Light, Born To Die, Simple Song
Great to know Port Of Morrow will be on your top albums!
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 7/23/2007
Posts: 35,994
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80-71: 4/10
Headlights + Sleep Alone + Look Around + 45 <333
70-61: 8/10
Lights (prefer the original) + We Are Young + Thrift Shop + No Light, No Light <33
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 12/7/2008
Posts: 87,284
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Member Since: 6/24/2008
Posts: 21,950
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amazing set love those pop tracks such as "What Makes You Beautiful", "Lights" & "Pound The Alarm" plus my favorites from this set are the alternative tracks like "45" & "Sleep Alone"
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 6/9/2002
Posts: 6,789
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So much great stuff, once again!
Some of my favourites: love "Look Around," and am very happy you saw them live! I saw them during the By the Way tour in 2002 (wow, that was 10 years ago! Goodness, time sure flies), and it is still one of the best shows i've seen. Also love Gaslight Anthem's "45." I'm tepid on Nicki's more poppy stuff, as I am more of a fan of the over the top hip-hop songs from her haha. But she is definitely talented, no matter what, which I think people forget sometimes. Love the inclusion of the Sheepdogs' "The Way It Is"! What a jam! While their album probably won't make my top 40 albums list, i'll give it a nice shout in the honourable mentions. Gotta support the Saskatchewan boys! And yeah, it's bizarre that they haven't really broken out in the U.S. You would think that having Patrick Carney of the Black freakin' Keys produce your album would get the attention of the U.S., but I guess not. "Simple Song" is my favourite from both sets. A terrific comeback single, from a terrific comeback album.
Loving the list and write-ups, as always. Looking forward to the next 60!
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Member Since: 11/17/2008
Posts: 28,694
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From this set my favorite was We Are Young
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Member Since: 10/3/2009
Posts: 35,844
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Lots of songs I like.
64. M83 – Reunion
65. Lana Del Rey – Born To Die
66. Shins – Simple Song
67. Ellie Goulding f. Bassnectar – Lights (Remix)
68. David Guetta f. Sia – Titanium (Took some time for me to like it)
70. John Mayer – Shadow Days (Great ballad)
71. One Direction – What Makes You Beautiful
72. Two Door Cinema Club – Sleep Alone (My #16 of 2012)
73. Morning Parade – Headlights (It's the first time I see it in other YECD besides mine <3)
75. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Look Around
77. Gaslight Anthem – 45
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Member Since: 11/10/2005
Posts: 13,968
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Here for these
72. Two Door Cinema Club – Sleep Alone
77. Gaslight Anthem – 45
61. Florence + The Machine – No Light, No Light
64. M83 – Reunion
65. Lana Del Rey – Born To Die
66. Shins – Simple Song
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 5/9/2003
Posts: 3,779
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Again so much great stuff. Love that you have the remix of "Lights" on here, not that the original is bad, just the remix is so freaking awesome it deserves to be recognized as much as possible. Florence was one of favorite bands this year, as I hadn't listened to their albums before! Foolish of me I know. No Light No Light is always great. Have you heard the unplugged album?
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Member Since: 5/23/2007
Posts: 65,087
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61. Florence + The Machine – No Light, No Light
63. Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis – Thrift Shop
64. M83 – Reunion
65. Lana Del Rey – Born To Die
67. Ellie Goulding f. Bassnectar – Lights (Remix)
68. David Guetta f. Sia – Titanium
amazing songs wasn't a big fan of Titanium at first tbh, but it really grew on me that remix of Lights is nice, but I prefer the original song. Born to die is epic, my favorite single by Lana! Reunion No Light No Light is good, but my favorite one from this set is the amazing "Thrift Shop"! Love the lyrics, and the music is awesome
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Member Since: 6/16/2006
Posts: 9,960
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Florence + The Machine, Lana Del Rey, Ted Hot Chili Peppers
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 9/26/2001
Posts: 22,475
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Not much to complain about here. Well, other than "Pound the Alarm". That song hurts my ears.
But, really, "Reunion" and "45" in the same post (and MANY more). It doesn't get much better than that.
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 10/1/2002
Posts: 14,726
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I’m really pumped to get to the top 40 (not to take away from any of the tunes thus far and about to be recognized) – so I decided to post another 20 to expedite this process. Almost the New Year. #insane
Roger’s Top 100 Tunes: Part 5
51. Usher – Climax
52. fun. – Some Nights
53. 2 Chainz f. Drake – No Lie
54. DJ Khaled f. Rick Ross, Chris Brown, Lil’ Wayne, Nicki Minaj – Take It To The Head
55. The Wanted – Glad You Came
56. Taylor Swift f. The Civil Wars – Safe & Sound
57. Justin Bieber – Boyfriend
58. Nicki Minaj – Starships
59. Usher – Scream
60. Maroon 5 – One More Night
I can’t deny that this was a good year for the CHR format. Lots of tunes that I think had a broad appeal and deserve recognition – and this is one set that does that.
Although solo female musicians have generally always done very well – solo male musicians are fewer and far between in the mainstream conscious – until this year. Adam Levine took his new high-profile status from the Voice to resurrect the slowly dying career of Maroon 5 – and although ‘One More Night’ I think is their crowning achievement of that process. While Justin Bieber had a flourishing career going into 2012, he did re-invent himself as well and began to cater to the CHR and Rhythmic formats – where believe it or not, he had never scored a top 10 hit. Well this year, he took 3. All 3 of which make this year’s show. ‘Boyfriend’ reminded of when Justin Timberlake first went solo, everyone was kind of all WTF isn’t this guy white? But then, eventually came around to being OK with it, haha. Bieber’s supposed mentor Usher see’s his last of three show up in this set as well. ‘Scream’ was a no brainer, but ‘Climax’ was definitely something to remember and the Grammy love proves it. That’s easily his best tune since some of his earliest work.
Did anyone in a million years ever think that British boy bands could ever be popular again? Well One Direction is now a touring force of nature, The Wanted had potentially one of the biggest airplay hits in the year with the absolutely smutty ‘Glad You Came’. Yes, all the innuendos are meant to be taken the way they seem. That track is gold. Speaking of innuendo – how about DJ Khaled’s track? He scored big last year with ‘I’m On One’ (which dethroned Adele’s RITD from #1 on my personal chart), and this year, ‘Take It To The Head’ made it all the way to #2 just like the way a mega collaboration should. On that collaboration was Nicki Minaj, who shows up with the sugary sweet meets club banger ‘Starships’. A song that spent nearly 3 months entrenched in the Hot 100 Top 10, it was a mix of ‘Superbass’ meets ‘Dirty Bit’. Last on this hip hop note, Drake’s favorite person to endorse, 2 Chainz, with the crazy catchy ‘No Lie’. I managed to see these guys tour in Buffalo at Darien Lake, and man oh man, did I ever not fit in with that crowd. Still awesome though.
A couple of critical darlings up next. fun. had a big year and have made the top 10 of most big year-end lists, and while I liked them and can appreciate the Queen comparisons (to a point), I wasn’t as crazy about them as most people were. Nonetheless, ‘Some Nights’ is a sprawling epic and shows good musicianship, so here it is. And I’m not surprised it got nominated for a Golden Globe – Taylor Swift and my favorite new band from last year The Civil Wars, off the surprisingly awesome Hunger Games soundtrack (anything with an Arcade Fire song wins in my book). ‘Safe and Sound’ is haunting, endearing, and fits the tone of that movie perfectly. It’s too bad the Civil Wars are under utilized. Crazy to think Taylor released this and ‘We Are Never’ in the same year (more on that much later)
Roger’s Top 100 Tunes: Part 6
41. Arctic Monkeys – R U Mine?
42. Calvin Harris f. Ne Yo – Let’s Go
43. Alabama Shakes – I Ain’t The Same
44. Drake f. Lil’ Wayne, Tyga – The Motto
45. The Heavy – What Makes A Good Man
46. Muse – Survival (w/ Prelude)
47. Emelie Sande – Next To Me
48. Calvin Harris f. Example – We’ll Be Coming Back
49. Kanye West f. Big Sean – Clique
50. Justin Bieber f. Big Sean – As Long As You Love Me
Every song in this set hit top 10 or better on my personal chart at some point this year.
The UK is always well represented on my year-end chart, and this year is no exception. Arctic Monkeys have released back to back, relatively speaking, clunker of albums in “Humbug” and “Suck it and See”. Nonetheless, I saw them open live for Black Keys (I know, awesome right?), and all those underwhelming album tracks transcend incredibly well to the live stage. Not to mention, they also took the time on tour to premiere the new track ‘R U Mine’ – which is hands down their best work since ‘Brianstorm’. When these guys are in form, they are dangerously good. Speaking of dangerous on form, Muse gave fans an early preface to their new album “The 2nd Law” by unleashing the official single for the Olympics with ‘Survival’. While the song is a mammoth on it’s own, the prelude to it on the album is absolutely brilliant – kinda like the way ‘Enterlude’ segwayed into ‘When You Were Young’ on the Killers album “Sam’s Town”. The two need to stay together. This song is ‘Knights of Cydonia’ big I feel. And last but not least from Jolly ol’ England, is the “could she be the next Adele” story of Emelie Sande. Well, she’s off to a rousing start. “Our Version of Events” was the biggest album of the year outside of the United States, and she was the only artist to be asked to sing at both the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics. ‘Next to Me’ is perfect – and it reminds me of how exciting it was when Alicia Keys first burst on to the scene. Will she be “21” big? No, definitely not. But with the right push in the first quarter of 2013 – I think she could at least do as well as “19” did Stateside. And the rest is up to her.
It’s not like American rock was under-represented – and talk about some serious Southern swag and vintage feel in this pair. Alabama Shakes – who along with Of Monsters & Men, Frank Ocean, and The Lumineers – are easily one of the greatest success stories of this year. Brittany Howard is an absolute tour de force, and while the whole album could rest on the shoulders of it’s giant lead single ‘Hold On’, triple A single ‘I Aint The Same’ is the easy runner up on the album, and was a riot to hear live. Although Brittany and co. were recognized and rightfully so, The Heavy were criminally ignored with ‘What Makes A Good Man’ – yeah, you know that song that was on every video game advertisement during NFL commercials? Yeah, that one. Choir girl choruses, thrashing riffs, and a track that’s the best to work out to since Young The Giant’s ‘My Body’ – this one is a **** show winner.
Let’s take a 360 now and talk about Calvin Harris – whose been popular for years in the UK and for those who knew how to find him Stateside – but all it took was Rihanna (obviously) to break the secret with ‘We Found Love’ and the dude was set. This year, he unleashed four proper singles and an album that was met with huge radio and touring success. Here we have two of them – a track that introduced the US to Example, and one that may have helped Ne Yo re-find his form. Still in form, Drake probably has the biggest hip hop track of the year in ‘The Motto’, even though it was out last year. Making a buzz word out of YOLO is the only justification this guy needs really.
Big Sean was recruited big time this year and did it solo as well – and here we’ve got two big reasons why. First up, the Biebs, with his second of three. I know – it’s probably way more JB then most of you wanted to see – but god damnit, it’s catchy amirite? And then aint nobody fresher than this clique, as Kanye dropped the very good Cruel Summer compilation with two HUGE singles in “Mercy” and “Clique” – and I just now realized that I forgot to put Mercy on my year-end list. S*it. Anyway, it probably would have been in this set if not the next one. That’s a weak cop out, I know.
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 7/23/2007
Posts: 35,994
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60-51: 3/10
Some Nights + One More Night + Safe & Sound <3
50-41: 3/10
Survival <3
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