Jan 182009
 

Last night, with the help of YouTube, I listened to each of Rolling Stone‘s top 100 singles of 2008.

I do this kind of thing every now and then because of my belief in the 90-10 rule 90%: of all music produced in any genre at any time, I do not want to hear. Or rather, I do not want to hear again. But discovering a new gem can be thrilling, and every few months I manage to find a new catalogue to plunge into for a while.

I pulled out about 10 songs I hadn’t heard yet and liked from the list. Some of the videos are here. You can take or leave Rolling Stone, but let’s not get sidetracked turning this into a post about its relative merits. Just consider it a jumping off point.

Anyway, some good stuff mixed in with some so-so stuff, as you would imagine from any list as large. My list will be short on dance music because A, this is ROCK Town Hall and B, I can’t dance very well. But I will say this about that: dance music is clearly in a producer-driven era, where stars don’t matter as much any more. And some of the production from these hired gun producers on the dance numbers is truly unreal. You may find Katy Perry‘s “I Kissed a Girl” to be not to your taste, but I find the production exciting. It’s more likely the producer, Dr. Luke, who has produced Missy Elliot, Britney Spears, Lady Sovereign, Kelis, and Avril Lavigne will be working long after Katy Perry leaves music for a film career or whatever (She is really hot).

Anyway, to my picks.

I have never knowingly heard a Ryan Adams song before, but I really liked this:

In a similar way, I think My Morning Jacket‘s bid at a mainstream hit really works:

Weezer’s “Pork and Beans” I had heard and I think it’s up there with their best. (At some point I anticipate a hearty discussion of “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived” from the same album here in these hallowed halls)

About halfway through TV on the Radio‘s “Golden Age” I realized it’s a Prince tribute, but I still like it. It’s good Prince.

I always enjoy The Black Keys and this year’s single was everything i like about them:

As it stands right now, my current favorite of last year wasn’t on the list, so I will add it here. “The Righteous Path,” by Drive by Truckers.

What were your top singles of 2008?

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  18 Responses to “Rock Town Hall’s Top Singles of 2008”

  1. That Weezer video is a stone-cold classic!

    2008 was a tough year for me and I didn’t listen to as much 2008 rock as I normally would have (partial blame: VW being slow to fix my iPod dock), but the one song that stuck out for me was Panic At The Disco’s “Nine In The Afternoon.” It even has a slight Kentonite factor working for it! I don’t give a crap about any Apple affiliations or anything like that, but this one is a nice throwback to “Care of Cell 44” and “Day In The Life,” while also putting to bed the stomping dance-rock “bomp bomp” trope of the last couple years. Not that I don’t like The Strokes or Gang Of Four, but it was nice to hear something really break out like this one did. I can close my eyes and fly when this song comes on, though I can still make fun of it’s super-happy fun-time hour lyrics. They got me coming and going. I don’t know how (throwbacks, I suppose), but they did. Only #51 on the Top 100, but #1 in the UK!

    Lastly, I’m pretty sure I discovered RTH in 2008, so cheers to all of you!

  2. Eh (from Canada like me?) I almost put the Panic at the Disco song here.

    Funny, the Phantom Planet song and the Panic at the Disco song are both on the “soundtrack” to the NHL 09 video game I play incessantly (I said I was Canadian hosers).

    I guess kids these days are finding music in ways we didn’t when we were young…

  3. Mr. Moderator

    I’m so out of touch with the cycle of new releases and the method in which a song is designated the “single” that I’m not sure I had a favorite in 2008. The Black Keys and Drive-By Truckers songs you cite are good ones. I didn’t like the single from the My Morning Jacket album, although some other songs were good. The single from the TV on the Radio album wore on me fast, although that album had some good songs as well. I’ll have to think about what the “best single” of the year was. The Rolling Stone list may come in handy.

  4. MGMT-Time to Pretend
    Santo Gold-The Creator
    Drive By Truckers-The Righteous Path
    Neon Neon-Motor City Blue
    Nick Cave-Dig Lazerus Dig!
    That’s it, not really a great year.

  5. dbuskirk

    This is just the sort of list-making that is frowned upon in these parts, but here’s a list of some of my favorite single tracks of the year 2008, most of them very influenced by the 1980’s. I miss the days when what a “single” was was more concrete.

    Santogold – L.E.S Artistes
    Hercules & The Love Affair – Raise Me Up
    The Do – Playground Hustle
    Lil Wayne – Lollipop
    War on Drugs – Taking The Farm
    Dept. of Eagles – No One Does It Like You
    Fleet Foxes – White Winter Hymnal
    Lykke Li – A Little Bit
    Friendly Fires – In The Hospital
    Rhianna – Please Don’t Stop The Music

  6. saturnismine

    that “kissed a girl” song is a great example of how american pop culture moves in circles, at snail’s pace, and has a real short memory.

    wasn’t lesbianism the ‘hot new provocative buzz topic’ back in 1995?

    good fucking lord…time is standing still in this country.

    i swear it’s not like this on the other planets i’ve visited.

  7. When making my best-of playlists on iTunes, I tend to go more for individual tracks, rather than singles per se. So here are the “singles” (not just rock ones) that I dug this year. Incidentally, I agree with kilroy that this was a pretty dire year for new music, or at least new music that appeals to me.

    “Dig Lazarus Dig,” Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
    “Man-Sized Wreath,” R.E.M.
    “I Decided,” Solange
    “Darling,” Sons and Daughters
    “California Girls,” The Magnetic Fields
    “Honey,” Erykah Badu (great video for music nerds)
    “Rebel in You,” Supergrass
    “Girls Around the World, Lloyd

    However, two of my very favorite songs of the year were definitely not singles. “Key to the House” by Mono in VCF, and “The World is in the Terlet” which Ted Leo wrote and recorded during an episode of The Best Show on WFMU, using lyrics written by Tom Scharpling and the listeners.

  8. Comment from: dbuskirk [Member] Email
    “This is just the sort of list-making that is frowned upon in these parts”

    Huh? By Who? I just discovered a bunch of new music to listen to and you are citing some arbitrary rule?

    Fuck that, lists aren’t evil, I learned to read from lists:

    1. In a pot, bring the water to a boil.
    2. Add the Kraft Dinner to the pot.
    3. Drain, add cheese flavouring.
    4. Dish pasta onto plate and serve.

    Adding ketchup

    1. Open the cap and apply ketchup liberally to serving.

    Lists are bad? The list above clearly illustrates that list are Rock and Roll!

  9. northvancoveman: Alas, I’m not Canadian but that’s funny you mention it, because I detected a distinct “Crazy Horse” vibe in most of the tracks you selected above.

    As for lesbianism being a hot topic 10-15 years ago, I identify that with the underground, Riot Grrrl, etc. grunge-splinter people, rather than Melissa Etheridge, Tracy Crapman and their ilk. The mainstream always co-opts the underground in order to remain relevant, so that Kathleen Hanna might be namechecked on some top-40 track in the next couple of years will come as no surprise.

  10. Guilty as charged eh, I am on a bit of a Neil Young kick. The Drive by Truckers song is really a Neil Young tribute. I just think it’s a very good one.

  11. Mr. Moderator

    Re: Lists

    On the Yahoo Groups list where RTH started, I came down heavy on lists for lists sake. I want to see people’s work, so a thread asking people to list “bands that sound like the Beatles,” for instance, was frowned upon unless we had to specify which period Beatles, what it meant about the Beatles, what it meant about us, etc. You’ve all seen threads elsewhere that tell us nothing about each other, like “Bands in your record collection that begin with U.” This list that Northvancoveman posted, from what I can tell, provides an opportunity for people to share their favorites from the past year and maybe trade some thoughts on recent releases. Recent releases tend to be novel points of discussion around here, so I’ve got no beef with that. If we start straying and getting into countless threads that are more about the process of listing than the act of discussing music and how we relate to it, then we’ll ask ourselves to move along and get back to things that have more life. Hope that clears up db’s comment. I also think, Northvancoveman, db was poking fun at my discouragement of lists for lists sake and maybe even celebrating this opportunity to stick it to The Man, or The Mod, in this case.

  12. dbuskirk

    Mod bemoans:
    “db was poking fun at my discouragement of lists for lists sake and maybe even celebrating this opportunity to stick it to The Man, or The Mod, in this case.”

    Actually I like to think of myself as Freddy “Boom-Boom” Washington unleashing a snappy zinger at Mr. Woodman’s expense.

  13. I hereby dub thee, “BoomBoom Buskirk”

    yer gonna thank me for it later.

  14. Jill Sobule released a song called “I kissed a girl” in the early/mid 90s.
    I won’t even pay attention to the new one. Not because the Old one was so good, but because i tend to ignore anything that reminds me that i live in the United States of Amnesia.
    such as: Scooby Doo movies, New Old Star Trek, My Bloody Valentine 3D, Prequals of remakes…Fuckin Shoot me…..DEAD.

  15. Katy Perry IS hot. Smokin’ hot. Considering my gay love for many a rocker, which I have discussed in earlier posts, I might give it all up for Ms. Perry.

    I have a friend that listens to way too much of that girlie pop stuff. He actually owns and listens to the Paris Hilton album. Same with Britney. This is the stuff that usually makes me run far away. I think I know why he listens to this crap. I think it has little to do with actually liking the music and more to do with some sexual fantasy. My friend may not get to actually sleep with Hilton, but somehow through her music and her photos and whatnot, he can. I think I feel this way about Mandy Moore. To my credit, I have bought anything by Mandy, but I am very tempted to. And, yes, I have picked that Perry CD up and looked at it way too much to not own it already. It’s like musical porn. And yes, it is a friend, not a “friend” (i.e. “me”). I will be honest and open about the crap I buy and listen to.

    2008 was a year for the old guys for me. My own faves from this past year was all about older artists doing their thing. I think I have mentioned my liking the latest AC/DC. I actually like the last Metallica record. The new R.E.M. restored my faith in them and reminded me of why I liked them so much when I was younger. The new Brian Wilson is one of the best things he’s done as a solo artist. It was some of the newer folks who disappointed me. The Ben Folds record underwhelmed me. (I know Ben is no spring chicken, but he is more recent than AC/DC and Brian Wilson.)

    Maybe I am becoming an old fogey. I didn’t buy nearly as many new records in 2008 as I normally would. Maybe based on the above list, I’ll find some new music that I really like. I do need to get that new Ryan Adams, for sure.

    And yes, Shawn, sometimes things suck really bad. I’m waiting for the record companies to start encouraging new bands to do complete remakes of already existing albums. It could be a series! Hanson does Pet Sounds. Jet does Highway To Hell. The Raconteurs do Physical Graffitti. Green Day does Road To Ruin. And so on…

    TB

  16. 2000 Man

    I thought 2008 was a really good year. I found a ton of things to interest me, and there’s still a lot I missed. I don’t always know what would have been singles because it’s not like there’s radio stations that play the bands I like these days. Especially since the Sirius/XM merger. I just dropped Sirius because I listen to like one talk show, a little Underground Garage and then it’s all just my stuff anyway.

    I know Jay Reatard made singles, because one of my favorite albums this year was his Matador Singles. The video for Always Wanting More is gross so I won’t post that, but See/Saw is a great song, too:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2DFsW_2T5g

    I’ve never been a fan of Guided By Voices, but then I never paid much attention to them for some reason, but I grabbed Robert Pollard’s new band Boston Spaceships album and I just can’t get enough of it. It’s just super catchy and I guess I’ll have to check out some GBV and try to figure out why I didn’t pay attention to that. I think this was the single, but I don’t know for sure:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMPR5CPr0oM

    I really like Two Cow Garage a lot, and I think this would make a good single, but no one would play it anyway. So I’ll just be happy with it. It’s too bad it’s not the whole song:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0kY35W-eyk

    I like The Dirtbombs a lot, too. I think Leoparman at C&A would have been a good single, but I can’t find it. Wreck My Flow is pretty catchy too, though. I know I was blown away when I saw it!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYFhh-zLijQ

    Drive By Truckers put out a great album, maybe even their best. If you like them you might like The Dexateens. They put out a free album that I think I ended up thinking was the album of the year. I think this would have been their single since they made a video for it. They’re one of my favorite bands, and I wish they’d play somewhere near me where they aren’t an opening act. I’d drive pretty far if I could see them headline.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HyX7p6kl1M

    I love new stuff.

  17. i just haven’t been looking hard enough i guess.

  18. BigSteve

    When I heard that someone I’d never heard of had a hit called I Kissed A Girl, I just assumed it was a remake of the Jill Sobule song. I know you can’t copyright a title, but that Katy Perry song is just wrong. And the video is nothing but softcore porn. The bump and grind sound the producer went for tells it all. It sounds like Tainted Love. It’s true that I live in a constant state of appallment, but that is truly appalling.

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