Friday Music Day

FMD 1/10/20: Best of the Decade Part 2: Make a List?

39 Comments

Alright, as promised (or threatened?), here's part 2 of the best of the decade. Let's have those lists, eh?

Here's my first pass, to get things started (in no order):

1. "Royals" - Lorde
2. "No Roots" - Alice Merton
3. "Shake it Off" - Taylor Swift
4. "Get Lucky" - Daft Punk
5. "Hold On" - Alabama Shakes
6. "Life Ain't Fair & The World Is Mean" - Sturgill Simpson
7. "S.O.B." - Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
8. "Feel It Still" - Portugal The Man
9. "Where the Night Goes" - Josh Ritter
10. "Word Crimes" - Weird Al Yankovic

39 thoughts on “FMD 1/10/20: Best of the Decade Part 2: Make a List?”

  1. I think the song Shake It Off is great but I've heard like 3 or 4 other renditions that I like a lot better than Ms. Swift's.

    1. "Better" is too strong a word for me, but "equally well" probably works.

      I think that's probably a testament to the quality of the song writing.

      1. No doubt it is a great song. According to Wikipedia... "Swift co-wrote the song with its producers Max Martin and Shellback" I don't know enough about Taylor Swift to know if she actually co-wrote the song or gets a songwriting credit as part of her singing it. (The Colonel got Elvis partial song writing credits all the time for songs he performed.) Also I said "I like better..." so it's more about me than about the quality of Swift's version.

    2. Oh and while I get the appeal of S.O.B., it seems gratuitous to me. But admittedly I may be swayed by seeing my ex Brother-in-Law singing it and he's a drunk.

      1. When that song first came out, it absolutely blew my mind. I thought it had to be a 30 year old classic I had never heard. It reminded me of the Blues Brothers in so many good ways. I can see the subject matter going the wrong way for a whole group of people, but I'd put it on par with Winehouse's "Rehab" in that regard, right?

  2. 1. Old Days--Chicago
    2. Pilot of the Airwaves--Charlie Dore
    3. You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine--Lou Rawls
    4. She's Got a Way--Billy Joel
    5. Southern Cross--Crosby, Stills, and Nash
    6. Swing Town--Steve Miller Band
    7. Saturday in the Park--Chicago
    8. Empty Garden--Elton John
    9. Let It Be--The Beatles
    10. Don't Ask Me Why--Billy Joel

    I also want to note that this would have been Jim Croce's 77th birthday.

    1. I also want to note that this would have been Jim Croce's 77th birthday.

      Lots of famous musician birthdays in early January. Elvis, Bowie, Jimmy Page, Croce. I know I'm missing a bunch.

  3. I don't keep up with new music enough to make a list but I'd definitely have SOB, Where the Night Goes, and Hold On on my list. I think all 3 will age well.

  4. G has been obsessed (as only a seven year old can be) with "Black Hole Sun" for the last two months.

    Last night we watched some covers of the song, and the Algorithm kicked up some Nirvana unplugged videos. It's fun to be reminded how good some of those songs were/are.

    Also, Kurt lit up a cigarette while they were getting the Meat Puppets up on stage, and G asked me "What is he doing?" with utter confusion. So, apparently he has been leading a pretty sheltered life.

  5. Here's 10 from the last decade:

    Sleigh Bells - Infinity Guitars
    EMA - The Grey Ship
    Joy Formidable - Whirring
    Grimes - Oblivion
    Sunn O))) - Alice
    Andy Stott - Violence
    Priests - And Breeding
    Screaming Females - Doom 84
    Caleb Burhans - Contritus
    Eighth Blackbird & Missy Mazzoli - Still Life With Avalanche

    This is a lot from 2010-2015, but that's probably when I listened to music the most this decade.

    1. 10 from the last decade:

      Halt Dich am mir Fest, Revolverheld feat. Marta Jandova, (single 2010)
      One Kiss (Extended Mix) - Calvin Harris, Dua Lipa - One Kiss
      Sekundenglück, Herbert Grönemeyer, TUMULT
      Flames, David Guetta & Sia, single
      Malamente, Rosalía, El mal querer
      Beloved, Mumford & Sons, DELTA
      Nie Vergessen, Glasperienspiel
      Zusammen, Die Fantastiche Vier (feat. Clueso), Captain Fantastiche
      Kiss Me, Rea Garvey, single
      Happy Now, Zedd, Elley Duhé, single

    2. I was probably the least connected to music in the middle of the decade. A lot of the things I considered are ones I've come to know only in the last 2 years or so.

  6. I’m sorry, I don’t really have the time or the resources right now, but this is songs of the decade, right?

    8. "Feel It Still" - Portugal The Man

    No. Just... no. This song is just absolutely terrible.

      1. Probably the first cut if I identified a new must have, but still going to be up there for me.

        1. “Ooo ooo I’m a rebel just for kicks/I’ve been kickin it since 1966”

          The chorus alone disqualifies it from anything, especially since all of them were probably born in the 90s.

          I mean, I'll give you Taylor Swift (I'll even cop to liking her version of the song), but can't follow you on this one.

          1. Interesting that you took the time to criticize someone else's music pick instead of making your own baseball pick.

  7. Sure!

    Off the cuff, my 10 favorite songs of the decade:

    Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built
    Arcade Fire - Reflektor
    The Go! Team - Buy Nothing Day
    The War on Drugs - Red Eyes
    Kanye West - Monster
    The National - Sorrow
    Tame Impala - The Less I Know the Better
    M83 - Midnight City (given second life by how much Newbish loves it)
    LCD Soundsystem - Oh Baby
    Frank Ocean - Pyramids
    Courtney Barnett - Depreston

      1. This has been bugging me all week, but Reflektor doesn't have my favorite guitar riff of the decade, it's Normal Person. Same album. Sorry for the confusion.

        1. I was trying to figure out which riff you were talking about. There's a really good sax bit at the end, and there's Bowie, and there's a whole bunch of good stuff about it....not so much great guitar riffage.

          1. Right, it started gnawing over the weekend and finally I had to go back and check. It's especially funny because Reflektor has very little guitar in it.

  8. I lied. Here's my list. (I did 11)

    Adele Someone Like You
    Jake Bugg Two Fingers
    Brandi Carlile The Story
    Nathaniel Rateliff SOB
    Black Keys Lonely Boy
    Alabama Shakes Hold On
    Kurt Vile Pretty Pimpin
    Lizzo Good as Hell
    Brandi Carlile The Joke
    Jason Isbell Cover Me Up
    Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit If We Were Vampires

  9. Very quickly

    "Panbowl" - Sturgill Simpson
    "Near to the Wild Heart of Life" - Japandroids
    "Talk to Me" - Run The Jewels
    "Slow Disco" - St. Vincent (Piano version)
    "If We Were Vampires" - Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
    "Bloodbuzz, Ohio" - The National
    "Backseat Freestyle" - Kendrick Lamar
    "Numb" - Gary Clark, Jr.
    "Rainbow" - Kasey Musgraves
    "No Time For Dreaming" - Charles Bradley

    Just missing the cut (time-wise)

    "Said The People" - Dinosaur Jr (Summer 2009)

  10. Off the top of my head:

    1. Janelle Monáe - "Make Me Feel"
    2. Arcade Fire - "Everything Now"
    3. The Joy Formidable - "Whirring"
    4. Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - "S.O.B."
    5. Frank Ocean - "Lost"
    6. Vampire Weekend - "Diane Young"
    7. Cloud Cult - "There's So Much Energy In Us"
    8. Jason Isbell - "24 Frames"
    9. Father John Misty - "Bored in the USA"
    10. Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars - "Uptown Funk"

  11. My top 10
    1. Rolling In The Deep - Adele
    2. Gold On The Ceiling - Black Keys
    3. Lydia - Highly Suspect
    4. Delilah - Florence + the Machine
    5. Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) - Hillsong United
    6. Bad Romance - Lady Gaga
    7. Thrift Shop - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
    8. Counting Stars - One Republic
    9. Cake By The Ocean - DNCE
    10. Unsainted - Slipknot.

    Feel It Still was on my short list. Other near misses: Uptown Funk, Savior (Rise Against), Let It Go (yes THAT one), The Sky is a Neighborhood, Bath Salts, Awake and Alive

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