2007 BS Music Awards

This is always my favorite ranking of all of them. I spend more time doing this during the last couple months of the year than I should. But I love music and finding new music. Some music makes me want to get up and shake it... some makes me feel like I have a plate of warm, gooey cookies on my lap.


I am listing these songs in roughly their ranking for the year along with maybe a reason or maybe a lyric (if it made my 10 fave lyrics of the year) that I either found clever or just loved singing along too. I think it might be possible that some of you have not heard of all of these bands and songs or they might not be on your Most Played list on your ipod. If not, give the music on this list a try...


Top 20 Songs of the Year


1. The Pretender by Foo Fighters. The Foos are likley my favorite band and this song rocks with some of the best music they ever put out.


2. 3's & 7's by The Queens of the Stone Age. QOTSA never fials to rock. Now I'm strumming along to this on GH3! "Lie. Lie to my fa-ace. Tell me it ain't, no, thing. That's what I wanna hear."


3. Danger! High Voltage by Electric Six. One of several of songs on this list that is actually a couple years old. But it's new to me! This is a funk blowout with an over the top singer that turns me into a bobblehead as I drive down the road. "Fire in the disco, fire in the... Taco Bell"


4. There's a Traitor in this Room by Louis XIV. Release your dang new album already! I love Louis XIV and this song puts them right where they left off two years ago. "I can be so sweet to you (until I find the right excuse)"


5. Don't Make Me a Target by Spoon. Great song by a wonderful band.


6. Chips Ahoy by The Hold Steady. Glad I finally found this band. Good story telling songs. "She put $900 - on the 5th horse - in the 6th race. I think its name was Chips Ahoy".


7. Flathead by The Fratellis. I don't usually find my new music from TV ads but this song in an ipod ad introduced me to this rockin Scottish band.


8. Thrash Unreal by Against Me! Pretty upbeat song about a female junkie getting older, but if it doesn't bring you down, it rocks. "She can still hear that Rebel Yell just as loud as it was in 1983"


9. The Take Over, The Break's Over by Fall Out Boy. Here's a way to feel old... Go to a Fall Out Boy concert and be the only ones there that can buy beer, dance on the main floor and not need to meet your kid in front of the arena. Perhaps fave lyric of the year "They say your mind is a prison, well then these are just conjugal visits."


10. This is the End (For You My Friend) by Anti-Flag. Another song that is a couple years old, but new to me. Maybe they were just ahead of their time.


11. Anna Molly by Incubus. It's hard to even find music videos nowadays but this one is pretty creepy. The song rocks though.


12. Icky Thump by The White Stripes. It must be the tight, complex drumming that makes me love the White Stripes.


13. Good Night From Chicago by Burden Brothers. This was technically a 2006 album but this song didn't make a mix until 2007. The song rocks. "Close my eyes, snap my fingers and you'll just disappear." Would be much higher on the list if it hasn't been around so long for me.


14. Dashboard by Modest Mouse. With Modest Mouse the album is typically greater than the sum of its parts, but this song stands out from an album that you will read about for the BS award for album of the year.


15. Oh My by Office.


16. Totally Fucked from Spring Awakening. On it's own, the song is a good song. But to see it live, in context of the story of the musical, it is amazing. This release song comes right at the apex of sorrow, grief and angst. Perhaps never a better song in context of a musical. It is even better sitting on the stage where the whirl of dancing and jumping cast members makes you want to get up and jump around with them. This musical is coming to SF in 2008. I implore you to go check it out. (PS. Don't take your kids!)


17. Valerie by The Zutons. It's a couple years old and it survived a butchering of a remake by Mark Ronson, but I dig it.


18. Jane Fonda by Mickey Avalon. "1, 2, 3, 4 - get you booty on the dance floor." I'm predicting that it is the only Mickey Avalon song that will ever make my ipod, but who knows?


19. Your English is Good by Tokyo Police Club.


20. You Made Me Like It by 1990s.



Top 5 Cool Out Songs of 2007


Back when I was in college and I wanted to escape the world around me, I'd make my room as dark as I could and listen to a selected "cool out" song through headphones to just release me. I would lower my pulse, take fewer breaths and let the music lift me into the clouds of my mind. I still try to achieve that inner peace through music. These are my top 5 Cool Outs for 2007...


1. Stranger Things Have Happened by Foo Fighters - A rare double win! Song of the year and Cool Out of the year. Will it be enough to propel Echos, Silence, Patience & Grace to album of the year? Check back to find out!


2. Little Motel by Modest Mouse - I never feel comfortable deciding what Modest Mouse songs are about. This is either a love song, a break up song or a death song. But definitely not about a motel at all.


3. Black Like Me by Spoon - The only downside of the song is the dead air at the end.


4. All I Need by Radiohead - This band really works best with headphones and eyes closed. This song is really more of a sonic experience than the words that Thom Yorke sings.


5. (tie) Those You've Known from Spring Awakening - Griping and emotional song about coping with the loss of those close to you. Have I mentioned that you must see this musical?


5. (tie) Your Ex-Lover is Dead by Stars - Male and Female vocals, the strings and the building music make for a powerful song wrapped as a short story.


So there you have it. Check these songs out before a whole new batch for 2008 are filtered through my ipod.