With 2011 behind us, it is time to look backwards and do the inevitable "Top 10" lists of the music that formed the soundtrack for the year. Before I dig my own grave with my own Top 10 of songs most people have never heard despite my talking about them at every party, lecture and funeral I've attended, I'm starting off with a couple of short articles.
I'm starting off with a couple of weeks focusing on some songs I haven't paid much attention to; some that need mention but weren't good enough to make my Top 10 and some that made me cringe.
So here they are, my Honourable Mentions for 2011:
Lady Gaga - Born This Way
When the Pop music world is saturated with bland, soulless party music week after week, a heartfelt song about Gender and Sexual equality making it onto the charts is simply amazing. Amittedly, I have problems with this song, the production is overdone and there's a lot of post-production effects on the track, and these stop me from really enjoying it, but it's worth a listen. Having a fair few Bi/Poly/Homosexual/Neuter/Transgender friends and aquaintces, it's good to hear a Musician with a lot of pulling power making a socially responsible stand for Human Rights.
The Lonely Island - Jack Sparrow
The reason this song isn't on my Top 10 is that I cannot take Parody/Joke songs seriously. It's not that I don't enjoy humorous songs, but you'll never see Weird Al or The Lonely Island grace lists of my favorite songs, I just don't like them in high rotation. The reason you see this song mentioned here is simple; I fucking hate Micheal Bolton. Seriously. This has to be the first song ever that features Bolton that I actually enjoy listening to, and that deserves recognition. Also the element of Club Dance Song parody in Jack Sparrow is highly enjoyable, given the continued prevalence of such songs on the Pop Charts.
The Rap Critic
(http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/teamt/rap-critic/rap-critic-reviews)
One of the many reviewers on the ThatGuyWithTheGlasses website, the Rap Critic is perhaps among the least well known, which is a damn shame. Whilst the more famous Todd in the Shadows injects more vitriol and humour into his reviews, The Rap Critic is technically brilliant, discussing wordplay, flow, influences and sampling when reviewing a Rap song. Also, unlike most internet reviewers, the Rap Critic is intimately familiar with his subject matter and is willing to talk about Songs that he likes, rather than just hating on things for a laugh. Whilst I'm on about ThatGuyWithTheGlasses, I recently learned that one of their Reviewers dissed on some friends of mine. I'm not responding to this in any way other than to mention that it happened.
R.E.M.
If I had to pick my 10 favorite bands of all time, R.E.M. would be on that list somewhere. Always ahead of the curve, willing to experiment and never letting themselves get pigeonholed musically, R.E.M. were a unique voice in the Musical landscape. That said, the last two R.E.M. albums were pretty poor. It's not that the songs were bad, it was just that they were kinda the same thing R.E.M. had been doing for years. In late 2011, R.E.M. called it quits after decades of great music. So well done R.E.M. for bowing out gracefully after an almost unparalleled career of awesomeness. Above is a video of Electron Blue (from the album Around The Sun) a truly beautiful song that I never tire of listening to.
Hat Guy - Mad props to my Level 3 homies...
Next Week: Bottom of the Barrel
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