Top 15 Songs of 2008: ALSO Not Good Enough
Shirtless men: Because YOU demanded it!Since we’re about to hit the top five songs of the year, let’s take a look at a few other songs that weren’t quite good enough for inclusion:
Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor:
In my first draft of the Top 15, this was towards the tail end of the top 10. I loved the danceability of the beat and how light the whole effort felt. Ultimately, it just didn’t feel fresh enough to me to include in a top 15 list. I think that might be because it reminds me a lot of some of the tracks off The Kings of Convenience great Versus album.
Lil’ Wayne - Comfortable:
This isn’t really a great song, it’s just a GREAT hook by Babyface. Still, that hook is so good that this is my favorite track off Tha Carter III.
Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It):
I think I’ve talked about this track more than enough at this point. Plus, you’ve heard it. You’re either sold on it or you’re not.
Kings of Leon - Sex on Fire:
I can’t imagine any justifiable reason to hate this song. Great rock music with an incredible howling voice on the lead singer. It might be dumber than Forrest Gump, but it’s a fun ride. Until I wore it out due to repeated listens, this almost ended up on the Top 15.
Taylor Swift - Love Story:
No apologies for this pick. At 19 years old, Taylor Swift has put out two albums filled with more legitimately great pop songs than most artists will pack into a discography. If you’re curious, I’m turning one hell of a blind eye to the horribly misused literary references in this song. I hate to say “it just works” as my defense, but this song just works.
My Morning Jacket - Smokin’ From Shootin’:
If excluding any of these songs from the list broke my heart, this is the one. It’s an incredibly poignant rumination on faith and love and broken hearts. This songs works much the same way that Leonard Cohen’s heart-stoppingly good Hallelujah mixed sensuality, religion, and anguish to create one of the most beautiful songs of all time. In fact, this song is a thematic sister to Hallelujah, and it’s damn near as good. A triumph of a song that I wish I’d discovered earlier in the year. No kidding, you NEED to read these lyrics.
amigo, your taste in music is horrific.
Horrifically AWESOME!
I’m trying to imagine which part of this track listing would suggest my taste is horrible.
Hot Chip has been universally lauded for releasing a pretty great dance album this year.
Lil’ Wayne is the year’s top-selling artist and a critical darling.
Taylor Swift is the year’s second best-selling artist and equally as loved by critics.
Beyonce’s Single Ladies is massively popular and incredibly catchy.
Kings of Leon - well, you might have me there.
My Morning Jacket is one of giants of indie music, universally recognized as having released 3 or 4 classic albums.
Sorry, premise rejected.
Chris Doughtery was 2007’s top selling artist…Rascal Flats was 2006…Backstreet boys, 1999…Celine Dion more than once between 1995-99…Debbie Boone 1977…the list of shitty “top selling artists” goes on forever. i wouldn’t equate popularity with good.
i’ve no problem with MMJ, although i think they are terribly overrated, as is Hot Chip. and i actually have a bit of a soft spot for Kings of Leon, but i wouldn’t place them in any “best of” list.
but Lil’ Wayne, Beyonce and Taylor Swift are just poor imitations of their respective genres, having attained “success” by homogenizing and diluting the the best of each genre for mass consumption.
Dear Anonymous:
you do realize these are the best SONGS? Not artists? I challenge you to post your list of the top 15 songs like LD is doing (and by the way, this list is not even on his best 15, it’s the ones that didn’t make the cut), as it’s not as easy as it is, and he’s trying to be as across the board objective as possible.
That being said, the fact that you call Lil Wayne a POOR imitation of his genre, I mean I don’t even think he’s as revolutionary as everyone else does, and even I have to say that you’ve gone too far with that statement.
I’m not sure I follow your point about lousy best-selling artists. My point wasn’t that popularity is equivalent with talent, my point was that these artists are both critically and popularly loved. You’re welcome to disagree, but attempting to dismantle half of my argument doesn’t get you anywhere.
As far as Hot Chip being overrated, I’m inclined to agree, which is why they DIDN’T make my list of best songs of the year.
Arguing that Lil’ Wayne homogenizes the best of his genre truly blows my mind. It’s his idiosyncrasy that has led to his popularity. There’s no other popular artist with Wayne’s ridiculous flow or taste for bizarre metaphors. If anything, he’s been more influential on the standard-bearers of the industry in the past 3 years than they’ve been on him. Jay-Z’s “A Billi” is no coincidence. I’m not even a huge Lil’ Wayne fan, but he’s not at all what you claim him to be.
I also find the argument about Taylor Swift equally ridiculous. You can’t say she’s homogenizing the best of country with a straight face, since there’s almost nothing of real country music in her sound at all. As far as pop goes, I wouldn’t call myself an aficionado, but I can’t think of another young, female singer songwriter with any degree of popularity. But, sure she’s a little obvious, but her songs are fun listening. I don’t really understand why that’s so verboten. I mean, if we’re going to apply some sort of analysis that requires artists to be genuine and intellectually stimulating and original, we’re going to be left with Deerhoof and Destroyer.
As for Beyonce, yeah, she tries to do the Tina Turner thing a bit too hard sometimes. But, again, I’m not going to apologize for liking catchy music, especially when I state that these songs aren’t my favorites of the year, just some songs that I liked.
If you want my real favorite songs, they’re on here too. Have at them. Next year, we’ll just require all the blogs to copy their lists from NME or Stereogum.
I mean, shit, it would have been the easy route to blow my load all over TV on the Radio and Fleet Foxes.
are LD and E really just one person? or perhaps siamese twins?
god knows, it’s not easy to distill a year’s worth of listening to new music into 15 songs (or 15 plus a few “not quite in the top 15″). i’m sure you’d probably think the new music i find myself listening to over and over as unfathomable as i find lil wayne, beyonce and taylor swift. mine, in no particular order, would include:
Jenny Lewis, “Acid Tongue” (Taylor Swift, eat your little 19 year old heart out)
The Muslims (now called Soft Pack),”Extinction”
Titus Andronicus(who will be playing in Baltimore next month–catch them), “Titus Andronicus”
David Byrne/Brian Eno, “Strange Overtones”
Elbow, “Grounds for Divorce”
Sons and Daughters, “Gilt Complex”
Deathcab for Cutie, “I WIll Possess Your Heart”
Radiohead, “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” and “house of Cards”
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, “Midnight Man”
The Racanteurs, “Salute your Solutions”
M83, “Graveyard Girls”
Delta Spirit, “Trashcan”
The Clash, “London Calling” (okay, they disbanded 25 years ago, but “live at shea stadium” was released this fall)
Shearwater, “Rooks”
enjoy blitzkrieging.
We’re different people, and believe it or not have pretty different music tastes that overlap in certain areas.
Stay tuned for LD’s top 5 songs, I know one of them you’ll at least approve of.
Other than that, could it be possible that you just don’t listen to more of the popular stuff out there, as much as he does? Not that I’m presuming what your taste is, but your list seriously reads like a list from Pitchfork’s rejected writer’s pool.
I can’t believe that anyone who had ever read any other entry on this blog would throw THAT list of songs on here and claim that we would find it unfathomable.
How could I even fathom listening to Death Cab, Radiohead, the hyper-obscure Raconteurs, Elbow, etc.
P.S. What IS this Rooks song you’re talking about? I’ve never heard of it! http://geekprospectus.blogspot.com/2008/08/daily-rec-king-of-carrot-flowers.html
At this point, I have to believe you’re either trolling, willfully ignorant, or simply have a very limited range of interests.
none of the above–just someone who hasn’t read every single thing you’ve ever posted (i guess that’s what you’re calling “willfully ignorant”).
if you like and/or previously blogged about some of my picks, then perhaps my original post that your taste was horrific was an overstatement–maybe you just have occasional lapses, like an accomplished chef who inexplicably craves a big mac now and then.
but ultimately, there’s obviously no right and wrong on this– your tastes are what they are, as are mine, and where they differ, we won’t agree.
happy holidays.
It’s kind of baffling how someone could imply that he/she’s reasonably well-listened and still have to rely on three tracks that weren’t originally released in 2008 to fill out a ‘best of 2008′ list.
Anonymous contends that your taste in music is horrific, then finds himself/herself agreeing with you (see: MMJ & King of Leon = not good enough). A few comments later, the "horrific" is retracted to that of merely "tastes in music differ".
LD, I also find it hilarious that Anonymous chose to comment on your "Not Good Enough" list rather than any of your #6-#15 picks.
I propose we name Anonymous "Mel Kiper Jr." or "Skip Bayless"
BLOG WAR! Here’s a list of other things anonymous likes:
-being a douchebag
-acting overly self-important
-dreaming of the day when he’ll no longer be a registered child sex offender
-The Star Wars Holiday Special
C’mon SN, not even anonymous likes the star wars holiday special. that’s just uncalled for.
Sorry, that one was below the belt.
ah, the devolution to ad hominem attacks. probably should have expected that.
In the interest of resolution, I just want to say that I’m glad you’re here anonymous. Despite the initial misunderstanding, we actually do share similar tastes. The authors of this site are pretty proud of the stuff we turn out, so we do tend to react when we catch a snarky comment. Hopefully you’ll be willing to stick around and see what we have coming in the future, because we have some big stuff in the pipeline that will be right up your alley.