Top 10 songs of the decade I never want to hear again, or at least not for a very long time

By Melissa Crowe

I think as a listening society, we should be more wary of music that immediately strikes the senses. These sounds that somehow settle right in with the brain waves being transmitted from ear to ear, these sounds and songs don’t last. Sometimes they’ll go a year, maybe two. Fool me once, shame on you … Fool me twice, shame on me. Here’s our chance to dust out our shelves, embrace 2010, and start it 10 songs (at least) better than we were in 2009.
10. 

From a band that boasts a 20-year popularity, it was a sad day this song ever aired. Quite possibly the least imaginative, most depressing song they ever wrote. Play this song anywhere in public, and yeah, you’ll be walking alone too.

9. 

So you painted the words on your body and made a YouTube video. Cool. Let’s give it a rest.

Month of List(s): Top 50 Albums of the Decade

I am honestly terrified by the realization that the decade of my youth is over. I know that sounds melodramatic, but in a way it’s true. I started this decade at 15, wide-eyed and ignorant, still sort of locked into childhood while being on the cusp of growing into being a man, just awkward and lost. Eventually, as the minutes, hours, days, months and years passed, I found myself facing new obstacles, new feelings, new loss and new realizations. It shaped me into who I am and who I will be. Yet I can’t help but lament that those first pure moments of youth are gone, just one more faded memory to be occasionally thought of when recollecting my time back then.

The funny thing about recollection is, if you’re being truly honest with yourself, you realize you don’t recollect that much. It’s true. It’s almost impossible to actually be able to sit down and clearly pick out exact moments from our lives, and have all the details in line, because the mind simply doesn’t have the ablity to do it. So we leave ourselves “bookmarks” to help us bring back those memories, whether it a be a book, a movie, a song or even an album we were obsessed with for an extended period. Hell, a cottage industry has popped up on the internet of people obsessively compiling lists of what’s important/lasting/relevent, serving as bookmarks for themselves and others.

So with these thoughts in mind I sat down and wrote out the 25 albums that in my mind had the most impact on the decade. Unfortunately the list kept growing until I ended up hitting 50, and I had to stop due to the fact that there’s no way I could write about every album the way it deserves to be written about.

Top Five Reasons I Hate Writing These Lists

By Jesseca Bagherpour

This month of the list(s) thing is killing me. I hate, hate, hate having to come up with one list for the year, let alone writing one or two every week for a month.  I know people like reading these things. They can be interesting and informative, so I read them. But usually reading them drives me almost as crazy as writing them does. In a nutshell, I’m not a list person. That’s why I decided to make a list about the top five reasons I hate writing lists.

5. I’m indecisive

Don’t ask me to pick my favorite all-time … anything. I will sit down and write a list of about 500 books, actors, albums, foods … whatever the list is about, and then have to rank each of those. It turns into an endless, painstaking process and one of us will inevitably develop an ulcer.

4. I’m fickle

I may generally like the same types of music and my taste hasn’t changed drastically over the past, well, 20 years (aside from my Christian music phase and love affair with the band Bush, which I won’t go into … but we’re all allowed a few bad choices). But I may suddenly decide I hate/get bored with a band I was in love with (i.e. U2, Radiohead), then later realize that they aren’t ALL bad and do have some great releases. Or I may completely turn against a band, never to return. I’m not as bad as I was when I was a kid, but I do tend to go all-in and get obsessed with a single band/album for several months only to get burnt out on/bored with them. I also have this tendency with men which, along with number 10, explains why I’m still single (partially, at least).

The Five Albums I Listened to the Most in 2009

By Jesseca Bagherpour

I’m not sure if I’ve complained enough (on this blog) about how much I hate writing lists where I rank, well, anything. So rather than write a list of the top albums of the year, I wrote a list of the albums I listened to the most this year. Most of them weren’t even released this year (one isn’t from this decade, for that matter). But they’re the ones I played the most, for whatever reason. In the spirit of my hatred of lists, I have placed them in alphabetical order, according to album title. Bonus: the last two records on the list are my breakup albums for 2009 (and may therefore appear on another list later this month)!

Month of List(s): My 5 Favorite Compilations This Decade

I suffer from a form of musical ADD which causes me to constantly surf the radio/make playlists/change CD’s in the car/buy an iPod shuffle. Now that’s not saying I’m against relaxing and listening to a whole album. Hell I do it all the time. It just means at times I need the variety of a different artist, or style, popping up every few minutes. So with that, and parties, in mind I find myself often searching through the record bins for compilations from record companies, multimedia artists and musicians who just want to team up. What follows is what I think are the 5 best to be put out this decade.

Month of List(s): My 10 Favorite “Sellouts” of the Decade

By Jesseca Bagherpour

During my grade school days, I freaked out when other people discovered the music I loved. It was my music and I didn’t want anyone to steal it from me. I first experienced this reaction while listening to Weezer’s Blue album with my family on a road trip. They all liked it! I was all right with my older brother liking it, because he was close to my age and therefore cool. But my parents? No way. I asked them to remove the cassette (remember cassettes?) from the tape deck and I promptly put it back into my Walkman. As the years progressed, I briefly hated (or was “over”) The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, The White Stripes and a slew of other artists who rose from relative obscurity to become “the next big thing.”

But I’ve changed. I share music with my mom and we even go to concerts together. When an artist I like gets popular, signs on with a major record label or has a song featured in a commercial, I’m happy for them. That could come from having lived in an area teeming with musicians, many of whom are friends and acquaintances (some of whom have sold their songs for commercial use in foreign markets, but I won’t name anyone). Or it could come from being an adult. Either way, I’d rather my favorite artists be able to make a living (by selling their songs, not mine, no matter how personal they may feel). There’s nothing noble in starving and/or cleaning toilets in the name of your “art”. And I want as many people as possible to be exposed to good music. When the masses accept it, it gives me a little hope for mankind.

This is a list of 10 artists I still love, even though they’ve “sold their souls” (specifically to take part in major ad campaigns):

Month of List: Top 3 Rappers Steven Seagal did a movie with this decade

It seems there was a point this decade where if you had enough heat, money, and we’re a gravel voiced hip-hop artist studios were doing everything the could to get you into a movie with the master of box-office disaster the great Steven Seagal. So we’ve decide to list the three best rappers Mr. Seagal did a film with this decade, enjoy.

Month of Lists: Top Five Albums of the Decade (by Female Solo Artists)

By Jesseca Bagherpour

Trying to choose my favorite albums of the decade has been giving me a major headache (so has a sinus infection I’ve been fighting for a week, but that’s another story unto itself). I barely remember my favorite albums from the past month let alone the past 10 years. And when I start mining my brain and my music collection for favorites, I become completely overwhelmed. My musical tastes also change on a monthly basis, which means I’ll probably think all of my lists are wrong by January.

So, since I’m such an indecisive person and since we’re going to be posting at least one list every day this month, I decided to break down my favorite albums into categories. I was going to get scientific about my choices, really comb through all of my favorite albums. But I decided it really comes down to the ones that spring to mind first, the ones I couldn’t stop listening to.

Without further ado, the first of my lists- Top Five Albums by Female Solo Artists (spoiler: you won’t find Lady Gaga, M.I.A. or Susan Boyle on here):

Month of List: Top 2 covers of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” done this decade

I love this song, hell I named my El Camino “Jolene”, and these two covers are both pretty excellent.

2. Mindy Smith- Jolene

This cover is so approved by Dolly Parton she showed up in the video, and honestly it’s less a country take, and more a pop re-working. Serviceable, but not too intriguing.

1. The White Stripes- Jolene

There was debate over whether or not we should just do a list of White Stripes covers, but in the end we decided to divide it up in other list, because honestly 31 different list is going to be a fight. Anyway, this may actually be the definitive take on this track, as Jack White takes the lyrics to a desperate level, and the arraignment to a blend of schizophrenic blues mixed with rock posturing that never manages to grate on you.

Month of Lists: Top 7 Take Away Shows

Announcement: December is the month of lists!

You might be asking yourself, “What the hell?” right about now, and honestly our excuse isn’t that great, but we’ll give you one anyway.

Seems to be that people love lists, it’s one of their favorite things to skim, and one of the lazy writers favorite ways to churn out some material. So, in honor of the decade ending we’ve decided to do a list every day of this month. Now what will these consist of? Well, along with the usual “Best of the Decade” list, and “Best of the year” list, we’re going to provide you with list as esoteric as “Top 5 things I can’t believe I thought looked good this decade”, and “Top 6 songs I can’t believe they played in this random store”. So, enjoy the lists. Hopefully they help you pass the time during the slow holiday season.

Top 7 Take Away Shows

7. Fleet Foxes- Blue Ridge Mountains

No on has quite taken advantage of youtube’s ability to showcase idyllic slices of music and video quite like the guys from La Blogotheque. As they have taken touring bands through Paris on adventures of music, viewers have been captivated by what the cameras have captured. And nothing quite illustrates the earnestness of the series like the latest video, which sees the young men from Fleet Foxes plying their trade in the city of lights, including a section of them singing in the Grand Palais.