THE TOP 100 SONGS OF THE 2010's (PART I)
This one was a labor of love.
I love all of these songs. Out of all the lists I have ever put together, none have had more painful cuts than this one. I started with more than 530 songs as suggestions, and as I added more and more to the list, I watched in horror as some of my favorites slid off the bottom because there was no room.
I was rigorous. I was thorough. I started the listening process toward the end of July (which is, incidentally, when my blog writing, and writing in general, screeched to a halt) and finished four weeks later in the middle of August. Then I let it sit for five months, came back to it with some songs that I thought deserved another look (and a few I'd forgotten to put in), and jammed those. I'm much happier with this draft, and I can stand by every one of these picks.
There is a slight hiccup, though: I've made a YouTube playlist so you can listen along, but four of the songs I picked are nowhere to be found on the platform (well, one of them is, but it's in a full album stream, buried at track 3). To rectify that on the playlist, I've put what basically would have been #101-#104 in instead, and they are
"You Are A Tourist" by Death Cab For Cutie (2011),
"Northerly" by Laura Jean (2018),
"Poltergeist" by Devin Townsend (2011)
and "Armed And Ready" (Acoustic) by Jeff Williams (2019).
That last one might seem familiar if you read my Top 20 Songs Of 2019, because it was number one. It didn't make the cut because until I was looking for replacements, I'd forgotten I hadn't given it a listen for the list. But somehow its placement at #101 seems right, even though there are a handful of 2019 songs on the list, so I dunno. These songs are all capital G great to me, so wherever they are on here, I'm cool with it.
Below is the playlist, and the list itself, with commentary and links. This is a LOT to take in, (7 hours 30 minutes according to iTunes) so I decided to do this in chunks (also, I hit the 2,000 word count before I got through 20 entries, so yeah; multiple parts it is). I can't recommend these songs enough. Really, it blows last decade's list out of the water.
Yes, I've been blogging long enough that I've done two of these. And yes, most of last decade's list wouldn't make the cut here either. Not because my tastes have changed that drastically, but because this decade kicked that much more ass. So let's get to it!
100. "Born Under Punches" Angelique Kidjo (2018)
Angelique Kidjo is one of best selling artists in African history (if not the best), and she went and covered a whole-ass Talking Heads album. Two of her discs were prevalent in the Nutter household in the late 90's, as my dad couldn't get enough of her. It's cool that all of these things converged to a point where I could sing her praises and be topical about it.
99. "Threw It On The Ground" The Lonely Island (2011)
I'M NOT A PART OF YOUR SYSTEM.
MAAAAN
98. "This Is The End" Machine Head (2011)
This song goes hard in the paint and its only let-up is a breakdown where Rob Flynn screams "Bastards...you bastards", so wear a hard-hat for this one.
97. "Modern Waste" Company Of Thieves (2011)
I love this band so goddam much.
96. "Dream Maker / Euphoria" Janet Jackson (2015)
I was never a Janet Jackson fan as such; never really had any strong opinions on her one way or the other. But then Unbreakable came out and changed my mind completely. This was one of the standouts.
95. "I Can't Lose" Mark Ronson (2015)
94. "Words I Hear" AbJo (2013)
This is the first one I couldn't find on YouTube. It's on Bandcamp on a compilation that was put together to get a DJ friend of theirs out of jail after cops raided a party, which is why it was called Got Your Back Foundation, Vol. 1. A Volume 2 would have been forthcoming had they needed to keep coming up with legal fees, but from what I understand it got settled quick enough. This album had a lot of sounds I hadn't heard the like of (and a few I haven't quite since), and this was the one that caught my ear the hardest. Have a listen:
93. "Claire's Ninth" Ben Folds (2010)
When listening to this to put it on the list a few days ago, I finally heard the last lyric of the song after ten years and it made the song even more melancholy and resonant than it ever has before. I'd quote it here, but it only makes sense in context. Go peep that shit:
92. "The Afterlife" Paul Simon (2011)
Paul Simon has low key done some of his best work in the last decade.
91. "Arrival Of The Empress / Theme From 45 Eugenia" The Asteroids Galaxy Tour (2012)
This is one of two picks that has an intro track to go with it.
90. "You Ain't The Problem" Michael Kiwanuka (2019)
#10 on this year's songs countdown, it's continuing to grow on me. The chorus is a mantra I keep repeating to myself in times of strife, because I am really really hard on myself and to be a functional human being, I have to learn how not to be. Sometime I ain't the problem, and realizing that has been an important first step in affecting positive change in my life.
89. "Drink Too Much" G Flip (2019)
I've always been kind of a fuck-up. Whether it's my lack of experience in something getting me in trouble, my enthusiasm blinding me to issues or, like I was just saying, my constant negativity and anxiety about my own capabilities preventing me from realizing my potential (or the string of disproportionately weird luck, both good and bad, that has colored my life), I've always tripped over things a "normal" person should have a handle on. So I can hella appreciate an anthem for fuck-ups.
88. "For The Love Of God" Ulver (2011)
The concert this comes from opens with five solid minutes of a live man hung by a hook through part of his face, suspended fifty feet in the air with a solitary spotlight on him. The performance, backed by the Norwegian National Opera, is Ulver's reaction to a Holocaust denier booked at the same festival to spread his vile misinformation. They put together some extremely unsettling imagery and footage from the Nazi regime and documentation from liberating forces of what these fuckers actually did, literally put down in plain black and white. I went with the audio version of this for the playlist because the visuals are super distracting (and super disturbing).
87. "Awake!!" Devin Townsend (2009)
So yeah. In my previous decade list, I mentioned in the preamble that Addicted by Devin Townsend had come out after the cut-off and would have to count toward next decade. I hadn't remembered that until about a week after I made the first draft of this list, and HOO BOY did that shake up a few things. If you're listening to this and you're pressed for time, the actual song ends after about five minutes; there's a long, ambient fade out to end the album (and set up the next one because they're related).
86. "Knock On Wood" Cloudyhead (2011)
Song number two that I couldn't find on YouTube. And unfortunately, it can't be found on any platform. The album in question Analog was pulled in early 2012 after plagiarism accusations came to light (I just found this out now after failing to find it on Bandcamp, which is where I bought the thing nine years ago). Not just any plagiarism accusations either; it's a weird story.
Apparently, the principal musician, James McCabe, had an uncredited co-writer known as "Dave" who went through guitar forums, found demos he liked and passed those songs off as his own. McCabe became aware of this when a poster on Sevenstring.org called them out for stealing his song (known on Cloudyhead's album as "North Korea Is The Best Korea", because memes? It's a weird album). Once he found out his partner did this (and got a confession e-mail out of him), he took the songs down, which is why a) I don't have a link to share with you of one of my favorite songs of the decade, and b) ALWAYS HAVE A PHYSICAL BACKUP OF YOUR MUSIC. For real, I have one of the only copies of Analog left.
If you want to read the forum thread, the link is right here. Go nuts. If you want to hear the song...meet me in person and plug your earbuds into my phone? I dunno.
85. "Tabernacle" Royce Da 5'9" (2016)
The fact somebody could actually have the day Royce describes in this song is mind blowing to me. It's literally unbelievable as in "I do not believe you", but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Either way, it's a helluva story and a helluva song.
84. "Wondaland" Janelle Monae (2010)
It's Janelle Monae; 'fuck more you need me to say? You should see the slew of her songs I had to leave off this list.
83. "If U C My Enemies" Rubblebucket (2017)
Rubblebucket is kind of frustrating, because I liked their 4-song EP this was the title track of and like one or two songs they put out before this, but everything else has fallen SO flat. Regardless, they made a fuckin' banger here, so bang it.
82. "Fire Drills" Dessa (2018)
I think a woman's worth...I think she deserves a better line of work than motherfucking vigilance.
81. "I-Thought-You-Said" Left At London (2018)
This song was stuck in my head for three whole weeks after I first heard it and it drove me into a deep depression. I couldn't get rid of it, couldn't stop feeling like it would inevitably drive me insane, and couldn't keep going in the face of the emotional onslaught. Then it let up and I found I could listen to it as normal and not go through that again.
Really weird thing, the human brain. Not so sure we should put up with them, to be honest.
80. "Holiday" Qveen Herby (2017)
The only version of the video for this song is freebooted and has the lyrics superimposed over the top. For some reason, Qveen Herby set the original to private. No idea why. I thought about using the lyric video, but this is not a song where you need to know the words. It's a trash song about going on vacation, but dammit, it's my kind of trash. Bring it on!
79. "Our American Cousin" Molly Lewis feat. Vixy & Tony (2017)
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln told from the perspective of a fangirl, Booth and Lincoln himself. Abe's verse is a whole fuckin' mood, especially now. I remember lots of times singing inside my head "I just want to eat; I just want to sleep" when working overtime. But the line that's stuck with me (and makes me the saddest) is: "It's a fragile peace; hope it sticks around". We're edging closer and closer to something terrible and it hurts my heart and makes me sick. Musicians like Molly Lewis are a comfort in the face of such darkness.
78. "Praise The Lowered" Devin Townsend (2011)
This song is the perfect introduction to the concept album it starts. The three minutes of quiet disolving into seething anger really sets the scene.
We're going to break a chunk off here (mainly because this is what I have written by the time I decided to break this up and it's almost February; let's get something OUT there!). The next part will go up when I can get it up; I'll shoot for the next day, but it could be a week; I never know how busy I'll be anymore until I'm hip deep in it. Such is life. But life is a little better lately, so I'm'a take it as it comes. Stay sharp out there and catch you in part II!
THE TOP 100 SONGS OF THE 2010's
PART II
PART III
PART IV
I love all of these songs. Out of all the lists I have ever put together, none have had more painful cuts than this one. I started with more than 530 songs as suggestions, and as I added more and more to the list, I watched in horror as some of my favorites slid off the bottom because there was no room.
I was rigorous. I was thorough. I started the listening process toward the end of July (which is, incidentally, when my blog writing, and writing in general, screeched to a halt) and finished four weeks later in the middle of August. Then I let it sit for five months, came back to it with some songs that I thought deserved another look (and a few I'd forgotten to put in), and jammed those. I'm much happier with this draft, and I can stand by every one of these picks.
There is a slight hiccup, though: I've made a YouTube playlist so you can listen along, but four of the songs I picked are nowhere to be found on the platform (well, one of them is, but it's in a full album stream, buried at track 3). To rectify that on the playlist, I've put what basically would have been #101-#104 in instead, and they are
"You Are A Tourist" by Death Cab For Cutie (2011),
"Northerly" by Laura Jean (2018),
"Poltergeist" by Devin Townsend (2011)
and "Armed And Ready" (Acoustic) by Jeff Williams (2019).
That last one might seem familiar if you read my Top 20 Songs Of 2019, because it was number one. It didn't make the cut because until I was looking for replacements, I'd forgotten I hadn't given it a listen for the list. But somehow its placement at #101 seems right, even though there are a handful of 2019 songs on the list, so I dunno. These songs are all capital G great to me, so wherever they are on here, I'm cool with it.
Below is the playlist, and the list itself, with commentary and links. This is a LOT to take in, (7 hours 30 minutes according to iTunes) so I decided to do this in chunks (also, I hit the 2,000 word count before I got through 20 entries, so yeah; multiple parts it is). I can't recommend these songs enough. Really, it blows last decade's list out of the water.
Yes, I've been blogging long enough that I've done two of these. And yes, most of last decade's list wouldn't make the cut here either. Not because my tastes have changed that drastically, but because this decade kicked that much more ass. So let's get to it!
100. "Born Under Punches" Angelique Kidjo (2018)
Angelique Kidjo is one of best selling artists in African history (if not the best), and she went and covered a whole-ass Talking Heads album. Two of her discs were prevalent in the Nutter household in the late 90's, as my dad couldn't get enough of her. It's cool that all of these things converged to a point where I could sing her praises and be topical about it.
99. "Threw It On The Ground" The Lonely Island (2011)
I'M NOT A PART OF YOUR SYSTEM.
MAAAAN
98. "This Is The End" Machine Head (2011)
This song goes hard in the paint and its only let-up is a breakdown where Rob Flynn screams "Bastards...you bastards", so wear a hard-hat for this one.
97. "Modern Waste" Company Of Thieves (2011)
I love this band so goddam much.
96. "Dream Maker / Euphoria" Janet Jackson (2015)
I was never a Janet Jackson fan as such; never really had any strong opinions on her one way or the other. But then Unbreakable came out and changed my mind completely. This was one of the standouts.
95. "I Can't Lose" Mark Ronson (2015)
94. "Words I Hear" AbJo (2013)
This is the first one I couldn't find on YouTube. It's on Bandcamp on a compilation that was put together to get a DJ friend of theirs out of jail after cops raided a party, which is why it was called Got Your Back Foundation, Vol. 1. A Volume 2 would have been forthcoming had they needed to keep coming up with legal fees, but from what I understand it got settled quick enough. This album had a lot of sounds I hadn't heard the like of (and a few I haven't quite since), and this was the one that caught my ear the hardest. Have a listen:
93. "Claire's Ninth" Ben Folds (2010)
When listening to this to put it on the list a few days ago, I finally heard the last lyric of the song after ten years and it made the song even more melancholy and resonant than it ever has before. I'd quote it here, but it only makes sense in context. Go peep that shit:
92. "The Afterlife" Paul Simon (2011)
Paul Simon has low key done some of his best work in the last decade.
91. "Arrival Of The Empress / Theme From 45 Eugenia" The Asteroids Galaxy Tour (2012)
This is one of two picks that has an intro track to go with it.
90. "You Ain't The Problem" Michael Kiwanuka (2019)
#10 on this year's songs countdown, it's continuing to grow on me. The chorus is a mantra I keep repeating to myself in times of strife, because I am really really hard on myself and to be a functional human being, I have to learn how not to be. Sometime I ain't the problem, and realizing that has been an important first step in affecting positive change in my life.
89. "Drink Too Much" G Flip (2019)
I've always been kind of a fuck-up. Whether it's my lack of experience in something getting me in trouble, my enthusiasm blinding me to issues or, like I was just saying, my constant negativity and anxiety about my own capabilities preventing me from realizing my potential (or the string of disproportionately weird luck, both good and bad, that has colored my life), I've always tripped over things a "normal" person should have a handle on. So I can hella appreciate an anthem for fuck-ups.
88. "For The Love Of God" Ulver (2011)
The concert this comes from opens with five solid minutes of a live man hung by a hook through part of his face, suspended fifty feet in the air with a solitary spotlight on him. The performance, backed by the Norwegian National Opera, is Ulver's reaction to a Holocaust denier booked at the same festival to spread his vile misinformation. They put together some extremely unsettling imagery and footage from the Nazi regime and documentation from liberating forces of what these fuckers actually did, literally put down in plain black and white. I went with the audio version of this for the playlist because the visuals are super distracting (and super disturbing).
87. "Awake!!" Devin Townsend (2009)
So yeah. In my previous decade list, I mentioned in the preamble that Addicted by Devin Townsend had come out after the cut-off and would have to count toward next decade. I hadn't remembered that until about a week after I made the first draft of this list, and HOO BOY did that shake up a few things. If you're listening to this and you're pressed for time, the actual song ends after about five minutes; there's a long, ambient fade out to end the album (and set up the next one because they're related).
86. "Knock On Wood" Cloudyhead (2011)
Song number two that I couldn't find on YouTube. And unfortunately, it can't be found on any platform. The album in question Analog was pulled in early 2012 after plagiarism accusations came to light (I just found this out now after failing to find it on Bandcamp, which is where I bought the thing nine years ago). Not just any plagiarism accusations either; it's a weird story.
Apparently, the principal musician, James McCabe, had an uncredited co-writer known as "Dave" who went through guitar forums, found demos he liked and passed those songs off as his own. McCabe became aware of this when a poster on Sevenstring.org called them out for stealing his song (known on Cloudyhead's album as "North Korea Is The Best Korea", because memes? It's a weird album). Once he found out his partner did this (and got a confession e-mail out of him), he took the songs down, which is why a) I don't have a link to share with you of one of my favorite songs of the decade, and b) ALWAYS HAVE A PHYSICAL BACKUP OF YOUR MUSIC. For real, I have one of the only copies of Analog left.
If you want to read the forum thread, the link is right here. Go nuts. If you want to hear the song...meet me in person and plug your earbuds into my phone? I dunno.
85. "Tabernacle" Royce Da 5'9" (2016)
The fact somebody could actually have the day Royce describes in this song is mind blowing to me. It's literally unbelievable as in "I do not believe you", but I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Either way, it's a helluva story and a helluva song.
84. "Wondaland" Janelle Monae (2010)
It's Janelle Monae; 'fuck more you need me to say? You should see the slew of her songs I had to leave off this list.
83. "If U C My Enemies" Rubblebucket (2017)
Rubblebucket is kind of frustrating, because I liked their 4-song EP this was the title track of and like one or two songs they put out before this, but everything else has fallen SO flat. Regardless, they made a fuckin' banger here, so bang it.
82. "Fire Drills" Dessa (2018)
I think a woman's worth...I think she deserves a better line of work than motherfucking vigilance.
81. "I-Thought-You-Said" Left At London (2018)
This song was stuck in my head for three whole weeks after I first heard it and it drove me into a deep depression. I couldn't get rid of it, couldn't stop feeling like it would inevitably drive me insane, and couldn't keep going in the face of the emotional onslaught. Then it let up and I found I could listen to it as normal and not go through that again.
Really weird thing, the human brain. Not so sure we should put up with them, to be honest.
80. "Holiday" Qveen Herby (2017)
The only version of the video for this song is freebooted and has the lyrics superimposed over the top. For some reason, Qveen Herby set the original to private. No idea why. I thought about using the lyric video, but this is not a song where you need to know the words. It's a trash song about going on vacation, but dammit, it's my kind of trash. Bring it on!
79. "Our American Cousin" Molly Lewis feat. Vixy & Tony (2017)
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln told from the perspective of a fangirl, Booth and Lincoln himself. Abe's verse is a whole fuckin' mood, especially now. I remember lots of times singing inside my head "I just want to eat; I just want to sleep" when working overtime. But the line that's stuck with me (and makes me the saddest) is: "It's a fragile peace; hope it sticks around". We're edging closer and closer to something terrible and it hurts my heart and makes me sick. Musicians like Molly Lewis are a comfort in the face of such darkness.
78. "Praise The Lowered" Devin Townsend (2011)
This song is the perfect introduction to the concept album it starts. The three minutes of quiet disolving into seething anger really sets the scene.
We're going to break a chunk off here (mainly because this is what I have written by the time I decided to break this up and it's almost February; let's get something OUT there!). The next part will go up when I can get it up; I'll shoot for the next day, but it could be a week; I never know how busy I'll be anymore until I'm hip deep in it. Such is life. But life is a little better lately, so I'm'a take it as it comes. Stay sharp out there and catch you in part II!
THE TOP 100 SONGS OF THE 2010's
PART II
PART III
PART IV
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