2009's Greatest Hits #41 to #60

Track progress of 2009's greatest hits right over here.

I'll try adding some commentary this time around.. Mostly personal opinion stuff.. Prolly the type of commentary I will eventually regret writing, but whatever.. We need some content.

41 Animal Collective "Bluish"
"My Girls" and "Summertime Clothes" were instantly catchy, but the rest of the album took a few listens before really starting to fully understand this aura. "Bluish" was the moment when I decided that I could fuck with Merriweather Post Pavillion. ...cascading treetops caressing a blue skyline, and floating.. always floating...


42 Drake "Successful"
Taste My Kids "guilty pleasures" list might not happen this year, or at least not one with commentary, but this will be there.. The guilt is mostly derived from the lyrics in Trey Songz chorus, literally translated to the following: "I want the money, the money and the cars, cars and the clothes, the hoes, I suppose, I just wanna be, I just wanna be successful." LMAO. The pleasure mostly lies in the production.. Good choices with these keyboard patches.


43 Junior Boys "Hazel"
I've crossed paths with many people in 2009 who were randomly pumping this song from their laptops. As far as I can tell, Junior Boys's 3rd record is their least consistent, although "Hazel" deserves a spot on their eventual greatest hits album.


44 Sufjan Stevens "There’s Too Much Love"
You couldn't ask for a more exciting preview for the Illinoise follow-up, which STILL has no release date (and don't hold your breath throughout 2010...) But when it does happen, we'll be damn good and ready. For now, the only way to hear this song is through live Youtube videos.


45 Phoenix "Girlfriend"
This is another one of those that makes me nostalgic for six months ago.. Also, call me crazy for this, but the original mix from the "leaked" version of Wolfgang is slightly superior, which I'm pretty sure is the mix linked here...


46 Kid CuDi "Day N Nite (Nightmare)"
This one is all production, as the lyrics are kinda on the wack side of the fence. But try not to let the production hypnotize yo dumb ass. You'll fall into a trance.


47 Sufjan Stevens "You Are The Blood"
If it were up to me, every thesaurus in the world should now somehow include this song as a new synonym for "epic."


48 Das Racist vs Wallpaper "Combination Pizza Hut And Taco Bell"
NOT the best "remix" job of 2009, but possibly the best improvement upon its nearly unlistenable original version, since the joke becomes infinitely more tolerable, and actually starts to generate some genuine lulz. However, the "fire in the disco/fire in the TACO BELL" comparisons become that much more questionable now that tenor saxophones have been included. (Overplayed? Almost. I'm actually happy this song didn't blow up on commercial radio. I could go a month without hearing it at this point.)


49 Dinosaur Jr "Over It"
A great song that became better in part because of its video.. It's hard to tell if the band members are still friends, or if this recent Dinosaur Jr reunion thing is just a case of a few dudes putting aside their differences to make some extra cash. Either way, it gave us one of the best albums of the past few years.


50 Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Heads Will Roll"
Holy crap, this band has improved vastly. I hope they continue this "synth" phase into their next few albums, because this is the Yeah Yeah Yeahs I was hoping they would be based on all the 2003-era hype.


51 The Brontosaur "One"
The chord progression in this one sounds a little like "Weeds" from Pulp's We Love Life LP, which is definitely a good thing. I seem to be the only person I know who loves this album, and I'm trying my best to push it onto people through mix CD's & my radio shift, etc, etc.. There's always room for straight-up guitar-rock, especially when the drums are this sick. (Big up's to Kellii Scott.)
| Full album on MySpace |

52 The Flaming Lips "Worm Mountain"
Distorted stoner bass. Oh HELL yeah. A friend described this album to me as "claustrophobic" which seems like a spot-on term here. Something tells me these dudes were starting to get tired of pressing the "confetti" button during their live shows, and this is by far their most refreshing change of direction since The Soft Bulletin.


53 Taylor Swift "Forever And Always"
White chicks LOL. Is this really country? If so, this is the best country song of the past 20 years, which is weird because I just read that this was possibly written about one of the Jonas Brothers. I have no desire to pay attention to Taylor Swift's lyrics, so the celebrity gossip attached to this song is meaningless to me. (Also I just read that Jonas Brothers' publicist forbade interviewers from having reporters ask them about the South Park episode where Mickey Mouse kicks their asses and refers to them as "you piece of shit".)


54 Passion Pit "The Reeling"
In the process of trying to get that "authentic 80's" sound, a lot of bands have recently been (seemingly) accidentally coming up with some great singles, this being one of them.


55 Grizzly Bear "While You Wait For The Others"
Good album.. I like all the songs.. and yet I'm still not completely feeling the hype. I'm just mostly tired of music that sounds like this. The bands who are currently writing most of the best songs are unfortunately also among those who have forgotten that they have a pair of nads. And it really only takes a slight adjustment to turn up that nad-dial.. (For example, take a listen to what The Hood Internet did with "Two Weeks." Maybe I'm crazy here, but is def an improvement from the original.) Moving on... "While You Wait For The Others," while emasculated, is still a 2009 classic.


56 Clipse "All Eyes On Me"
Sick beat. It's a shame Til The Casket Drops was unable to maintain the strong momentum of Lord Willin' and Hell Hath No Fury, but at least a handful of their newer songs are still fresh.


57 Pill "Dimes Of Hard"
I couldn't find "Dimes Of Hard" anywhere to stream online, so instead this links to "Glass" from Pill's more recent mixtape, 4075: The Refill. "Dimes Of Hard" samples Ryan Leslie's "Diamond Girl" and is equally as good as the original.


58 The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart "Contender"
I'm really happy about this shoegaze-revival thing. Where Autolux and Silversun Pickups took the route cleared by My Bloody Valentine, bands like The Ravonettes and The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (while unfortunately named) have been enjoying the journey previously traveled by The Jesus And Mary Chain.


59 Ne-Yo "Mad"
Fingers are crossed for a new Ne-Yo album in 2010.. "Mad" was a Spring 2009 single from his previous record.


60 Washed Out "Feel It All Around"
This is a rare case where I felt nostalgia the first time I heard a song... In this case, it somehow pulled me back to the Napster days. I've concluded that this is not a common opinion, but it sounds like something I would have downloaded from Napster, after reading that it was included on the NME's 50 best singles of 2000 or 2001.