Favorite Songs of 2004

Here are my top 20. (OK, the order is not totally random, but it is slightly off the cuff, so not intended to be definitive. And I limited this to one song per artist, so I could list more people.) I was very happy with the sounds that were eminating from my iPod and my stereo this year.

1. "The Rat" by The Walkmen

2. "We Don't Care" by Kanye West

3. "First of the Gang to Die" by Morrissey

4. "Michael" by Franz Ferdinand

5. "Nowhere Again" by Secret Machines

6. "She Will Only Bring You Happiness" by McClusky

7. "Van Lear Rose" by Loretta Lynn

8. "Evil" by Interpol

9. "Toxic" by Britney Spears

10. "Miracle Drug" by U2

11. "Breathe" by Fabolous

12. "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" by Green Day

13. "Yeah!" by Usher, with Ludacris and Lil' John

14. "Drop It Like It's Hot" by Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams

15. "Can't Stand Me Now" by The Libertines

16. "C'mon C'mon" by The Von Bondies

17. "Stumblin'" by Powderfinger

18. "Gone Under Sea" by Electrelane

19. "How Come" by D12

20. "Vegetables" by Brian Wilson

Name your favorite tracks from last year

Here are a few that come to mind:

Fiery Furnaces - "Chief Inspector Blancheflower"

Deerhoof - "Milk Man"

Mclusky - "Without MSG I Am Nothing"

Social Distortion - " Nickels and Dimes"

Ted Leo + Pharmacists - "The Angels' Share"

John Vanderslice - "Promising Actress"

Apostle of Hustle - "Animal Fat"

Modest Mouse - "Bury Me With It"

Mission of Burma - "The Enthusiast"

Joanna Newsom - "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie"

Animal Collective - "Who Could Win a Rabbit"

planesmistakenforstars - "Belly Full of Hell"

Drive-By Truckers - "The Day John Henry Died"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stone

Here are a few that come to mind:

Fiery Furnaces - "Chief Inspector Blancheflower"

Deerhoof - "Milk Man"

Mclusky - "Without MSG I Am Nothing"

Social Distortion - " Nickels and Dimes"

Ted Leo + Pharmacists - "The Angels' Share"

John Vanderslice - "Promising Actress"

Apostle of Hustle - "Animal Fat"

Modest Mouse - "Bury Me With It"

Mission of Burma - "The Enthusiast"

Joanna Newsom - "Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie"

Animal Collective - "Who Could Win a Rabbit"

planesmistakenforstars - "Belly Full of Hell"

Drive-By Truckers - "The Day John Henry Died"

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Don't you think that Modest Mouse song sounds a heck of a lot like a Pixies song?

"Slow" by Kylie Minogue
"Home Stay" by Yoko Kanno
can't think of any more off hand right now, but wanted to mention those two

Modest Mouse - Blame it on the tetons
Morriseey - Irish blood, English heart
Interpol - Evil
Keane - Bedshaped
Ash - Orpheus
Pixies - Gouge away
Air - Alone in Kyoto
Razorlight - Up all night
Ray Lamontagne - Trouble
Libertines - What Katie did

Honorary mention to Mojave 3 for Bill Oddity which came out 2003 but I didn't hear it until 2004.

Cheers
Mike

I almost think that The Rat is too good of a song, at least up agaijnst the rest of the Walkmen record. I heard all kinds of good reports on the record, heard the single, loved it and grabbed the record, but was kinda disappointed how the rest of the album stacked up.

Not a huge year for singles for me, I was in album mode far more often.

I did really like a few that stood out...

Walk Idiot Walk - The Hives
Over and Over - Nelly
Jesus Walks - Kanye West
Air - Cherry Blossom Girl
Morrissey - First of the Gang to Die
Prince - Cinnamin Girl
Wagon Wheel - Old Crow Medicine Show
Metal - Afrika Bambaataa
Redneck Sexxx - Gibby Haynes vs. Peaches
Dry Your Eyes - The Streets
Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand

and...I even liked U2s Vertigo single. I guess not watching TV much (I only saw the commercial once) helped me not hate it instead.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mike

Pixies - Gouge away

Cheers
Mike

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I woke up with that song in my head this morning. Then I hummed it in the shower. (Fortunately, no one heard me.) Then I had to listen to it in the car on the way to work so I pulled out the Doolittle album and gave it a spin. Did I miss an '04 remake?

In no particular order:

Jenny Was A Friend - The Killers
Somebody Told Me - The Killers
Alive And Amplified - The Mooney Suzuki
Naked Lady - The Mooney Suzuki
The Road Leads Where It's Led - Secret Machines
All The Dark Horses - Trashcan Sinatras
Blackfield - Blackfield
Pain - Blackfield
Heroes And Villains - Brian Wilson's SMiLE (does this count?)
Slither - Velvet Revolver
Slackjaw Jezebel - Gov't Mule
Lola Leave Your Light On - Gov't Mule
Alive - Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Get It Together - Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Toy Rockets - Dead Soul Tribe
Just Like A Timepiece - Dead Soul Tribe

While I don't own any of these, I want to mention some tunes from the various 2004 comps I received that I thought were kick arse:

Wounded World - Mission Of Burma
What Happens - Tiger Army
Mono - Courtney Love
American Idiot - Green Day
Indigo Friends - Reverend Horton Heat
Portland Oregon - Loretta Lynn
Fortress - Pinback
Sender - Pinback
Chief Inspector Blancheflower - The Fiery Furnaces
Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
Down Home Girl - Nic Armstrong
It's All Right To Die - The Ike Reilly Assassination

Darren

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dean_martin

Pixies Gouge Away Did I miss an '04 remake?

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No not really I came late to appreciate the Pixies and only picked up the Best of comp last year, loads of good stuff on there by the way it's all remastered and sounds brilliant

Cheers
Mike

Mike:

Your pithy description of Morriseey is spot on: "Irish blood, English heart".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mike

Modest Mouse - Blame it on the tetons
Morriseey - Irish blood, English heart
Interpol - Evil
Keane - Bedshaped
Ash - Orpheus
Pixies - Gouge away
Air - Alone in Kyoto
Razorlight - Up all night
Ray Lamontagne - Trouble
Libertines - What Katie did

Honorary mention to Mojave 3 for Bill Oddity which came out 2003 but I didn't hear it until 2004.

Cheers
Mike

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mike

No not really I came late to appreciate the Pixies and only picked up the Best of comp last year, loads of good stuff on there by the way it's all remastered and sounds brilliant

Cheers
Mike

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I did a little search and found the '04 Best of Pixies comp. I'll have to check it out. It would probably be worth it (even to someone who has the original cds) if the improvement in sound quality is noticeable. It would certainly be cheaper than buying all the cds again to get the remastered versions. I see that a couple of their albums have been released on vinyl too. I'm seriously considering getting a vinyl copy of Doolittle.

BTW, my '04 list is very narrow. I only have 3 '04 releases.

Snow Patrol - Wow, Chocolate, Run
Modest Mouse - World at Large, Float On, Bukowski

I have Franz Ferdinand self-titled but haven't give it much of a chance yet. I got these around Christmas and I'm still "exploring" them.

Some good ones :

1) Room ~ Mike Keneally & Metropolis
2) Sparky ~ Pip Pyle's Bash
3) KA I ~ Magma
4) Opening ~ Claudia Quintet
5) Tram ~ Cro Magnon & (Bub)
6) Dust ~ Ahvak
7) Revised Music for Low Budget Orchestra ~ Ensemble Modern ( Frank Zappa)