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User
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Approval 99%
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Last Active 07-10-16 10:28 am
Joined 06-14-14
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| 2011: Top 10 Songs from the Billboard Hot 100 Year-End Chart
Wow, I surprisingly didn't hate this year! With an overabundance of rubbish posing as real music, a.k.a. will.i.am, I figured I'd hate this year just as much as I did 2012. But that wasn't the case. And, even more shocking to me, I actually found myself liking a Chris Brown and Wiz Khalifa song. What is wrong with me? Some of the better songs I heard off this list include: "Best Thing I Never Had" by Beyonce, "Knee Deep" by Zac Brown Band & Jimmy Buffett, "Honey Bee" by Blake Shelton, "DJ Got Us Fallin' in Love" by Usher & Pitbull, "Written in the Stars" by Tinie Tempah & Eric Turner, "Roll Up" by Wiz Khalifa, "Yeah 3x" by Chris Brown, "The Edge of Glory" by Lady Gaga, "The Show Goes On" by Lupe Fiasco, "Look At Me Now" by Chris Brown, Busta Rhymes & Lil Wayne (this song kind of repulses me, but Busta Rhymes is just too great during his verse to deny featuring this track among the honourable mentions) and "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars. | | 10 |  | Zac Brown Band
You Get What You Give
#99: "Colder Weather" - Hey, look! It's a bird, it's a plane... no! It's a surprisingly excellent country song. I almost didn't want to believe it at first, but I fell in love with this track immediately after the first chorus. This is just a delightful little song that makes me feel happy. A nice detour away from all of the other vapid country tracks that we've been inundated with as of late (I'm looking at Florida Georgia Line and Luke Bryan as the main offenders, creating insipid pop-country for all of those Budweiser drinkin' hosiers out there). "If I Die Young" ranked at #35. How depressing. This song deserved more attention than all of the heartless, unimaginative crap from The Band Perry, Jason Aldean, and all other "country" bands combined that year. If you're looking for a truly great country song, here's a needle in a haystack. | | 9 |  | Neon Trees
Habits
#97: "Animal" - Such a great song, such a great chorus. At first I thought the chorus was "say goodbye to my heart tonight" when, in reality, it is actually: "take a bite of my heart tonight". It seems you learn something new everyday. I really, really love this single. I don't know how to put my finger on exactly what I love about it, I just love how charming it is. This is simply a charming, really fun track through-and-through. Maybe it's time for me to listen to an album from these guys. | | 8 |  | Katy Perry
Teenage Dream
#75: "Teenage Dream" - Ugh. I kind of hate Katy Perry. Her piercing vocals often ruin potentially good songs for me, but I find that she works best when she settles back a bit; she's at her absolute worst whilst making "party" anthems, such as "Roar" and "T.G.I.F.". On "Teenage Dream", her rugged vocals work to her advantage and makes her sound surprisingly human in contrast to the rest of her bubblegum pop career. The beat is strong, the lyrics are well-rounded and Katy Perry is at her most endearing. | | 7 |  | Taylor Swift
Speak Now
#74: "Back to December" - Speaking of endearing, here's a song that sold me on Taylor Swift. If working on these lists over the past few weeks has done anything to me, it's definitely made me far less jaded as a music critic. I can know whole-heartedly say that I love Taylor Swift, this song tugged at me and eventually won me over while I tried my best to resist. Hearing this song, back-to-back with her hilarious SNL "Monologue Song", immediately made me a fan. I don't care for her new work quite as much, as it lacks the lyrical heard on her earlier songs such as this and all throughout the Speak Now record, but "Blank Space" was a good pop single ("Shake it Off" annoys the hell out of me still though, I've eased up a bit on it now, but the only thing it has going for it is a positive, albeit pretentious chorus). All-in-all, "Back to December" makes me wish for the end of winter already. I hate winter. | | 6 |  | Usher
Raymond v. Raymond
#61: "More" (RedOne Jimmy Joker Remix) - The deluxe edition of this album, Raymond v. Raymond: Dawn of Justice, features a song called "More"; the non-single version featured on the album is okay, but it lacks the energy that is injected into this surprisingly awesome remix/single from RedOne. Usually remixes turn out to be annoyances, leaving you to ask yourself: "Why was that necessary?". Thankfully the remix/single version of "More" is... more compelling and engaging than the original version which kind of just slugged along at a boring clip which made you beg for less. This may be my favourite song from Usher, though I haven't heard his entire discography, "More" is easily the best of the singles he's released over his career; and yeah, it's better than "Yeah". The track is just too explosive and frantic to deny, it's a pure blast of adrenaline all the way through. | | 5 |  | Kanye West
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
#59: "All of the Lights" (feat. John Legend, The-Dream, Elly Jackson, Alicia Keys, Fergie, Elton John, Rihanna and KiD CUDi) - That's a ton of guest artists (not sure if I'd ever consider Fergie to be an artist though). I was hoping to see "Power" (probably my favourite Kanye West track) up on the Hot 100, but this was, shockingly, the only single off of this album to appear on the list. Colour me surprised. Anyhow "All of the Lights" is a great song nevertheless. It features top-notch rhymes from Kanye and a great hook provided mainly by Rihanna (and a mix of many other singers). Even if "Power" didn't make the list, I was at least hoping for "Runaway" to make the list so that I could blatantly quote the finest lyrics ever recorded: "she find pictures in my e-mail / I sent this b!#@% a picture of my d!@$". Charming. | | 4 |  | OneRepublic
Waking Up
#25: "Good Life" - Now this is penance against myself for not including "Counting Stars" on my 2013 list. That song is outstanding, definitely the song that made me take notice of OneRepublic as a band that gets better-and-better the further they progress. So here we have "Good Life", it's a good song. While it's far from being a great song, it's definitely a very pleasant single that radiates with charisma and positivity throughout. The whistles and "me-e-e-e" line is kind of annoying, but, other than that, this is an enjoyable track. | | 3 |  | Rihanna
Loud
#20: "What's My Name?" (feat. Drake) - Rihanna needs to slow down. Currently her discography is made up of an astounding 7 LPs... over the course of 7 years. That is absolute madness. I don't mind Rihanna, but the fact that she churns records out so rapidly shows quite clearly in her singles. A lot of her singles just sound lifeless and manufactured, often strung together by extremely repetitive beats and choruses. Thankfully "What's My Name?" finally offered me a Rihanna song that I could thoroughly enjoy. She pures a lot of heart into this track, which really shows during the chorus, and Drake is very charming during his quick verse at the start. Overall this is a fun, romantic song that makes me wish that Drake and Rihanna would just get married already (or at least make a duet album or something since they work so well together). | | 2 |  | Foster the People
Torches
#13: "Pumped Up Kicks" - A stunningly high-charting entry on this list. I thoroughly enjoyed this song, but the kiddy-bop beat held throughout is kind of irritating. I guess that's the point though, it's supposed to seem like an innocent little song made for kids initially, but the sinister lyrics suggest otherwise, especially during the chorus: "all the other kids with the pumped up kicks, you better run / better run / outrun my gun / all the other kids with the pumped up kicks better run / better run / faster than my bullet". Despite my problem with the silly beats, I really love the odd vocals and it's always pleasant to see an indie group break on through (to the other side). Also does anyone else think that the lead singer looks strangely similar to Jay from Half in the Bag/RedLetterMedia? | | 1 |  | Cee Lo Green
The Lady Killer
#7: "F#@$ You" - You really are quite a weird creep, Cee Lo Green. "It isn't rape if the victim is unconscious"?! What in the blue f#@$ were you thinking, man? Twitter is a wonderful place to watch for when it comes to celebrities making an absolute fool of themselves on their own account, and the baffling quote above, from "The Lady Killer" himself, proves this notion to be truer than it has ever been before. Other than that, this is a fantastic song from a potential rapist.. hence why I don't enjoy this track as much as I used to. What a shame. | |
riffariffic7
02.24.15 | A surprisingly good year for music among the Hot 100. My favourites of the 10 are: 10, 9, 7, 6 and 5. | Slut
02.24.15 | Check weightless by all time low | SharkTooth
02.24.15 | List brings back so many good memories | riffariffic7
02.24.15 | If they end up making it to the Hot 100 over the next few years I'll be delving into, I will. Other than that, "Weightless" didn't chart the Hot 100 for this year. | riffariffic7
02.24.15 | @SharkTooth - I find the charts are getting more enjoyable the further I go back. It's cool going back in time. | ArsMoriendi
02.24.15 | Rihanna on a "top" list? Weird.
2 and 1 are both catchy as fuck. | riffariffic7
02.24.15 | Yeah. I was shocked too, Ars. Usually I hold her at the same level as Katy Perry, but in this song she actually impressed me. I like the track, same with Katy Perry's track on here. At least we can both agree that 1 and 2 are both catchy as hell. Just looking at the Top 3 for 2010 has me worried though. "Tik Tok" and "Hey, Soul Sister"? Blah, what the hell were people smokin' in 2010?! | Pangea
02.24.15 | 8 and 2 rule. Good writeups | wtferrothorn
02.24.15 | 1,2,5 are top pop. | TheAJMetal
02.24.15 | I saw a picture of Killer Mike hanging out with Cee Lo and I was like aww come on
Anyway, I get nostalgic a lot for the past but this makes me really realize how bland radio music was in 2011. Not that it isn't now, but shit. That was one boring time for music. |
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