#20
Obviously, you have to start at the beginning right? Let's jump right in!
2009 - Collective Soul - Staring Down
Album: Collective Soul
I do remember at this time that I still enjoyed watching the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown. The hosts were interesting, they played all 20 of the videos (in a 2 hour episode) and they had loads of interesting content to fill the rest of the time. Somewhere along the way VH1 shortened things down and in 2016 they got rid of music all together, but for a while there it was a great show. And it was on this show that I first learned that Collective Soul was still making music, despite not charting since 2009. I didn't really listen to the album much because it just didn't have the feel of the '90s grunge-era Collective Soul, but I did enjoy "Staring Down" a lot. Listening to it now, it has a good nostalgia feel to it but I can't put my finger on it otherwise why I liked it so much.
The majority of my music listening at the time was built around stuff I heard at work, the Top 20 countdown, and listening to the radio in my spare time. If you've ever lived in Columbus, you know that my options for new music were therefor quite limited. But, this was the first of the last... or the first... well, however you want to look at it.
2010 - Dark Tranquility - The Fatalist
Album: We Are The Void
There used to be this torrent website called RockBox which almost exclusively featured metal torrents. I found most of my newer metal addictions through that site, and Dark Tranquility is a perfect example of it. I'd click on the site, listen to the track that was featured, read the bio, and decide if I wanted to listen to the rest of the album. There wasn't Spotify or other streaming platforms at the time. File-sharing was the way to go, and torrents were the easiest way to find what you wanted. These days the internet (at least for me) has shifted away from that, and I barely even spend any time on my computer any more. As it stands, "The Fatalist" was the track previewed on the album page, and I listened to it heavily for several months. The album was garbage and even listening to the song now, I'm barely even able to recognize what I liked about it. Really, it's just a good solid metal chorus. I haven't enjoyed anything else they released, but there will always be this song, I guess... haha
2011 - Avril Lavigne - What The Hell
Album: Goodbye Lullaby
Oh man. My love affair with Avril started in high school and burned bright for several years. In many ways, Goodbye Lullaby was the end of that. Her previous effort The Best Damn Thing was overly poppy and her sound had completely morphed into bad bubblegum by 2011. But "What the Hell" hearkened back to what she used to be, and it stuck around in my head during that year long enough to break into the countdown. 2011 was a really really great year for the countdown, and starting with Avril definitely didn't hurt. I think the thing I remember the most about this song was that it was a favorite of the girl I was with at the time, before I started dating my (eventual) wife. Thanks for two great albums, Avril!
2012 - Reptar - Stuck In My Id
Album: Oblangle Fizz, Y'all
I'm somewhat embarrassed by this one. Not because it's a bad song or anything, but because this song was basically a last second addition because I had a spot that needed filled. I hadn't done my research and another song that I had been jamming to (I can't remember specifically which song off the top of my head) had been in the countdown up until the day that I was doing my final research and making sure all of my ducks were in a row. I realized that the song I had initially had was two years old and therefor ineligible for the 2012 Countdown. I had to scramble and just threw in the first song I had liked from that year. Obviously, I wasn't as meticulous about the countdown at the time, and I changed how I did my data compilation after that.
"Stuck In My Id" is a fun song, but I didn't like anything else from the band and I don't much care for them now either. It's more of an eye-roll to me now, but it doesn't hurt what was the tremendous year for the Countdown.
2013 - Grouplove - Ways To Go
Album: Spreading Rumours
Grouplove is one of the ultimate love-hate groups in my life. I cannot stand either of the vocalists and I feel like their music is cliche and dopey. Every new album they release, I roll my eyes as I hear them take over alt-rock stations and get played far more than they ever should be. Somehow, somehow each of their albums has produced exactly 1 song that I totally enjoy, and for Spreading Rumours it was "Ways To Go". The next single off of the album was titled "Shark Attack" and it still stands as one of the *worst* song I've ever heard on the radio. The part that I liked the most on "Ways To Go" was the part where Hannah sings after the chorus. That's basically it. The song has barely any substance and when I heard them performing it live I immediately was disgusted by it and really haven't been able to listen to it since. The end. Lol
2014 - I, The Breather - Swine:Cult (featuring Ricky Armellino)
Album: Life Reaper
Now we're talking! Here's an album I greatly enjoyed from a group that I also happened to like. It's a shame they broke up after this disc dropped, because I really felt like they had a chance to blow up after it was all said and done. "Swine:Cult" was my favorite thumping track on an album of absolute bangers. This was one that I'd turn up all the way in my car and just head-bang my brains out on. Ricky Armellino can be heard screaming and laughing on the 2nd verse. 2014 was a tremendous year for metal songs and "Swine:Cult" was the perfect kicker to get things started.
2015 - Florence + The Machine - Ship To Wreck
Album: How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
I can remember listening to this album on my way to work one day and just falling in love with this song. If you've followed the Countdown for any amount of time you know that Florence + Co are a staple here and I 1000% guarantee you will see her on the 2018 edition. The lyric: "What's with the long face, do you want more, thousands of red-eyed mice scratching at the door" always catches me. Florence paints a wonderful picture on this song, as she often does.
2015 had so many songs that could've been in the top 10 or 5 at any point, that I was wondering at one point if Ship To Wreck was even going to make it. She beat out Papa Roach, Genevieve, and Walk The Moon to just squeak in, but honestly what would be the Countdown be without her?
2016 - Safemode - Hold On
Album: Colodblind
Unlike the two previous years, it wasn't a huge battle of big songs trying to claw their way into the Top 20. Safemode and several other metal songs were kind of kicking around at the end of the year and they just happened to be the one that got the nod. It's not my favorite album of the year or one that even stuck out to me, but it did end up being a really solid song. Safemode always brings really good harmonies and pretty guitars to their songs while throwing in chunky breakdowns and pulsing drums. I haven't heard much from them since this album came out, and hopefully they'll have new music brewing soon.
2017 - Liam Gallagher - Wall of Glass
Album: As You Were
This one is pretty fresh so I don't have a ton to say about it. I'm kind of excited that both of the Gallagher boys have been putting out their own music in the past year and a half, but I'd really rather the two of them worked together and put their differences aside to make great Oasis music again. Haha.... right. I guess I should just be grateful that I got to hear Liam's voice again, even if it were just a solo shot. As You Were is a fairly good album, but "Wall of Glass" is really the only song that I took much out of on it. I only just recently shuffled it out of my usual rotation of goodies on Spotify.
There you have it. The history of the number 20. Haha. I think I'll make this a bi-weekly thing, say Tuesdays and Fridays? See you in a few days!
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