#10
2009 - Five Finger Death Punch - Bad Company
Album: War is the Answer
Oh, if we only knew then what we know now. Bad Company is one of two cover songs to ever make the countdown, and easily the most popular between original and cover. At the time I was still quite in love with Ivan Moody from his Motograter and Ghost Machine days. These days FFDP are the butt of most rock jokes, with their unabashed "kick your ass" attitude and Moody's whiny, jackass behavior. In listening to this song in hindsight I'm almost kind of disappointed, because the chorus is great but the rest of the song is fairly mediocre. Bad Company's original version is 10 times this and maybe a little more. I still try to listen to FFDP's new music because they're actually making rock music still, even if it is poppish and ridiculous.
2010 - Muse - Resistance
Album: The Resistance
The Resistance was everywhere in 2010. With how big Black Holes and Revelations was, it seemed that Muse would settle for nothing less than world domination with their next record. Matthew Bellamy is obviously insane but he makes really wonderful music. "Uprising" was the huge single but the driving piano notes in "Resistance" were what drove it up my chart in 2010. This song paired perfectly with #8 ("Kings and Queens by 30 Seconds to Mars) and helped me fight off bad thoughts at the beginning of my relationship with my wife. It's a great song and even though I find Muse mostly annoying, I am grateful to have lived through this era.
2011 - FM Static - F.M.S.T.A.T.I.C.
Album: My Brain Says Stop, But My Heart Says Go
Jeez, we're laying on the heavy cheese now, aren't we? Sometimes a song catches you off-guard and you're suddenly stuck with it. The cheerleader chant, the "throw up your hands like oh" lyric... really all of it. FM Static was the off-shoot of Thousand Foot Krutch for their less serious material, which progressively devolved into just cheesy pop-rock while TFK tried to reach new heights in the secular music scene. Amusingly, the Krutch has never actually made it to the countdown, despite being one of my all-time favorite bands back in high school. 2011 is such an inconsistent year for the countdown and while it features the best 1-2 punch at the top in chart history, it also has a massive lapse at 10 and 9 that you'll have to wait until Monday to read about in detail.
2012 - Animal Kingdom - Strange Attractor
Album: The Looking Away
File Animal Kingdom as one of those bands who has done literally nothing since releasing their album that made the chart. It's kind of surprising because "Strange Attractor" spawned a ton of remixes, got a buttload of radio play and launched the band into playing several huge festivals. There isn't much I enjoy from this band outside of this song and its subsequent jewel-barfing video, but man it's a great one. Nevermind the high pitched voice from the singer, or the fact that once someone says "Stranger Tractor" you'll never be able to hear it the same again. Just listen, enjoy, and dance!
2013 - The 1975 - The City
Album: The 1975
See, this one fooled me. It fooled everyone. When The 1975 dropped their Music for Cars EP in 2013 featuring the single "Chocolate", the entire music world was throw into a fray trying to find out more from this band. They had a few small EPs they had been releasing and were writing a new album, but it wasn't until their new single "The City" came out that I really took notice. I was so captured by the power of the song that I didn't notice the extensive over-production that was put into making it sound like it did. In hearing live versions and earlier recordings, it's mostly a lame song with a poignant message, but it took this album's release for it really to shine.
As it stands, it IS a great song that still gets a ton of spins, but it really made me think this was going to be some fantastic British band that was going to make waves in modern music. Instead, all of their music is over-produced and kind of dull, if not even ripping off other great artists.
2014 - Cut Copy - We Are Explorers
Album: Free Your Mind
Cut Copy are a lot of fun, with a sound ranging from synth-pop to dance house and electronica. There's a lot of good synth love going on in this song and it's one that never ceases to make me want to dance. Their lyrics are never overly deep but their music is good enough to overcome that, at least for 1 or 2 songs per album. Again we find a great video, shot entirely in stop motion with characters printed from a 3D printer. It was a cool concept for a really cool song.
2015 - The Wombats - Give Me A Try
Album: Glitterbug
It took The Wombats FOREVER to release Glitterbug. The first single ("Your Body Is A Weapon") dropped in late 2013 and the band announced the record would be out in early 2014... which became "sometime in 2014" and finally "2015, but here's a song for your troubles". I wouldn't say it was such a long time except that they kept teasing how soon it would be and especially because ...the Modern Glitch was such a wonderful record. It was well worth the wait with standout tracks like "This Is Not A Party", "Greek Tragedy", "Emoticons", and of course "Give Me A Try". For a minute I was trying to figure out just what song was going to make it from this record. Obviously I have to be impartial and cannot just include a band because I love them, but there were 3 or 4 songs that I liked just enough without one really jumping out. I can't really remember what it was that propelled "Give Me A Try" into the spotlight, but when it reached its detestation there was no stopping it. Their newest record is a little too ridiculous for me, even for The Wombats, but they did great things this year.
2016 - Miike Snow - Genghis Khan
Album: iii
Apparently to land at #10 you have to tick off a few specific boxes: dancy, synth heavy, higher vocals, simple yet confusing lyrics. Unlike the last 4, Miike Snow are actually from Sweden, but similar to the others they have earlier releases that I like more than their Countdown release. Funny how that seems to work out. This one also had a really great video, too. Man, #10 you're an interesting spot for me.
I don't have a lot more to say about this one though. I didn't care for the album, I'm tired of people using "Trigger" as a laughing matter, and I think they're completely club-pop now. But this is a really good one and I'm willing to bet that they'll have at least 1 good song on any record they put out, simply because they are masters at production and catchiness.
2017 - The National - Carin at the Liquor Store
Album: Sleep Well Beast
Speaking of bands and albums that I love, here's The National. Most of the songs on this record took a minute to grow on me, but "Carin..." was an instant melancholy hit. It strikes along the veins of songs like "I Need My Girl" and "Exile Vilify" in that it is piano driven and sung in almost a drowsy state. "So blame it on me, I really don't care - it's a foregone conclusion" was the line of lines for me last year. The album ended up being phenomenal and the song ended up climbing to #10, surprisingly low for The National. I didn't think this would be #1 at any point but I thought it would end up higher. There were just a lot of other songs that could have been higher that ended up ahead of it. What a fun year it was.
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