#4
2009 - Alice in Chains - Check My Brain
Album: Black Gives Way To Blue
Some of my favorite Top 20 moments are the ones that come with a memorable story. I've told this one dozens of times but it always bears repeating. As a huge Alice in Chains fan, I had spent the 2000s living off of Dirt being one of the greatest rock albums of all time, and living with the sadness that there would never be new AIC music. It was a given, same with Nirvana and any other band who broke up following a death like that. So when I heard that they had found a new singer and were recording new music, I was somewhat skeptical. Jerry Cantrell's solo stuff was pretty good, if not a bit out there. But Alice in Chains was the relationship between the four musicians, not just the musicians themselves. I ended up just holding my breath any waiting. If it was good, I'd probably love it. If it was bad, I'd probably just brush it off. A lot of bands live beyond their time; this would essentially be just like that.
As it happens, I was driving down Waggoner Rd, getting close to the 6 way stop at Livingston and 256. I was landed on 99.7 and Ronni Hunter announced that *new* Alice in Chains was going to be debuted. My ears perked up, and I had gotten to a spot where everyone was stopped and I was just listening. I was not prepared for the opening riff; one of the best Cantrell has ever written. Traffic started again and I was unable to drive and process what I was listening to, so I ended up pulling off the road in a little gravely area and listening to the entire song, just breathing and feeling the electric tingles shooting through my veins. The rest, of course, is history. The album dropped late in '09 but the song had already cemented its place in the "all-time" lair of J1.
On Black Gives Way To Blue, there are plenty of solid tracks. "Last Of My Kind" and "Your Decision" feel like they could be released on just about any record from the group. "Acid Bubble" and "A Looking In View" are so massively heavy that they almost crush everything else. However, AIC's newer material is... bizarre. Not bad, not great... good enough I suppose? They just released their newest disc, and from the singles I've heard it seems to be a solid record. Maybe they'll make the cut in 2018, we'll see!
2010 - The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio
Album: High Violet
While we're on the subject of great stories, or at least memorable ones, I also remember the first time I ever heard "Bloodbuzz Ohio". Call it my introduction to The National. I was driving to work at 5am, half awake and feeling exceptionally melancholy. A normal morning for the last two years that I worked at that job. This time, it was the pulsing opening drums and hum of the song that caught me. I just sat there, in awe that I had never heard anything quite like that before. I remember walking around work that day, and all I could say was "I was carried to Ohio in a swarm of bees". Needless to say, the song struck a chord with me and I immediately came home and picked up High Violet. There was no going back from there. There were 2 cathartic songs hanging out at the top of the Countdown in 2010 and they ended up finishing at 3 and 4, so it was a good time to be pensive.
Since High Violet, the boys over at The National have released two records, just missing in 2013 before connecting again last year. After listening to High Violet I went backwards and found that they were a band that I absolutely loved, especially in hearing Matt Berninger's voice. For me, it's a top-to-bottom classic of a record, with hits like "Lemonworld", "Terrible Love", "Afraid of Everyone", "Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks"... I could go on. It's a band that does not disappoint, and hopefully one day they will come to Columbus again.
2011 - Matt Nathanson - Kiss Quick
Album: Modern Love
For me, Matt Nathanson seemed like the second coming of Jason Mraz. Fascinating person who had a lovely voice and plays a mean guitar. Toiled in relative obscurity playing small coffee shops and venues before finally catching a break and putting out a phenomenal record. Major touring, failure to live up to that original record, and then a lot of great past memories, wishing for better. For Nathanson, it was 2007's Some Mad Hope that catapulted him into the national spotlight. It took a few years before he dropped Modern Love, and interestingly "Kiss Quick" is another one of those songs that wasn't actually a single, just a song that I loved. I remember being at a movie and hearing "Faster", the lead single off of the record and thinking "oh boy, here we go again!"
Sadly, it was not meant to be. In fact, although I have listened to each of Nathanson's new records since 2011, I haven't really been able to pick out specific songs that I just love. I'm grateful that he's still making decent music and that I don't have to rely on people like Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes for male pop music, it just isn't what it was when I was feeling it in 2007. Actually, Nathanson released a new single a few weeks ago and it feels like it was pulled straight from Sheeran's catalogue, so we'll see.
2012 - Garbage - Beloved Freak
Album: Not Your Kind Of People
It took a LONG time for Garbage to reconcile their differences and make music again, but when they finally did it was songs like "Beloved Freak" that almost made the wait worth its while. Other hits on this record include "Blood for Poppies" and "Sugar", but it was "Beloved Freak" that resonated with me beyond all others. The songs obvious connotations and meanings dig deep within me and form a barrier around my heart when I am at my weakest. Shirley Manson being one of my favorite singers doesn't hurt along those lines, either. Something about female Scottish vocalists really twinges me.
Amusingly, "Beloved Freak" is also a non-single track. I guess #4 is a good spot for that. Garbage did put out a new record in 2016, with "Sometimes" almost making it in. I'm looking forward to seeing what else this band has to release. Their career now spans 25+ years and they're still making really solid, crazy music. They are a testament to doing what you want and making good out of it.
2013 - New Politics - (A.) Harlem; (B.) Goodbye Copenhagen
Album: A Bad Girl In Harlem
New Politics absolutely exploded in 2013 with "Harlem", a catchy fun song that had me dancing in my car and anywhere else I heard it. In fact, A Bad Girl In Harlem had several fun dancy songs, including "Fall Into These Arms", "Tonight Your Perfect", and of course "Goodbye Copenhagen". Of course, the only song you really ever heard on the radio was "Harlem", but "Copenhagen" spent a ton of time in heavy rotation for me. I ended up getting tickets to see the guys later in the year but was unable to attend. Since the release of this record, New Politics has gone the way of Fitz and the Tantrums and The 1975 before them - somewhat abandoning their catchy fun sound for a poppier, more accessible repertoire. I always hope that a band can follow up their massive first or second records, and while NP have managed to stay relevant, they're essentially the Imagine Dragons of pop-rock. Eh, what can you do?
2014 - Eye of the Enemy - The Shift
Album: The Vengeance Paradox
Just the name The Vengeance Paradox and all of the song titles being "the--" was enough for me to take a peek at this record. It was a decent record worth listening to, but nothing really stood out to me through the first 4 tracks. I was about to shelve it and go on to the next new metal record of the week when the opening acoustic guitar of "The Shift" started. It reminded me of the acoustic outro to "Twelve-Vals for the Legions" by Allegaeon, so I let the track play. After just over a minute of that, the song absolutely explodes, and I had myself thinking I was getting a repeat of 2013, where "Warning" by Aeon Zen had the massive opening that catapulted it all the way to its top 3 spot. The song highlights every single member of the band, with specific drum, bass, and of course guitar pieces weaved throughout. The timing jumps around a little, but it was well worth picking up the record specifically for this single.
Unfortunately, the record kind of falls off from there, but in listening to it again today I was reminded what I did enjoy about it. It's a solid piece of tech metal, and it definitely deserves a follow up. The band has recently finished writing and mixing their newest record, and hopefully it will drop sometime early next year. Here's to ya, chaps. Thank you for this six minute sonic assault.
2015 - Jason Derulo - Want To Want Me
Album: Everything Is 4
Jason Derulo is kind of a silly guy, throwing his name into most of his hit singles in one way or another. There's no doubt he has massive selling power, what with his voice, looks, and dancing abilities. He's not normally someone I would spend a lot of time listening to, but "Want To Want Me" was an unavoidable collision between the need to dance, and a really great groove on a song. Plus, every now and again I find myself sucked into the sappy goodness of a love song, regardless of how its presented. Hence, "Want To Want Me". It's a song that makes anyone listening to it bounce, regardless of whether you like it or not. Everyone working in the kitchen would callback "I wouldn't do!" when the part hits on the song. I figured I'd give 4 a spin and there are actually a couple of other solid songs in "Cheyenne" and "Love Like That" on there. But it was absolutely the lead single that will be stuck with me for the rest of my life. It's just too damned catchy. Lol
2016 - Graceful Closure - Choices
Album: Rev
Graceful Closure are local boys, although they run with a different crowd than I do. Not that I don't occasionally enjoy trivial hipster music, it's just not something I normally seek out. "Chasing Fears" was the song that they initially dropped on 88.7 over here, and it proved to be a solid melancholy juxtaposition to the upbeat, driving sound of "Choices". In fact, if you were to listen to the songs in succession you would swear you were listening to two different groups with a similar singer. They're both good songs, and Rev is a good EP, I just wish the band would actually record a full length LP (or at least another EP) rather than just dropping a single as a whole. I want to be able to enjoy them as the sum of their musical skills, not just a flavor of the quarter.
Anyways, I have a lot of memories of spending time lying around my new apartment listening to this song and willing myself to persevere against a tidal wave of madness. It definitely reaches inside of you and scoops your heart up to push you forward. The band almost broke up last year but reformed as a duo and have continued to get a solid amount of independent airplay both around town and online, despite their enigmatic personalities. I hope to see them live some day, but they just don't play out as much as they were around the time that they released this record.
2017 - The Birthday Massacre - All Of Nothing
Album: Under Your Spell
There probably wasn't a day after this record came out that I didn't listen to "All of Nothing". It plunged a dagger into me and featured some of the most clever lyrical work in the history of the J1 Countdown. Any song that opens with "once upon a waste of time" is certain to catch my attention, but "I was searching for an ending when I fell into you, you were like a dream cuz you never came true" pulsated through me like nothing else. As the end of the year came about, I found myself listening to "One" a little bit more, and both songs have continued to receive massive attention for me in the past year and a half since the record was released.
Who will be #4 this year? Will it be as big as The Birthday Massace was last year, or more of an outlier like Matt Nathanson was in '11? Will be it an old favorite band like Garbage or AiC, or will it be someone newer, perhaps another local gem from someone like Graceful Closure? Stay tuned!
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