I almost started this post with something along the lines of "y'all, I screwed up last year", but let's be realistic: I did not screw up and I refuse to let a weird year define the legacy that is the Jester One Music Top 20 Countdown. I've been doing this for almost half of my life and I'm not stopping today, tomorrow or next week. Ready or not, here we go!
2022 marks the FOURTEENTH YEAR that I've been doing this. I've learned a lot along the way and I am excited as ever to do this again. We always start with the list from the year before, so let's take a look at that bad boy:
20. Grabbitz - Pigs in the Sky
19. Royal Blood - Typhoons
18. Daymare - Control
17. Porter Robinson - Look at the Sky
16. PEABOD - Love Everybody (ft Tedashii)
15. AFI - Begging for Trouble
14. beabadoobee - Last Day On Earth
13. The Dirty Nil - Blunt Force Concussion
12. Romy - Lifetime
11. The Birthday Massacre - The NeverEnding Story
10. Echo Image - Walk My Mind
9. Assemblage 23 - Factory
8. Manchester Orchestra - Bed Head
7. '68 - Bad Bite
6. Gang of Youngs - the angel of 8th ave.
5. Meryl Creep - Spiraling
4. A Tiger Made of Lightning - Little Birds
3. Acceptance - At the Edge of the Earth
2. The Struts - Another Hit of Showmanship (ft Albert Hammond Jr)
1. Teenage Wrist - Taste of Gasoline
You know what? For as rough as 2020 was, 2021 was a really good rebound year. More than half of these songs are still in my daily Rockman rotation, and I'm pretty sure at least 2 of them will be in my "Most Played" year end list as well. Contrast that to 2020 where most of the Top 20 was burned out of rotation by the end of the year. Plus we had multiple local bands in the top 5 and a plethora of genres to enjoy. I make no promises for 2022, except that locals will still be sprinkled in and (hopefully) there will be more songs that stay in the daily rotation for a good long while.
As usual, we start with the songs that almost made it. The songs here are simply in alphabetical order by artist.
Arcade Fire - The Lightning I, II
Album: WE
Every year, there's a few songs that surprise the heck out of me, and this time around it's Arcade Fire with their magnificent new album WE. The album features four different songs broken up into Parts 1 and 2, and I felt it was worthwhile to put both parts of "The Lightning" here. If I had to break them up, Part 2 is the stronger of the two, but they go together so well.
Florence + The Machine - Free
Album: Dance Fever
The only reason Florence didn't make the Countdown on her 4th consecutive album was because there were too many other great songs ahead of this one. "Free", "King", "Choreomania"... you name it. This album is flat-out incredible.
Justyfi - Betrayal
Album: Betrayal single
I had never even heard of Columbus rapper Justyfi before he became the youth pastor at my church. As it turns out, he's pretty dang good, and he's released an EP and a full length album this year if you want to check out more of his flow. "Betrayal" just happened to be my favorite of his music from this year.
Ripe - Settling
Album: Settling single
The first time I heard this song, I said to myself "oh great, another alt-rock band that sounds like every other one trying to make it on the radio these days". The second time I heard it, I said "wow, I can't get this song out of my head". Funny how things like that work out.
ZoneZero - Halo
Album: Halo single
Another local addition to the Countdown, ZoneZero are currently recording their second EP and have gained a decent following around Ohio with their energetic live show and their sound that hearkens back to the nu-metal revolution of the early '00s.
Honorable Mention: Bad Wolves - Lifeline; Battle Beast - Russian Roulette; Bayside - Strangest Faces; beabadoobee - Talk; Maggie Rogers - Want Want; Mitski - The Only Heartbreaker; Power Quest - Bound for Glory; Rusty Shipp - Bottom of the Barrel; The Manatee Room - Expensive Taste; Zoo Trippin' - Any Way I Can Get It
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