Greetings!
First things first, here's a recap of the Top 20 Countdown:
20. Florence + The Machine - Ship To Wreck
19. The Frozen Ocean - Kerosene
18. New Found Glory - Selfless
17. Big Data - The Business of Emotion (feat White Sea)
16. Ghost Ship Octavius - Silence
15. Foo Fighters - Something from Nothing
14. Spoon - New York Kiss
13. Passion Pit - Lifted Up (1985)
12. Fear Factory - Expiration Date
11. Catfish and the Bottlemen - Cocoon
10. The Wombats - Give Me A Try
9. TV on the Radio - Careful You
8. Ellie Goulding - Love Me Like You Do
7. Matty Mullins - More Of You
6. Lamb of God - 512
5. August Burns Red - Identity
4. Jason Derulo - Want To Want Me
3. Slipknot - Skeptic/The Devil In I
2. Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness - Cecilia and the Satellite
1. Purity Ring - Heartsigh
Solid stuff! With the exception of the Ellie Goulding, I am rather pleased. At the end it got close in the upper numbers, and the 7-4 was a flux for about a month before the order was settled. Purity Ring and Andrew McMahon had a good battle going during the summer, but the overwhelming positive vibes of "Heartsigh" eventually conquered the beautiful melodies of "Cecilia...". After 5 consecutive years of finding alt-rock bands at #1, Cadets dropped a Christian space-synth pop jam last year, and Purity Ring brought a dance-pop anthem to the top for 2015. It's also the first time a female-fronted group took the #1 spot. Shirley Manson and Garbage had reached #4 in 2012 with "Beloved Freak" previously. Also having 4 metal songs in the top 10 equals the most since the 2009 countdown, where August Burns Red (#2), Alice in Chains (4), This Ending (7) and Five Finger Death Punch (10) thundered through. Usually the countdown is back-loaded with solid heavy stuff, but this year it surged forward in spite of not placing higher than #3.
But let's talk about groups that didn't make it to the countdown this year. The Airborne Toxic Event had landed a #3 and #7 on their last two discs but fell woefully short this time around. 2013's #1 Surfer Blood put out an indie release that felt a little flat to me, while 2010's #2 Periphery dropped a double album that failed to make much movement on the chart. Perhaps the biggest disappointment was Owl City, another perennial powerhouse who dropped what could be considered their worst album. For a band who had been the runner up twice previously, I expected much more from "Mobile Orchestra" but the album felt like an absolute step back from everything Adam Young has done previously. Another major disappointment came from Matt & Kim, who had a #3 and #5 in their previous repertoire. Red also had a new album that had some fairly good songs, but most of them had tedious intros that hurt them from a catchiness standpoint.
There were plenty of bands I loved from the past who got back together in 2015. Breaking Benjamin put out a comeback album that made a few waves but really didn't have much firepower past their initial single "Failure". Coal Chamber came exceptionally close, and "Rivals" was a tremendous album that I enjoyed greatly. Haste the Day reformed as well with "Coward", a musically solid album that just didn't have enough catchy riffs to really make it back to the big show. Pillar's new disc was somewhat of a throwback to what they were doing when I was in high school, but it just didn't catch well enough for me
2016 already has some exciting releases from prior charting bands like Metric, Sevendust and Born of Osiris working, and I'm excited for Christmas music to pass so I can focus on getting things rolling from that standpoint. Let's not leave 2015 in the dust just yet though. Let's talk about some songs that shaped the 2015 landscape that were released in previous years. Usually, the songs that get played the most in any given year are either new releases or classic songs that I have not heard in several years and hit me in a new way. As far as those old songs coming back around, here's a few that stuck with me throughout the year.
For what ever reason, I found a new appreciation for the Beatles in 2015. I think that their music started really hitting me after my job crisis in the summer. The old muzak list at work played 7-8 Beatles songs, and eventually I just realized that I liked every single one they played. My sister was always the big Beatles fan in the family, but I'm glad they finally truly sunk in on me. Also, this video is absolutely hilarious.
Sometimes I'm looking through the great vault of music from my past and I stumble across something filled with intrigue. "Here's a song I haven't heard in a while" says the little voice in my head. I'll give it a spin and be blown away at how something like this ever made it on any radio station. It's always old RadioU stuff, like Send the Beggar or Guardian or something along those lines. Bill Mallonee and this jam makes that list. But then I listened to it, and the words, and it takes me back to where I used to be when I was listening to that stuff. And it finds new life in the here and now. And... there we go!
At some point in 2015, I heard this song and it dawned on me that this was essentially the first Eagles song that anyone ever heard. First album, first track, first single. First Eagles. I started wondering what it was like back in 1972 when the album dropped, and how it must have felt to hear history like that. A song and album that essentially shaped how rock music was made and changed the lives of millions.
Alright. Good times, good feelings. Before we get to the most played song of 2015, let's look at the top 10 albums of 2015. I feel that I must start with the Anberlin Live albums recorded on their final tour in New York. It was almost perfect that the boys performed my favorite album "Never Take Friendship Person", but then they did "Cities" as well. I didn't know they were going to be recorded, but I immediately pre-ordered them when the word came down. It's nothing new, but it's so beautiful. A few of the songs brought new meaning to themselves when hearing Stephen introduce or just sing them live. Funny the way that works.
Anyways, here's the last of the lists...
10. Spoon - They Want My Soul
9. Ghost Ship Octavius - Ghost Ship Octavius
8. Lamb of God - VII: Sturm und Drang
7. Big Data - 2.0
6. August Burns Red - Found in Far Away Places
5. The Frozen Ocean - Skeleton Key
4. Passion Pit - Kindred
3. Slipknot - .5: The Gray Chapter
2. Purity Ring - Another Eternity
1. The Wombats - Glitterbug
Surprise! It's all bands from the Top 20! I can honestly say that that never happens. There were many great albums with tons of great songs. I touched on each of them already, but I have to say that almost each of these albums were great, top to bottom. No filler on the Wombats album at all. Just outstanding. All of these are great albums filled with great songs, but now we must move on to the greatest song of all of them.
Well, maybe not. This jam does hold the title of the most played song from 2015, however, and that should be worth something, right?
Plushgun - Sarah's Locker
Plushgun is a band that my fiancee loves but I had never really given a second listen to until this summer. Enter Pandora and their wonderful way of throwing bands I've never listened to into my life. I'd say I average 300-400 songs listened to on Pandora every month, depending on how much I use it at work. I've customized most of my favorite stations to a point where I can go to any number of places for any number of moods. I had initially used an Owl City station to try and find other bands that sound somewhat like them (there aren't any) and I eventually decided that I knew a couple of bands that sounded somewhat like them, and that Plushgun was one of them. And, if the misses found them acceptable, I probably could as well. As luck would have it, the first song played on the newly christened "Sparkles and Twinkles" station was in fact "Sarah's Locker". The song hit me in every available feel and pulled out parts of my soul that I didn't even know were there. I think I probably listened to it 20 times that day. 20 more the next. I just kept listening to it over and over again. In the car, at work, at home, in my sleep. It says all the things I feel, and makes me feel all the things I didn't even know I knew. It made it's mark on the year in a way that I could not have imagined.
Thank you again, friends, for going on this journey with me. Love music, love yourself, love the world. Be blessed.
-j1
