The 2017 Jester One Music Top 20 Countdown - #18

#18 - Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness - Fire Escape

Two years ago, Andrew McMahon surprisingly ran all the way up to #2 with his smash hit Cecilia And The Satellite. Suffice it to say, I was eagerly anticipating the release of his newest disc "Zombies on Broadway", even though Cecilia was really the only song I cared for from an artist who I had never really enjoyed before. My write-up on that song can be seen here. As for "Zombies", McMahon ventures into unknown territory with a heavier dose of pop stylings over alternative/indie production. There's a lot of bad autotune, bad synths and... well, chumpy lyrics. It's definitely a disappointing follow up, but it did manage to land at #43 on the Top 200 and #5 on the Top Alternative chart.

Through all of that, it IS still a vintage McMahon hit. Catchy sing-a-long parts, jingly piano overtones, booming chorus. It's a classic love song with the bizarre "swingin' from the fire escape" imagery woven in. The video tells the tale of two wacky waving tube people falling in love and causing general mayhem everywhere they go. It's definitely a sweet video and I would say it's probably my favorite from 2017. In an age where bands don't put much thought into turning videos into stories, McMahon has done a wonderful job making something cute and hilarious. This song fell just a few hundred thousand short of 10 million itself.

Title: Fire Escape
Artist: Ander McMahon in the Wilderness
Album: Zombies on Broadway

Previous #18s
2016: House of Heroes - In The End
2015: New Found Glory - Selfless
2014: Bleachers - I Wanna Get Better
2013: Biffy Clyro - Black Chandelier
2012: Santigold - Disparate Youth
2011: House of Heroes - Galveston
2010: Rammstein - Fruhling in Paris
2009: Sick Puppies - I Hate You

The 2017 Jester One Music Top 20 Countdown - #19

 #19 - The Head and the Heart - Rhythm & Blues


There are a lot of folksy alternative groups who owe their current success to The Head and the Heart and their eponymous debut album from 2010. Since then, the band has been an indie rocket ship, and their most recent album "Signs of Light" peaking at #5 on the Billboard Top 200. The production has been ramped up and the band has forsaken much of their dialed-back, independent sound, but it's still a solid disc with lead singer All We Ever Knew climbing to the top of the US Alternative and Adult Alternative charts. I had the pleasure of seeing the band perform an intimate acoustic performance a few years back and I was quite impressed with the amount of passion this band pours into their art.

Rhythm & Blues has a pulsing back-beat of drums and piano accompanying Josiah Johnson and Jonathan Russell's harmonious voices. As is typical with many of the songs on the record, there seems to be a lot going on in this song, but at no point does it become disjointed or lack precision. In fact, for a folk song it's exceptionally tightly produced. I also love the line "stepped on my blue suede shoes, you made Elvis go crazy". The video is peculiarly strung together and features the band performing to a mostly-empty auditorium in costumes that could only have been purchased at a local thrift store hours before the shoot. The song itself reached #2 on the Adult Alternative charts and finished up the year with just short of 11 million streams on Spotify.
 







Title: Rhythm & Blues
Artist: The Head and the Heart
Album: Signs of Light



Previous #19s
2016: Metric - The Shade
2015: The Frozen Ocean - Kerosene
2014: Destiny Potato - Take A Picture
2013: Relient K - PTL
2012: Silversun Pickups - Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)
2011: The Knux - Razorblade
2010: Demon Hunter - Collapsing (ft Bjorn Strid)
2009: Parachute - She Is Love

The 2017 Jester One Music Top 20 Countdown - #20

#20 - Liam Gallagher - Wall of Glass



For being the lead singer of one of the most popular groups in the 1990s, Liam Gallagher has kept a fairly low profile since his brother Noel quit Oasis. Beady Eye (which was essentially Oasis minus his brother Noel) had some critical success, while Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds garnered major headlines. Liam had been uncharacteristically quiet the last few years before finally announcing a tour and new album coming in 2017. I wouldn't call it an Oasis clone, although there are some songs that bear unmistakable resemblance to classic hits, and I would go as far to say that For What It's Worth is essentially a re-imagining of mega-hit Don't Look Back In Anger. It's not a bad album though, with other standout tracks being Paper Crown and I Get By.

Wall of Glass was a song I first heard at work on our alternative rock muzak station, leading me to believe that Oasis had gotten back together without my knowledge. Of course, such a thing would essentially be impossible. The song has an unmistakable harmonica opening and catchy guitar riffs featured throughout. The video shows that Liam is still just as sassy and snarky as ever, throwing around lines like "...the stone you throw will turn back in it's path..." and "...anyone can see right through your eyes".  The video features him singing in several different locales, many of which feature mirrors, and even shows him wearing his trademark tinted glasses. Even at 45, you can tell he still fancies himself a major rockstar, and why not? Dude can flat-out sing and write catchy music. This song also has a whopping 17 million plays on Spotify for the year, which is the most of any of the songs on the countdown this year.






Title: Wall of Glass
Artist: Liam Gallagher
Album: As You Were





Previous #20s
2016: Safemode - Hold On
2015: Florence and the Machine - Ship to Wreck
2014: I, The Breather - Swine:Cult (ft Ricky Armellino)
2013: Grouplove - Ways To Go
2012: Reptar - Stuck in My Id
2011: Avril Lavigne - What The Hell
2010: Dark Tranquility - The Fatalist
2009: Collective Soul - Staring Down