crash46's Top 200 of 2008

[crash46]

Alright, it's time to get this thing started. Surprisingly, coming up with the two hundred songs came much easier than they did in '07, in spite of drifting further away from a weekly personal chart, listening to radio significantly less, having mediabase pull the rug out from under everything but its top 50's on all the charts, only purchasing six CD's all year, and going the final two months of the year basically without listening to music due to my iPod troubles (which I was finally able to recover from in mid-January).

While I thought of 2006 and 2007 as great years in music, 2008 did have its moments, but what I will remember most about the year in music is that the majority of my most preferred artists spent the entire year out of the spotlight, the next wave of B-list artists left much to be desired, and newcomers largely failed to make much of a splash, leaving the door open for mediocre artists to step up and dominate the charts.

So here they are; comin' at ya in installments of 50 at a time, as I'm not about to just sit and type all this out at once...

200. Puscifer - "Queen B" (#130 of 2007) (The evening jock at 89x used this as a music bed all year, despite never having played the actual song. It's awesome in that role.)
199. Hot Chip - "Ready For The Floor" (Started off as a fresh sounding track but got continuously more annoying with each listen.)
198. Rihanna - "Don't Stop The Music" (Would have been better in smaller doses.)
197. Flobots - "Rise" (Let's face it; they're destined to live in the shadow of their breakthrough hit as long as they exist, no matter how good their songs may be.)
196. Beck - "Gamma Ray"
195. Anberlin - "The Feel Good Drag" (Would have been higher if I'd ever had any chance to hear it on the radio.)
194. Kanye West - "Heartless"
193. Santogold - "Creator" (Caught my attention from a spin on a CHR/Rhythmic station. Song was identified following the song. What a find for them.)
192. John Legend (featuring Andre 3000) - "Green Light"
191. Madonna (featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland) - "4 Minutes"
190. Lady GaGa (featuring Colby O'Donis) - "Just Dance" (Should be fine for '09.)
189. Franz Ferdinand - "Ulysses"
188. Eddie Vedder - "Hard Sun" (#100 of 2007) (Seriously, there isn't much Eddie being Eddie could do with an old Indio song that could make it much useful past its novelty stage.)
187. Yael Naim - "New Soul" (I was amused that a song in 2008 featured what sounded like a French horn.)
186. Jack's Mannequin - "Resolution"
185. AC/DC - "Rock 'N' Roll Train" (Eh, AC/DC is lucky I don't think their music is unlistenable anymore. They don't really have much to add that isn't already pretty well covered in their heritage hits.)
184. Spoon - "Don't You Evah"
183. Katy Perry - "Hot N Cold" (Katy is lucky I gave her a second chance after her abyssmal breakthrough smash hit, even though the only thing that made it so awful was its double standard.)
182. Augustana - "Sweet And Low" (My Triple A phase came and went this year. This song fell right in between the coming and the going.)
181. Avenged Sevenfold - "Lost" (Didn't get to see this song at their Taste of Chaos concert, but A7X + AutoTune = Win.)
180. Serj Tankian - "Beethoven's Cunt" (Just call it the Rock Band fifth single. Only to find out they were going to defy all possible explanation and push "Honking Antelope" as single #5. How ridiculous.)
179. Colbie Caillat - "Realize"
178. Avenged Sevenfold - "Gunslinger" (a ToC performance highlight.)
177. Snoop Dogg (featuring Akon) - "Sexual Eruption"
176. Jordin Sparks - "Tattoo" (The first Jordin song I'd knowingly heard was "No Air", which was one of the year's worst singles. This however turned out to be a fine pop tune, corn-ball lyrics and all.)
175. Wolfmother - "Joker & The Thief" (Wolfmother makes three appearances here in 2008, as it was the year I gained the appreciation of the rest of their album besides "Woman". They sure put on a show at Lollapalooza '06. What a shame they've been whittled down to one-third of their original size, otherwise I'd be shivering with excitement over a new record.)
174. My Chemical Romance - "House Of Wolves" (Self-inflicted fifth single from The Black Parade, stemming from their concert performance midway through the year.)
173. Dredg - "Same Ol' Road"
172. Dredg - "The Canyon Behind Her" (I finally got to see Dredg last year, and in preparation, I re-acquainted myself with their El Cielo record. The beauty of "Canyon" stood out like it never had before, then the band ends up wrapping up the show with it. I tossed "Same Ol' Road" a bone as well, as an official acknowledgment that I'd seriously missed the boat on it first time around. They opened with that.)
171. Apocalyptica (featuring Adam Gontier) - "I Don't Care" (I'm a sucker for string arrangements. That aside, truly forgettable song.)
170. Framing Hanley - "Lollipop" (Yeah, I'll be shocked if they ever chart again.)
169. The Duke Spirit - "The Step & The Walk"
168. Angels & Airwaves - "Everything's Magic" (#139 of 2007) (Pretty big disappointment considering the success of "The War" and "The Adventure".)
167. Coheed and Cambria - "The Running Free" (#152 of 2007) (Same as above, though it seemed less likely they'd be able to duplicate the magic of "Welcome Home", or to a lesser extent, "A Favor House Atlantic".)
166. Wolfmother - "Colossal"
165. The Kooks - "Always Where I Need To Be" (Surprised to hear this upbeat track from them, and that they have been able to weakly, but seamlessly, hit the chart four times.)
164. The Raconteurs - "Consoler Of The Lonely" (This and "Salute Your Salution" were so far out in left field compared to the hits on their first record that they worked out surprisingly well.)
163. Miley Cyrus - "See You Again" (The blame is placed upon the girl I like.)
162. She Wants Revenge - "True Romance" (#122 of 2007) (They play one note and play it so damn well; it's a shame they were given up upon.)
161. Rihanna - "Rehab"
160. Matchbox Twenty - "How Far We've Come" (Welcome back guys; first appearance since the first week of 2003.)
159. Fall Out Boy - "I'm Like A Lawyer With The Way I'm Always Trying To Get You Off (Me + You)"
158. O.A.R. - "Shattered (Turn The Car Around)"
157. Estelle (featuring Kanye West) - "American Boy"
156. Cut Copy - "Lights and Music"
155. Gavin Rossdale - "Love Remains The Same"(I'm stunned, actually, at how big this became at multiple formats. Good for Gavin.)
154. Leona Lewis - "Better In Time" (A fine start for her with two very solid breakthrough hits.)
153. Portishead - "Machine Gun" (Another "Welcome back" need be issued here.)
152. Kanye West - "Stronger" (#18 of 2007)
151. Oasis - "The Shock Of The Lightning"

[a Nick O!]

So far so good, except that "Sexual Eruption" was Snoop unassisted.

(Unless you know of some remix I'm not privy to, in which case, you might've helped me out by including "(Remix)" in the title.)

[crash46]

Moving right along...

150. One Day As A Lion - "Wild International" (Like most, it didn't wow me at all when I first heard it, but a recent shuffle into this track left me wishing I'd gotten a few more chances for it to grow.)
149. Linkin Park - "Bleed It Out" (#72 of 2007)
148. Buckcherry - "Sorry"
147. Kevin Rudolf - "Let It Rock" (Would have been higher if the year were a month longer.)
146. Gnarls Barkley - "Who's Gonna Save My Soul" (Very underrated track that I was fortunate enough to hear in a Jc Penney's store twice during the week "Run" went for adds. Otherwise I may never have. I went 5 months before hearing it again and I had to do the dirty work.)
145. Killswitch Engage - "Holy Diver"
144. Against Me! - "New Wave" (I had to play select-a-single after the album was left for dead.)
143. Daughtry - "Feels Like Tonight" (Even though the memory of the most obviously payola driven chart run in Alternative History with "It's Not Over" remains, there's no denying this hit.)
142. Chris Brown - "With You" (Well, here he is, as I remain in the seemingly 1% of the populace who can wait for the courts to decide his fate.)
141. MGMT - "Kids" (Like this very much now, but still nowhere in the ballpark as "Time To Pretend", which I might as well print on my gravestone!)
140. Carbon/Silicon - "The News" (Good find, Matt.)
139. Wolfmother - "White Unicorn" (See previous Wolfmother entries. This is their highest one.)
138. Weezer - "Troublemaker" (Nothing memorable here aside from a couple one-liners.)
137. Enur (featuring Natasja) - "Calabria 2007/8"
136. Kid Rock - "All Summer Long" (My rant about Nickelback bashing on Pulse also applies to Kid Rock.)
135. 50 Cent - "I'll Still Kill"
134. 50 Cent (featuring Justin Timberlake) - "Ayo Technology"
133. Shiny Toy Guns (featuring Binary Finary) - "When Did This Storm Begin"
132. Brand New - "Millstone" (Glad I didn't give up on this album after their two radio singles faded away. Gotta give Nick some credit for that.)
131. Bullet For My Valentine - "All These Things I Hate (Revolve Around Me)" (#114 of 2007) (A concert highlight that I didn't get to see their first time around, and a song I appreciated more through preparing for their set. #114 for 2007 seems so low now.)
130. Britney Spears - "Womanizer" (I wish I could have liked this more; it really doesn't touch any of the three hits from her last CD that actually had me interested in the Circus album, whose title track isn't memorable either.)
129. Shiny Toy Guns - "Season Of Love/Poison/Blown Away" (A rare combined entry here, as the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. They'd all be side-by-side anyway.)
128. Scars On Broadway - "World Long Gone" (I played "They Say" at the pool hall jukebox, and the next one who played the jukebox went ahead and picked this song, which I may have heard once at that point. It was awesome and I wish I'd seen who picked it so I could have shaken his or her hand.)
127. Ludo - "Go Getter Greg" (I'm so bummed this isn't even going to make the top 40. How could anyone not want to hear this song.)
126. Natasha Bedingfield - "Pocketful of Sunshine" (God that refrain, it was half a year of hearing it in stores thinking it was an old song called "Take Me Away" that I'd somehow missed out on because there wasn't a song with that title in any of the report cards.)
125. Mindless Self Indulgence - "Never Wanted To Dance" (Not sure how they could have as sizeable of a fanbase as they have, and they still couldn't hit with this.)
124. Metallica - "The Day That Never Comes" (I got into "St. Anger" much more quickly than this, but still, I'm mad at how infrequently I was able to hear this song, compared to its peak and longevity on the chart.)
123. Serj Tankian - "Lie Lie Lie"
122. Apocalyptica (featuring Corey Taylor) - "I'm Not Jesus"
121. Sixx: AM - "Life Is Beautiful" (I was surprised I got into this at all, but its longevity was preposterous, especially around here.)
120. Death Cab For Cutie - "Cath..." (And I never thought a Death Cab song would fade into the sunset with me wishing I could have heard it more, but it happened here. This fell squarely into that November/December musical dead zone I mentioned in the first post.)
119. Good Charlotte - "Dance Floor Anthem" ("All Night" on ESPN Radio played this coming out of a commercial break. Another song that's awesome in a role like that. So I gave it the chance I was missing out upon when it was tearing up the pop chart two years ago.)
118. Chevelle - "I Get It" (#60 of 2007)
117. The White Stripes - "You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do What You're Told)" (#65 of 2007)
116. Mudvayne - "Do What You Do" (It's somewhat growing now, yet it's still no "Happy?", "f***ing Determined", "World So Cold", "Not Falling"...you get the idea.)
115. Serj Tankian - "Empty Walls" (#91 of 2007) (Bad timing kept this from charting very high overall for either year.)
114. Queens of the Stone Age - "3's and 7's" (#8 of 2007)
113. Linkin Park - "Leave Out All The Rest" (Another iPod bug victim, and I may have gotten to hear it once on the radio, too.)
112. Flo Rida (featuring T-Pain) - "Low" (One of the year's more notable guilty pleasures. The followup was basically garbage, and the new song will have to find me now.)
111. Dragon Force - "Through The Fire And Flames" (#111 of 2007) (Yes, it was sheer coincidence that this ended up in the exact position it was in a year ago, but if I'd taken all my 2008 listens and slid them over into '07, it's nowhere near as low as #111.)
110. Santogold - "L.E.S. Artistes" (I'm interested in her album now, if anyone is still reading and willing to share!)
109. Avenged Sevenfold - "Scream" (We'll see how this ends up for this year as the third single, after first impressions called for it to be the second single. Not sure how I didn't chart this last year.)
108. Bleeding Through - "Orange County Blonde And Blue" (The new song they introduced at their show.)
107. Bleeding Through - "Death Anxiety" (...and the real first single, although I was too into "Sister Charlatan" to really be thinking of either of the last two as singles. Not like airplay or anything was going to change that.)
106. Gob - "Banshee Song" (Another song I'd gone a couple months before knowing who it was. I couldn't believe my ears when the jock said it was Gob. They finally made a noteworthy song!)
105. Jack Johnson - "If I Had Eyes" (#192 of 2007) (All his songs are more or less exactly alike, but it's easy to appreciate them being around.)
104. Atreyu - "When Two Are One" (I so wish this could have been a radio hit. One of the most badass outro's ever.)
103. Blaqk Audio - "Cities of Night" (#120 of 2007) (God, it sucks balls that they had to cut this album off after just one hit.)
102. Panic At The Disco - "Nine In The Afternoon" (It was already too late by the time this one came around, after a very underwhelming first impression.)
101. Jimmy Eat World - "Let It Happen" (The chart performances of the Chase This Light singles piss me off so bad. It was nice, however, to hear its title track get a couple spins in some stores. Very nice.)

[Mega248]

Bump!

No excuse for the delay this year, because I'm assuming you haven't already compiled your 101st through 200th favorite songs of 2008 but not your favorite through 100th favorites.

[crash46]

I'm sorry. I'd been busy for so long, and I tried to get it back up tonight but failed, since now I've got some other s*** I'm trying to deal with which is making it really hard to concentrate.

It won't be forgotten and it will be this year.

[Pipa]

Can I safely assume this will make the chart?

[crash46]

Alright guys, here we go...

100. The Black Keys - "Strange Times" (Nice feel-good, little-engine-that-could story here, after it seemed destined to miss the chart for the longest time.)
99. Breaking Benjamin - "Until The End" (I happen to think this rocks pretty hard and I like it.)
98. Timbaland (featuring Keri Hilson) - "The Way I Are" (#20 of 2007)
97. The Gaslight Anthem - "The '59 Sound" (This actually took awhile for me to catch on to it after seeming bland and overrated upon first impression. Should end up just as high in '09.)
96. Hinder - "Use Me" (Well how's this for a guilty pleasure--and one that I could relate to. Back when the song was hot, at least.)
95. Taylor Swift - "Teardrops On My Guitar"
94. Muse - "Exo-Politics" (I couldn't let "Map of the Problematique" be the end of the rope, as well as it did, so this became the house 6th single, upon realization that I was among the first group of people to see this song live.)
93. HIM - "Passion's Killing Floor" (Seriously, Sire Records (of the Warner Music Group)? Seriously???)
92. Alicia Keys - "No One" (#163 of 2007)
91. Vampire Weekend - "A-Punk" (Saw its video the other day at the gym. Would have been nice and likely could have done better if its only other source for its airplay wasn't my computer.)
90. Paramore - "crushcrushcrush" (I was really teetering on the fence with this one until both "That's What You Get" and "Decode" came out strong. I'm mad that I won't be seeing them when they come around with No Doubt.)
89. Alkaline Trio - "Help Me"
88. Muse - "Map of the Problematique" (#143 in 2007, #52 of 2006) (Yeah, this would have shattered my chart longevity record by some 30-40 weeks. The only other song to have charted on three year end charts was "Jesus of Suburbia", which actually made it on four.)
87. T.I. - "Whatever You Like"
86. 3 Doors Down - "It's Not My Time"
85. Weezer - "Pork And Beans" (This lasted way too long and only seeing its video allowed burnout's gas pedal to be let up upon.)
84. Death Cab For Cutie - "I Will Possess Your Heart" (Not an exception to my case for a Death Cab 2 month recurrent rule.)
83. Linkin Park - "Shadow Of The Day" (#96 of 2007)
82. Sum 41 - "Walking Disaster" (#85 of 2007) (It's actually a shame these guys' commercial peak came when their music was basically disposable crap.)
81. Disturbed - "Inside The Fire" (How did they become such a big deal? Try the same thing 1000 times and you'll get different (better) results!)
80. R.E.M. - "Supernatural Superserious"
79. T.I. (featuring Rihanna) - "Live Your Life"
78. Pennywise - "The Western World" (I have never not been responsible for the playing of any Pennywise song I've ever heard.)
77. Kings of Leon - "Sex On Fire" (I must admit, I'm starting to just believe their new album is just better than their others, and that's why they're doing so well. I'm still far from believing they're a band packing a 1-2 punch to the #1 spot, though.)
76. Gwen Stefani - "4 In The Morning" (This got steady retail store airplay all year. Thank God they only fell for these types of songs from her.)
75. Brand New - "Degausser" (This really made their two 'hit' songs out of its era seem mediocre. Interscope has really dropped the ball on them.)
74. Shiny Toy Guns - "Ghost Town" (Sisely's 'rapping' is truly an acquired taste, but once I got the hang of that, this really came on strong at the end of the year.)
73. Playaz Circle (featuring Lil' Wayne) - "Duffle Bag Boy"
72. MGMT - "Electric Feel" (It's unusual how this and "Kids" were such slow growers after the instant no-doubter that their first hit was.)
71. Band Of Horses - "Is There A Ghost?" (#162 of 2007)
70. The White Stripes - "Conquest" (If you ever need to make a train wreck sound interesting, call Jack White.)
69. The Foo Fighters - "Long Road To Ruin" (#154 of 2007)
68. The Foo Fighters - "The Pretender" (#45 of 2007) (Why wouldn't they finish back to back?)
67. Britney Spears - "Piece Of Me"
66. Britney Spears - "Break The Ice" (And why wouldn't these finish back-to-back?)
65. Fergie - "Clumsy" (Yeah, I couldn't resist this song and it's fine rhythmic work.)
64. Shinedown - "Devour" (And I still haven't heard "Second Chance" all the way through.)
63. Rise Against - "The Good Left Undone" (#119 of 2007)
62. Scars On Broadway - "They Say" (Another one I wish I could have heard more of. One play on Out Of Order, one play on somebody else's jukebox selection, the rest was all me.)
61. Radiohead - "Bodysnatchers"
60. HIM - "The Kiss Of Dawn" (#63 of 2007)
59. Spoon - "The Underdog" (I had a tennis match over the summer. I played on a team that ended up 2-15 for the season. During my 2-mile drive to the courts to face an undefeated team, this song randomly shuffled in. What timing. It was awesome.)
58. Atreyu - "Slow Burn" (This one random shuffled recently, and sounded better than it ever had before. I guess I missed out...)
57. Against Me! - "Thrash Unreal" (#5 of 2007)
56. Foxboro Hot Tubs - "Mother Mary" (I'm kind of shocked this didn't do better, nationally.)
55. Silversun Pickups - "Little Lover's So Polite" (I keep hearing this one from being the next song down from "Panic Switch" on their myspace page. Damn, another boat missed.)
54. Fall Out Boy - "I Don't Care" (This sounded great on the radio on either format. F**k backlash.)
53. Rise Against - "Re-Education (Through Labor)"
52. OneRepublic (& Timbaland) - "Apologize" (#76 of 2007)
51. Flobots - "Handlebars" (Even though they had one-hit-wonder status branded all over 'em, I actually believe right now that this song ultimately ended up underrated.)

And that's it for right now. One update away from the top!

[crash46]

Done.

50. Rehab - "Sittin' At A Bar (a.k.a. Bartender Song)" (Had to figure it was about a gazillion-to-one chance of them hitting the chart again before this song. Hats off to them for finding a way.)

49. The Raconteurs - "Salute Your Solution" (I don't know, this did click instantly at first, but as time moved on, it just sounded more and more like poorly sorted noise.)

48. Coldplay - "Lost!" (After hearing the news that another fish had gotten away from me while at work, inexplicably from a third party I might add, time stood still for a little bit. Moments later, "Lost!" chillingly was the very next song played over the PA, as if God Himself was watching. I couldn't have picked a more appropriate song. It was the first of 70 consecutive songs to which I paid attention that were all "Lost!". This was a month ago and I still don't really feel all that much better about it today. And none of this has anything to do with the song being #48 of 2008.)

47. The Airborne Toxic Event - "Sometime Around Midnight" (If I were them, I'd be like "Nice work gentlemen...but let's not go suckin' each others' dicks just yet" [/The Wolf from Pulp Fiction]. I'm having doubts about a followup hit now.)

46. Linkin Park - "Given Up" ("One Step Closer" is better, without question, but I'm glad they finally put up another song in that vein for the first time since then.)

45. Atreyu - "Falling Down" (I won't beat the dead horse about how I wish another song was this big or how this song became sit-down time at their concert. This is a damn good song.)

44. Leona Lewis - "Bleeding Love" (Beautiful song and my allocation of music played didn't burn me out on this song like it did the rest of the world.)

43. Silversun Pickups - "Well Thought Out Twinkles" (#36 of 2007) (Even though it'll probably end up the lowest rank of their three singles, the rankings speak for themselves.)

42. Atreyu - "Becoming The Bull" (#13 of 2007) (It was excitement to watch this climb the chart. A peak of #12 isn't too shabby for their first hit.)

41. Bullet For My Valentine - "Scream, Aim, Fire" (#176 of 2007) (I could live with this always being the song that opens their concert sets.)

40. OneRepublic - "Stop And Stare"

39. Shiny Toy Guns - "You Are The One" (#4 of 2007)

38. The Offspring - "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid"

37. The Bravery - "Believe" (#113 of 2007)

36. The Ting Tings - "Shut Up and Let Me Go" (What a fluke, withe their other two hits being among the worst songs of the year. How they all became hits is completely beyond my grasp. Scary thing is though, I still haven't grown weary of this, as it's one of the videos that gets played often at the gym.)

35. Bleeding Through - "Sister Charlatan" (Strongest first impression after first plays of Declaration, surpassing the official and street singles.)

34. Tiger Army - "Forever Fades Away"

33. Flogging Molly - "Float" (I underestimated just how big a deal these guys are before the good ol' pool hall jukebox came into my life. Haven't gone one night without hearing from them.)

32. Paramore - "Decode" (First song of theirs I was able to listen to as someone bearing any semblance of a fan.)

31. Avenged Sevenfold - "A Little Piece Of Heaven" (#182 of 2007) (The song that best grabbed my attention my first times through their self titled album, and two separate crazes for this song were sparked by their surprise encore performance of this at their show, and when an unknown patron at the pool hall played this on the jukebox.)

30. The Killers - "Shadowplay" (An intriguing single released right into the forefront of peak Killers burnout.)

29. Seether - "Rise Above This" (This leaps past "Driven Under" for strongest Seether hit. I wish it could have done more on Pop.)

28. Nine Inch Nails - "Discipline" (This really didn't impress me all that much until I started preparing to see his show, which blew me away.)

27. Flyleaf - "All Around Me" (#42 of 2007) (And added to 89x early this year. I must say I'm slightly anxious to hear from them again.)

26. Slipknot - "Psychosocial"

25. Kanye West (featuring Dwele) - "Flashing Lights"

24. Bullet For My Valentine - "Hearts Burst Into Fire" (I will beat the dead horse about how inexplicable and inexcusable it was for this to miss Alternative altogether.)

23. Paramore - "That's What You Get" (Easily the best Riot! single. Not sure why it struggled so much everywhere it was sent.)

22. Incubus - "Love Hurts" (Yeah, I wanted it to see the light of 2007, but can't really argue with the return on this song.)

21. The Foo Fighters - "Let It Die" (Once I got over how easy The Foo Fighters have it on radio with anything they do, I paid closer attention to this song and realized that it is just brilliant song structure.)

20. Jimmy Eat World - "Always Be" (I always get more radio help with Jimmy's hits than most people do. They should be almost the staple The Foo Fighters are.)

19. Shiny Toy Guns - "Rainy Monday" (#69 of 2007) (The first Shinys song I heard on the radio. My appreciation for it reached an all time high when watching their show in February.)

18. Coldplay - "Vida la Vida" (Yeah, I have the song's predecessor higher up on my list, but I'm over that now and I'm honestly thrilled at what this song accomplished.)

17. Avenged Sevenfold - "Almost Easy" (#78 of 2007) (This was actually overshadowed by other songs of theirs that I enjoyed more.)

16. Serj Tankian - "Sky Is Over" (This was totally underrated.)

15. Gnarls Barkley - "Run" (This was even more underrated.)

14. Jimmy Eat World - "Big Casino" (#11 of 2007) (Not a whole lot of songs have done this well for me two years in a row.)

13. The Offspring - "Hammerhead" (Best Offspring hit since "Come Out and Play".)

12. Ludo - "Love Me Dead" (Never got tired of this one and I think this band is completely fascinating off the stage.)

11. M.I.A. - "Paper Planes" (It was a massive struggle making it through every other song I've heard from her. I can't believe how much better this is.)

10. Kanye West - "Love Lockdown" (I couldn't get enough of this song and its production.)

9. Coldplay - "Violet Hill" (So "Viva" was more accessible and more successful, which is alright, but songs like "Violet Hill" are what makes Coldplay amazing just as much.)

8. Shiny Toy Guns - "Ricochet!" (I was as excited for this song as I was anything else last year. It didn't disappoint.)

7. Against Me! - "Stop!" (This was just as good as "Thrash Unreal"; shame it couldn't have done just as well.)

6. Innerpartysystem - "Don't Stop" (God damn it; I love this song so much I actually agreed to go see them as one of the openers for 3Oh!3, which became the worst concert experience I've ever been a part of. Nice start for these guys nonetheless.)

5. Flogging Molly - "Requiem For A Dying Song" (Infectious as any other song last year. I'm sure it would have been awesome to hear on the radio.)

4. Lupe Fiasco (featuring Matthew Santos) - "Superstar" (Well deserved breakthrough hit with hooks impossible to ignore.)

3. Ashes Divide - "The Stone" (This song and its meager #15 peak with no followup was the centerpiece of my radio grievance that reached its breaking point last year.)

2. MGMT - "Time To Pretend" (The song of Summer '08. The song was awesome on it's own, but being a relatable song about the dream I felt I was living made it that much better.)

1. Avenged Sevenfold - "Afterlife" (#197 of 2007) (...Yet this would have been #1 for most of the summer, likely for more than 16 weeks which would have been a chart record. It didn't have a ton of competition, but that wouldn't have made much of a difference. The song is just that f***ing good, and it was my most played song of all the last five years before my "Lost!" binge.)

[a Nick O!]

God bless ya, Steve. Your charts and commentary are so awesome for me to read because we agree on so much, but it's just as fascinating to see what you like a lot more than I do, what resonates more with you than me.

It hurts my heart to hear vaguely of your devastating heartbreak and that your playlist locked on "Lost!" was legitimate. (And not only that, but seven times over!) We haven't gotten to talk in so long...

[crash46]

Thanks, Nick. Yeah, it has been awhile, hasn't it?