Yes, it's February and I'm just now getting around to this. But really, I'm not. The top five or so from this past year were the hardest to sort out I think I've had since I started doing this.
So in a year where the full-scale return of sexy was publicized (I didn't even realize it had gone missing), the rap-rock craze breathed its last gasping breaths, leaning and shaking became all the rage, and a supermodel-dumping crybaby-voiced nancy boy threatened to bring the whole thing down, this is what we're left with. The cream of one man's crop.
THANKS FOR PLAYING:
Mary J. Blige - "Enough Cryin'"
Chamillionaire - "Ridin'"
Jay-Z - "Show Me What You Got"
Audioslave - "Revalations"
Bubba Sparxx - "Ms. New Booty"
Field Mob feat. Ciara - "So What"
Gnarls Barkley - "Gone Daddy Gone"
THE LIST:
15. The Killers - "When You Were Young"
You'd think there'd be more bands coming out of Las Vegas. (Yeah, I think people thought they were British when they got big because of their sound and that's where they were when Hot Fuss blew up.) The city's ripe with material, like regrets, expectations and temptations, all of which get touched on by this quartet of native sons.
14. KT Tunstall - "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"
It's so rare that I'm ahead of the curve on these things, but this song caught my attention months before Katharine McPhee covered it on Idol. Months, I say. Let me have this moment. I have so little; don't take this away from me.
13. Three Six Mafia - "Stay Fly"
When you win an Oscar, you can get away with making a whole bunch of songs about smoking pot and nobody will really bat an eyelash. Although I suspect that wouldn't have stopped this Tennessee outfit. What I like about this is that you've got five guys rapping over a beat that doesn't actually change, and none of them have the same style.
12. Beyonce (feat. Jay-Z) - "Deja Vu"
History may go on to remember this as Jay's best rapping of 2006, but it's Beyonce's groovy take on the theme of a woman who's got a guy that's got her all flustered that's the real star of this show.
11. Wolfmother - "Joker and the Thief"
"So I'll tell you all the story", and yet they don't. Not all of it, anyway. This Australian group isn't the next Jet only because they're so different. There's a very heavy and very obvious 70's rock influence in their stuff that I dig.
10. Nelly Furtado (feat. Timbaland) - "Promiscuous"
Wait, what? This was the end result of a semi-reinvention after a disappearing act, a development that had everybody scratching their heads when this dropped, so much so that I kept asking myself "Am I supposed to like this?" for about a month before I decided it didn't matter. Bonus point for the Steve Nash reference.
9. Ghostface Killa (feat. Ne-Yo) - "Back Like That"
Most MC's wouldn't touch a track about a guy feeling both angry and betrayed that his girl cheated on him with his worst enemy because it would sound like an incoherent, blubbering mess. But this is Ghostface, and he'll do what he damn well pleases. Also, this is one of about 43 songs Ne-Yo appeared on this year.
8. Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Dani California"
The natural successor to "By The Way"? Possibly. What it definitely is is a well-crafted fusion of the Peppers' old, harder rock sound and their more recent, more melodic approach.
7. Avenged Sevenfold - "Bat Country"
The title comes from Hunter S. Thompson's nickname for the near-wasteland that is the drive from Barstow, Calif., to Las Vegas, a stretch of barren desert that plays tricks on the mind as well as any and all drugs HST was on at the time. This is probably what it feels like.
6. AFI - "Miss Murder"
You may also know them as "A Fire Inside", and they've spent 15 years grinding in the neo-punk scene. This isn't so simple or straightforward, but it does rock.
5. Gnarls Barkley - "Crazy"
Cee-Lo's version of N.E.R.D.? Sort of, but not quite. If anything, he and producer Danger Mouse crossed even more genres. And somehow I must live in the only part of the country that didn't play this on three different stations.
4. Blue October - "Into the Ocean"
I normally hate overly emo, depressing themes in songs. If you're going to get me to like something like this, you have to do it either very well or very differently.
3. Kanye West (feat. Lupe Fiasco) - "Touch The Sky"
It's no "Gold Digger." And Kanye's still an egotistical twit. But this tale of "Hey, I made it! Now what?" is actually kind of fun in its own right. The horns help, as do Kanye's weird enunciation. This is also effectively Lupe Fiasco's debut, and anyone who can drop a Lupin III reference into a rap and have it make sense in context is okay by me.
2. Coldplay - "Talk"
I'm also surprised this wasn't a bigger hit. I think this group has missed the Top 15 exactly once. They've earned some time off.
1. Gomez - "How We Operate"
This prolific British quintet wins the year with a song about love and compromise, about moving forward and making do. It's got a bit of pop and a lot of heart.
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