The Top 15 Of 2007

Guess what's back?

You know the rules by now: the list goes back from December through the previous December. In a change from recent years, the bottom of this list is the one that got the most shuffling, as the top three or four slotted in nicely when all the polls reported.

MAYBE NEXT YEAR. WAIT, NO:
Jay-Z - "Lost One"
Fall Out Boy - "The Takeover, The Break's Over"
R. Kelly & Usher - "Same Girl" (Am I the only one who's stunned that R. Kelly still has a career?)
Beck - "Timebomb"
Paramore - "Misery Business"
Wilco - "What Light"
Nine Inch Nails - "Capital G"

WORST SONG OF NOT ONLY THIS YEAR, BUT RECENT MEMORY:
MIMS - "This Is Why I'm Hot" If music is your savior, you're a fucking heretic.

HIT IT:

15. Feist - "1 2 3 4"
This year's iPod Song of the Year.

14. Reverend and the Makers - "Heavyweight Champion of the World"
Jon McClure says what's on his mind and he's not afraid to tell you that, which has got a section of the English music press going "WTF mate" at his apparent ego and/or sanity. He's also brutally honest, as you can hear in this song that's about something only the absolute best of us have never experienced.

13. DJ Khaled (feat. A-Kon, T.I., Rick Ross, Fat Joe, Birdman & Lil' Wayne) - "We Takin' Over"
This seems like too many guys in the same spot for it to work, but the frenzy in the background actually ties everything together. My question is, what are they actually talking about? Are they backing rebel forces in Central America? I feel like the whole video should be convoys of 18-wheelers pulling into port cities.

12. The Hold Steady - "Stuck Between Stations"
This could have been a modest hit for Elvis Costello in another time.

11. Kanye West (feat. T-Pain) - "The Good Life"
Another variation on a theme by Mr. West. I think Butch's T-Pain/Nate Dogg comparison might be accurate, as he kills his hook here, but I've got no use for his solo stuff (Seriously. The coat check girl. You heard it here first.)

10. The White Stripes - "Icky Thump"
I'll let Rolling Stone take this one: "Wondering why there were so few great guitar riffs this year? Turns out Jack White used 'em all up in this song."

9. Spoon - "The Underdog"
And this is this year's "song that would have been much higher had it gotten any airplay whatsoever." Though I'm told it shows up in Cloverfield, so I guess that's something. Bonus points for the mariachis in the video.

8. Finger Eleven - "Paralyzer"
I fear history will remember this as their sellout song, and that's a shame because it's actually pretty funny and an unusual step for a group that doesn't usually do stuff like this.

7. Incubus - "Anna Molly"
See, I like it when the boys get tricky. But unlike "Nice To Know You" where the band takes some complex signatures and makes them sound easy while letting you know that it doesn't quite sound ... right, here it's Brandon Boyd wrapping his voice around the title and giving you something you're not expecting.

6. Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Hump de Bump"
As close to a return to their early funk-heavy days as we're going to get.

5. Fall Out Boy - "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race"
I'm hard-pressed to find a band that makes something sound like nothing and yet manages to keep its sense of humor about the whole thing like these guys. There's better lyrics and better musicianship out there (both even in their own catalog), but no song was as much fun to listen to as this one.

4. Amy Winehouse - "Rehab"
Forget for a moment the incredibly ironic title. Or that you could arguably trace the "How is that voice coming out of that girl?" question back to Fiona Apple's debut ("Criminal" still holds up, by the way.) Listen to the band. The band absolutely nails this. You could sneak this song onto any record during Motown's peak and it'd fit right in.

3. Kanye West - "Stronger"
Daft Punk! Seriously, who figured Kanye would turn to French house masters to try to do something "fresh and new"? That says a lot about a lot of things. The verses don't really go with the chorus, so it's almost like this is two separate songs, but I'm being nitty.

2. The Game (feat. Kanye West) - "Wouldn't Get Far"
You wouldn't think that the same nine girls that appear in every rap video would become a target worthy of the assault Game unleashes here. But then you come to find out that it's partially because they're the same nine girls that appear in every rap video. I don't know if it's true or not, and I don't really care.

1. Nas - "Hip-Hop Is Dead"
Well, I don't know about dead, but there's no disputing that it's seen much better days. In retrospect, "The Takeover" may have been the best thing that ever happened to Nas - his response to that ("Ether") showed he still had it, and this indictment of what hip-hop has become is some of his best stuff in a long time.

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Now playing: Donny Hathaway - The Ghetto
via FoxyTunes