Top Songs of 2006

I seriously feel as though I do not know enough about the current state of pop music to fairly judge albums (I was once even told that my taste in music “looked a little old” – ha!), so I will name my personal Top 10 of songs made in 2006. These are songs I have played over and over, and mostly ones where when I hear it once, I really want to hear it again.

1. Belle and Sebastian – ‘Funny Little Frog’ First of all I would like to dedicate this song to my boyfriend, Jeff. *cough* I have to say this song is absolutely brilliant both musically and lyrically. First the music, with its horns, piano and accented guitar strums are all played with so much life behind it sounds like a white soul hit from the 1960s. Then the lyrics sound at first like your typical “You’re amazing, baby and I’ll love you till the day I die” love song until he starts talking about having one sided conversations with the object of his desire and then admitting he doesn’t even know how she smells. Well, what’s going on here then? If you don’t know, I’m not going to ruin it for you, but I will ask you to go to YouTube and look for this video and see for yourself. Sure, it’s a bit sad, but it’s such a completely amazing concept and I have to say tonight alone I played this song 5 times in like an hour and enjoyed every minute of it.

2. The Killers – “When You Were Young.” This reminds me in a way of U2’s “Where The Streets Have No Name,” not just in influence, but this song seems to be talking about a perfect place in one’s life, yet as opposed to U2’s state of utopia, this song seems to be about having childhood dreams and ideals that most people tend to give up as they get older, like when it comes to meeting the Perfect Someone, or seeing love as a kind of redemption for yourself. I tend to embarrass myself on the subway playing air guitar to this song or straining to hit the high “talks like a gentleman, like you imagined” bit every time I hear it. Who cares that fires have nothing to do with hurricanes?

3. Keane – “Is It Any Wonder?” I may have said it before but this is the song that completely changed my opinion on Keane. And I was tricked into thinking Keane had broadened their sound by putting a guitar into the mix. Apparently though, if you hook up a certain type of effects pedal to your keyboard, you get a sound that kind of resembles what The Edge played in his glory days of U2. Tom Chaplin’s voice is like an acrobat doing handstands and cartwheels on a tightrope – it’s amazing to witness.

4. Muse – “Starlight” Damn what a pretty song. What an absolutely gorgeous song. “I just wanted to hold you in my arms.” Matt Bellamy sings during the chorus. Well, if you’re going to twist my arm…but seriously. For a band concerning itself with distrust of political leaders, it’s good to hear them wanting to open up to someone else on a more personal level.

5. Razorlight – “In The Morning” Now, Johnny Borrell apparently has one of the biggest egos in all of rock music right now, and has made dumb ultimatums such as he’d only be a presenter at a British music awards night if he got to play a minute of Manic Street Preachers’ “Motorcycle Emptiness,” but this song is so addictive, even if it sounds like it is talking to a girl who seems to have too many drunken hookups and then wonders why she is feeling empty inside. God, I love rock songs you can actually dance to! I love both the beginning with the booming drums that slap you for your attention and the breakdown at the end, the “Are you gonna do it this time” that carries the song to the end.

6. Lily Allen – “LDN” It’s part of the postal code for London England. I love songs where the music sounds all happy but has some pretty dark and/or twisted lyrics. Here Lily sounds as though she is bouncing around the city (and indeed in the video you see her skipping down the street.) and if not enjoying the seedy side of life that comes with living smack-dab in the middle of a city at least accepting that when you choose to live in a city for its culture, diversity, and nightlife, you also have to deal with the homelessness, drug use and violence that comes with it.

7. Arctic Monkeys – “Fake Tales of San Francisco” It was the slightly funky guitar hook that dug its claws into me when I first heard this song. The Arctic Monkeys are OK. They are a very young band and it shows sometimes but I do have to say without a doubt that Alex Turner can definitely write some really good lyrics. This is about people trying to make the scene at a nightclub, something I have no interest in and thankfully, neither does Alex Turner. “Get off the bandwagon, put down the handbook” Indeed.

8. The Kooks – “Naïve” Part Two of Thinking About What the Hell I Was Doing When I Was 20 Years Old. Another ridiculously young band. But they have made such great music with their debut CD Inside In/Inside Out. Lots of the songs betray their age with mini tantrums in “You Don’t Love Me” and the somewhat ridiculous “Matchbox.” With its lyrics “The Kooks are coming out tonight,” it makes me wonder if they’re going to meet the Jets and have a rumble. I wonder: If you’re a Kook, are you a Kook all the way from your very first breath to your last dying day? Someone should ask them that, but then again with their average age of 20, they may not want to admit to having any knowledge of West Side Story. Anyways, end the random ramble here. I think I like “You Don’t Love Me” best because it just charges ahead full of steam but “Naïve” was the first song to introduce me to this band and I am pretty excited about what they may do later on in their career. People may dismiss them as shite with a shite singer, but if anyone’s ever heard any old U2 recordings, Bono didn’t come blessed with a golden throat from the start, either.

9. My Chemical Romance – “Welcome to the Black Parade” Oh Christ, I have a song on here from a band that everyone and their mother and their mother’s dog considers “emo.” I am not 15 years old but I love this song. I love it. I love it. It’s big. It’s bombastic. It’s grandiose. Not since Jeff Buckley’s Grace has anyone made dying (which while is a part of life, still scares the shit out of many people) sound like such a noble, dignified thing.

10. Scissor Sisters – “Paul McCartney” I love this song because it’s gently making fun of a pop icon by creating a song whose music could have easily been a backing track for many songs by Wings. It starts with some “whooo!”ing Paul McCartney style from the band members, the bass guitar and the hi-hat is way up in the mix, there’s some hand clapping thrown in there. It is such a fun song to listen to mainly because it sounds like it was so much fun to record.


Honorable Mentions: “Incinerate” by Sonic Youth, “Never Be Lonely” by The Feeling, “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” by KT Tunstall, “That Old Pair of Jeans” by Fatboy Slim, “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley, and “You’re All I Have” by Snow Patrol.