My New Year’s resolution is to keep my New Year’s resolution.
As I mentioned previously, I put together an album each year of my UC Davis friends’ favorite songs. Here’s last year’s album, as well as this year’s survey results and my 30 favorite songs of 2011. And here are the rules for this mix, copied from last year:
Refresher: the FC12 Music Project started when I wanted to gather favorite songs from my college roommates and their families and turn it into a CD. We lived in the 12th unit of a somewhat dingy apartment complex called Fountain Circle, hence the name of the project (FC12). So the final track listing mainly represents songs chosen by them but with some input from friends and even my students. Here’s the priority list:
- Number #1 song chosen by Fountain Circlers – 10 songs this year
- Any duplicates on top 5 lists of Fountain Circlers (meaning a song was on 2 lists) - this added 2 more songs
- 1 of the 3 most mentioned songs from all Friends – this added 1 more song (the others were already added)
- If only one song from a Fountain Circler’s list has been chosen–and they listed 5 songs–an additional song is chosen from #2 through #5 – 8 more songs, many overlaps
- 1 of the 3 most mentioned songs Overall (Friends + Students)
- Editor’s Choice (a song chosen at my discretion) - 1 more song
- Others at my discretion, based on fit, sound, smell. – 1 more song, for a total of 23.
I use #7 to kind of push the album somewhere thematically. I guess this year’s theme is Top 40, because we had a lot of entries that fit that category. Of course that’s normal, but it’s more pronounced this year than in the past. I think part of it is that I listed some prompts on the survey, including Top 100 lists that had many of the most radio-friendly songs this year. I also think this circle of friends leans more towards popular music than indie. I hang around a lot of academics now who pride themselves on finding the most obscure band or movie or book or theory or tomato breed. Not the case with my college friends. And I’m not saying one way is better than the other, because there isn’t a better way to listen to music. If you like it, and it makes you feel better, then listen to it.
One of the benefits of have popular songs on the list is that I don’t have to include the whole song. You’ve heard “Rolling in the Deep.” You’ve heard “Paradise.” So this allowed me to include a few extra songs by making a “radio sampler” of sorts–see song 7 below. Anyway, here we go!
1. Tune-Yards, “My Country” – Andrew #1
2. The Black Keys, “Howlin’ For You” – Nadia #2
3. The Head and The Heart, “Lost in My Mind” – Stacy #1 and Dan #3
4. Foster The People, “Pumped Up Kicks” – Diana #1, Evie #1, Stacy #5 and People’s Choice #1
We are now entering the “Radio Friendly” section of the mix. Evie loves this song.
5. Florence + The Machine, “Shake It Out” – Norris Family #1
6. Adele, “Set Fire to The Rain” – Heather #1
7. Radio Sampler
Black Eyed Peas, “Just Can’t Get Enough” – Blake #5
Britney Spears, “Till The World Ends” – Heather #2
Coldplay, “Paradise” – Stacy #3, Heather #4, Blake #4, Brian #6, and People’s Choice #4
Adele, “Rolling In The Deep” – People’s Choice #2 (tie)
Most of you have certainly heard these songs before, so I just included snippets to get more songs on the album. I made sure none of these songs were anybody’s #1 choice.
8. An instrumental version of the first 15 seconds “Let Her Cry” by Hootie and the Blowfish.
“But this song is so old?” Let me explain. Do you see those four songs above? Heather, my wife, likes to sing songs and get them stuck in my head. Those four songs (especially “Just Can’t Get Enough”) are merely a sample of her live earworm catalog. In addition, she likes to respond to…anything, really, by saying “your face.” As in:
“Heather, what should I get from the store?”
“Your face.”
“Heather, what should I put on Evie’s pizza?”
“Your face.”
“Heather, what time is it?”
“Your face.”
In order to respond to these habits, I started doing what I knew would annoy her more than anything in the world: singing post-alternative 90′s songs in a Darius Rucker/guy from Creed/person from Nickelback voice. Heather lumps them all together anyway. Really, “Let Her Cry” (cover version by Andrew Ishak), should be my song of the year. Putting 15 seconds on this mix gives me the chance to sing it often.
SHE SITS ALOOOOOOONE BY A LAMPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOST
9. Katy Perry, “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” – Brett’s “Guilty Pleasure” Selection
We’ve all given Brett a lot of heat for choosing Lady Gaga, Britney, and Katy Perry in the past. We actually like that he chooses those songs because it kind of fits the Brett narrative we all know, but he admits that he felt pressured to choose those songs for the very same reason. So this year would be different.
Look, Brett putting a song in the “guilty pleasure” category is like Paula Deen putting a recipe in the “Contains Butter” section of a cookbook. Like he must really secretly love this song if he put it in this category. Brett, I know where your secret garden is. This is the song you wanted on here. So it’s here now.
10. Maroon 5, “Moves Like Jagger” – Nadia #1 and Diana #5
11. Bruno Mars, “It Will Rain” – Brian #1 and Diana #4
Now seems like a good time to mention that this song is on the new Twilight soundtrack.
12. My Morning Jacket, “Holdin On To Black Metal” – Andrew #2
13. Foo Fighters, “Rope” – Dan #1
Right in the middle of the RAWK section. I LOVED the Foo in my younger days. I’m glad Dan chose this.
14. Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Brendan’s Death Song” – Brett #1
15. Teddy Thompson, “Delilah” – The Norris Family #2
We’re entering the love song section…
16. Amos Lee, “Flower” – Dan #4
17. Adele, “Someone Like You” – Blake #1, Diana #2, Stacy #4, and People’s Choice #2 (tie)
Who’s crying already?
18. Coldplay, “U.F.O.” – Andrew #3
Was going to be my Editor’s Choice but we had space for it. My selections were really short this year.
19. Justin Bieber, “Never Let You Go” – Brian’s Bieber selection
Heather and I were watching TV last night and noticed his voice is starting to drop. In all seriousness, good luck Mr. Bieber.
20. Brandon Heath, “It’s No Good to Be Alone” – Editor’s Choice
It’s not!
Here are the results of my annual music survey. I received 28 responses and about 115 unique songs. Then I added my 30 favorite songs of 2011.
Adele, 21
The songs with the most mentions are at the top; “Pumped Up Kicks” was the most popular song of 2011, and Adele was clearly the most popular artist, with 18 total mentions over 6 different songs from her new album, 21.
This list also includes everyone’s “guilty pleasure” songs, something that I ask for each year in the survey. It’s the song that you like but are a little bit ashamed to admit. Hey, that’s alright; music is music sometimes. I included those listings and marked them by using asterisks (*) in the list.
The reason I started doing this survey was to keep up with my friends from UC Davis, and I still make a “mixtape” (mix CD? playlist?) each year with our favorite songs. I include all their #1 choices and an assortment of others. The songs on that mix are denoted in bold below, and I’ll have the 2011 FC12 Mixtape up shortly.
Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks
Foster The People – Pumped Up Kicks* 8
Adele- Rolling in the Deep 6
Adele- Someone Like You 6
Coldplay – Paradise 4
Mumford & Sons – The Cave 4
Black Eyed Peas – Just Can’t Get Enough* 3
Katy Perry – Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)** 3
Lady Gaga – You and I* 3
Adele – Rumor Has It 2
Adele – Set Fire to the Rain 2
Black Keys, Howlin for You 2
Britney Spears – Til the world ends* 2
Bruno Mars – It will rain 2
Coldplay – Charlie Brown 2
Coldplay – Every Tear Drop is a Waterfall 2
Fleet Foxes, Montezuma 2
Florence + the Machine – Shake it Out 2
Florence + The Machine – Heavy in Your Arms 2
Jay-Z & Kanye West – N***** in Paris* 2
Katy Perry – ET* 2
Lady Gaga – The Edge of Glory 2
Lady Gaga-Born this Way 2
Lil Wayne – How to Love** 2
LMFAO – Party Rock Anthem* 2
Lupe Fiasco – The Show Goes On 2
M83 – Midnight City 2
Maroon 5, Moves Like Jagger 2
Selena Gomez – Love you like a love song* 2
The Band Perry – All Your Life 2
The Band Perry – If I die young 2
The Head and The Heart — Lost in My Mind 2
Adele – I Found A Boy
Adele – I’ll Be Waiting
Afrojack – No Beef (Pudlik Remix)
Afrojack and steve aoki- no beef
Alligator Sky – Owl City
aloe blac I need a dollar
Amos Lee — Flower
Anything For Love – Cobra Starship
Arctic Monkeys “That’s Where You’re Wrong”
Awolnation “Sail”
ben howard old pine
Beyonce – Countdown*
Big Boi – Daddy Fat Sax
Black Keys, Tighten Up
Blake Shelton – God Gave me you
Block After Block – Matt & Kim
Blue Scholars – Yuri Kochiyama
Bon Iver – Holocene
Bon Iver – Michicant
Bon Iver, Perth
Brandon Heath – The Light In Me
Bush – The Sound of Winter
Casey Abrams – With a Little Help From My Friends
Childish Gambino – All the Shine
Christina Perri, A Thousand Years
Coldplay – Mylo Xyloto/Hurts Like Heaven
Coldplay – U.F.O.
Cults, Go Outside
Das Racist ft. El-P – Shut Up, Man
David Guetta & Avicii – Sunshine
David Guetta Titanium feat sia
Dawes – If I wanted someone
Death Cab for Cutie – You Are a Tourist
Death Cab For Cutie “Portable Television”
Delilah – Teddy Thompson
Did I Let You Know – Red Hot Chili Peppers
Drew Kennedy – The Captain and the Highway
Ellie Goulding – Lights
Explosions in the sky – postcard from 1952
Explosions in the Sky, Last Known Surroundings
Florence + The Machine – Falling
Florence + the Machine- What the Water Gave Me-
Foo Fighters — Rope
Foo Fighters, Walk
Foster the People – Helena Beat
Frank Ocean – Novacane
goyte – somebody that i used to know
Graffiti 6 – Over You
Gregory Alan Isakov – Big Black Car
Grouplove – Tongue Tied
Gym Class Heroes – Stereo Hearts
Happy Rappy – Das Racist
Hayes Carll – Another Like You
Hot Chelle Rae – Tonight Tonight*
Hurricane – Panic! At The Disco
Jack Johnson, At or With Me
Jennifer Lopez -On the Floor
Justin Bieber – Never Say Never
Justin Bieber – Somebody to Love
Justin Bieber – Never Let You Go
Kanye West – All of the Lights
Kanye West & Jay-Z – Why I Love You
Kanye West- Monster
Kaskade llove
Kenny Chesney – You and Tequila
King of Anything – Sara Bareilles
Little Dragon “Brush The Heat”
LMFAO – Sexy and I Know It
Local Natives – Who Knows Who Cares
Lupe Fiasco – The Show Goes On [Explicit]
Mumford and Sons – Little Lion Man
My Morning Jacket – Holdin On to Black Metal
Neon Trees – Sins of My Youth
Nervo We’re all no one
OCD: Moosh & Twist – City Kids
Radiohead — Lotus Flower
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Brendan’s Death Song
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Monarchy of Roses
Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie
Rihanna “You Da One”
Rihanna, We Found Love
Rival Sons — Pressure and Time
Ryan Adams – Lucky now
Sahara Smith – The Real Thing
Saigon – Come On Baby (feat. Jay-Z & Swizz Beatz)
SBTRKT ft. Drake – Wildfire Remix
Sebastian Ingrosso – Calling
Shugo Tokumaru – Rum Hee
Taylor Swift – Enchanted
Taylor Swift- Back to December
Terius Nash ft. Pharrell – This Shit Real N****
The Afters – Light Up the Sky
The Beastie Boys – Nonstop Disco Powerpack
The Black Keys – Lonely Boy
The Naked and Famous – Punching in a Dream
The Pit Bull Dr. Pepper song*
The Roots “Make My”
The Rosebuds – Woods
The Weeknd – Coming Down
The Weeknd – Wicked Game
The Wilderness of Manitoba – Summer Fires
Thompson Square – Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not
Tinie Tempah – Simply Unstoppable
Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga – Lady is a Tramp
Tune-Yards – My Country
TV on the Radio, Will Do
Tyler the Creator – Yonkers
Usher – Without You
Washed Out – Amor Fati
Will Do – TV on the Radio
Young the Giant “My Body”
I compiled a list of my 30 favorite songs of 2011, not so you can see how cultured I am and how awesome my taste is, because the answer to both is “not very.” I made this list for the same reason I ask for your favorites at the end of each year: networking is one of the best ways to find new, great music.
Merril Garbus a.k.a Tune-Yards. Photograph by Ashley Jordan Gordon.
Yes, you can listen to the radio, or check the top 100 songs on iTunes, or use Pandora (or Spotify, or Napster, or Winamp, or a DiscMan, or a WalkMan, or go outside and find a guy with a BoomBox on his shoulder, or go to a phonograph club, or listen to the latest monk chants at your local monastery) and those collections will give you different viewpoints on what good music is. Not a bad viewpoint, but just something different. So I’m presenting my list to give you something different. And hopefully there’s something in there you like.
Each song is presented by category, along with the artist, and my overall annual ranking in ( ). And each title is a link to the song (which will open in a new window), so enjoy!
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Music That is So Cool You’ve Probably NEver Heard of It (Electronic/Hipster Rock Collection)
- “My Country”, Tune-Yards (1) – Silly name for an artist, wonderful music with eclectic sounds and influences (this is the only time I’ll get all music critic in this space). This song reminds me of MJ’s Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’. It’s crazy to think this is just one person (Merril Garbus) doing all this stuff. Check out the whole album, especially Bizness (sweet video) and Powa.
- “Midnight City”, M83 (21) – Sweet sax solo.
- “Tongue Tied”, Grouplove (24) – it’s in an Apple commercial, so you know it’s catchy.
- “Amor Fati”, Washed Out (27) - great throwback sound.
- “Woods”, The Rosebuds (28) - toy pianos sound fun.
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Afternoon Music (this is what my friend Sarah Zaitchik calls songs that are bouncy and energizing but not in your face)
- “Mylo Xyloto”/”Hurts Like Heaven”, Coldplay (4) – Take the fire from my belly and the beat from my heart.
- “I’ll be Waiting”, Adele (5) – Get better! Throat surgery doesn’t sound fun.
- “The Light in Me”, Brandon Heath (6) – Always uplifting.
- “Lights”, Ellie Goulding (8) - The slightly awkward dancing in this video reminds me of Duffy (who Criss introduced me to through our 2008 music survey–see, it’s good to share) “dancing” on SNL a few years back. Hey, British music execs: just let your singers sing. They don’t want to dance.
- “Set Fire to the Rain”, Adele (9) – If these songs were on cassette, my wife and I would have broken this one from overplaying it.
- “Charlie Brown”, Coldplay (11) – Looks like Afternoon Music has been cornered by people from England.
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Morning Music (a softer complement to Afternoon Music)
- “U.F.O”, Coldplay (3) - Kind of a nightly prayer in a way.
- “The Real Thing”, Sahara Smith (12) – She’s from Wimberly, right outside of Austin. I think my advisor, the guitar-playing academic/cowboy from Oklahoma, would like her album. Larry, are you reading this? Another song of hers, Train Man, sounds a lot like Wicked Game by Chris Isaak, whose name is spelled different than mine but close enough that we should be friends.
- “Summer Fires”, The Wilderness of Manitoba (18) – This reminds me of the summer fires we had here in Central Texas. Because of the title. If you didn’t get that part. Also because of the music.
- “Michicant”, Bon Iver (22) – Good album.
- “Rum Hee”, Shugo Tokumaru (30) – Probably the best Japanese song on this list.
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Songs That Make me Wish I Knew how to Play Electric Guitar
- “Holdin on to Black Metal”, My Morning Jacket (2) - listen to the song, and then listen to the Thai pop song it was based on.
- “With a Little Help From My Friends”, Casey Abrams (10) – My daughter’s second favorite song of the year. When it Casey’s album coming out? Is he still alive? Am I going to watch American Idol this coming season? So many important questions!
- “Howlin’ For You”, The Black Keys (25) – That video may have some parts you don’t want to watch, so instead, watch it in the MONEYBALL TRAILER. I still can’t believe Brad Pitt’s in a movie about the A’s.
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Songs for Running around Town Lake (a.k.a. that “Hippity Hoppity Music,” as my mother-in-law would say)
- “City Kids”, OCD: Moosh and Twist (7) – Great song by a pair of 18 year-olds from Philly. Uses a sample of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” Worth a listen, even if you don’t like hip hop. Also see “Live it Up”.
- “Daddy Fat Sax”, Big Boi (15) – I’m a bit ashamed to admit that this is my favorite running song. The music, lyrics, and delivery are all a bit obnoxious. But what are you gonna do.
- “The Show Goes On”, Lupe Fiasco (17) – Uses a sample of another popular song that is only 7 years old. I guess that should bother me?
- “Simply Unstoppable”, Tinie Tempah (20) - Good album (Disc-Overy). This seems like a good time to admit that I buy the clean version of songs when I can. This link is NOT the clean version.
- “Come on Baby”, Saigon featuring Jay-Z & Swiss Beatz (23) – Jay Z and Pitbull are in a competition to see who can be in more things.
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Radio Heavy Songs That I Still Like After 100 Listens
- “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)”, Katy Perry (14) – If you want me to like a song, put a saxophone solo in it.
- “Somebody to Love”, Justin Bieber (16) – I always play music before class for my University of Texas students, and they went CRAZY (in a good way) when I played Justin Bieber, singing along like it was Happy Birthday. Still weird that he has adults dancing behind him in every video, though, especially dreadlocked (?), powder-y shirtless lumberjacks (FF to 0:25).
- “Pumped Up Kicks”, Foster the People (19) – My daughter’s favorite song of the year. Dance party.
- “Light Up the Sky”, The Afters (26) - Cool song to watching lightning to.
- “Just Can’t Get Enough”, Black Eyed Peas (29) – Look, I’m just as disappointed as you are. But the ear wants what the ear wants.
What are you favorite songs of 2011? Leave a comment and let me know. Hope you enjoyed some of my favorites, and here’s hoping Hootie and the Blowfish releases a dubstep remix of their greatest hits in 2012.
