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All you want is entertainment? Rip this open, it's free: 2K5's top singles (D&D W/O).Dec 30 '05 Write an essay on this topic.
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The tongue-in-cheek intro to Fountains of Wayne’s largely underwhelming rarities and b-sides collection, Out-of-State Plates, stages a rock critic (Ken Tucker, presumably the brother of Quahog’s Tom) stating that he’s “gone fishin’ for power pop.” Which is as good an analysis for the year in singles as any, really; what unifies most of the following 22 tracks isn’t a genre, a baseline, or even a great set of video concepts. What lies within are largely examples of that “catchy, guitar-based music” that, whether they meant it or not, FoW seemed to prophesy would be in excess this year. 22. “Maureen,” Fountains of Wayne And what better place to begin than with the boy wonders themselves? After all, it wasn’t that long ago that Fountains of Wayne had the world thinking about the mom next door before Desperate Housewives’ soap-operatic humor managed to make itself the next big thing. Maybe we’re all missing something here; maybe there’s more to a Fountains of Wayne single than an obscenely catchy hook, an obscene/taboo premise, and more wit than you have in your little finger. Naah? Didn’t think so. 21. “Do What You Want,” OK Go Though it’s their first single (“A Million Ways”) that produced the video that absolutely demanded that I buy Oh No, it’s their admittedly far too close to Franz Ferdinand for me to feel comfortable second single here that demanded that I like it. I get a sneaking suspicion every time I listen to that sophomore album, though, that I’m cheating on the boys from Glasgow (as OK Go successfully borrowed their first producer to make Oh No), but that doesn’t diminish the solidity of this beat. 20. “Use It,” The New Pornographers What I thought was to be the lead single off of Twin Cinema (“High Art, Local News”) turned out to be a B-side, which was fine considering the good-yet-blasé condition in which the album proper was delivered. “Use It,” on the other hand, delivers one of the album’s most audacious lines (“Two drinks from the cup of human kindness and I’m sh!tfaced!”) in the middle of one of the better of those unexceptional tracks from album #3. It’s certainly no “Letter from an Occupant” or “All for Swinging You Around,” but the New Pornographers are still a fine, fine outfit any day of the week. 19. “Four Kicks,” Kings of Leon Two albums in, I’m not entirely sure whether or not these guys are for real. I wasn’t sold on Aha Shake Heartbreak at first—I’m still not, for that matter—but “Four Kicks” is the sort of track that keeps me coming back for more, over and over again. It’s raucous in a way that feels dirty and celebratory at the same time, making it easily the finest great bar song that isn’t on a single jukebox. Yet. 18. “All These Things That I’ve Done,” The Killers Ditto on the bar song sentiment, but for entirely different reasons. If the Killers are readying their takeover of the modern rock scene (not like that would be hard at this point), this represents their anthemic closer that everyone can get behind, whether they understand the lyrics or not. They’re a fantastic singles band after just one album and deserve a good deal of expectation for their follow-up based on those four tracks (and those four tracks alone). 17. “E-Pro,” Beck Beck “returned” in 2005, which is to say that a large majority of people actually remembered how good he was and put one of the alternative genre’s gems back on the radio. The natural hipster reaction to such a “return,” though, was that the new, again-popular Beck clearly was lowering his standards, making music for the masses, and losing his touch from just two years ago. “E-Pro” (and “Girl” and every other track on Guero), on the other hand, begs the question why we can’t have it both ways. 16. “Black and White Town,” doves Recording an album after Sofia Coppola was considerably kinder to doves than it was to Air. As her third feature-length is set to be a Marie Antoinette (Kirsten Dunst? Please.) period piece, I think it’s fair to say that neither will be making a return trip to the movie studio. 15. “Sister Jack,” Spoon Gimme Fiction is a flat-out great album (more on that another day), and both singles are worthy of inclusion here, but “Sister Jack” is the real winner. While “I Turn My Camera On” is a fantastic little builder that teases and taunts, “Sister Jack” throws aside any pretense and just makes you want to get up and headbang and/or air-guitar. In the middle of a crowded room. In front of God and everyone. And you won’t even feel embarrassed. Maybe. 14. “Hey Man (Now You’re Really Living),” eels In a lot of ways, it sounds like the perfect pop song, except it doesn’t have the powerful guitar or really bombastic hooks that most of the rest of these songs boast. It matters little in the final analysis; it’s a wonderful little roller coaster of the song, jerking the listener through minimalist pop beats and absolutely nervous lyrics that fit in with the album proper. The payoff is that you get to partake in the cliché image of a sunrise, and damn if you aren’t clapping along to the beat at its close. I said “most,” I didn’t say “all” of the best singles were pop/rock based. It’d be just plain unfair to ignore the following four tracks. 13. “Lose Control,” Missy Elliott f. Ciara & Fatman Scoop I think This Is Not a Test! proved to all of us that, if Missy hadn’t lost it, she was well on her way there. So the first single off The Cookbook is surprising, a little, in that it completely fesses up to this absolute insanity that seems to be taking over her work, and she couldn’t have a better carnival barker along for the ride than Fatman Scoop. This hit? Be auto-matic. 12. “Feel Good Inc.,” Gorillaz f. De La Soul Landing three singles where their debut had only two can only be considered an improvement for Gorillaz. So this is not another “ 19-2000 (Soulchild Remix)” (nor is “Dare” or “Dirty Harry”) but that’s barely a condemnation and misses the strangely compelling and dark message that was catchy enough to score all over the singles charts. And, let’s face it, bringing De La Soul along for the ride is never a bad idea, and makes the song all the more compelling and catchy. 11. “Bottle Rocket,” The Go! Team I don’t even know how to describe anything about this song—the band, the beat, the genre—but they’re a team called Go!, damn it, and this is how they introduce them one at a time. 10. “Gold Digger,” Kanye West f. Jamie Foxx How this is up for Best Solo Rap Performance at the Grammys is beyond me, unless of course the nominators still have my initial reaction to the song, which is, “Shut up, Jamie Foxx.” And it’s a reaction that pretty well everyone I know had to this song. Keyword there being “had,” since it seems like, eventually, everyone can and will come around. Whether it be the video, the hook, or the ability to holler out “We want pre-nup!” (Free Katie, indeed), it proves to be too irresistible to ignore. 09. “Why Do You Love Me,” Garbage On the other hand, the catchiness of the lead single off of Garbage’s fourth album makes one a little queasy once you get into the lyrics. Shirley’s had a rough go of it lately, and this track (and maybe album; I’ve largely forgotten it) represents some of her most personal writing since their debut. From a fan’s perspective, this is why we love Garbage, but it’s more than a little awkward to think of fans and fanboys alike bowing down to worship a song about a lead singer so bruised and battered in her off-stage life. 08. “Entertain,” Sleater-Kinney It ranks up there with Antony and the Johnsons’ “Hope There’s Someone” as one of the best-written singles of the year and, like that track, it didn’t catch with a lot of people. The text and subtext of the song are so overt and daring that it’s easy to imagine why, but this is exactly what Nirvana did with “Smells Like Teen Spirit” (and the rest of Nevermind), so where’s the love for this trio? 07. “ 10:1,” Rogue Wave Did anyone see this coming? There’s not a single keyboard on Rogue Wave’s debut Out of the Shadow, and the synth work and pop delicacies on the lead single from follow-up Descended Like Vultures are absolutely sublime. It’s still mildly disorienting, even on the 20th listen, but most of the initial shock has given way to enjoyment of such a surprising and welcome song. 06. “I Said Never Again (But Here We Are),” Rachel Stevens 05. “Since U Been Gone,” Kelly Clarkson So here we are, a former member of S Club 7 and an American Idol winner ranking near the top of this countdown. Neither would have made sense when Kelly belted out “A Moment Like This” for the first time; S Club 7, fun as they may have been, were more often numbing than stimulating and Kelly was destined to be a corporate shill. But Rachel and Kelly got emancipated (and better than Mimi, to boot) and found themselves playing two of the most gritty power-pop singles in recent memory. Lipstick and dynamite, p!ss and vinegar indeed; these two have broken from the teen pop scene and are more than ready to defend themselves as legitimately talented, which they quite obviously are. 04. “I Need Some Fine Wine and You, You Need to Be Nicer,” The Cardigans Winning a spot on the countdown somewhere with the song title all alone, this is a song that’s snarkier than I would have expected, even from them. It’s the cover of Nellie McKay’s Get Away From Me done ten times better, and in the similar guise of an innocuous pop group the Cardigans take their whip-smart wits and channel Jack Black to tell off, well, whomever they damn well please. Step off. 03. “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree,” KT Tunstall Bravado and temptation in their purest forms have been personified in a female British rock performer for two years running. While Carina Round did it with an album that was deliciously complex and dark, asking her listeners to take step after step closer to her, KT does it with a strange yet lovely little fable. While I haven’t heard the entirety of KT’s album to know if I’m really allowed to make the comparison, “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” gives me reason to believe that they might just be kindred spirits in that regard, as they’re already pals in unjust obscurity. 02. “Do You Want To,” Franz Ferdinand The logical step for Franz Ferdinand, after having two singles that were fantastic in their own right, was to of course combine them and hope for the best. Pretty close to the best possible reaction came out, as “Do You Want To” is two parts the dance-rock of “Take Me Out” that will keep people jumping up and down in colleges until May and one part cocky, sexy swagger of “Michael.” What’s missing is whatever they added to make “The Fallen,” which is sitting pretty as the likely #1 single of 2006 already. A band who, for three years, keep company at the top of the best singles released? No other way to put that but impressive. 01. “My Doorbell,” The White Stripes When the best satirical and comedic minds in the country decide that you’re worthy to play on their television show, scary mustache or no, you’ve got to be doing something right. So Get Behind Me Satan isn’t quite the cohesive rock statement that Elephant or De Stijl are; broken down track by track, it’s still a very fine record and has now produced two of the duo’s most memorable singles (along with “The Denial Twist”). What’s remarkable, though, is that it doesn’t belie the band’s trademark minimalism—it might be their least-produced single to date if it weren’t for “We’re Going to Be Friends”—and still hits every possible beat and hook with sweet, sweet bliss. Update: I seem to have inadvertently walked into the middle of a write-off! Demon and Drew, this one's for you. Just make that last sentence not rhyme.  |
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