Wrapped Rundown: #80-71

We’ve got some more bizarre swings here, from songs I would never, ever want to be seen listening to to tracks I’m probably listening to right now.

#80: Style – Taylor Swift

This is devastating. This is absolutely horrific. How could I let this happen?

Unfortunately, Spotify is correct: Style is a banger, and I can’t be sorry for listening to it so often. My first year roommate can tell you that I bumped Style frequently. I’m never beating the Swiftie allegations.

The worst part: this isn’t even the last T-Swift song on this list. The worse part: Taylor Swift was #9 in my most-listened-to artists. 

#79: Dirty Love – Mt. Joy

The second and final Mt. Joy representative on this album, Dirty Love is deserving. I love the understated percussion and subtle build of this song, reminiscent of the frustration that accompanies failed love, when you don’t understand why it failed. 

I understand why Mt. Joy resonates with so many people in my generation. They’re an anomaly, almost, a folksy, acoustic band that sounds so much like bands I like that nobody listens to, and yet they’re wildly popular with my demographic. Dirty Love is a great example of how they capture modern, young emotions in a classic, original sound. 

In my listening, Mt. Joy tends to lose that charm sometimes, fading back into less compelling folk tracks. Still, when they get the formula right, the results are almost always fantastic. 

#78: When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What’s Still Around – The Police

Slotting in at #8, The Police continue their run of dominance in my top 10 artists. In terms of my favorites, they’re definitely in the top 5. 

Taking the award for longest song title on this list is this track, which I won’t write out again. It’s a classic Police track, featuring the iconic reggae-ish guitar tone and pounding bassline that made the band famous. The lyrics are a collection of experiences by a narrator who feels like everything is falling apart around him; he searches for comfort within the things he still has, from the radio to his old car to the telephone to his VCR. Everything just makes him more uncomfortable. He hates the food he eats, the static on the radio hurts his ears, and there’s nobody on the other end of the telephone line.

The soundscape basically never changes apart from a brief breakdown that slowly climaxes back to the original sound. All the while, the bassline never fades. It’s a clever song, relying entirely upon the original sound to carry the track forward and keep it fresh in the mind of the listener. Admittedly, I don’t always hear this song when it’s on; sometimes, it’s enjoyable background noise. I never skip it, though, and maybe that has something to do with its listenability and its uplifting message, at least on the surface.

And, of course, the title was my high school yearbook quote. Last minute choice, but I’m happy with it. 

#77: Ignoreland – R.E.M.

Oh, you said you wanted a protest song? The other ones aren’t protest-y enough? They don’t sound like the narrator is actually angry at everything and everyone? Boy, do I have the song for you!

When my dad and I listened through Automatic For The People on the way to the Outer Banks, this was one of three songs that we agreed were mediocre compared to the rest of the album.. On an album full of stunning Stipe vocal performances and clear, strong production, Ignoreland felt like an anomaly, the one track where Stipe gets completely swallowed in fuzzy guitars and drums that don’t stand out on their own, either. 

That’s the charm, though; this song is loud and bizarre, and for once, Stipe’s vocals aren’t the focus of everything. The sound is anger and frustration boiled down into a song and slotted onto an album full of carefully measured ballads and deep contemplations. It’s out of place and incorrect, and it’s perfect. It’s also the first hint you get at what’s coming in future years; “Monster” as an album doesn’t feel like a bolt out of the blue when you hear Ignoreland and realize that this is the sound R.E.M. was moving toward, at least at one moment in time. 

Brooding, duplicitious, wicked and able

Media-ready, heartless and labeled 

Super U.S. citizen, super achiever,

Mega-ultra power dosing, relax

Defense, defense, defense, defense,

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Ignoreland!

I had to work so hard to memorize the lyrics to this song. Sometimes I don’t have to try; sometimes I have to look at the lyrics a few times for them to finally stick. For Ignoreland, I so badly wanted to understand what he was saying that I had to listen, over and over, while reading the lyrics. Once I understood what Stipe was saying, I still had no idea what he meant, and I’m still quite unsure. All I know is that he’s really, really angry, and sometimes that makes for a great song. 

Side note: this song was basically never played live until much later in R.E.M.’s touring career, when they themselves rediscovered it and started playing it live. If you listen to a live version of this song, you quickly understand that this song was made to be played to packed crowds – it’s the only song on Automatic For The People that just sounds like it should be performed in a stadium.

#76: Bron-Y-Aur Stomp – Led Zeppelin

The first of only two Zep songs on this Top 100 despite Led Zeppelin landing at #7 in my artists. Bron-Y-Aur Stomp is a product of Led Zeppelin III, a switch in tone from their early hard rock efforts into a lighter, more acoustic recording session that yielded some of their best tracks ever (it also produced Immigrant Song, which is admittedly not acoustic, but you get the point). Seriously, how is this album not one of their best three? 

The answer: it’s Led Zeppelin. Everything until Houses of the Holy is basically perfect. Unfortunately, that means gems like Bron-Y-Aur Stomp get overlooked or totally ignored, even if there’s an argument to be made for the track as their best on the album and one of their best up to this point in their career.

It’s a stomp, just like the title implies. It’s also a ballad dedicated to a dog, and considering all of their questionable/problematic relationships with women throughout their careers, it’s nice to see Led Zeppelin write a song that could not possibly be misconstrued. It’s a lovely, easy track meant to honor man’s best friend – specifically, Robert Plant’s blue-eyed Merle named Strider (unsurprisingly, a Lord of the Rings reference). 

And, most importantly, it holds the title of my favorite Led Zeppelin song, a high honor considering just how many Led Zeppelin songs I love. 

#75: No You Girls – Franz Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand is an interesting case because I knew of them, and I didn’t care for them at all. Still, I forced myself to listen because I knew I should like them, and little by little I developed a certain level of affinity for their better songs. And, truly, there are some great ones; Ulysses, Evil Eye, Take Me Out, This Fire, etc. 

This song is not one of those songs. This song is not even a particularly good song. The lyrics and the guitar are both annoying and the dance beat is derivative. The lyric perspective switch from male to female is cringeworthy. And yet, I listened to it all the time. 

That just goes to show that sometimes bad songs win out. Because, for all its flaws, No You Girls is so, so catchy, and so very easy to listen to when you’re strutting down the road between classes, or trying to power through a lab report. The energy is contagious, as it so often is with Franz Ferdinand. 

If you’ve never heard them, though, PLEASE listen to a different song before you listen to this. There are good ones, but this is a band prone to serious missteps. Luckily, when they do make good songs, they’re usually wildly infectious. 

#74: Andy, You’re A Star – The Killers

I’m guilty of criticizing my sister’s music. I do it all the time. It’s like a hobby, except I would be competitively ranked if it was a sport. 

Naturally, when she does it to me, it’s not so funny anymore. Sorry, Grace! Usually, I understand where you’re coming from. When you said this song was “terrible,” though, I truly could not imagine why. 

Except I do get it. Like Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll, this song was not one that I enjoyed at all when I first heard it. Flowers goes really hard on the vocals, the production on his voice is uniquely stereo-sounding, and the guitar is harsh and abrasive. And yet it’s an alt-rock banger, choir backing vocals and all. The tempo is almost agonizingly slow. It’s the most intense song on the album, demanding your attention and moving past it as quickly as it’s granted.

Hot Fuss delivers yet again.

#73: Supernatural Superserious – R.E.M.

Undeniably the least compelling R.E.M. track on this list, and a product of their penultimate album, Accelerate. The album is a return to form of sorts, as they move away from their more electronic, experimental phase that culminated in their worst album, Around The Sun. Accelerate features guitar, and lots of it. 

I guess there was probably a time where I really liked this song. Clearly, there must’ve been. That time has since passed, squashed under the many other R.E.M. songs that do the same thing but 10x better. Still, it’s a fun, approachable song that’s worth the listen, and it’s probably the best hard rocker they’ve released post-New Adventures in Hi-Fi. 

#72: The Adults Are Talking – The Strokes

Of all the Strokes songs I listen to, only one is off of a different album than Is This It. This is that song, probably because it’s one of their most popular but also because Spotify loves playing it. I really don’t queue it often, but again, I never skip it.

Why? It’s all in the chorus, which features an incredible vocal performance and super creative chord changes. This is a song with a rebellious edge, pushing back against people who say their success is a product only of their privilege. And while that meaning isn’t always obvious in the track, the frustrated nature of their message comes through clearly. 

One gripe with this song: the ending, which just isn’t interesting. It just fades away while the lead singer says, “maybe not tonight” over and over. It’s musically sound but boring, and a reason why this is not the Strokes song I would pick to put on this list. Still, a great song nevertheless.

#71: Pretty Girl from Chile – The Avett Brothers

Talk about an underrated Avett track. Their “Pretty Girl” series is full of solid songs; this is simultaneously the least appreciated and the best. It’s more musically complex, featuring a complete vibe shift, a voicemail and an electric guitar breakdown. Who is Gabriela? What happens midway through this song that shifts the narrator’s emotions away from fear and apprehension and towards frustration and anger? It’s unclear but compelling, a brilliantly composed track in every sense. 

And my heart is like a mason’s

Hands of weathered skin

Each scar makes it harder

For me to hurt again

I’m scared to think that I’ve abandoned you

I‘d like to say that I’m a faithful man, but it may not be true

This song is best listened to and not explained. Go ahead, queue it up. Just don’t turn your earbuds up too loud towards the end.