The Top Songs of 2006 (Part 2)

70.  Dear Mr. Supercomputer – Sufjan Stevens

I’m not exactly sure why this one missed the cut for Illinois.  As far as “outtakes” go, it’s one of the best I’ve ever heard.  It even ends with a note that would’ve been perfect to go right into “Chicago.”

69.  The Information – Beck

68.  Like the 309 – Johnny Cash

67.  The Island – The Decemberists

It’s quite rare that songs this long, and this proggy earn several listens, let alone enjoyment but this is indeed a classic.

66.  Long Distance Call – Phoenix

Crisp French fries. 

65.  Don Gon Do It – The Rapture

64.  Standing In the Way of Control – The Gossip

Not sure what they offer that Karen O doesn’t, but I’m judging them simply off this one single song. 

63.  Knights of Cydonia – Muse

I played this on Guitar Hero so many times, I have no choice but to love it, despite is bombasity, which I’m pretty sure isn’t a word cuz Word gave me the red squiggly. 

62.  When the Sun Goes Down – Arctic Monkeys

61.  Just a Little Heat – Black Keys

Though the Keys are still a little monotonous in 2006, Dan still has about 50 levels on anyone else trying to play guitar riffs that year. 

60.  Broken Boy Soldiers – The Raconteurs

Even though all of Jack White’s side project bands are good, they still don’t seem serious to me. 

59.  Littlest Things – Lily Allen

It was initially the “Wild World” melody, which became the “Don’t Speak” melody for No Doubt, and here’s Lily’s version, which for some reason or other, is my favorite incarnation of a melody that I have to go out of my way to say is not hers. 

58.  Think I’m in Love – Beck

57.  Mess With Time – Built to Spill

56.  Something Isn’t Right – Herbert

2006 was the year of that Russian website allofmp3.  That was good times until Obama destroyed it for everyone that same year with his regulations and tax hikes on us gun owners.   Fuckin Obama. 

55.  Poison Cup – M. Ward

54.  Gone – Pearl Jam

This album was quite a surprise.  Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of crap on it, but it does have some good tunes.

53.  Just Got To Be – The Black Keys

On Magic Potion, the Keys made their last “we’re not a big band” album and you can tell.  From here on in, it’s better at times, but they’ll never be this raw again. 

52.  Omaha – Tapes ‘n Tapes

Yes, apparently there was a time you could’ve asked me a musical question and I would’ve responded, “Yes, definitely get the new Tapes ‘n Tapes album!”

51.  Elevator Music – Beck

50.  Empty House – Trey Anastasio

I hate the fact that heroin is probably the influence, but I’m starting to feel I need to revisit Bar 17 more often because there are several good tunes on this.  Hunh.  What’s so fucked up though, is I saw Trey in 2007 at Langerado, divorced all my friends at the festival in fact,  and he laid an adult contemporary egg.  They were almost right to leave me for Sound Tribe for Sector 9 (they weren’t, that shit was even worse). 

49.  Wild Sage – Mountain Goats

48.  Cheated Hearts –Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Sometimes I feel that I’m bigger than the sound.

47.  The Wait – Built to Spill

It’s a simple G-C chord progression rock formula, but I still love it.

46.  Empty – Ray La Montagne

45.  Big Weekend – Tom Petty

When’s the last time there was a good pop rock song?  Not sure if this qualifies, but if this isn’t my theme song, I don’t know what is.  Okay, okay, it’s Loverboy’s “Working for the Weekend” I’ll admit it. 

44.  Steady as she Goes – The Raconteurs

43.  Strange Desire – Black Keys

If you’re scoring at home, the Keys have “Strange Desire”; “Strange Times” and “Modern Times.”  I don’t think they have “Modern Desire” but there’s still opportunity for that. 

42.  Wolf Like Me – TV on the Radio

41.  Phenomena – Yeah Yeah Yeahs

The changes are a little awkward, but otherwise, this is a PHENOMENAL tune. 

40.  Mr. Tough – Yo La Tengo

More of the world’s problems should be settled on the dance floor … though that would mean I would probably never win aside from narrowly edging a totem pole, and even then I’d still lose to that evil one from Creepshow 2.  That one would go Boogie Nights on my Leaves of Grass dancin’ ass. 

39.  Gone – Built to Spill

Sometimes I forget some of the great songs on this album which is a testament to how good of an album it is. 

38.  Young Folks – Peter Bjorn and John

37.  Post-War – M. Ward

So mellow.  So so mellow. 

36.  Insistor – Tapes ‘n Tapes

These guys put out a few good indie tunes in the Aughts, but I’m pretty sure they’re already forgotten that is if they were remembered in the first place. 

35.  The Sound – The Rapture

34.  Roscoe – Midlake

I completely missed out on this band and am regretful.  This is a nice tune. 

33.  I Feel Like Dancing – Scissor Sisters

This was their follow up song to the earlier fun they had and I didn’t know until today that’s at least this song was quite good. 

32.  Silent Shout – The Knife

I love when electronic songs make me feel like I’m cooler just for listening to them. 

31.  Cincinnati – Trey Anasatasio

It’s hard for me to judge Trey songs because I’m obviously a huge Phish fan, and that tends to make me rank Trey songs higher than I probably should, but this is really an incredible song.  Much better than anything Phish did since 98’s “Guyute” through 2006.  Perhaps the most astonishing factoid about this song is, I actually drove from Tampa to Cincinnati in 2011, and didn’t listen to this song once. 

30.  Going Against Your Mind – Built to Spill

Yes, it’s a bit long winded, but when I see them again in September, it’s probably the song I want to hear 2^nd most.  (They didn’t play it the first time and see below for the first most). 

29.  You Know I’m No Good – Amy Winehouse

Man, this album is really good. 

28.  Beautiful Day – Mellowdrone

27.  Stuck Between Stations – The Hold Steady

26.  Chinese Translation – M. Ward

25.  Should Have Known Better – Yo La Tengo 

24.  Down South – Tom Petty

I’m still in shock Tom Petty releases an album 30 years after his debut with a few great tunes on it.  The guy has it. 

23.  Pull Shapes – The Pipettes

2006 seemed to be the year the recording industry tried to bring back that wonderful “Girl Band” sound of the early 60s. 

22.  Chips Ahoy – The Hold Steady

Horse racing is always so much more interesting when there’s a Triple Crown threat.  Before I die, I swear, either a horse or baseball player needs to win the triple crown.  My generation has not had this. 

21.  Oh My – Mellowdrone

I love that they have a song called “Beautiful Day” and this one goes “Oh my, what a wonderful day”.  After this album, they probably had many … (I hate saying shit like that, it sounds like something a news anchor would say after a fluff piece). 

20.  To Go Home – M. Ward 

19.  Don’t Call Me Whitney, Bobby – Islands

I freaking love this song and I’ll probably never hear from this band again. 

18.  Dark Star – Beck

For one reason or another The Information wasn’t very well received and I never understood why.  I could make a case for this being Beck’s finest work.  It probably wouldn’t be the best case, but I could make a case. 

17.  Fashionably Uninvited – Mellowdrone

This is a rare example of a friend turning me onto a band.  This Mellowdrone album (at least the first half), kicked ass.  The trick is not trying to get me to a secluded area to listen to a song.  I can’t possibly enjoy a song if I’m trying to be lured into listening to it. 

16.  Maybe Sprout Wings – Mountain Goats

These guys are what lured me to the Antiwarpt festival in St. Petersburg this year.  I went with a buddy who loves them and he left midway through the set … so naturally, I didn’t stick around too much longer.  If they played this song, I may have watched their whole set. 

15.  Moving Like a Train – Herbert

This song is the way disco music should be, as it has the happiness and strings of disco, but is ELECTRONICALLY put together in a much more unique way than disco ever was. 

14.  Strange Apparition – Beck

The piano is a beautiful Stones throwback.  Amazing.  Beck never ceases to impress. 

13.  Me and Mr. Jones – Amy Winehouse

This almost sounds like freegin’ Fats Domino and it mentions Slick Rick, and yet so many musical literati don’t like Amy Winehouse.  Very few artists could deliver what this song delivers. 

12.  Yeah Yeah Yeah Song – Flaming Lips

This is the perfect song for an aspiring one hit wonder band.  It was really strange to hear the Flaming Lips try to adapt to the fact that they were finally a successful rock band in 2006.  Perhaps that’s the biggest reason why this album was so subpar.  Yes, the build right before it goes into “With all your power” at the end is quite bad ass. 

11.  The Race is on Again – Yo La Tengo

There are songs these guys make that make me say, “Yeah, I see why people don’t get down with the Yo La.”  More importantly, they have songs that make me say, “Why the hell don’t people like Yo La Tengo?”  This is the king of those songs. 

10.  God’s Gonna Cut You Down – Johnny Cash

This has to be the best song ever released after an artist has died, that is until the next Beastie Boy album. 

9.  Back to Black – Amy Winehouse

8.  The Movers and the Shakers – Herbert

This song had me with the questioning of how Christian bones could orchestrate shock and awe.    

7.  Right in the Head – M. Ward

Finding this guy in double aught six was my favorite find of the year.  Sure there was Amy, but everyone had that, sure there was Built to Spill, but they also had been around forever.  M. Ward, who did have previous work, reached is apex, and I was glad I found him at that time rather than Supergroup time with Yim Yames and Colin Oberst. 

6.  Rehab – Amy Winehouse

Though her death isn’t nearly as tragic as MCA’s, it’s one of a few rock deaths that has bummed me out over the past few years.  We all saw it coming, but I was quite excited for that “next” Amy Winehouse album.   C’est dommage. 

5.  The Crane Wife 3 – The Decemberists

Just when I reach a point where I talk myself into “Los Angeles, I’m Yours” as being the best song of theirs, I hear this one. 

4.  Whoo! Alright-Yeah … Un Huh – The Rapture

This song blows me up and I love that feeling.  That’s probably most what I miss about jogging is being almost done with a run, and having a song like this come on thee ol’ ipod and make my hair stand up. 

3.  Square One – Tom Petty

The fact that one of Tom Petty’s best songs comes out 30 years after his debut album is one of the most magnificent feats I’ve ever seen in music.  Dylan in ’83?  Sounds terrible no?  Stones in 93?  Not so good.  Aerosmith nowadays … AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  I still don’t think Steven Tyler could ever destroy “Sweet Emotion”, “Walk this Way”, “Dream On”, or “Back in the Saddle” though. 

2.  Conventional Wisdom – Built to Spill

The only one negative thing I can say about this song is that they didn’t play it when I saw them live.  It amazes me that a band could have a song this good in their arsenal and not play it at every single live show. 

1.  Crazy – Gnarls Barkley

Perhaps the most fun part of the whole “Crazy” phenomenon was the fact that so many bands would play it live randomly at their shows.  A great thing about certain songs is no matter what type of music fan you are, a great song transcends all of that, and this is the perfect example.  If you don’t like this song, you’re retarded and hate America.