This is a super late post from an article mostly written at the end of 2016. I like to post the Big Sexy songs of the year. The internet deserves to be filled with this kind of knowledge. Plus, it's a handy place to find the best songs and videos when I'm killing time somewhere. Without further ado, here's what you need to know.
Fave lyric: "I’ll be dancing like an uncle at a wedding." OR "Doing the running man until my chest hurts."
Fave lyric: "Oh gimme some time. Show me the foothold from
which I can climb."
Or "Gimme my, Gimme
my, Gimme my, Gimme my, Gimme my way."
This band is a great example of what is wonderful about
exploring new music. I had never heard of Foals before this song was performed
on Stephen Colbert at end of 2015. However, they have been a very successful
band in England. A country I love. A country I mine for new music. How did I
miss these guys? There previous album was the NME best album of 2013 topping AM
by The Arctic Monkeys, one my two favorite albums of that year. (QOTSA!) This
songs builds to a superb crescendo at the end. Feels like we reached the top of
the mountain. The album What Went Down also finished in the BS top 5 albums of
the year.
Fave Lyric: "I need you like bacon needs eggs."
I am such a sucker for a great bass line. This is a full-on
retro-funk number about, well, I never really thought much about it. This song
just brings a smile to my face and a swagger to my hips. Maybe it’s just me,
but I always bite my lip and give my head the front circle move when I am
cruising along. Not bad for a bunch of white guys from Austin. White Denim
almost made this list in 2013 with At Night in Dreams. I was also a big fan of another song off this album, Had 2 Know (Personal). A little less funky, a little more southern rock, but still cool.
They had a wonderful Grammy performance of this song and the Grammy’s suck
they they ditched it off YouTube. Here’s the actual song.
Fave lyric: "And me? I’m the damn fool who shot him."
Hamilton will be a classic piece of American theater long
after I have stopped going to theater, and theater-goers are ooooolllld. It is
an amazing piece of art on many levels. I am very much looking forward to
seeing the San Francisco tour of the musical in April of 2017, but until then,
I get my Hamilton fix from the album, from stolen YouTube moments, from PBS
documentaries, from podcasts devoted to the musical and from all of the award
shows that they have dominated. There is no way anyone did not hear about
Hamilton in 2016.
It is difficult to pick one song from the musical and represent
it is the best. Many musicals have that singular song that drags a successful
musical to prestige. This musical is a totality. Without a doubt, the Hamilton
cast album wins the Big Sexy album of the year. I am putting the introductory
song here on my Top 20 list as its representation. This is an excellent
introduction to the play. In 3 minutes and 57 seconds, we learn just about
everything we need to know in the first 19 years of his life until we pick it
up in song 2. It introduces every character, including telling you the guy who
kills him at them end. They aren’t trying to hide the plot. Everyone who saw
that Got Milk TV ad 20 years ago (or likes American history) knows Aaron Burr
killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel.
Fave lyric: As with any good comedy song, there are many to
choose from, Here’s a good sample:
“She said, “Invade my cave with your special unit”. I said,
“He wasn’t in a cave”. But there was no stoppin’.”
I really thought the soundtrack album to the movie that I
was sure couldn’t sustain 90 minutes would finally be the album that I didn’t
thoroughly enjoy from these fake rappers. I was wrong. Not only was Popstar:
Never Stop Never Stopping surprisingly good throughout, the hook on this song
is so catchy, you will be singing the inappropriate chorus while you are
picking apples at Raley’s. I don’t know how many times I have been singing
“Fuck Bin Laden” under my breath in public. The soundtrack has several other
great songs, but it is not quite as good as the other albums. Still worth a
watch and a listen.
Fave lyric: "By the time you hear the next pop, the funk
shall be within you."
I know this song came out last year. To Pimp a Butterfly was
a Grammy darling early this year and honestly that was when I first gave it a
shot. Never really got into the album, but I do love this song. Great beat. I
know I’m not his demographic, but we’re more alike than he thinks. I do not
like the Patriots or Dodgers. I don’t have a bone pick about people sitting on
my throne. I don’t call anyone “bitch”.
I don’t rap. I don’t love Compton. I don’t like motor cycles or hoopties
on hydraulics. You know, I might have less in common with him than I do with
anyone. Anyway, I want the funk.
Fave Lyric: “When we’re hungry we all eat the same fuckin’
food. The ramen noodle.” But I do love the chorus.
The chorus is perfect for how a lot of the country is
feeling after the election. With the alt-right rising, it feels like there
isn’t as much or a place for many in world. I thought with the election of
President Obama, racism was over? I feel like our country has never been more
divided.
I got here from their SNL performance in November I have, of course, heard of Tribe. I knew they were a very influential hip hop
group and they had a very good documentary that I still want to see. The beat in this song is cool. I love the stop and go. I could do without
sirens in a song when I driving, but this song needed sirens. In future
years, looking back, I bet this song ends up higher on this list.
Fave lyrics: "You made a wish at 11:11, I held your hips at
12:34."
This song takes me to a simple time and place. A place
inside a John Hughes movie. Maybe it is because Arkells is a Canadian band and
Canada always seems to always be stuck 20 years behind the US culturally. 11:11
is another song that just makes me happy. The best music is music that makes
you feel something. This song doesn’t make me reflect thoughtfully on my place
in the world. But is does make me feel joy. For that, it is makes the top 10.
11:11 is from a 2014 album, but I just got wind of it this year. I haven’t
listened much to their new album out later in 2016, but I plan to see if this is a one hit wonder on this list or if they can
enter the Big Sexy list of go-to bands like….
9. (a) Still Breathing – Green Day
This song really doesn’t even sound much like Green Day. It is more indie pop than indie punk. Green Day is one of my all-time
favorite bands. Provider of the best concert I have seen. Provider of one of my
favorite albums of all time (American Idiot) as well as a long list of BS hits
over the past 25 years. I bet his song is even better live . It needs a little more edge. With all that
said, I still really like this song.
Fave lyric: "Daddy’s little psycho and mommy’s little soldier."
This is the more obvious choice for this list as that is a Green Day song.
This song sounds like a lost
track form 21st Century Breakdown.
Fave lyric: "All my life you stood by me. No one else was
ever behind me…. With your love, nobody can drag me down."
I don’t know from One Direction. I know that a million
teenagers and their moms all had a favorite member earlier this decade just as
N’Sync did 10 years ago, just as Backstreet Boys did 20 years ago, just like
Beatles did 50 years ago. When I heard this funky little number by Weaves, I
loved the clunky guitar and the hook of the song. I didn’t know it was a cover.
Then I was watching James Corden’s carpool karaoke with One Direction and they
broke out this song. The One Direction version of the song isn’t bad either. I just honestly never heard it before. I still like the Weaves cover better,
but these haircuts put out a pretty darn good song.
Fave lyric: “This is a low-flying panic attack.” But
Radiohead is much more of a sonic feel than lyrics.
I remember when I first got into Radiohead. I had known of
them for over a decade, but like most people I know, I could not get past Thom
Yorke convulsions and the odd sounds that come from this band. However, they
were released an album through their own website and told buyers to just pay
what they want. I gave them 2 shillings to give this band a chance. I hadn’t
listed too much to my frugal purchase prior to a 3 hour train ride across the
French country side. I dialed my ipod over to the album, earbuds firmly tucked
in place and zoned out over the soothing rhythm of the train rolling on the
tracks. It hit me. Radiohead is a headphone band. I then went back into their
catalog of platinum selling albums and found a band I consider one of my
favorites of all time, though I have only appreciated them for less than a
decade.
Burn the Witch has the sonic feeling of the best Radiohead
songs. With nearly all Radiohead songs, they are better with repetitive
listens. You need to give this a dozen spins. With headphones on. The song
slowly builds and builds until its frantic ending. This song has a similar
meaning of the Tribe song above. Bonus
points for the Claymation video.
You don’t have to listen very hard to hear Dan Auerbach’s
Black Keys influence on this song. I don’t get the video at all. Block it out
and the song is pretty cool. It’s kind of a slacker/funk fusion with a touch of 60;s thrown in. Nothing is
remarkable lyrically. The song makes good use of Ah’s, Ooh’s and Oh No's.
Fave lyric: "Son of a bitch. Give me a drink."
I’m not sure if this should be on the O’Brother Where Art
Thou soundtrack or if it is a hidden track on an Otis Day & The Knights album. “Otis, My man!” No matter this upbeat
and perky song about not being able to overcome alcoholism is a foot-stomping
good time if you don’t pay too much attention to the lyrics. Just buy him a
drink.
Fave lyric: "You are the hole in my head. I am the pain in
your neck. You are the lump in my throat. I am the aching in your heart."
I tend to like soundtracks. I wouldn’t think I would be the
type of person to like soundtracks because I appreciate the art of making an
album. I appreciate listening to a collection of songs in the order mixed by
the artist. Wearing headphones to transport me to a different place
emotionally. But every year, it seems like there is a soundtrack or two that I
love. Typically because the soundtrack accentuates a movie or musical to an
even higher place. This is the case with Into the Wild. A great book and a
great movie with a soundtrack by Eddie Vedder.
I have long loved Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam is going to be
inducted into the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame this year!! How old am I?? Didn’t
they just break out? I remember their fun performance in Singles, a movie I
loved oh so many years ago. (Another great soundtrack, by the way.)
Eddie Vedder as a solo artist blew my mind a little with
Into the Wild. I did not expect to like it. Doesn’t he need Stone and Jeff to
bring the goods? But the solo work was good. It was different, but good. I
stumbled across Golden State this year. It is several years old, but it is
great duet about two people in love who are both the good and the bad of their
lives. This song is very much “Eddie Vedder” and not “Pearl Jam”, but it is
still great. It’s actually a cover of a John Doe (from the band, X) song.
Fave lyric: "The girl in the pastry shop... Is making a
cannoli for you to take on your hiking trip…" (it’s much longer but sets the
scene well)
Weezer is back with another solid album. They seem to hang
around. Weezer haters like to say any new album is no Pinkerton. They are
right. It’s not. That is a classic album. Weezer lovers always like to say that
Weezer is going back to its roots with every new album realese. They are both
wrong. This is a good song that sounds like Weezer but doesn’t make me think it
should or shouldn’t be a lost track from a 20 year old album.
Fave lyric: "I did all I could. So kiss this one last time
cuz I’m gone for good."
This song makes you want to strut. Good band name, blokes. This
British band have a bit of a Queen meets the Strokes vibe. Apparently, this
song has been out in England for a couple years, but 2016 was the first time I
ever heard of The Struts.
17. Ugh! – The 1975
More indie pop! It’s got a fun beat. I never really paid
much attention to what dude was signing about. Watching the singer really
turned me away from this song, but just when I’m slaving over the elliptical to
keep my girlish figure, it is a good song to keep the feet pumping. I should
have posted an audio-only link.
Fave lyric: "You make me feel like I’m alive again"
I know it is not cool to like Coldplay. They are the butt of
a lot of music jokes. Those jokesters don’t give this band enough credit. I am
typically skeptical myself every time there is a new Coldplay release. I wasn’t
a fan of their previous album. I figured Gwyneth Paltrow ruined Chris Martin
forever. Chris Martin seems like a great guy. Have you seen his CarpoolKaraoke? Of course you have, It is awesome.
Fave lyric: “When and where did we go cold? I thought I had
you on hold.”
I have loved The xx for a while as a Big Sexy Headphone
Band. I am not sure about this new album yet. Their DJ (?) Jamie xx hit it big in the
EDM sce
Fave lyric: "Hello."
Stand up bass! This retro sounding song barely cracks in the
top twenty. Not sure if I like this song because of the deep female voice or in
spite of it. But I do love it.
I do like their cover of Rich Girl. The singer does have some pipes.
