The 50 Something or Other Songs of 2017: Part 2

In our last exciting episode, I reviewed tracks 50 through 31 on Rolling Stone's list of the Best 50 Songs of 2017. How did those 20 songs – all of which, in the first surprising turn of events, I had never heard previously – fare against a musical taste that, naturally, I consider to be pretty adventurous but willingly admit is lacking in even a small amount of respect sometimes for more current pop trends and styles?

Well, here's the scoreboard thus far:

Total number of songs: 20
Songs I had heard before: 2
Songs that I own already: A big fat 0.
Reactions: Loved: 7 | Liked: 5 | OK or Don't Care at All: 5 | Hated: 3Songs that I plan to purchase: 10

The second big surprise is that I came out of the round wishing to possibly purchase a full ten tracks in the bunch. Half the music appealed to me enough where I could own it, and that is a huge response on my part. Am I slipping in taste or expanding it? Or did Rolling Stone actually choose some pretty damn good songs this time? Well, I really hated three of the tracks, and five others registered as OK or less, so that still says that, as far as I am concerned, they are only doing their job halfway.

How will the second twenty tracks rate with me? Let's head straight into Part the Second of The 50 Something or Other Songs of 2017:

#30 - Jidenna, "Bambi"
Heard of the artist? I thought "No" but apparently have watched him on TV. I didn't really remember.
Own any of his music? Oh, he's a him?
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? Oh, no. Can't get past the whole Bambi thing.

Here's how I approach these songs: I click on the video that Rolling Stone provides but don't watch the video. I cover the window so that all I can hear is the music. On the second go-around, I search for the lyrics online and then read them along with a second playing of the song. On the third turn, I will watch the video, if indeed it is a video produced for the song and not just a music track playing as a video on YouTube. So, I hear these things two or three times before writing about them. And if the artist or band is someone or something I  believe that I don't know at all, I first double-check my iTunes to make sure something by them hasn't slipped past me on a compilation or soundtrack. Then I look up their Wikipedia page to learn a little something about them.

Now, the reason I tell you about my process now is because of the strange case of Jidenna, an artist whom I thought going into this I had never heard of before. But in doing research, I realize that he performed in an episode of Luke Cage, the first season of which I have watched fully twice now. I also saw him perform on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah late in 2016. Before I knew that, I went into the song thinking that Jidenna was just going to turn out to be another Rihanna, and I got that thought stuck in my head. And then the music starts and it has almost a music-box quality to it as it eases smoothly into an Africa-inspired melody with layered harmonies. It sounds nice at the beginning. And then my head does a twist when I hear that it's a dude singing, and not some girl trying to sound like the next Rihanna by calling herself Jidenna. And Jidenna is a dude singing about a girl named Bambi. And not in a funny way. He's serious. The girl's name really is Bambi and he is singing about her in a serious way.

My brain gets confused. He sings, "My dear, my dear, my dear" and the back-up singers go "Ahhhh... Bam-Bambi" and all I hear is "deer" instead of "dear" and, with that name "Bambi,"  where do you think my mind goes? But then Jidenna switches it up by singing about jungles and lions and even eventually name-checking a cheetah, and I get tripped up, because here I was thinking about a more Eurocentric or North American forest setting because of Bambi the deer in the story. I had really forgotten this was a guy singing (seriously, I remind you) about a woman named Bambi. I was still stuck on a little deer whose mom gets shot by a hunter. And the backup singers and Jidenna keep doing variations on "Ahhhh... Bam-Bambi," and I giggle some more, and my mind goes back to Rihanna, and I start thinking "Um-ber-ambi-ambi-ambi"... And then I realize that there is no way I can ever accept this song with a straight face. He sure dresses nice, though...

#29 - J Balvin and Willy William, "Mi Gente"
Heard of the artist? Neither one. To prove it, I wrote Balvin's name as "J. Blabbin" at first.
Own any of their music? Ha ha ha!
Heard this song before this? I think that I have heard this as an intro on a couple of shows. It seems familiar, but I don't know where else I would have heard it.
Would you purchase this song? One of those earworm-type hooks, but I don't mind it. Just don't need to own it.

OK, I have a bit of a problem this year because there are a couple of Spanish-only tracks on this list (because, yeah, Despacito is coming up in the Top 10 songs), and I don't speak Spanish. I understand a bunch of words (more than when I moved down here to So Cal) and can even read a little bit of it here and there. But listening to an entire song in Spanish and figuring it out for myself? If I committed to learning Spanish, as I have said that I plan to many times over the past decade, I might use this song for a fun (if not exhausting) exercise. (Everything exhausts me these days...) I liked the beat and the music kind of clung to me after a while, and checking out a translation, it seems to mostly be party-based, and is really about nothing but a good time. It sounds like the exact sort of good time that I spend my time avoiding, but still. It sounds fun.

At least I can understand Beyonce's part on the remix version. She sings about her boobs... 

#28 - Charly Bliss, "Glitter"
Heard of the artist? Nope.
Own any of their music? Not yet.
Heard this song before this? No.
Would you purchase this song? Pretty catchy, but want to hear more. Close to a buy.

Boy, is that a squeaky voice. I don't know if lead singer Eva Hendricks should be fronting a band or making a pitch to be a fourth Powerpuff Girl. This is not putting her down. I am just looking for other possible career opportunities for a voice like hers. Honestly, the band sounds like Letters to Cleo on helium, but with odder lyrics, and that's not a bad thing for me. There's a great hook in the chorus, and I like its lyric: "Am I the best? Or just the first person to say yes?" It's a putdown song, but one where the singer realizes that he's rubber and she's glue. Everything is attributable to both of them, and that's where the real hurt lies.

#27 - Calvin Harris feat. Frank Ocean, Migos, "Slide"
Heard of the artist? All three, and really like Frank Ocean.
Own any of their music? Just Frank.
Heard this song before this? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? Not sure it does anything for me.

Agggh... first crime straight out the gate: I have a very low acceptance barrier for obvious Auto-Tune (as I mentioned in the first part of this series), and it tends to drive me nuts (not in a good way) after about seven words. This song is triple-stuffed like a turducken with the accursed Auto-Tune sickness, but even with Frank Ocean on vox at large in this track, I just can't settle into the relaxed groove propelling the song. As these things go, it's pleasant enough, but the end product says and does absolutely nothing for me.

#26 - Tee Grizzley, "First Day Out"
Heard of the artist? Nope.
Own any of his music? Nope.
Heard this song? I didn't know this was the music from the LeBron James Challenge videos, but apparently it is.
Would you purchase this song? Oh, hell no. Still compelling though...

I will give Tee Grizzley this. At least he has an actual story to tell, in between the "n" words and threats of violence and the usual braggart's delight. This entire song is one long, breathless "fuck you, I made it despite of you" stance. Tee gets out of a prison stint and writes this song on the same day ripping apart everyone who didn't stand by him through his troubles with the law. There seems to be no downtime between verses as he ramps up the fury from section to section. There is a hook that appears briefly at the beginning and end but it barely registers, because once the flood of rage begins, the song just keeps building and building with no real chorus in sight. There is a section (after the halfway mark) where Tee decides he is done with rhyming for a bit and ends eight straight lines with the "n' word, and while that might seem lazy or overdone, the section is really to build the speed of his flow up even more. Practice makes perfect, I guess. Tee is apparently far more perfect at doing this than committing armed robbery, because he keeps getting caught at the latter. Stick to rap, Tee... I may not like your stuff enough to buy it, but you spin an interesting tale here. Sorry you can't trust anyone. (My guess is that lack of trust starts internally...)

#25 - Superorganism, "Something for Your M.I.N.D."
Heard of the artist? Nope.
Own any of their music? Nope.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? Thought it had a chance at the beginning, but. it turned to hate.

This song seemed so promising going into it. What a wasted opportunity. The Flying Lizards without a sense of... well, anything. (And believe me... I still have The Flying Lizards' album from way back. So much more interesting than this...) It's a similar project, with a verse composed of non-sequiturs, tossed off and recorded by a supposedly stereotypical "bored teenager" and sent back to the band. (At least, according to the press that I have read.) I would be more accepting of the song if it actually had a killer chorus. and instead we get a dull delivery saying the title over and over again. Look, there's bored and there's dull. You can do the first one but still sound intriguing and clever, and then there's the other. Yes, it's an intentionally amateurish attempt, but that just makes it more phony. I don't think there's anything here that any mind needs. If you want a head trip without hitting the medicine cabinet, there are so many far better music choices out there, both in the past and today. I get more annoyed the more I think about this song.

#24 - DJ Khaled feat. Rihanna, Bryson Tiller, "Wild Thoughts"
Heard of the artist? Heard of 2 out of 3. Don't know Tiller.
Own any of their music? None of them.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? Nah. Pretty sexy, but not my thing really...

It's a sexy sound on this single, but despite the naughty stuff in it, it's a little too tame overall. It only gets amped up by Rihanna's cleavage-teasing moves in the video, but that exists outside of the actual song. The Santana sample surprised me, but it is underused. Nice to see DJ Khaled involved in an actual song here, because before this, I thought he just did every single commercial and talk show out there. A lot of people out there seem to love him or at least give him a pass; I find him pretty dull as a personality. Then again, I think the DJ aesthetic is overrated in the first place. Nah... let's call it "DJ interference" instead... Imagine every single Beatles song with their producer announcing himself somewhere near the end. That obnoxiously popular airhorn sound goes off and then we hear a booming, echoey voice intoning "Yo, Sir George H. Martin, CBE in the house!" Yeah, it would be funny to hear once, but so is Khaled's turn at doing the same in his own song here. To me, it ruins the mood. After hearing Rihanna and Bryson coo and purr all over each other, no one wants to be reminded of the fat, sweaty guy behind the board. It's a toddler move. Khaled just wants you to know its his blankey, and he got Rihanna to roll around on it. (Not that I wouldn't do the same if it were my blankey...)

#23 - Charli XCX, "Boys"
Heard of the artist? Yes.
Own any of her music? Nope.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? I have no use for it.

Another Charli on the second part of this list, only spelled a bit differently, and someone's actual name this time not a band name. Charli XCX thinks about boys, dreams about boys, and her head is busy spinning doing both. That's great. Nothing wrong with doing so if that's your angle. Me, I dream about having a pet great white shark that I ride around fighting crime, flying like Iron Man only the suit fails me every ten seconds and so I crash through everything constantly, directing Kristen Bell in an independent feature while kicking Dax Shepherd to the curb, taming an Ankylosaurus, staging a rebellion in a dystopian future, and the machineries of an invisible sky giant mutilating me into ground chuck because I refuse to believe in him. But go ahead, Charli, and dream whatever dull dreams you wish. Guys really aren't worth the trouble. Buy a "back massager" instead. Boys is an OK track. It has a simple but reliable hook, and I do like the part in the verses where she responds, "Didn't hit 'em back". But otherwise, just basic pop cuteness.

#22 - Spoon, "Hot Thoughts"
Heard of the artist? I own their entire catalogue.
Own any of their music? Oh, yeah!
Heard this song? Own this album already.
Would you purchase this song? Already got it.

Finally! It took 28 songs, but I finally ran into something that I own already. Then again, Spoon are one of the few groups that I tend to preorder, and this album fell into the range just before I stopped preordering things for financial reasons. Spoon has been a constant in my life for about 15 years and one of my go-to bands when I go out for walks and exercise. The off-kilter rhythms along with their quirky lyrical references make every Spoon track an adventure to dissect. The same goes for the title track to the latest album here, where singer-guitarist Britt Daniel weaves in small details from a walk through Tokyo as everything from the shine of his lover's teeth to her accent to a fantasy about "diamonds from space" only serve to elevate his arousal. It's less a direct rocker than an exercise in creating a guitar-driven dance space. And it's all the more groovy for that.

#21 - Arcade Fire, "Everything Now"
Heard of the artist? Yes.
Own any of their music? I own the four albums before this one.
Heard this song? Yes, on Colbert, where they branded the show with Everything Now.
Would you purchase this song? It seems inevitable.

Arcade Fire has never been a band that I could say I love overtly, but I somehow always get around to collecting their albums. And then I go back and listen to them and always wonder why I don't listen to them more. I think part of my problem is my general queasiness in getting involved with musical "collectives". There is always the sneaking suspicion to me that I am being tricked into Kool-Aid, and I hate Kool-Aid. Also, too often, Arcade Fire seems like the Cirque du Soleil of rock music, both being from Montreal and both graced with a quite recognizable strangeness. And yet, I really come out loving their music in the end.

For Arcade Fire's part, they seem prone to big statements and high concepts on their albums, even changing their band's image, costuming, and name from album to album. (They even took on a new name with the previous album.) For their latest, Everything Now, they pretended to be in thrall to big business, complete with a fake ad campaign that spilled over onto their appearances on shows like The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, who told everyone straight-faced that the entire show was being sponsored by Everything Now. (It was a little confusing to me at first, because I had avoided any of the press before the album came out.)

Now, I have not heard the whole album yet, but it sounds like Arcade Fire have stuck to the more dance-oriented mood of the Reflektor album, but advanced it even further. To my ears, the Everything Now title track may be disco-laden, but I feel like there are still the same traces of U2 (yet another band prone to Big Statements! High Concepts! and Neo-Disco!) that I have detected in the Fire's sound from before. And definitely with a solid chunk of ABBA snuck in there. The band seems, by this point, far more interested in being a theatre nerd company than dedicated musicians, but that has never been a problem with me. I have always been a sucker whenever rock crosses into mock theatrics, and probably always will.

#20 - Taylor Swift, "Call It What You Want"
Heard of the artist? Who hasn't?
Own any of her music? Nope. Just covers by others.
Heard this song? Not until now.
Would you purchase this song? I'm going to say no, but the experience was not unpleasant.

This is the first time I have purposefully sat and listened to Taylor Swift sing one of her own songs. Seriously... this is the very first time. I lauded a track by Big Little Town last year that Swift wrote for them, and I own the Ryan Adams version of 1989 (a track for track remake of Swift's huge album) and listened to it with great joy without having any real connection to the original except having heard snippets of a couple of songs in the media. I tend to go with comedian Ralph Garman's characterization of the girl as "Tay-dolf Swit-ler" because much of her behavior in public is just so obnoxious and grandstanding. And all of these stupid wars she has with other artists... I just get tired of hearing it. Also, her usual genre is definitely not in my wheelhouse. And my reaction to her "Girl Squad" was a whole lot of eye-rolling, but mainly because I am sick of the use of the word "squad" in hashtags on social media. But, then again, she is the by-product of her sorry times...)

Still, this exercise is meant for me to give everything a try to see if I have been wrong all along or correct in my completely unfounded assumptions about many artists. As I said, I have set a precedent by actually liking a song she wrote last year, so maybe Ms. Swift can prove me wrong directly with her own recording? Surprisingly, yes... I will admit that she has a certain facility with lyrics, whether or not I think most of them are barely past the level of a teen's crush diary. Still, you get from your audience what you give to it, and she certainly knows her audience. This is what they want. And Taylor is known for answering her critics or even straight on blasting them in her songs, and from what I am reading here and there, this song may have barely veiled references to her very public battles with the likes of Katie Perry and those West/Kardashian fools. (Really, if Taylor ever wanted to get me on her side completely, all she has to do is put out a full album of nothing but Kanye and Kim put-downs.) Musically, the first listen had me thinking it was only OK, but the next couple of tries suddenly had the meter of the lyrics setting up shop in my head. It started to make sense to me. Then, this morning, there was the moment where I was rewriting the chorus slightly to sing to my cat as I was petting her. That is the real danger sign.

You win this one, Swift. Your song is now about my cat in my head, but the tune is stuck there. You are a sneaky one, I grant you...

#19 - Diet Cig, "Sixteen"
Heard of the artist? Nope.
Own any of their music? Not yet.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? I like this song more than anything else new on this second part of the list so far. 

No, Sixteen is not a love song by Judge Roy Moore. He'd deny that he recorded it anyway (even though he really would have).

OMG, this band is adorable. Cute outfits, big smiles, and lots of hopping around. Two people: one is the very epitome of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, only with an occasionally filthy mouth and a guitar; the other, a skinny, scraggly drumming weirdo who seems pretty game for anything. Really, he seems pretty happy he is allowed to be in the same room as the girl. We aren't talking the bluesy howl of the White Stripes or the early Black Keys here. It's not about technical proficiency; it's all about a spirited, punky scruffiness that comes off more fun than political. 

Not that there isn't some depth in Alex Luciano's lyrics. Sixteen starts off with a scenario where she is the age in the title, having sex with a boyfriend with the same name as her. "It was weird/In the back of his truck/Moaning my name/While trying to fuck". Then the boy Alex tells the whole town that the girl Alex is a slut. They break up, of course, but while preparing to throw a barbecue, she realizes that most of her friends are actually more his friends. Things get worse. In the chorus, girl Alex tells him: "And I/Think you're the kind of guy/Who would meet me at a party/And forget my name/And try to take me home/All the same".

I've since listened to about a half dozen other songs from their still pretty short discography, and I am pretty convinced that I will be adding them to my playlist. Call me just another guy, call it a character weakness, but I can't resist Manic Pixie Dream Girls. Especially the epitome of one...

#18 - Beck, "Dear Life"
Heard of the artist? Yes.
Own any of his music? So, so much of it...
Heard this song? I would have gotten to it eventually.
Would you purchase this song? Already on my list.

More Beck, more music for my collection from my favorite E-meter enthusiast. The guy is just solidly entertaining, album after album, through whatever phase he is in each time. This definitely has a Beatlesque feel to it with the rollicking piano and that guitar solo. And not to get maudlin but the chorus of this song – "Dear life, I’m holding on/How long must I wait/Before the thrill is gone" – could be the mantra for my own existence over the past five years. This is a must add for me.

#17 - Lil Uzi Vert, "XO Tour Llif3"
Heard of the artist? Yes.
Own any of his music? Nope.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? Didn't hate it, but I have no use for it as finalized.

Without the extremely grating use of Auto-Tune, I actually might have come out really liking this track. It's a song that deals with threats of suicide stemming from a romantic break up. Lil sings "Shoulda saw the way she looked me in my eyes/She said: "Baby, I am not afraid to die." His response provides the main hook of the song, and it seems overbearingly callous on first look, like he is daring her to go through with it: "Push me to the edge/All my friends are dead". When you realize he has no real friends and that he only trusts his money, it gets even more callous. In fact, money is his real love: "Stackin' my bands all the way to the top/All the way 'til my bands fallin' over". The song really stuck in my brain for a while, but I just have such a problem with Auto-Tune when it is used as the main gimmick in a song. I at least like the appearance of authenticity in a voice, and I just want to hear someone on their own (or mostly on their own), not a mechanical construct. This came so close to winning me over. It is at the least a very interesting track. I may return to it.

#16 - Julia Michaels, "Uh Huh"
Heard of the artist? Nope.
Own any of her music? Nope.
Heard this song? I wish now that I hadn't heard it after I just listened to it the first time.
Would you purchase this song? Her voice got on my last nerve before the end of the song.

Let me state right out that I do not like the vocals on this song. I just really hate it every time she says "Uh huh" before heading into the next lyric. And if you can't stand to hear the two words of the title spoken in the song to which you are listening, then you probably are not going to like the song. And I don't. (But I won't write Julie Michaels off just yet. See track #12 below for a surprise.)

#15 - Drake, "Passionfruit"
Heard of the artist? Of course.
Own any of his music? Not yet.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? Not bad. I am surprised.

Holy crap! Did Adam Schlesinger produce this? Drake actually sounds a little bit like Chris Collinwood from Fountains of Wayne on this track. (And yes, I am aware that Adam and Chris have had a split in recent years, even if their Wiki page is desperately behind the times.) It is clear that Drake is being Auto-tuned here, but the effect is slight and, in this case, bearable to my ears. It's a pretty sad tale he sings, about the lack of trust in a long distance relationship. He's saying goodbye, but it go down pretty smooth. I am going to put this on the "hold" list; I might not buy it, but it was catchy enough that I might revisit it in the future.

#14 - LCD Soundsystem, "Call the Police"
Heard of the artist? Geez…
Own any of their music? Oh,  yes...
Heard this song? On Saturday Night Live last season.
Would you purchase this song? Gotta say once more... Inevitable.

Loved this. Love James Murphy already, and he just came back and delivered exactly what I wanted from one of my favorites: a politically edged epic that pisses all over 2017. A perfect song for the times. "Wear your makeup like a man," he seethes at one point, and we can't imagine who it might possibly reference. The taint of fascism is in the air and it smells awful. Murphy tells us, "The first sign divides us; the second is moving to Berlin".

Somewhere in the second verse, James almost sounded like Bono to me, and I realized this is the sort of thing that U2 used to do in their sleep before they wanted to become everybody's buddy. We aren't talking the random slogan here. This is meant as a battle cry:

"Well, there's a full-blown rebellion but you're easy to confuse
By triggered kids and fakers and some questionable views.
Oh, call the cops, call the preachers!
Before they let us and they lose
When (oh!) we all start arguing the history of the Jews,
You got nothing left to lose.

Gives me the blues."

Magnificent...

#13 - Ed Sheeran, "Shape of You"
Heard of the artist? Yes.
Own any of his music? Nope.
Heard this song? Yes. Everywhere I go.
Would you purchase this song? Don't need to. As I said, everywhere I go...

Despite my usual reticence towards huge pop hits, I do not hate this song. It has even gotten caught in my head a couple of times when I have crossed paths with it. It's truly an earworm, but that beat and that lyric in the chorus make it almost irresistible. In the bit about Taylor Swift's song above, I talked about the moment I knew that I was sunk, when I rewrote her lyrics to fit our cat. Well, I did that ages ago to the poor Blueberry with Sheeran's song. "Meow, meow, meow... I'm in love with the 'Berry" is how it goes now in our household. And this is a song that I have only crossed paths with in grocery stores. Imagine what would happen to a song that I would actually own?

#12 - Selena Gomez, "Bad Liar"
Heard of the artist? Who hasn't?
Own any of her music? Nope.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? Very possible. I like this song very much.

"Dear Selena Gomez,

Thank you for stopping what you were doing two years ago. You had a song called Good for You on the 2015 Rolling Stone "Best 50" list, and all the showering and posing in tight this and see-through that like you were doing in the video made me feel like a dirty old man. Which I am, but that is beside the point. I don't like feeling like myself most of the time. Music is supposed to take me away from feeling like myself. It is supposed to take me away from worries and cares, not do weird things to my pants. And sure, I actually liked the song, and I guess your video did make me forget the rest of the world for three minutes and 14 seconds (maybe triple that), but otherwise I felt nothing but shame. SHAME, I tell you. 9 minutes and 42 seconds of SHAME. OK, maybe now multiple that by maybe 15 or 16 times more. We're now around (ballpark figuring) two hours and fifteen minutes or so of world-forgetting and SHAME.

This year, you got together with singer/songwriter Julia Michaels, who annoyed the crap out of me a couple of spots ago on this same list, and you deliver a doozy of a tune in Bad Liar. Thank you for sampling your bassline from the Talking Heads' Psycho Killer; you don't need to worry that I love that song so, so very much. It's just a coincidence. I just sometimes think the world has moved on too much and people have forgotten how great that band was. Of course, I don't know if either you or Julia was responsible for that touch, being so young and all, and maybe it was your producer Ian Kirkpatrick or third co-writer Justin Tranter... anyway, it doesn't matter. The Heads' bassline is in place and it grabbed my ear instantly when I started your song. 

Of course, any song employing that sound had better deliver the goods otherwise, and thankfully, your vocals are spot on in this tale of romantic obsession, which actually fits Psycho Killer pretty aptly as far as the lyrics are concerned. Your gentle cooing and apprehensive singing are perfect here. Your character is as tense and nervous and can't relax as Byrne's original, if not for the same reasons. Another nice touch is that the song never goes overboard in its ambition, sticking close to its simple structure and just concentrating on telling its story.
Anyway, everything is good here because your video for this song kept you in your clothes the entire time (though you do dance seductively late in the game). It also helped that you played multiple roles, so that even though the main character is a high school student, you also played both your mom AND EITHER your dad (who is also a teacher at the school) OR a teacher who is dating your mom. (It's hard to tell which.) And the teacher has a mustache as well, so even though it is hard for you to hide your distinctive facial features behind any disguise, at least that element is in place to keep this whole affair tame. Except then you also play ANOTHER female high school student (this time in a blond wig), who is NOT ONLY having a fling with your teacher/dad/Mom's boyfriend (whomever he is), BUT SHE IS ALSO the object of your first character's obsession. Or is this all a metaphor for being in love with yourself?

OK, my brain can now not officially handle watching any of your videos. I have now discovered that I appreciate the craft behind at least two of your songs – and in fact, enjoy the songs unreservedly – and may now have to look into more of them. But damn it, I have to just listen to them. Your videos are either just too slinky or just too hinky. Either way, it's music from here on out.

Let me just sign this, Your pal, Me."

#11 - Tove Styrke, "Say My Name"
Heard of the artist? Nope.
Own any of her music? Nope.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? Once more, very catchy and fun. Absolutely.

Just great. Not going to hold back. This song makes me happy. It's goofy, it's giddy, it's a bit sexy, and bouncy as hell. It's the song on this second part which I have now listened to the most. I know nothing about Ms. Styrke, but really like this song. It's a different pop style altogether, but there are similarities here to the music of Lykke Li, another Swedish songstress whose music won me over a few years ago. (Maybe it's my roots showing.) The weird rubber band guitar riff here is infectious as hell, and for whatever reason, brings to mind Jim Henson's Muppets. Seriously, I have no idea why... 

*****

That's forty down, with ten more to go next time. It was looking grim for the first half of this bunch, but started to even out as we got further down. Still, my stats for this bunch come out as:

Total number of songs: 20
Songs I had heard before: 3
Songs that I own already: 1
Reactions: Loved: 6 | Liked: 5 | OK or Don't Care at All: 7 | Hated: 2

Songs that I plan to purchase: 6

Put together, my updated overall score reads:

Total number of songs: 40
Songs I had heard before: 5
Songs that I own already: 1
Reactions: Loved: 13 | Liked: 10 | OK or Don't Care at All: 12 | Hated: 5
Songs that I plan to purchase: 16

I apparently had a rougher time with the second twenty. But things are starting to even out like last year. But we still have a final ten tracks, the Top Ten of Rolling Stone's selections for the best of the year. There are few pretty big songs coming up, and I know that I have a big surprise in store for everyone in there as well.

See you in Part 3 in a couple of days!

RTJ

*****

PAST EXPERIMENTS

The 50 Something or Other Songs of 2015 
Pt. 1: http://cinema4pylon.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-50-songs-of-2015-pt-1.html 
Pt. 2: http://cinema4pylon.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-50-songs-of-2015-pt-2.html

The 50 Something or Other Songs of 2016
Pt. 1: http://cinema4pylon.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-50-something-or-other-songs-of-2016.html
Pt. 2: http://cinema4pylon.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-50-something-or-other-songs-of-2016.html

Pt. 3: http://cinema4pylon.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-50-something-or-other-songs-of-2016_8.html

The 50 Something or Other Songs of 2017
Pt. 1: http://cinema4pylon.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-50-something-or-other-songs-of-2017.html

The 50 Something or Other Songs of 2017: Part 1

As I have for the past two years, I am continuing with an experiment of my own devising this winter with another ramble through the odd results of Rolling Stone's annual list of the 50 Best Songs for the current year. For the first out of the three times of which I have reviewed their list and then compared my personal reactions to each song (most of which I have never heard before), I am actually fairly close to the actual release date of the list. The magazine (with whom I have a love-hate relationship these days) posts each edition of their 50 Best Songs list online by the end of November of each year. The first time that I attempted this experiment, I reviewed their November 2015 list in January 2016. Last year, due to an ongoing hip injury that kept me from sitting at my computer for more than a few minutes at a time, I waited until deep in March 2017, after I started physical therapy, to tackle their November 2016 edition.

I will post the links to my previous editions of this experiment at the bottom of this post, but in case you just want to stick to this attempt for now, let me set the scene. This will also come in handy for novices to this site who may not know my tastes very well.

I turned 53 in September, and have a lifelong love of pop and rock music, to the point where it is sometimes a great distraction. If there has been a musical movement since the mid-'70s, with a handful of notable exceptions of course, there is a great chance that there is something or someone from that movement that I have followed either briefly or forever. I am fairly well-listened in swing, blues, jazz, vocal and novelty music from the pre-rock era; I have a pretty comprehensive knowledge of early rock 'n' roll from the 1950s, pop music and classic rock from the '60s and '70s, punk rock and heavy metal in the '70s and early '80s (but cutting off pretty much around 1985), the alternative scene from its earliest beginnings, and indie rock through today (but I consider myself rather picky about that). I also have a massive collection built around all of this, but also the novelty, comedy, kiddie record, holiday, and outsider music genres. And I have a special fondness for power pop that will never go away. On top of all this, I am also a Zappa fanatic, and own the bulk of his catalogue.

I own a hell of a lot of music, and if you think "Oh yeah, sure, we all do," I will ask you for the numbers. Counting LPs, CDs, several hundred cassette tapes (though I no longer have a cassette player) and albums purchased online, I have access to well over 3,500 albums and 100,000 separate music files in my own iTunes alone. Most of the music that I have purchased in the past decade has been online, so I tend to no longer buy physical media, but if I had a regular inflow of cash again, I would probably still be buying vinyl. As far as services like Spotify and Pandora go, I find both of them annoying for different reasons, but I do use them sporadically to hear new music. [For the interested, you can survey an incomplete but rather extensive list of my musical influences at https://cinema4pylon.blogspot.com/p/musi.html.]

One of the reasons I started doing this experiment two years ago was because I felt, as I have been getting older, that I have grown out of touch with current musical trends. Sometimes this is a very good thing; just like with movies, new trends and artists can prove to be exasperatingly annoying, especially as the everyday world insists on committing to getting dumber and dumber by the day. On the other hand, if something or someone truly innovative comes along that also proves to be worthwhile listening, I could easily miss out on it. The first year's list didn't really introduce me to Courtney Barnett, but it did remind me that I had crossed paths with one of her videos at some miraculous point, so finding her on the 2015 list led me back around to adding her music to my collection.

Another problem for me is the radio. Top 40 radio has not been my thing since I was 13, so I don't really grant myself access to hearing current popular music. Also, I don't drive, so finding such a station is not a priority with me. I tend to stick to the bands that I have always loved and just keep my eyes peeled to new artists that I find on iTunes or Spotify, or that my friends tell me about from time to time. One big problem in the past year especially is that I have been out of work, and thus, I have no personal income except for that of my wife's. (I am just about to begin a new job, so that will change in the near future.) Thus, no spending money for a frivolous pursuit such as music for the past year. I have compiled a list of numerous new albums by favorite artists throughout these 12 months, so perhaps once I get settled financially a tad, I can start to winnow down that list bit by bit.

The Rules Going In...

OK, the rules are that I listen to each song on Rolling Stone's 50 Best Songs of 2017 countdown, one by one. (Rolling Stone usually provides a handy video for each song when able to make this easier.) As I said, I am hearing most of these songs for the very first time. I then write a quickie review of my experience along with my first thoughts upon listening to them. 

I further qualify my experience based on these four questions: 1) Had I heard of the artist before that listen?; 2) Did I already own any of that artist’s music?; 3) Had I heard the song before?; and 4) Would I ever try to purchase the song based on that initial listen?

There will be three parts to this article. At the end of each one, I keep a running tally of songs that I have heard before or own already or that I plan to purchase.

The Previous Results...

The final tally from my listen to Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Songs of 2015 went like this...

Total number of songs: 50
Songs I had heard before: 13, with 3 maybes.
Songs that I owned already: 6
Reactions: Loved: 10 | Liked: 18 | OK to Meh: 20 | Hated: 2
Songs that I planned to purchase: 14 definitely; 8 maybes.

So, how different were the results for the following year, now that I had been introduced to many more current artists? Surprisingly, the results for Rolling Stone's 50 Best Songs of 2016 were actually pretty close to the first time...

Total number of songs so far: 50

Songs I have heard before: 19

Songs that I own already: 5

Loved: 13 | Liked: 20 | OK to Meh: 11 | Hated: 5 | Couldn’t Rate: 1

Songs that I plan to purchase: 21

The ups and downs between variances (when combining maybes with yeses in the first year's results) makes me even more curious to see what will happen this year. Is this just the average range it will be from year to year? Will knowing these results make me more guarded going into the experiment? As with film, though, I will attempt to center my emotions and responses before I give an opinion on anything. Hopefully the same will prove true for this list.

And so here I go, as I tackle The 50 Something or Other Songs of 2017, Pt. 1:

#50 - 21 Savage, "Bank Account"
Heard of the artist? Yes, on last year's list.
Own any of his music? Nope.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? Not a chance. Not a goddamn chance.

Well, we are starting things out with someone that I can hate just for being a useless douchebag. I prefer my hip hop to lean to the side of social concern and change, and I care not for braggarts of any stripe. The music for Bank Account has an ominous, pulsing groove that provides the only element of interest in the entire song. As usual in these sort of affairs, 21 (at least he isn't yet another "Lil") brags about his bitches, his guns, and his dick, but mostly about his bank account, hence the shockingly imaginative and accurate title. He provides a counting up of the millions in said account in what can only be described as "made for Sesame Street" style, though they would never approve of the material involving his dick or his bitches. This would all be fine if 21 Savage didn't sound like a humorless ass-wipe because he is too desperate to impart to us both how rich and how tough he is. 

Hey, 21? How about shutting up about how much money you have in the bank, and then you wouldn't have to worry about keeping your Glock cocked or your cock Glocked or whatever it is that you fondle with your itchy trigger finger? And this song may contain the largest sheer number of repeated mentions of "God" in a song configured in direct opposition to any form of saintliness. Catchy pulse, but empty-headed and awful. Can't one just throw a rock in any direction in a room full of hip hop CDs and find umpteen similar tracks equally as vain and vapid? The credentials of the magazine's list title are already thrown into question...

#49 - Haim, "Want You Back"
Heard of the artist? Yes, for several years now.
Own any of their music? An EP and a single; so, 6 songs total.
Heard this song before this? Yes, on radio and on SNL, for starters.
Would you purchase this song? Don't know if I need to, since it is played in department stores now...

So, I have discovered in recent months that I cannot escape this song. It is getting played on the one radio station that my wife listens to, which itself plays very little in the way of current hits. Somehow, it made its way into the rotation. I have heard the song online, in Target, in Nordstroms Rack at the outlet malls, waiting for a movie to start, selecting soup at the grocery, and in a live appearance on Saturday Night Live. I first ran into the sisters of Haim in 2012, and was interested enough in their shimmery Cali pop-rock sound to give them a shot by grabbing the EP that was then their only available longer release, as well as their Don't Save Me single. The songs were all fine, but I kind of lost track of the band, as I expected to do.

Nice to see Haim is still around in 2017, but I don't know if I will join them any further. Want You Back is catchy and might make a fun singalong, but I also find it a little too repetitive. I would need to hear more of the full album to make it worthwhile to me. Plus, the bass-playing sister (Este), who is what one can charitably call "lightly expressive," kind of gets on my nerves after a little while, even if it is clear that she is just having a ball doing her job and putting the songs across to the audience or cameras. Let's put Haim and their latest album in the "maybe" category for now. The truth is they have the talent to possibly come out with the next pop-rock masterpiece album à la Fleetwood Mac, and for that I will wait and see. The video here, though, is kind of ramshackle fun, since if looks like they can't sing and dance at the same time (or especially because it looks that way).

#48 - YFN Lucci feat. PnB Rock, "Everyday We Lit"
Heard of the artist? Of course not...
Own any of his music? Ha!
Heard this song before this? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? Sorry, not my scene.

So, what is the difference between this song and the one I just heard at #50 by 21 Savage? Well, not much, except perhaps a little more gratitude and humor and less promise of violence. Still, it's all bitches, dicks, guns, and money, though they point out repeatedly how hard-earned it is. That's fine... you can be proud of your accomplishments. At least you guys aren't being in-your-face assholes about it like 21 Savage. YFN Lucci and his pal seem pretty stoked at suddenly being rich and just want to have a good time with all that money. But the song is a party to which I will never wish to have an invite; it just doesn't speak to me at all, even if I am happy that they are happy. We should all be so happy...

#47 - Willie Nelson, "Delete and Fast Forward"
Heard of the artist? Willie's the man.
Own any of his music? Yes, of course.
Heard this song before this? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? Yes, a more than excellent chance of it.

Given how most of my friends and family know full well my political inclinations (super progressive but with an eye towards the center), it must be that none of them have encountered Willie's sobering look at the threat for the world at the rise of Trump. What other explanation for their not having pointed my way to this most excellent song? Surely, they would have, yes? If I find out someone of my acquaintance was negligent on sharing this with me, there will be hell to pay. As sharp as ever with his songwriting (a credit shared with Buddy Cannon), the ol' Red Headed Stranger allows one to wallow briefly in the gloom and doom that we are feeling at his current moment, but still insists on raising the room's spirits a bit by raising the spectre of hope. Maybe we can get past all this divisive shit and do the right thing in time, he seems to posit, we just have to stop the media wars and sit down and talk things out like we used to do. Sure, that's pretty much a pipe dream right now, but coming from a man who has probably engaged in a great many pipe dreams, it still sounds hopeful.

#46 - Laura Marling, "Wild Fire"
Heard of the artist? I guess that I have. Won't forget her now.
Own any of her music? I apparently own an EP she shared with the Mumfords, but forgot about it.
Heard this song? No.
Would you purchase this song? Absolutely, without any hesitation.

This is the first song on the list to not only have me anticipating my purchase of it, but also has me antsy to dig into the rest of the album, Semper Femina, as quickly as possible. Just like with Angel Olsen last year, hearing even the first notes from Marling's voice on this song was to fall in love instantly with her instrument, so lush I want to sink into it forever and forget this world. Sure, I hear a studied Joni Mitchell tone in that voice, just as Stone and others have pointed out, but there is a deeper soulfulness to her Marling's performance on this song. Most remarkable on this song are the lyrics, spoken by a character who is tired of bullshit from her lover...

"Chasing down a wild fire
Are you trying to make a cold liar out of me?
You want to get high? 
You overcome those desires, before you come to me"

It seems at first we are being shown the relationship from one side, as it seems to be merely about one more rational partner trying to bring peace to the less stable personality in the pair. But it becomes clear that there is hurt and hesitation, and probably duplicity, on both sides. Regarding her lover's tendency to write out her feelings, Marling sings...

"Of course the only part that I want to read
Is about her time spent with me
Wouldn’t you die to know how you're seen
Are you getting away with who you’re trying to be?"

We start to see hints that perhaps the singer, despite her efforts, is equally irrational in dealing with this relationship, as she seems to get angered about trivialities and passing comments...

"You always say you love me most
When I don’t know I’m being seen
Well maybe someday when God takes me away
I’ll understand what the fuck that means"

She seems harsh at this point in their love, but this seems to be less a lament than a last ditch attempt to hang onto that love despite the odds. Wild Fire is the best song so far on this list. The top ten at the end of this list had better turn out to be magnificent, because Wild Fire would already be in mine. Of course, I don't know what is ahead of me...

#45 - Miley Cyrus, "Malibu"
Heard of the artist? I have even seen her live... accidentally.
Own any of her music? Nope.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? It offends me in no way, but neither does it speak to me.

OK, let's not go crazy here. The song Malibu is nice, in the way that Cobie Caillat's Bubbly is nice, but it's not "Best 50 Songs of any given year" nice. Miley greatly tones down the ho-ness (while still wandering around a beach and grasslands in next to nothing), and hushedly under-sings simple words in the guise of a sweetly patient girlfriend. (She even forgives the male of her affection his moment of mansplaining about "the current".) She sings about sitting by him while writing the words to "this song" and I can quite imagine Miley at the beach with her beau writing the same words, none of them too difficult for the audience to understand. Again, it's all just so "nice" and accompanied by a predictably gorgeous-looking video with beach and bikini shots. For making me watch my first Cyrus video since Wrecking Ball, I thank Rolling Stone for the eye candy, but the song is too, too mild to make it past merely OK for me.

#44 - Carly Rae Jepsen, "Cut to the Feeling"
Heard of the artist? Of course... she's a better pitcher than a singer. And she's a shitty pitcher.
Own any of her music? One song on a Little Mermaid comp that I got free from Disney Rewards.
Heard this song? No, maybe, perhaps in a store... so tame and blank, who could remember?
Would you purchase this song? Not on a dare.

By the 1:50 mark of the almost 4-minute video, this song has said everything it can say in its empty little head, and cute little Carly Rae just spends the rest of the time repeating variations of what came before. Honestly, it ran out of ideas after the first words were sung, but I will cut her a little slack. Oh, Carly Rae, it's hard to cut to the feeling if all you feel is numb from dull commercialism. This is just absolutely, instantly forgettable product... bland, bland, blandness to match her blonde, blonde, blondeness in the video. I forgot it halfway through the video. What song is this video for anyway? Did I even just watch a video? What am I doing here?

#43 - Big Thief, "Shark Smile"
Heard of the artist? Nope.
Own any of their music? Nope.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? Instant classic tune in my book. This album will be bought.

Wow. Stunning and heartbreaking, Shark Smile is exactly the sort of song I expect to find on such a list as this. With their sharp songwriting about a passionate pick-up that ends in a roadside tragedy, Big Thief surprised me, chiefly because (as per my habit) I watched the video accompanying the text before seeing what Rolling Stone said about the song. Given the name of the artist and even the title, I was half expecting this to be a hip-hop track (the genre is overloaded with Bigs and Lils, so c'mon on...), but I was surprised to find a true indie rock classic worthy of the Boss in its stark, black and white depiction of love scraping against the guardrails. This album will be in my collection someday. Woo, baby... take me.

#42 - Kodak Black, "Tunnel Vision"
Heard of the artist? Never heard of a camera with this name, but I am open to the company expanding their brand. But I ran into Kodak Black on last year's list.
Own any of his music? What do you think?
Heard this song? Nuh uh.
Would you purchase this song? Seems a waste of my time and money.

OK, so Kodak Black has a killer line that would make William Faulkner crawl out of his grave, build a time machine to go back in time and kill himself before he ever wrote a word because he knows he can never compete with the great Kodak Black. (Yeah, there's a time paradox at work there, but I don't care.) Kodak wants to make his new line fit his slinky rhyme scheme in order to pair up with the syllable "-cate" at the end of the previous line. (Most of the verse lines up with a series of syllables featuring hard "a" sounds.) So he takes what will undoubtedly go down as one of the classic quotes in music history – the line being "Uh, I'm the shit, I need some toilet pap-er" – and then rhymes "pap" (said "pape") with the "–cate" in "okay," and then drops the "er" in "paper" to the start of the next line. Bravo! Mad skillz, Kodak! A Pulitzer and a Peabody are surely on their way! (I'd mock his winning a Grammy, but seriously, the levels are low with that organization. He'll probably win one someday.)

Lest you think I am being harsh on his lyrics, the previous line with the "-cate" syllable was exactly what you might expect it to be. "That money make me cum, it made me fornicate"... Yeah, Kodak Black is telling yet another story about being true to himself and keeping focused on his goal of making millions of dollars singing about bitches, dicks, guns, and money. Oh, he does also add cars ("Kodak bought a Wraith") into the usual hip hop braggart's mix this time, so let's give him some credit for a widescreen vision. He wants to keep focused so that he knows his "bae" won't go "iggin'" him, but I could easily ignore him possibly for the rest of his career if all his tales are as dull and predictable as this Codeine-binging nightmare.

#41 - Kamasi Washington, "Truth"
Heard of the artist? Nope.
Own any of his music? Nope.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? I think perhaps I will. I want to see how the rest of the suite sounds.

What a marvelous surprise to find not just an outright jazz track on the Best 50 Songs list, but a 13-minute-plus jazz track nonetheless. Saxophonist Kamasi Washington's name and music is new to me, but if I had wished in the past for an entry point into the current jazz scene – and I have a few times, being quite lost at this point – I think that I may have found my answer. This song is apparently the 6th and final part of an EP suite that seeks to bring an answer to our country's deep political divide. Truth builds slowly for its first five minutes into a rich tapestry of sound, and then Washington kicks in with his sharp soloing. Even when his riffing finishes a couple of minutes later, the song never loses its focus and carries strongly to its finish, where a choir joins in to help the song impart in gorgeous sound what its title promises. I have wanted something like this for a long time, but now I need to hear the rest. A promising first look at what appears to be a monstrous talent to me.

#40 - Fergie feat. Nicki Minaj, "You Already Know"
Heard of these artists? Sadly, yes…
Own any of their music? I thought not, but I have 2 BEP songs on CMJ collections.
Heard this song? I have now.
Would you purchase this song? I have no use for it musically. Unless I opened a strip club...

Man, I was expecting to hate this. After hearing the Kasami Washington track, my immediate thought was "Seriously?" Fergie? Nicki? And no, this song does not deserve to be placed one higher than the sublime Washington composition. Or even twenty below it. Hell, it really doesn't even belong on the same list, but I will make this admission: I didn't hate You Already Know. Much like the Ariana Grande/Nicki Minaj track for which I revealed a secret liking last year – Side to Side – I kind of came out of my first listen thinking it was pretty catchy. Which is how the pop music game is played, I totally understand. Most of the music on the Top 40 is catchy in some aspect; it's meant to suck you in so they can insert an earworm or two. The song didn't quite catch me, but the second go-around didn't repulse me either. I think the "Life's a movie/let the camera roll" junk, as trite a lyrical convention as anything, in the chorus still probably got to this film fanatic. And that's totally on me. However, it will not translate into a sale down the line, and I assume that the next time I hear the song will be during a timeout during a Celtics telecast.

#39 - Dan Auerbach, "Waiting on a Song"
Heard of the artist? Oh, yes.
Own any of his music? Yup.
Heard this song? How can you escape it?
Would you purchase this song? His new album was on my list already.

At this point, shouldn't we accept that the Black Keys' Dan Auerbach is the modern version of John Fogerty (minus the growly voice), a singer-songwriter with serious guitar skills who squeezes out one bluesy, soulful, slightly countrified rocker after another without seeming to sweat. Auerbach must be in a race to make us forget that he even has a regular band, forcing himself to put out as many side and solo projects as he can. I appreciate a guy who realizes he can score as much expensive studio time as he would like now that he is famous, but c'mon, Dan... take a break once in a while. I can't even keep up with your discography. Great to see him co-writing with the legendary John Prine, a personal favorite (thanks, Glenn!). Once I get firmer financial footing again, this one is mine.

#38 - Gorillaz feat. Popcaan, "Saturnz Barz"
Heard of the artist? The Gorillaz, yes. Popcaan... what a stupid name. I like it.
Own any of their music? All except the new album.
Heard this song? Hadn't gotten around to it yet...
Would you purchase this song? It was already on my get list.

So, you may have surmised from the past couple of years that I am not exactly a hip hop or rap guy. You would be right. And it might seem from my comments on this year's list thus far that I don't have much respect for a lot of what passes for hip hop lyrics today. Once again, correct-a-mundo. Oh, I respect some hip hop lyrics just fine; take a look at several of my reactions last year to prove this out for several artists that I lauded. (And there may even be more positive stuff to come on this list, though I can't know that yet right now.) I just get disappointed when rappers make it all about commercial success, and can't find lyrical content beyond telling me how their dick equals the size of their gun, and how many bitches they have back in their crib, trap, or whatever the term for shitty apartment is this week. I find it rote and lazy by this point, no matter how clever you think your rhyme scheme happens to be. (Sadly, it still sells millions of units.)

Damon Albarn's all-star cartoon band Gorillaz tends to straddle the hip hop genre for most of its tracks. And if you want to say that the band exists as an easy access point for white people to get into hip hop, I wouldn't dispute such a claim. It hasn't turned me into one, that's for sure, but I sure love what I have heard on their first three albums and a myriad of singles and EPs.

Part of this acceptance is because I am, without any reservation at all, a massive fan of Albarn's "day job" band, Blur, and go nuts for even the slightest hint they are going on tour or thinking of putting out a new single. Luckily, though, Albarn is as busy with side projects and bands as Dan Auerbach, and so one never has to wait too long for his next release, whatever it is. We had to wait seven years for the fourth Gorillaz joint following Plastic Beach back in 2010. I felt that last album was their strongest overall effort yet (though I will always hold the most love for the original Gorillaz). This was one of those times where I was quite aware the album was coming out this year, and I wrote it on my To Get list, but of course, still have to wait to grab it. I kind of avoided watching the video until this point because I was too butt hurt at not being able to buy Humanz.

As for the track itself, Saturnz Barz, dancehall star Popcorn is previously unknown to me, but I think his vocal tricks are pretty terrific on the song. Even if I can't understand a word he says without a lyric sheet. Apart from later choruses, though, Popcaan's part is mostly over by the time Albarn lounges in to stretch about and croon for the remainder of the surprisingly short track (just 3 minutes if you remove the video portions before and after). I really like what I hear, but its brevity only serves as an appetizer for the rest of the album. Sadly, I have to wait a little while longer to get it. And that's really just on me and my inability to bring home the bacon. I have definitely not run my recent life like a boss.

#37 - Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie, "In My World"
Heard of the artist? Part of my upbringing...
Own any of their music? Much, much, much...
Heard this song? Nope, but aware of it.
Would you purchase this song? A definite purchase is on the list.

Given my love of power pop, it should come as no surprise that I also hold onto an lifelong affection for all things Fleetwood Mac, most especially the slinky guitar lines, studio experimentation and nervous vocals of Lindsey Buckingham. From what I had heard, this team-up between Buckingham and his Mac compatriot McVie is, on some tracks, actually four members of the five-person Mac minus Stevie Nicks, who decided to concentrate on a solo album instead. Whatever the circumstances, I will take "close to full Mac" – which would include McVie's ex John on bass and Mick Fleetwood himself on drums – over "no new Mac at all" any day. Besides, sometimes I skip the Nicks songs on replays of the old albums to stick to the more upbeat tracks. From the start of this Buckingham-penned wonder, McVie's keyboards bring back old memories of those past albums, but Lindsey's lyrics are sheer heartache, as the fantasy he spins in the chorus is betrayed by the harsher reality of the verses. It's grand to hear the two of them at least making magic once again. Flexing the "Old Guy" rule here, this will be a must buy in my future.

#36 - Dvsn, "Mood"
Heard of the artist? Not at all.
Own any of his music? Nope.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? Interested in hearing more from this duo, but no purchase yet.

Slow, sexy and seductive songs are not usually my sort of thing, and if you say, "Well, you aren't using them correctly," I would add that they aren't my wife's thing either. It's the same reaction I have when I tell people we don't celebrate Valentine's Day, and they give me crap because surely this is not her decision. And those people are dead wrong, and they don't know my wife at all, who mocks the day far more than I do. Still, I have enough Prince albums (and a bunch of old school R&B/funk ramp-ups from the '70s) to know sexy when I hear it, and this song has it. Falsetto vocals and a truly strange guitar solo deep in the proceedings lead to some nastiness in the bedroom by the end. It's a Maxwell song without the abs, and I'm not going to get in the way if someone wants to get down tonight. Have fun, kids...

#35 - Dirty Projectors, "Up in Hudson"
Heard of the artist? Yes. Great name.
Own any of their music? A quick check reveals a pair of songs via compilations.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? Yes, and after listening to the other 2 songs I own, want to get more from these guys.

So I am really getting to the Dirty Projectors pretty late, after eight albums and having more than one shot at digging into their music but putting each attempt aside before I started. This song is about the relationship of the band's two vocalists (Dave Longstreth and Amber Coffman), one of whom is not on this album except as a subject. Boy meets girl, girl joins his band, girl moves on to a solo career, and boy hangs about attempting to convince himself boy and girl still have a connection through she is long gone. It's a love gone wrong album and Up in Hudson is its grand statement. He lyric-checks Roberta Flack, samples Peggy Seeger, mentions songs he wrote for her, and works in references to Kanye and 2Pac as their respective healing artists of choice. Over a burbling horn section, Longstreth sings wide-eyed about how their love "felt like it bore the impress of destiny" but later admits...

"This is how we saw the world
side by side from the road and the stage
So our lives were twined and curled
and mixed up like the code we obeyed
And that was basically my dream
and I dreamed it with you 'til we betrayed it"

Longstreth closes the 9-minute sprawl with a fuzz-soaked guitar solo that trips along lightly over the rhythm section and horns until he finally has nothing left to say about the whole affair. His brain seems spent, his guitar seems spent, and so does the subject. A most intriguing song, but one that makes me want to dig more into their past work when Coffman was there to see what the hubbub was about, rather than selling me the latest album.

#34 - Dua Lipa feat. Miguel, "Lost in Your Light"
Heard of the artist? Miguel, yes, but not Dua Lipa.
Own any of their music? Nope.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? Probably not, but it's OK for what it is.

Just like the Haim video, more awkward walking down streets that turn into awkward dance moves. But I try to avoid the videos when listening to these songs, so I hide the video behind a window on my desktop just as the rather fetching Lipa is hoisted up into the air Harry Styles-, um... -style. And just before Miguel pops into the song to sing about "torture tempted with pleasure" and share the remainder of the vocals. The song is light dance simplicity, with romantic longing in the words, and nothing more strenuous than an old Anita Ward song. It's actually rather pleasant sounding, but also does nothing for me musically but fill space.

#33 - Lil Yachty feat. Diplo, "Forever Young"
Heard of the artist? Ran into both of them on the previous two years' lists.
Own any of their music? Nope.
Heard this song? Nope.
Would you purchase this song? It's kind of sweet, but not my thing.

Oh, boy... this song starts out using way too much Auto-Tune. Yeah, I know they were doing it on purpose, but my general rule is that my brain shuts out the rest of the song immediately when that is the case. If it is used for comedic purposes, I am a little more forgiving, but that is not the case here. And the Auto-Tune keeps coming, all through the rapped verses, and again, yes, I know that is the style here. I just don't have to like it. It's sad, because I actually think the chorus is pretty catchy, and when he Biz Markies the "forever young" part at the end, I think it's sort of cute. I also think it is funny when Yachty speaks in his bae's voice to call him "Boat". There is a video on YouTube about Auto-Tune where an L.A. producer is asked about the use of the program. He says, "When I can't hear it being used, it's great." That's me in a nutshell.

#32 - Margo Price, "Pay Gap"
Heard of the artist? Yes. Seen her multiple times on TV.
Own any of her music? Nope.
Heard this song? Not this song, but others.
Would you purchase this song? There is a good chance that I might check out one of her albums by this point.

"We are all the same in the eyes of God
But in the eyes of rich white men
No more than a maid to be owned like a dog
A second-class citizen"

Yeah, preach it, Margo. I've come around on the girl since I first heard her on Saturday Night Live a while ago. I dismissed Ms. Price in that way that I am generally dismissive of many populist acts on the interminable wait during the first music slot for Weekend Update to start. I listened to her, but didn't really listen to her. Then she started popping up on Colbert and Noah, and I became entranced by her voice and the increase of a political stance in her lyrics. Luckily, that stance seems to be on the same side of me, so... yeah, go for it, Margo. This is pretty good stuff.

#31 - Craig Finn, "God in Chicago"
Heard of the artist? Yes, via The Hold Steady.
Own any of his music? One album, and a couple of songs on comps.
Heard this song? No.
Would you purchase this song? Yes. Goddamned yes.

More of a monologue than a song, God in Chicago tells a story of delving into the dark side  so rich in detail and desperation as to be frightening. The death and the drug deal that form the first half of the story are the easy part. It's the brief relationship that ignites during it in the second half that hold the real drama and sadness. The chorus is sung only once in the middle, and that's because it forms the transition between the parts. God in Chicago reminds me of some of the story-songs in the early Drive-By Truckers' albums, stock full of rich tidbits of character notes and just the right lines of dialogue. In a different way, it takes me back to the moody, character-driven tales that Stan Ridgway would spin after he soloed away from Wall of Voodoo, albeit with a markedly different musical style.

I really enjoyed the single Hold Steady LP I have, and had planned to hear more, and now that is probably going to have to happen eventually. Nice work, Craig. Along with Marling's Wild Fire and Big Thief's Shark Smile, Finn's dark tale becomes my third favorite track thus far on this list.

*****

Twenty songs down. More next time. For now, my score reads:

Total number of songs: 20
Songs I had heard before: 2
Songs that I own already: A big fat 0.
Reactions: Loved: 7 | Liked: 5 | Don't Care at All: 5 | Hated: 3
Songs that I plan to purchase: 10

So that's not bad for the first score. When I get up and running with the music factory again, it looks like I have lined up half of these tracks or artists to be added to my collection. I do worry when I find a handful of really excellent songs surrounded by chaff at the bottom of the list, because it says to me these things were not measured out by quality but rather some other system. But we can discuss that after we see what Part 2 brings me in a few days. See you then!

RTJ

[To be continued next week in Pt. 2, featuring Songs 30 through 11…]

*****

PAST EXPERIMENTS

The 50 Something or Other Songs of 2015 
Pt. 1: http://cinema4pylon.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-50-songs-of-2015-pt-1.html 
Pt. 2: http://cinema4pylon.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-50-songs-of-2015-pt-2.html

The 50 Something or Other Songs of 2016
Pt. 1: http://cinema4pylon.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-50-something-or-other-songs-of-2016.html
Pt. 2: http://cinema4pylon.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-50-something-or-other-songs-of-2016.html
Pt. 3: http://cinema4pylon.blogspot.com/2017/04/the-50-something-or-other-songs-of-2016_8.html