Best of the Rest of 2014...

So I just got done wrapping up the best songs of 2014 people and even got to doing the 5 worst of the year so why am I still writing articles if I said I was taking the rest of the year off? Well I managed to come up with a couple of songs that came out this year that were ignored for whatever reason or another and figured I’d get them in their own little honorable mentions’ category of sorts because I seemed to miss some really bad ass little gems this year and below will be a Spotify list but here’s my 5 honorable mentions of the year…

1. Happy Idiot-TV on the Radio

So in all honesty I never cared for this band nor do I honestly care that much for them now but this smooth little rocker and it’s kind of depressing themes of a bad breakup and it’s stark method of playing on the phrase Ignorance is bliss really has made a decidedly enjoyable tune that’s every bit of depressingly steady rock and roll that I’m all for.

2. I don’t know you anymore-Bob Mould

You’d think my fondness for this man’s work would have kept me in the loop about a song this decidedly BAD ASS and the purest most Sugar tinged awesomeness that this man is capable of but in all honesty I just didn’t give this amazing track the attention it deserved and when I’d written the list I randomly came across this track and was pissed that I didn’t include it because I’m pretty sure it’d of easily been within the top 10 if not top 5.

3. Millions-Gerard Way

So I recall doing a song of the day on this tune and was aware of it but for whatever reason I seemed to miss the mark on this one and it’s probably because I kind of didn’t care as much for the album it was on in the long run even if this is honestly the strongest thing Way has probably done since the Black Parade in terms of solid rockers that surprisingly show some versatility for him as a vocalist and it’s kind of old school-ish vibes aren’t done in a way that make it seem like a cheap imitation but rather an original tune in its own right that honestly should have made a decent impact on radio.

4. Cool Kids-Echosmith

So here we have a dreamy little pop number about wishing you were like the cool kids so you don’t get picked on and yeah it was a decent radio success and while they’re solid when it comes to these dreamy poppy numbers they do sound a lot like a watered down Paramore with a lead singer that looks like Anna Kendrick which actually isn’t bad at all…..but even those aside this was just a solid pop number that didn’t quite make the cut but was still solid none-the-less.

5. Think of You-MS MR

SO this song was going to be on the list but in all honesty it got cut literally at the last minute because both Chvrches and The Smashing Pumpkins managed to get songs out that just HAD to be on there so while I did have my fair share of moments with this bad ass little jam I just ended up cutting it last minute.

Sam's Top 20 of 2014: #1

1. Neon Trees- I love you(But I hate Your Friends)

I went to a lot of shows this year and I just got to see SO MANY AMAZING FUCKING ACTS but the show I was honestly THE MOST hyped up for was this little power pop group’s free offering up in Power and Light because not only did they manage to make my favorite album of the year, NOT ONLY did I get to see an AMAZING SHOW FRONT FUCKING ROW, not only did I get to shake Tyler Glenns hand, and not only DID I get the most important record I’ve had in quite some time for free but in all honesty I think that same album and show was probably the therapy I needed.

Like I said my life went to a really dark place people and in some sick fucked up way there wasn’t too many things that consistently gave me any sense of joy or happiness but oddly enough it was the songs that were the most important and Pop Psychology as an album is one of those records that filled with them and while I’d say Living In another World is the song I really NEEDED to hear live and did and of course loved it’s a bit hard to really think of it as the best because of all the songs released and meant to promote these acts and the efforts they were making this was probably the song that sold me the most on Pop Psychology and it’s still the most consistent tune that I find myself loving all these odd months later and constant rotations.

It’s a big energetic ball of wonder with a music video that seems like some odd art house bojankies that only the Talking Heads would do that is also something true as hell in that you may like someone but you never like their company and everyone can attest to that.

I honestly think this was the best song of the year for many reasons but if I had to say anything it’d probably be this amongst all the amazing shows, bad ass new artist, and amazing songs I’ve heard this one without a doubt when I look at the list I compiled was my clear cut choice of what I truly thought was the best and because of that its ranked accordingly. 

Neon Trees had an amazing year and followed up an album amazing enough to make me write a fucking screenplay to it with a collection of songs that was the strongest effort I’ve listened to through and through and because of that I just can’t help but be glad their music actually hit me in a special place and gave me some encouragement to really REALLY write something special and this song is a good example of the joys I can feel because of the music I hear so sorry to be all preachy and kind of cheesy but this song FUCKING KICKS ASS PEOPLE and it’s my pick for the best song of 2014 thanks for reading through these 20 day’s people here’s to a hopefully great 2015 and of course go like the fucking facebook page it’s all I really could ask for shit I’ll link it AGAIN! 

But all jokes aside I’m going to attempt to come up with something hopefully the beginning of next week then most likely take the rest of the year off because I didn’t post enough this year and I’ll be back January 1^st but until then listen on and keep on kicking ass…

Sam's Top 20 of 2014: #2

2. Kimbra-90’s Music

Ok people of all the newer female musical crushes I’ve had this year and of all the girl power jams that are ever so present on my playlist my heart belongs to one woman people and that would be the amazingly beautiful and talented Kimbra and this year she decided to grace me with an album that….well….OK it was exactly what I expected and I’d hate to say that it wasn’t Vow’s 2 but you know that kind of doesn’t matter because it still had some AMAZING cuts that were difficult as fuck to pick between but when I sat down and really thought it through I kind of decided that this funky little experimental tune won out.

It’s not that it’s honestly the best song on the album I’d probably go with Love In High Places or Miracle for that it’s just this song is probably the best idea of what represents the direction this woman is taking as an artist she is an oddity experimenting with different tones, singing styles, and unorthodox methods of throwing together a pop song and what ultimately could have ended up as some failed avant-garde tune quickly gets diminished by what was one of the most killer fucking chorus’ all year…

“Same old song I heard can’t get out of my head,”

That fucking line people just completely sold me on this song and made me look past the funky exterior and truly LISTEN and what I got was one bad ass little number that yes seemed like much but it grew on me and after listening to it again I still love it and feel that it really was one of the best but not the best amazing still though and defiantly worth the listen…

Sam's Top 20 of 2014: #3

3. Bleachers-I Wanna get Better

SO I truly don’t like talking about my personal life on here for a variety of reasons mostly being that there are things that need not be discussed because they’re greatly personal but I have to say 2014 was a fairly shitty and heavy year for me people.

I went through a series of terrible events that lead to me having to make decisions in putting myself in places that I never thought I’d be in and I almost did things to myself that are quite crazy to think about and amongst it all I kind of lost interest in the things I love and have had to re-examine my whole path and one of the moments were something small hit me was actually the first time I heard this song.

Earlier this year I kind of had a mental breakdown of the worst kind and had to seek serious help and I remember being in a hospital for a small period of time and I recall on the day I left I’d woken up really early that day and was wandering around the hall and noticed another patient watching AMTV video block and the video for this song came on and I honestly ignored it completely as a random forgettable song.

The funny thing about that is as soon as I kind of got back to normal life and things just went to shit all over again I found this song would just randomly come up and I paid attention more to its title and the lyrics being sang and just one day something hit me that was the truest expression of it all…

“Woke Up this morning Early before my family, from this dream were she was trying to show me, how a life could move from the darkness she said to get better, So I put a bullet where I should of put a helmet, and I crashed my car ‘cause I wanna get carried away, that’s why I’m standing on the overpass screaming to myself, HEY I WANNA GET BETTER!”

That line was more true than anything ever should be and I honestly did almost that one grandly fucked up expression of calling for help because I know I need to get better and seeing them sing that live was a bit of an eye opener that didn’t hit me oddly enough but every time I hear that line I really do think to myself that it’s a little to true for its own good.

I almost did a bad thing people and I have to live one day at a time and while I really hate were things are at times and feel a victim of my own vices and semi dead on the inside there are little rays of hope amongst all the fucking bull shit that leave me to say I wanna get better and  this blog, my story I’ve been writing, and the support of my family are what I honestly have because after two fucking shitty ass roommates fucking me over, kind of learning the hard way that friendship isn’t shit, and having the worst and lowest points of my life I guess that’s all I can really say….

Sam's Top 20 of 2014: #4

4. Fitz and the Tantrums-Fools Gold

OK in all honesty this song shouldn’t be on this list considering this album came out last year and they made the list with More than just a dream but like the Arctic Monkeys earlier this list an amazingly bad ass tune that made a decent radio impact this year deserves note and when it’s my favorite song on what was one of last year’s best releases you bet your fucking ass that I’m going to put it on this year’s best of list.

The ultimate amalgamation of the classiest act in alternative music it’s like the greatest most epic lost soul track of yesteryear with its larger than life production, its soaring chorus, and instrumentation that sounds like they threw everything in it to make it the largest most epic sounding fucking song you’ve ever heard you have the most confident performance from Fitz and Noel on top of that and it makes the best god damn song this bands done since Money Grabber and dare I say it is actually BETTER!

Yeah I said that and I’ll stick to my guns until they top it but until then I’m a go every embarrassingly sing along people because this shits just TOO GOOD!!!!