Best Songs of 2005

Before I go into the granddaddy of my Best/Worst Week, I would like to make special mention of something that really defies category yet was the most entertaining thing I saw or heard this year – R. Kelly’s Trapped In the Closet masterpiece. I didn’t think there could be anything R. Kelly related that was funnier than Dave Chappelle’s skit, Mr. Kelly found a way to top it and Trapped in the Closet is probably the only thing released this year that is a first ballot entry into the Scooter Hall of Fame. Now onto the Top 100 Songs of 2005, and feel free to leave your favorite songs of the year in the comment section:


1. Landed - Ben Folds
2. Gold Digger - Kanye West & Jamie Foxx
3. Breathe (2 AM) - Anna Nalick
4. Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own - U2
5. Mr. Brightside - The Killers
6. Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson
7. Ordinary People - John Legend
8. The Blower's Daughter - Damien Rice
9. Telescope Eyes - Eisley
10. Portions for Foxes - Rilo Kiley
11. Diamonds From Sierra Leone - Kanye West
12. Breakdown - Jack Johnson
13. Existentialism On Prom Night - Straylight Run
14. Doesn't Remind Me - Audioslave
15. These Words - Natasha Bedingfield
16. You and Me - Lifehouse
17. Fix You - Coldplay
18. Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day
19. Love Love Love - Tristan Prettyman
20. Ohio (Come Back to Texas) - Bowling for Soup
21. All These Things That I've Done - The Killers
22. Somebody - Bonnie McKee
23. Gotta Get Up from Here - Ellie Lawson
24. I'm Feeling You - Santana & Michelle Branch
25. Work - Jimmy Eat World
26. Behind These Hazel Eyes - Kelly Clarkson
27. 1 Thing - Amerie
28. Wake Me Up When September Ends - Green Day
29. Club Foot - Kasabian
30. Testify - Common
31. Speed of Sound - Coldplay
32. Heard 'Em Say - Kanye West & Adam Levine
33. Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie
34. The Mixed Tape - Jack's Mannequin
35. Dreamgirl - Dave Matthews Band
36. Ashes - Embrace
37. Chocolate - Snow Patrol
38. Bullet and a Target - Citizen Cope
39. The Corner - Common, the Last Poets & Kanye West
40. A Lifetime - Better Than Ezra
41. Stars and Boulevards - Augustana
42. Home - Marc Broussard
43. Get Back - Ludacris
44. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing - Jack Johnson
45. Son's Gonna Rise - Citizen Cope & Santana
46. American Baby - Dave Matthews Band
47. Better Days - Goo Goo Dolls
48. Beverly Hills - Weezer
49. When in Rome - Nickel Creek
50. All Because of You - U2
51. Who Did You Think I Was? - John Mayer Trio
52. Some Hearts - Carrie Underwood
53. Trouble - Bonnie McKee
54. The One I Love - David Gray
55. Mind on the Road - Reverend Run
56. My Doorbell - The White Stripes
57. Original of the Species - U2
58. Revolution - Eric Clapton
59. Used to Love U - John Legend
60. City of Blinding Lights - U2
61. Inside Your Heaven - Carrie Underwood
62. Back to Me - Kathleen Edwards
63. Collide - Howie Day
64. When the President Talks to God - Bright Eyes
65. World On Fire - Sarah McLachlan
66. Chariot - Gavin DeGraw
67. Just Feel Better - Santana & Steven Tyler
68. In the Rough - Anna Nalick
69. Pon de Replay - Rihanna
70. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
71. Over My Head (Cable Car) - The Fray
72. O' Sailor - Fiona Apple
73. You Gonna Love Me - Da Backwudz
74. Sugar, We're Goin Down - Fall Out Boy
75. Be Yourself - Audioslave
76. Walk Tall - John Mellencamp
77. Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
78. Bad Day - Daniel Powter
79. Go! - Common, John Mayer & Kanye West
80. Landing in London - 3 Doors Down & Bob Seger
81. One Love - Hootie & the Blowfish
82. The Harder They Come - Willie Nelson
83. Your Time Has Come - Audioslave
84. Let Me Go - 3 Doors Down
85. Be the Girl - Aslyn
86. Right To Be Wrong - Joss Stone
87. Feel Good Inc. - Gorillaz
88. DOA - Foo Fighters
89. She Said - Brie Larson
90. Talk - Coldplay
91. Perfect Situation - Weezer
92. Who We Are - Hope Partlow
93. Till I Get to You - Nikka Costa
94. 4ever - The Veronicas
95. She Says - Howie Day
96. Everything to Me - Liz Phair
97. Empty Room - Marjorie Fair
98. Dance, Dance - Fall Out Boy
99. I Wasn't Prepared - Eisley
100. Give a Little Bit - Goo Goo Dolls


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Best Mash-Ups of 2005

One of the coolest musical innovations in recent memory is the mash-up. For those that may not be familiar with the term, it is when you take the vocals from one song and place them over the instrumental from a different song. This technique was popularized last year when a DJ by the name of Danger Mouse took Jay-Z’s The Black Album and mashed it up with the Beatles White Album to create the Grey Album. Since then the art form has exploded with DJ getting more creative and sometimes mashing up five or more different song at the same time. So to honor the brilliance of this new art form I decided to list the best mash-up I have heard for the first time this past year. I tried to give credit to the creator of the mash-up, but due to some poor labeling, some have gotten lost and I even had to create a name for a few mash-ups that I discovered nameless. Please do not ask for me to send you any of these songs because for legal reasons I cannot confirm or deny that any of these songs actually exist not that I would illegally download copyrighted material even though that material has been altered from any version that could be bought. If you want the unaltered album version, I will list some of the songs featured in the mash-ups in parentheses.


1. Boulevard of Broken Songs - Dean Gray (Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dream; Oasis – Wonderwall)
2. Spending One of These Nights with Kelly - Aggro1 (The Eagles – One of these Nights; Kelly Clarkson – Since U Been Gone)
3. You're The One I Want in the Next Episode - Artist Unknown (Songs from Grease; Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg – The Next Episode - 2001)
4. Behind These Immigrant Eyes - Aggro1 (Led Zeppelin – Immigrant Song; Kelly Clarkson – Behind These Hazel Eyes)
5. Karmastition - Artist Unknown (Alicia Keys – Karma; Stevie Wonder – Superstition)
6. It Takes a New Sensation - Big Ruckus (INXS – New Sensation; Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock – It Takes Two)
7. We Will Rock and Roll You - DJ Matt Hite (Joan Jett – I Love Rock and Roll; Queen – We Will Rock You; 50 Cent – In da Club)
8. Yoshimi Battles Snoop Dogg - DJ BC (Snoop Dogg – Song Unknown; The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots)
9. Make Love in Ohio F*** War - Aggro1 (Public Enemy – Make Love F*** War; Crosby Stills Nash and Young – Ohio)
10. Somebody Rock Me - Party Ben (The Clash – Rock the Kasbah; The Killers – Somebody Told Me)
11. Rock wit Hurt - Aggro1 (Johnny Cash – Hurt; Ashanti – Rock wit You)
12. Behind This Summer Madness - Aggro1 (Kelly Clarkson – Behind These Hazel Eyes; Kool and the Gang – Summer Madness)
13. Drop When The World Ends Freak - Aggro1 (Snoop Dogg – Drop it Like it’s Hot; Dave Matthews Band – When the World Ends; Missy Elliott – Get Ur Freak On)
14. Feel Like Making La-Di-Da - FiDELSKi – (Bad Company – Feel Like Making Love; Slick Rick – La-Di-Da-Di)
15. Left You a Closing Lullaby - BigBadBaz (Avalanches – Song Unknown; Semisonic – Closing Time; Shawn Mullins – Lullaby)
16. Oblateeth - bass 211 (Obie Trice – Got Some Teeth; The Beatles - Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da)
17. Nothing In It's Right Place - DJ BC (The Roots – Don’t Say Nothin'; Radiohead – Song Unknown)
18. How We Do Cocaine - DJ Spenny (Eric Clapton – Cocaine; 50 Cent – How We Do)
19. Tipsy Bros - Artist Unknown (J-Kwon – Tispy; The Blues Brothers)
20. Thundertrain - DJ Over-EZ (AC/DC – Thunderstruck; Quad City DJ's – C’mon ‘N’ Ride It)
21. Somebody Told Me to Feel Good - Aggro1 (Gorillaz – Feel Good Inc.; The Killers – Somebody Told Me)
22. What I Got is Two Turntables – Artist Unknown (Beck – Where it’s At; Sublime – What I Got)
23. Dope Man Stew - Listen up! (N.W.A. – Dope Man; Green Day – Brain Stew)
24. Hey Ladies Night - DJ BC (Beastie Boys – Hey Ladies; Kool and the Gang – Ladies Night; Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want to Have Fun)
25. I Ain't Got Daughters - c.h.a.o.s productions – (Alicia Keys – If I Ain’t Got You; John Mayer – Daughters)

Best Videos of 2005

Luckily I have this best/worst lists to fall back on this week because there is very little else to talk about. We are still about three weeks until we get new television shows. There doesn’t look like any music worth reviewing in the near future as the Ying Yang Twins were the big release this week and The Stokes the next and I’m too old to like the Ying Yang Twins and not pretentious enough to listen to The Strokes. Even though I didn’t get any DVD’s for Christmas (well a Chris Rock concert and Dukes of Hazard 1.x, which is not to be confuesed with the movie that I will never see, don’t really count), I’ll probably still have a few DVD reviews next week as I most likely pick up the Sin City Extended Version and I believe Wedding Crashers comes out next week. And I plan on watching Star Wars Episodes I-III on New Years Eve and Episodes IV-VI on New Years and have a complete review of the series too. But I have to check to make sure I can get all the movies in without messing with other festivities because Dick Clack would be disappointed if I miss his party this year. As for today, I’m counting down the best videos of the past year. To view the videos, click on the artist’s name and it will lead you to their video page in Yahoo or AOL where you can click to play it. If you click on the song name it will lead you to the song in iTunes. Feel free to leave your favorite videos of 2005 in the comment section.


1. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing - Jack Johnson
2. Diamonds From Sierra Leone - Kanye West
3. World On Fire - Sarah McLachlan
4. All These Things That I've Done - The Killers
5. Doesn't Remind Me - Audioslave
6. Hell Yes - Beck
7. Wake Me Up When September Ends - Green Day
8. Mr. Brightside - The Killers
9. Heard 'Em Say (Department Store Version) - Kanye West & Adam Levine
10. Original of the Species - U2
11. Perfect Situation - Weezer
12. O' Sailor - Fiona Apple
13. Soul Meets Body - Death Cab For Cutie
14. Beverly Hills - Weezer
15. Girl - Beck
16. Gold Digger - Kanye West & Jamie Foxx
17. Dreamgirl - Dave Matthews Band
18. Get Back - Ludacris
19. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
20. Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own - U2
21. Since U Been Gone - Kelly Clarkson
22. Sugar, We're Going Down - Fall Out Boy
23. Helena - My Chemical Romance
24. Walk Tall - John Mellencamp
25. These Words - Natasha Bedingfield
26. We Are All On Drugs - Weezer
27. American Baby - Dave Matthews Band
28. Heard 'Em Say (Cartoon Version) - Kanye West & Adam Levine
29. Landed - Ben Folds
30. Talk - Coldplay

Best Albums of 2005

Just before Christmas I handed out my worst albums of the year and now it’s time for the best ones. It was a dog fight for number one as there were only two albums that got the coveted Extreme Warning on my Terror Alert Scale. Both were worthy but I went with the one that always finds its way into my CD player while the other has a song or two that I will occasionally skip while listening to. For those that are interested to check these albums on the list out, the link on the album goes directly to iTunes while the links in the parentheses go to my original reviews. Feel free to leave some of your favorite albums of the past year in the comment section.


1. Wreck of the Day – Anna Nalick (These Words Are My Diary Singing Out Load)
2. Late Registration – Kanye West (You Gotta Love it Though Someone Still Speaks From His Soul)
3. Songs for Silverman – Ben Folds (If You Wrote Me Off I’d Understand It)
4. Room Noises – Eisley (You Humor Me Today)
5. Stand Up – Dave Matthews Band (Bring That Beat Back To Me Again)
6. Plans – Death Cab for Cutie (A Melody Softly Souring Through My Atmosphere)
7. In Between Dreams – Jack Johnson (We Drew Our Own Constellations)
8. Before the Robots – Better Than Ezra (3 ½ Minutes Felt Like a Lifetime)
9. Why Should the Fire Die? - Nickel Creek (You Came Along and Made Me Smile)
10. Get Lifted – John Legend (We’re Just Ordinary People)
11. Extraordinary Machine – Fiona Apple (I Promise You Everything Will Be Just Fine)
12. TwentythreePrettyman – Tristan Prettyman (I Wish You Couldn’t Take Your Eyes Off of Me)
13. The Breakthrough – Mary J. Blige (Anyone Who’s Ever Loved You Know Just What I Feel)
14. Hot Fuss: Limited Edition – The Killers ( I Got Soul But I’m Not a Soldier)
15. Everything in Transit – Jack’s Mannequin (I’ll Send This Message Through the Speakers)
16. Slow Motion – David Gray ( A Bucketful of Babylon)
17. Ain’t Nobody Worryin’ – Anthony Hamilton (If You Catch Me Dreaming, Please Don’t Wake Me Till I’m Done)
18. 29 – Ryan Adams (Can You Still Have Any Famous Last Words if You’re Somebody Nobody Knows)
19. A Time to Love – Stevie Wonder (We Can’t Sing a Song With No Melody)
20. Back Home – Eric Clapton (I Need to Hear That Song)
21. Try! – John Mayer Trio (Am I the One Who Plays the Quiet Songs?)
22. X&Y – Coldplay (All That Noise, All That Sound)
23. Out of Nothing – Embrace (Now Watch Me Rise Up and Leave)
24. The Sound of White – Missy Higgins (I See You’ve Painted Your Soul)
25. All That I Am – Santana (Your Fire Fills My Soul)
26. Oral Fixation vol. 2 – Shakira (What Language Do You Speak if You Speak at All)
27. Wikked Lil’ Grrrls – Esthro (We R in Need of a Musical Revolution)
28. On the Strength of All Convinced – Daphne Loves Derby (What We Have Been Waiting For)
29. Some Hearts – Carrie Underwood (Oh There’s Nothing like Oklahoma)
30. ¡Bastardos! – Blues Traveler (If Looks Could Kill I’d Die Today)


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Worst Songs of 2005

It seems as the years go by the music on the radio gets worse and worse. Even though I severely limited my radio listening this year thanks to my iPod and my custom made radio station on yahoo (check out the side bar if you give it a listen), every once I’d tune in just to see if they started playing anything good, and the resounding answer was no. Before I list the overplayed crap, I would make special note of Kevin Federline who released a song to the internet that I heard pieces of because I’m sure had I heard it in it’s entirely it or new its name would have made this list. And to Kevin, I’m pretty sure everyone will hate a lot longer than 2008. Now here are the worst forty songs the corroded the air worse than any Hummer could and in honor of the top 40 radio stations that have ruined radio even though I bet playlists are down to 25-30 these day (Feel free to leave the songs that really irritated you this year in the comment section):


1. Confessions of a Broken Heart (Daughter to Father) - Lindsay Lohan
2. Rich Girl - Gwen Stefani & Eve
3. L.O.V.E. - Ashlee Simpson
4. Hollaback Girl - Gwen Stefani
5. Like You - Lil’ Bow Wow & Ciara
6. Get Right - Jennifer Lopez
7. Laffy Taffy - DL4
8. Twisted Transistor - Korn
9. Lose Control - Missy Elliot, Ciara, & Fat Man Scoop
10. Hung Up - Madonna
11. One, Two Step - Ciara & Missy Elliot
12. Mockingbird - Eminem
13. Oh - Ciara & Ludacris
14. When I’m Gone - Eminem
15. Over and Over - Nelly & Tim McGraw
16. Wordplay - Jason Mraz
17. It’s Like That - Mariah Carey
18. Caught Up - Usher
19. Goodies - Ciara & Petey Pablo
20. Do Somethin’ - Britney Spears
21. Cold - Crossfade
22. The Ghost of You - My Chemical Romance
23. Solider - Destiny’s Child, Lil' Wayne, & T.I.
24. Grillz - Nelly, Paul Wall, Ali, & Gipp
25. Shake it Off - Mariah Carey
26. The Great Divide - Scott Stapp
27. Get it Poppin’ - Fat Joe & Nelly
28. Bat Country - Avenged Sevenfold
29. Candy Shop - 50 Cent & Olivia
30. Photograph - Nickelback
31. Just Want You to Know - Backstreet Boys
32. I'm Not Okay (I Promise) - My Chemical Romance
33. Untitled - Simple Plan
34. Blue Orchid - The White Stripes
35. Helena (So Long & Goodnight) - My Chemical Romance
36. Don’t Lie - Black Eyed Peas
37. Have a Nice Day - Bon Jovi
38. Don't Cha- Pussycat Dolls & Busta Rhymes
39. How We Do - The Game & 50 Cent
40. Don’t Phunk with My Heart - Black Eyed Peas