The 50 Best Music Videos of 2011

The links will lead you to YouTube and if you are interested in buying the video or song, click the corresponding iTunes badge.

1. In Your Arms - Kina Grannis



2. Howlin’ for You - The Black Keys



3. Make Some Noise - Beastie Boys



4. Muppet Show Theme Song - The Muppets and OK Go



5. Walk - Foo Fighters



6. Hello - Martin Solveig & Dragonette

7. Lonely Boy - The Black Keys

8. Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win - Beastie Boys and Santigold

9. All Is Not Lost - OK Go

10. The Shrine / An Argument - Fleet Foxes

11. Red Solo Cup - Toby Keith

12. Good Man - Raphael Saadiq

13. ‘Til the End of Time - Timothy Bloom featuring V

14. Gonna Get Over You - Sara Bareilles

15. Cry Baby - Cee-Lo Green

16. All Of The Lights - Kanye West

17. Camera - Matt and Kim

18. Uncharted - Sara Bareilles

19. Sadness Is a Blessing - Lykke Li

20. Don't Stop (Color on the Walls) - Foster the People

21. We All Go Back to Where We Belong (John Version) - R.E.M.

22. Rill Rill - Sleigh Bells

23. Paradise - Coldplay

24. Day Dreams - Raphael Saadiq

25. Monster - Kanye West featuring Rick Ross, Jay-Z and Nicki Minaj

26. Go Outside - Cults

27. Free My Mind - Katie Herzig

28. Call Your Girlfriend - Robyn

29. Michael Jackson - Das Racist

30. Someone Like You - Adele

31. Bizness - tUnE-yArDs

32. From The Clouds - Jack Johnson

33. The Lazy Song - Bruno Mars

34. The Walk - Mayer Hawthorne

35. Invisible - Skylar Grey

36. Block After Block - Matt and Kim

37. Settle Down - Kimbra

38. Otis - Kanye West & Jay-Z

39. Called Out of the Dark - Snow Patrol

40. Long Time - Cake

41. Even if I Don’t - Rachael Yamagata

42. Single Girls – Laura Jansen

43. Sing Your Own Song - John Wesley Harding

44. Say You Like Me - We The Kings

45. The Last Huzzah - Mr. (Expletive Deleted) eXquire featuring Despot, Das Racist, Danny Brown, and El-P

46. ÜBerlin - R.E.M.

47. Girl Panic - Duran Duran

48. Holy Holy - Wye Oak

49. Young Blood - The Naked and Famous

50. Rolling in the Deep - Adele

The 20 Best Albums of 2011

If you interested in buying any of the albums below, click on the album title to go to Amazon and the artist name to download it in iTunes. Also check out my original album reviews in the link under the album where for those I reviewed.

1. Helplessness Blues - Fleet Foxes
In That Dream I'm as Old as the Mountains

2. Stone Rollin' - Raphael Saadiq
Let Love Bring Us Together

3. Barton Hollow - The Civil Wars

4. 21 - Adele
There's a Fire Starting in My Heart

5. El Camino - The Black Keys
I Got a Love That Keeps Me Waiting

6. Watch the Throne - Jay-Z & Kanye West
Jay Is Chillin', 'Ye Is Chillin', What More Can I Say?

7. Ashes & Fire - Ryan Adams
Nobody Has to Cry to Make it Seem Real

8. Collapse into Now - R.E.M.
I Know What I am Chasing, I Know that this Is Changing Me

9. 4 - Beyoncé
You a Bad Girl and You're Friends Bad Too

10. Cocoon - Meg & Dia
I Gave Up on Giving Up on Me

11. Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 - Beastie Boys
We're Gonna Party for the Right to Fight

12. Chesapeake - Rachael Yamagata

13. Lasers - Lupe Fiasco

14. American Goldwing - Blitzen Trapper
You Might Find it Cheap but You're Never Gonna Find it Free

15. Undun - The Roots
If There's a Heaven I Can't Find a Stairway

16. Bells - Laura Jansen
I Have the Motivation to Be a Free Girl Now

17. Camp - Childish Gambino
Why Does Every Black Actor Gotta Rap Some? I Don’t Know, All I Know Is I’m the Best One

18. Mondo Amore - Nicole Atkins
They Call Dawn the Moring and I Wish We Said Goodbye

19. Back To Love - Anthony Hamilton
I'd Be Such and Angel You'd Think Me and Jesus Was Cool Like that

20. Red - Dia Frampton
Have You Ever Felt Like Everybody's Watching

The 25 Best Live Performances of 2011

For the best live performances of the year, you can take the song title link to view the performance(aside from the first couple embedded ones) and the iTunes links will take you there where you can buy the performances (where available).

1. Friday – Stephan Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, The Roots, Taylor Hicks, and the Knick City Dancers (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)



2. The Cave / Head Full of Doubt / Road Full of Promise / Maggie’s Farm – Mumford and Sons, The Avett Brothers and Bob Dylan (2011 Grammy Awards)



3. Someone Like You – Adele (2011 MTV Video Music Awards)

Get More: Adele, Someone Like You (Live), Music, More Music Videos

4. Heartless – Dia Frampton (The Voice)



5. Deep River Woman / Stuck on You / Dancing on the Ceiling – Lionel Richie, Little Big Town, Darius Rucker, and Rascal Flatts (2011 American Country Music Awards)

6. The Song Otherwise Known as Forget You – Cee-Lo Green, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Muppets (2011 Grammy Awards)

7. Wake Up – The Sing-Off Contestants (The Sing-Off)

8. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love - Mick Jagger featuring Raphael Saadiq (2011 Grammy Awards)

9. You’re All I Need to Get By / Stand By Me – Usher / Valerie Simpson and Mike Stroller (2012 Grammy Nomination Special)

10. Love Is a Battlefield – Cee-Lo Green and Vicki Martinez (The Sing-Off)

11. Love the Way You Lie / I Need a Doctor – Rihanna, Eminem, and Dr. Dre featuring Adam Levine and Skylar Grey (2011 Grammy Awards)

12. Ignition (Remix) – The Dartmouth Aires (The Sing-Off)

13. Otis – The Throne (2011 MTV Video Music Awards)

14. Poison – Bell Biv DeVoe and The Roots (Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)

15. This Love – Blake Shelton, Patrick Thomas, Xenia, Jared Blake, and Dia Frampton (The Voice)

16. Grenade – Delilah (The Sing-Off)

17. Colder Weather / Sweet Baby James – Zac Brown Band and James Taylor (2011 American Country Music Awards)

18. Valerie – Bruno Mars (2011 MTV Video Music Awards)

19. Aretha Franklin Tribute – Christina Aguilera, Martina McBride, Yolanda Adams, Florence Welch and Jennifer Hudson (2011 Grammy Awards)

20. The Message – Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, Scorpio, Common, Lupe Fiasco, and LL Cool J (2012 Grammy Nomination Special)

21. Put Your Records On – Afro Blue (The Sing-Off)

22. Mean – Taylor Swift (2011 American Country Music Awards)

23. My Body – Young the Giant (2011 MTV Video Music Awards)

24. Motownphilly – Boyz II Men and The Roots (VH1 Divas Live)

25. Tubthumping – The Yellowjackets (The Sing-Off)

The 40 Worst Songs of 2011

You want to know just how bad music was this year, what was claimed by the internet earlier this year as the single worst song ever in the history of the world barely even made my list of the worst songs of the past twelve months.

1. True Faith - George Michael



2. Sexy and I Know It - LMFAO

3. Do It Like a Dude - Jessie J

4. Swagger Jagger - Cher Lloyd

5. Jam (Turn It Up) - Kim Kardashian

6. E.T. - Katy Perry

7. I Wanna Go - Britney Spears

8. Wet the Bed - Chris Brown featuring Ludacris

9. T.H.E (The Hardest Ever) - will.i.am featuring Mick Jagger and Jennifer Lopez

10. Dirt Road Anthem (Remix) - Jason Aldean featuring Ludacris

11. Run the World (Girls) - Beyoncé

12. Leck mich im Arsch - Jack White and the Insane Clown Posse

13. Mr. Saxobeat - Alexandra Stan

14. Champagne Showers - LMFAO featuring Natalia Kills

15. The View - Lou Reed and Metallica

16. This Is What Rock n Roll Looks Like - Porcelain Black featuring Lil’ Wayne

17. Fly - Nicki Minaj featuring Rihanna

18. Rolling In the Deep - as sung by anyone not named Adele

19. Blow - Ke$ha

20. On The Floor - Jennifer Lopez featuring Lil’ Wayne

21. Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) - Katy Perry

22. Hold It Against Me - Britney Spears

23. Bass Down Low - Dev featuring The Cataracs

24. Judas - Lady Gaga

25. We R Who We R - Ke$ha

26. Just Can't Get Enough - Black Eyed Peas

27. Till the World Ends - Britney Spears

28. Super Bass - Nicki Minaj

29. That Should Be Me (Remix) - Justin Bieber featuring Rascal Flatts

30. Don't Wanna Go Home - Jason Derulo

31. Give Me Everything - Pitbull featuring Ne-Yo, Afrojack and Nayer

32. Bow Chicka Wow Wow - Mike Posner featuring Lil’ Wayne

33. Wet - Nicole Scherzinger

34. Yoü and I - Lady Gaga

35. John - Lil’ Wayne fearuring Rick Ross

36. Perform This Way – “Weird Al” Yankovic

37. What the Hell - Avril Lavigne

38. Friday - Rebecca Black

39. Footloose - Blake Shelton

40. Motherlover - The Lonely Island Boys featuring Justin Timberlake

Thank You Jesus!!!

Like most seasons of Survivor, South Pacific was dominated by one person. But for the first time, the dominate person was not even a contestant and has been dead for almost two thousand years: Jesus H. Christ. If Brandon Hantz and / Benjamin “Coach” Wade would have believe, it was Jesus who guided the ousting of everyone this season before them. And really Coach set up the template of how to vote out religious people on Survivor from here on out, tell them it is God’s will and the leaving contestant will hug you on the way out.

Let me be the last person to say that for all the praying going on this season, God does not care about how you play the game. He is not rooting for anyone because we are all God’s player. Though it may not be a coincidence that the same day Bandon got his torch snuffed that Tim Tebow got trounced on the football field. But when you are asking Jesus’ guidance for a meaningless reality show, it really boils down to either two characteristic inside you and we saw both this season. First you had the delusional Brandon Hantz who used religion to explain away his creepy behavior like how he handled his feelings for Mikayla Wingle. On the other side of the coin there was there was the narcissism of Coach who actually thought God cared more about his well being then everyone around him just because he was religious.

Showing that God really does not care who wins Survivor, neither Brandon or Coach ended up winning Survivor: South Pacific. Instead it actually for the first time in a very long time, the most deserving contestant won the title of Sole Survivor in Sophie Clarke. It was also one of the few tribal councils where I have no idea where any of the votes were going to and in a show that has become extremely predictable, it made for a very entertaining finale especially because the last three seasons where painfully bad to watch.

I actually rolled my eyes harder than Sophie whenever Brandon brought up religion when Jeff announced yet another twist for the next season. Survivor: One World where both tribes will be living on the same beach. One of the most glaring problems with Survivor for a very long time is that post merge, nobody switches tribes and John Cochran showed the very reason why no one has flipped alliances after the merge. With two tribes together, you can actually set extra-tribe alliances and should create a very large amount of blindside. Hopefully One World means the end of Redemption Island which was a massive failure for two seasons. Granted if they bring back Brandon and Russell I definitely will not be watching.

Survivor: South Pacific gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.

57 Channels and Only This Is On - 12/18/11

Once Upon a Time: So we finally learn who the sheriff is only for him to die? What a total Lost move.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Once Upon a Time.

Homeland: I have been waiting for this episode from the beginning and we finally got to see Carrie off her medication and it was awesome. And is the teenage daughter really going to be the person that cracks the case? I have long hoped that they wrapped up the Brody storyline this season and move onto a new terrorist plot next season (because if they do not, it will be like The Killing all over again) but I am beginning to think next season he will be a Hannibal Lecter to Carrie’s Clarice.

Survivor: South Pacific: I never thought anyone would come close to Erik’s stupidity of giving his Immunity Necklace and then promptly getting voted off, but leave it to Brandon and his God to do the exact same thing. The one thing saving Brandon from the top spot is that he could actually come back into the game and plausibly win it. But then again, he could come back into the game and make another dumb move that would put him on top the list of the Dumbest Survivor Contestants Ever.
You can stream recent episodes over at cbs.com.




Chuck: Why did they give a gratuitous shot of the driver locking the doors if Ellie and Awesome could just unlock the doors themselves? And the show really goes through too many Big Bads. By the time you get to know one, the blow him up and move onto a bigger one. Had they just stuck to the one Big Bad per season, the last couple seasons would not have seemed so scattered.
You can stream current episodes on Hulu. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.

Best of the Week - 12/17/11

Quote of the Week: Dumb move. (Rick, Survivor)

Song of the Week: Santa Claus Is Coming to Town – Cee-Lo Green (Christmas in Washington)

Gratuitous Token Hot Chick Picture of the Week:



Big News of the Week: Chris Paul to LA: To be honest I could care less if Paul ended up on the Lakers of the Clippers as long as he did not end up on the Heat. Not that I really care about basketball in general for the last couple years except for my fantasy team Ehlo’s Revenge.

Free Download of the Week: 25 Days of Free (Amazon MP3): Like it does every year, Amazon is offering up a new holiday song every day in December up until Christmas. Head over to grab the seventeen songs that are already up.

Deal of the Week: Up to 70% Off Hit Boxed Sets (The Goonies, Austin Powers, Batman)

New Album Release of the Week: The Dreamer, The Believer - Common
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo [Box set, Soundtrack] - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (December 27)
Elvis Country (Legacy Edition) [Extra tracks] - Elvis Presley (January 3)

New DVD Release of the Week: Midnight in Paris
Shameless: The Complete First Season (December 27)
Justified: The Complete Second Season (January 3)

Video of the Week: Who better than the Gallagher family of Showtime’s Shameless to speed some holiday cheer this Christmas? And here is Frank and his family, and other assorted friends singing a very new festive song. Shameless returns January 8 followed by the highly anticipated House of Lies. For those that would like to check out the premieres but are too cheap to subscribe to Showtime, you are in luck; the premium channel is having a Free Preview Weekend starting that Friday. I highly recommend setting aside twelve hours to marathon Homeland if the entire season is available On Demand.



Next Week Pick of the Week: Survivor, Sunday at 8:00 on CBS: I guess the best thing that can be said about this season is that it is not as bad as the last one. Clearly going into the finale Sophie is the only person to root for. Coach and Ozzie are baboons who did not even deserve to return, Rick is useless, Albert is too shifty, and Brandon is a psycho.

Around the Tubes - 12/16/11

I have gotten a plethora of cool press releases have been flooding my inbox recently that you may find interesting. This post will include blurbs on ABC Family's winter lineup, Angry Boys, Luck, Philly Undercover, Best TV of 2011, Rubik’s Cube, Skype, and America's Got Talent.

- ABC Family is kicking off the new year with the premiere of four shows and created the promo to let you know when they air pop up. For those too lazy to press play, Pretty Little Liars will return Monday, January 2 at 8:00 followed by a new episode of The Lying Game. Then on Tuesday, Switched at Birth will finish out its first season on new day and time Tuesday January 3 at 8:00. Then at 9:00 will be new show Jane by Design.



- What better way to ring in the New Year than with a new television show? On New Year’s Day, HBO will be premiering their newest show Angry Boys, from the guy who brought you Summer Heights High, at 10:00. Below is a trailer. And for those that cannot waity, you can head over to the show’s Facebook page to play Hammer Sandwich, a game created for the show.



- In other HBO debut news, Luck from director Michael Mann and writer Davis Milch (Deadwood) starring Dustin Hoffman will be hitting the channel January 29. Here is a look at the poster.



- Another new show coming your way early next year is Philly Undercover on Nat Geo Wild that goes undercover (natch) with a police unit in Philadelphia (double natch) to combat extreme cases of animal cruelty such as dog fighting and cat hoarding. Being that it is being filmed in the city that the Eagles play, no word yet on a Michael Vick cameo. Philly Undercover will premiere at 10:00 after an all new Dog Whisperer.

- Starting Tuesday, I will have a new Best of 2011 list every day until the end of the year, but those that need some yearend list now, TV Guide has released it list of the fifteen best TV shows of the year with Homeland topping the list. Friday Night Lights somehow was only 10.

- The latest Funny or Die video features, you guessed it, a Rubik’s Cube. If you can actually solve one, you can head over to its Facebook page.



- Why send out the same old boring Christmas cards this year when you can have Alice Cooper do it for you? You can get Alice (or if he might scare Granny Smith, Boyz II Men is also available) head over to skype.com to see how you can send customized video music cards for free.

- Howard Stern is the new judge for America’s Got Talent. The nineteen year old version of myself will be very excited by this news.

Lyrics Quiz: Best of 2011

Here are some of my favorite lyrics of the past twelve months. As always leave your guesses, both artist and song title, in the comment section or e-mail me. If you are correct I will un-bold the lyric and give you credit. Please keep in mind the lyrics quiz is for entertainment purposes only so please only use your own meandering mind to guess them.


1. The scars of your love remind me of us. They keep me thinking we almost had had it all. (Rolling in the Deep - Adele; guessed by Rose)
2. Won’t do me no good washing in the river. Can’t no preacher man gonna save my soul.
3. The square root of sixty-nine is eight-something, right? Cause I been trying to work it out. (What's My Name? - Rihanna featuring Drake; guessed by Doug)
4. I know, I know, I know what I am chasing. I know, I know, I know, that this is changing me.
5. Like a shotgun needs outcome. I’m your prostitute.
6. I don’t really care. You knew that’s what I’d say. The only time I miss you is every single day.
7. Can’t you tell that my sample of Adele was so hot I got these hood (expletive deleted) blowing up my cell? (Freaks and Geeks - Childish Gambino; guessed by Rose)
8. The bittersweet between my teeth. Trying to find the in-betweens. Fall back in love eventually. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
9. With that same big loud opinion but nobody listening. Wash up and ranting about the same old bitter things. Drunken, rumbling on about how I can’t sing.
10. I’m proud of my temper, well no, don’t give up on me, I’m doing better.
11. I’m about to lose my mind, you’ve been gone for so long; I’ve been running out of time. (I Need a Doctor - Dr. Dre featuring Eminem and Skylar Grey; guessed by Katie)
12. Tomorrow is Saturday and Sunday comes afterwards. I don’t want this weekend to end. (Friday - Rebecca Black; guessed by Katie)
13. Yes, here we go again, give you more, nothing lesser. Back on the mic is the anti-depressor.
14. I’m already fighting me so what’s another one? The mirror is a trigger and your mouth’s a gun. Lucky for me I’m not the only one.
15. And now after some thinking I’d say I’d rather be a functioning cog in some great machinery serving something greater than me.
16. Mama once told me, “you’re already home where you feel love.”
17. You stare out your window at the passing cars and you look at the sky, thank your unlucky stars. No you’re never quite happy right where you are.
18. She says you’re a rambling man. You ain’t never gonna change. You got a gypsy soul to blame and you were born for leaving.
19. I wanna darken the skies, open the floodgates up. I wanna change my mind, I wanna be enough.
20. You watched them handcuff me lady and walk me through my own home. I’ve never been so humiliated. I don’t think I deserve this from you.
21. Trying to grow flowers in your bull (expletive deleted). You’d put out the sun if you got a hold of it.
22. So give me the fevers that just won’t quite. And give me the children you don’t want to raise. And tell me about the cool he sings to in those songs if it’s better than my love.
23. They say I’m crazy, well, I’mma ’bout to go dumb again. They ain’t see me ‘cause I pulled up in my other Benz. Last week I was in my other other Benz. (Otis - The Throne featuring Otis Redding; guessed by Rose)
24. I gotta love that keeps me waiting.
25. Unlike my home they are not foreclosable. Freddy Mac can kiss my (expletive deleted).