100 Best Songs of 2008

Much apologies for being late on this but it does come before the end of the year. And even a day late, this may not be the definitive list that makes up the playlist on my iPod. To pull back the curtain of the 9th Green, typically I have two or three (or ten) drafts of the best songs of the tear before I am content with the results. I doubt I will ever change this post but maybe sometime in the New Year I will make a playlist somewhere for you to listen the songs and post that here. Until then feel free to dissect this list (and if you want to how all 189 potential songs actually ranked, shout me a holla and I will e - mail you my spreadsheet) and hope to see you all back at the 9th Green in 2009 when I have some major projects planned throughout next year.

1. I’m Yours - Jason Mraz

2. Paper Planes - M.I.A.

3. Shine - Anna Nalick

4. Who’s Gonna Save My Soul - Gnarls Barkley

5. Cath... - Death Cab For Cutie

6. Where I Stood - Missy Higgins

7. Lost! - Coldplay

8. Come on Get Higher - Matt Nathanson

9. Hope - Jack Johnson

10. Strange Times - The Black Keys

11. Love Story - Taylor Swift

12. Going On - Gnarls Barkley

13. Free Fallin’ - John Mayer

14. Fix It - Ryan Adams and the Cardinals

15. Love is Noise - The Verve

16. Viva la Vida - Coldplay

17. More Time - Needtobreathe

18. Amen - Kid Rock

19. Always a Friend - Alejandro Escovedo

20. Bottle it Up - Sara Bareilles

21. I Will Possess Your Heart - Death Cab for Cutie

22. Warwick Avenue - Duffy

23. Picture to Burn - Taylor Swift

24. The Resolution - Jack's Mannequin

25. Nothing Ever Hurt Like You - James Morrison

26. Boys With Girlfriends - Meiko

27. Birthday Girl - The Roots and Patrick Stump

28. Listen - Amos Lee

29. Good Morning - Kanye West

30. Just a Dream - Carrie Underwood

31. I Got Mine - The Black Keys

32. Just Stand Up! - Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Natasha Bedingfield, Miley Cyrus, Leona Lewis, Carrie Underwood, Keyshia Cole, LeAnn Rimes, Ashanti, Ciara & Mariah Carey

33. Girls in Their Summer Clothes - Bruce Springsteen

34. This Is the Life - Amy MacDonald

35. Trashcan - Delta Spirit

36. Rock & Roll - Eric Hutchinson

37. If I Had Eyes - Jack Johnson

38. You Are the Best Thing - Ray LaMontagne

39. Your Song - Kate Walsh

40. Pumpkin Soup - Kate Nash

41. You Found Me - The Fray

42. Stepping Stone - Duffy

43. 75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction) - The Roots

44. How I Could Just Kill a Man - Charlotte Sometimes

45. Goodbye Daughters of the Revolution - The Black Crowes

46. Lovebug - Jonas Brothers

47. Move - Q-Tip

48. Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova

49. Get Busy - The Roots, Dice Raw, Peedi Peedi, and DJ Jazzy Jeff

50. Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend

51. Mercy - Duffy

52. Praying for Time - Carrie Underwood

53. Heartless - Kanye West

54. Us Placers - CRS

55. The Show - Lenka

56. The Truth - Jake One featuring Freeway & Brother Ali

57. What's Been Going On - Amos Lee

58. Dream Catch Me - Newton Faulkner

59. Change - Taylor Swift

60. Gettin’ Up - Q-Tip

61. Right as Rain - Adele

62. The Weight of Her - Butch Walker

63. The World Should Revolve Around Me - Little Jackie

64. Whatever You Like - “Weird Al” Yankovic

65. Fast Car - Wyclef Jean featuring Paul Simon

66. Foundations - Kate Nash

67. Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom) - N.E.R.D.

68. Slow Dance - John Legend

69. Madly - Tristan Prettyman

70. A-Punk - Vampire Weekend

71. Champion - Kanye West

72. Violet Hill - Coldplay

73. You Don't Know Me - Ben Folds featuring Regina Spektor

74. Crack the Shutters - Snow Patrol

75. If I Never See Your Face Again - Maroon 5 featuring Rihanna

76. Love That Girl - Raphael Saadiq

77. Love Lockdown - Kanye West

78. Run (I’m a Natural Disaster) - Gnarls Barkley

79. You Cheated Me - Martha Wainwright

80. Hero - Nas featuring Keri Hilson

81. Dance With Me - Old 97’s

82. Sweet And Low - Augustana

83. The Little Things - Colbie Caillat

84. The Fear - Lily Allen

85. Car Crash - Matt Nathanson

86. Chasing Pavements - Adele

87. Mr Rock & Roll - Amy MacDonald

88. New Soul - Yael Naïm

89. Pork And Beans - Weezer

90. My Medicine - Snoop Dogg

91. Nike Boots - Wale

92. Teenage Love Affair - Alicia Keys

93. Catch My Disease - Ben Lee

94. Broken - Tift Merritt

95. Old Enough - The Raconteurs featuring Ricky Skaggs & Ashley Monroe

96. Gives You Hell - The All-American Rejects

97. Ayyomyman - Tre Hardson featuring Fatlip

98. Beat It - Fall Out Boy featuring John Mayer

99. Seven Days of Lonely - I Nine

100. Stuck to You - Nikka Costa

The 9th Green’s Readers Favorite Songs of 2008

First off, congratulations are in order Emily and Niv who both picked up Amazon gift cards for sending in their top ten lists and thanks to everyone else who also contributed to the list (check your e-mail that you sent your lists from if you haven’t got it yet). After sending all the ballots sent in this year through my patent pending algorism that makes the Electoral College seem reasonable in comparison, here is what it came up with. If you do not like the results start get ready to send in a list for 2009.


1. Viva la Vida - Coldplay

2. Shut Up and Let Me Go - The Ting Tings

3. Electric Feel - MGMT

4. I Will Posses Your Heart - Death Cab for Cutie

5. Heartless - Kanye West

6. Where I Stood - Missy Higgins

7. The Show - Lenka

8. Signs - Bloc Party

9. You Don’t Know Me - Ben Folds featuring Regina Spektor

10. Human - The Killers

11. Violent Hill - Coldplay

12. In This Life - Delta Goodram

13. Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend

14. If I Never See Your Face Again - Maroon 5 and Rihanna

15. Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) - Beyoncé

16. Come on Get Higher - Matt Nathenson

17. Live Your Life - T.I. featuring Rihanna

18. Broken - Lifehouse

19. She’s a Lady - Forever the Sickest Kids

20. Paper Planes - M.I.A.

21. Shape Shifter - Keri Noble

22. The Resolution - Jack’s Mannequin

23. How I Could Just Kill a Man - Charolette Sometimes

24. Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon

25. My Medicine - Snoop Dogg

25 Best Mash-Up's of 2008

There didn’t seem to be a bunch of great mash-ups this year, but still plenty to create a list so here are the best that I have found the last twelve months even if some were actually created before 2008. Here is where I usually give my disclaimer of actually ever having or even hearing these songs for legal reasons, but since the RIAA recently admitted lawsuits weren’t the best course of action when it came to illegal downloading and gave up the practice I guess I know longer have to do that. Granted since Blogger doesn’t have a music upload service you will still have to scour Google if you are interested downloading these songs. Of course there are some links on my sidebar to get you started on your search. If you want the unaltered album version of the songs, on the second line I will list the main songs that make up the mash-up (note some have more songs than I’ve listed):


1. M.I.A. Wanted Dead or Alive - DJ Schmolli
M.I.A. (Paper Planes) vs. Bon Jovi (Wanted Dead or Alive)

2. 50 Ways to Kill Your Lover - DJ Topcat
Slick Rick (Women Lose Weight) vs. Paul Simon (50 Ways to Leave Your Lover)

3. No Taylor, No Scar - Norwegian Recycling
The Fugees No Woman, No Cry vs. Jack JohnsonTaylor vs. Missy Higgins (Scar)

4. EasyWall - DJ Lobsterdust
The Commodores (Easy) vs. Oasis (Wonderwall)

5. Get that Rocky Mountain High - DJ Erb
Method Man & Redman (How High) vs. John Denver (Rocky Mountain High)

6. No One to Squeeze - DJ FOX
Alicia Keys (No One) vs. Red Hot Chili Peppers (Soul to Squeeze)

7. Rolling Confusion - Go Home Productions
The Temptations (Ball of Confusion) vs. Rolling Stones (multiple songs)

8. More than on Point - DJ Topcat
House of Pain (On Point) vs. Boston (More than a Feeling)

9. Can’t Tell My Wonderwall Nothing - Clinton Sparks
Kanye West (Can't Tell Me Nothing) vs. Oasis (Wonderwall)

10. If I Were a Free Fallin' Boy - DJ Earworm
Beyoncé (If I Were a Boy) vs. Tom Petty (Free Fallin')

11. Paper Rump - DJ Tripp
Wreckx-n-Effect (Rump Shaker) vs. M.I.A. (Paper Planes)

12. Jude’ll Fix It - Phil RetroSpector
The Beatles (multiple songs) vs. Coldplay (Fix You)

13. Brick My (Explative Deleted) - DJ Magnet
Mickey Avalon My (Explative Deleted)) vs. the Commodores (Brick House)

14. Wicked Wedding - DJ Schmolli
Billy Idol (White Wedding) vs. Chris Isaak (Wicked Game)

15. Duffy Train Running - DJ Y alias JY
Duffy (Mercy) vs. the Doobie Brothers (Long Train Runnin')

16. Jenny’s Superstitious - DJ Lobsterdust
Stevie Wonder (Superstition) vs. The Killers (Jenny Was a Friend of Mine)

17. Hate It Ain’t So - DJ Koochie
(50 Cent and the Game (Hate It or Love It) vs. Weezer (Say it Ain't So)

18. The Pink Jack - Wax Audio
AC/DC (The Jack) vs. David Lynch (The Pink Room)

19. Don’t Let it Be in Anger - DJ Y alias JY
Oasis (Don't look Back in Anger) vs. the Beatles (Let it Be)

20. Funny Bizniz - The Abrahammer
M.I.A. (Paper Planes) vs. Beastie Boys (Body Movin') vs. Nas (I Can)

21. Ghost Busta Rhymes - Ludachrist
Busta Rhymes (Dangerous) vs. Ray Parker Jr. (Ghostbusters)

22. Maggie’s 64 - locK3Down
Mike Jones (My 64) vs. Rage Against the Machine (Maggie's Farm)

23. Sad but Superstitious - Wax Audio
Stevie Wonder (Superstition) vs. Metallica (Sad but True)

24. Reckoner Lockdown - DJ Earworm
Kanye West (Love Lockdown) vs. Radiohead (Reckoner)

25. Looking Back Is a Losing Game - Phil Retrospector
Oasis (Don't look Back in Anger) vs. Amy Winehouse (Love Is a Losing Game)

25 Best Live Performances of 2008

Last year I started a Best Performances of the year list mostly because of the overabundance of great performances at Live Earth. Despite the lack of any major cultural event, I thought I would continue the list for at one more year. Here the live performances that caught my ear this year. I have links to YouTube for those that have yet been pulled and there are even a couple that are sold on iTunes so check out the button for those.


1. Stronger/Hey Mama - Kanye West and Daft Punk (Grammy Awards)




2. Just Stand Up - Carrie Underwood, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige, Rihanna, Fergie, Sheryl Crow, Nicole Scherzinger , Natasha Bedingfield, Miley Cyrus, Leona Lewis, Keyshia Cole, Ashanti and Ciara (Stand Up 2 Cancer)



3. Burning Up/Ray of Light - The Stooges (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony)



4. Slow Dancing in a Burning Room - John Mayer (Where the Light Is)



5. Jungle Boogie/Umbrella/Don’t Stop the Music - The Time and Rihanna (Grammy Awards)

6. Learnin’ the Blues - Alicia Keys and Frank Sinatra (Grammy Awards)

7. Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (The Oscars)

8. Before He Cheats - Carrie Underwood (Grammy Awards)

9. Always a Friend - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band and Alejandro Escovedo (Magic Highlights)

10. Children’s Story - Slick Rick (Hip Hop Honors)

11. The Pretender - Foo Fighters and the My Grammy Night Orchestra (Grammy Awards)

12. Let it Roll - B.B. King and John Mayer (Grammy Nomination Special)

13. Praying for Time - Carrie Underwood (Idol Gives Back)

14. No One - Alicia Keys and John Mayer (Grammy Awards)

15. Ghost of Tom Joad - Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band with Tom Morello (Magic Highlights)

16. Viva la Vida - Coldplay (MTV Movie Awards)

17. Love Lockdown - Kanye West (MTV Video Music Awards)

18. Just a Dream - Carrie Underwood (Country Music Award)

19. Free Fallin’ - John Mayer (Where the Light Is)

20. God Put a Smile on Your Face/Stop Me/Valerie - Mark Ronson, Adele, Daniel Merryweather, and Amy Winehouse (The Brit Awards)

21. Photograph - Taylor Swift and Def Leopard (CMT Crossroads)

22. Pink Houses - John Mellencamp (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony)

23. Love Bug - Jonas Brothers (MTV Video Music Awards)

24. You’re So Vain - Foo Fighters (Grammy Nomination Special)

25. Love Story - Taylor Swift (Country Music Award)

30 Best Music Videos of 2008

This may have been the easiest list to make ever because lets face it, there is nothing more entertaining than boob pong. After that it was a race for the other twenty-nine. I have embedded the first couple videos, the rest you can click the link to follow to YouTube and if you are interested in buying the videos, click the iTunes links.


1. Toe Jam - The BPA



2. Who's Gonna Save My Soul - Gnarls Barkley



3. Honey - Erykah Badu



4. Champion - Kanye West

5. All I Need - Radiohead



6. Strange Times - The Black Keys

7. Pork and Beans - Weezer

8. American TV - Ben Lee

9. Good Morning - Kanye West

10. Going On - Gnarls Barkley

11. Chasing Pavements - Adele

12. Your Song - Kate Walsh

13. Viva la Vida (Anton Corbijn Version) - Coldplay

14. Oxford Comma - Vampire Weekend

15. Just a Dream - Carrie Underwood

16. Cath... - Death Cab For Cutie

17. Birthday Girl - The Roots & Patrick Stump

18. House of Cards - Radiohead

19. Love Lockdown - Kanye West

20. Picture to Burn - Taylor Swift

21. Get Busy - The Roots, Dice Raw & Peedi Peedi

22. The Fear - Lily Allen

23. Violet Hill - Coldplay

24. The Weight of Her - Butch Walker

25. Soon We'll Be Found - Sia

26. Boys With Girlfriends - meiko

27. The Resolution - Jack’s Mannequin

28. Lovers in Japan - Coldplay

29. Love Story - Taylor Swift

30. Gives You Hell - The All-American Rejects

40 Best Albums of 2008

After the most mediocre year last year (see 30 Best Albums of 2007) I thought 2008 was looking up while listening through the almost 200 potential songs that will appear in next week’s Best Songs of 2008 list. Despite being plethora of great songs, there were not really any great albums. There were plenty of good albums released in the last twelve months and here they are.

If you are interested in reading my original review of these albums, check out the link below the album and if you are interested in buying them on iTunes, click on the album link. If you want to buy the physical CD, head over to Scooter McGavin’s Amazon Store where you can order them there:


1. Cardinalology - Ryan Adams and the Cardinals
Turn the Radio Up Loud and Get Down

2. The Renaissance - Q-Tip
It’s Up to Me to Bring Back the Hope

3. Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends - Coldplay
But That Was When I Ruled the World

4. Narrow Stairs - Death Cab for Cutie
And They Carried on Like Long Division

5. Fearless - Taylor Swift
It’s Like a Roller Coaster Kind of Rush

6. The Odd Couple - Gnarls Barkley
Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing

7. Hello…x - Tristan Prettyman
Sitting by the Seashore Soaking Up the Summer Breeze

8. Rising Down - The Roots

9. Sleep Through the Static - Jack Johnson
There Is Still Hope Between the Dreams

10. Attack & Release - The Black Keys

11. Rockferry - Duffy
You Got Me on My Knees Begging Please

12. Two Men with the Blues - Willie Nelson and Wynton Marseilles
Musings from the Back 9: Music Edition VII

13. Last Days at the Lodge - Amos Lee
I Just Want to Be a Part of Your Home

14. 19 - Adele
I’d like to Hear the Words Fall out of Your Mouth

15. This Is the Life - Amy McDonald
And You’re Singing a Song Thinking This Is the Life

16. Asking for Flowers - Kathleen Edwards
You’re the Great One, I’m Marty McSorley

17. Another Country - Tift Merritt
Come Gather Me in Like a Rainstorm

18. Gossip in the Grain - Ray LaMontange
Musings from the Back 9: Music Edition IX

19. Pebble to a Pearl - Nikka Costa
Musings from the Back 9: Music Edition IX

20. Accelerate - R.E.M.

21. We Dance, We Sing, We Steal Things - Jason Mraz
Our Name Is Our Vitue

22. On a Clear Night - Missy Higgins
Breathe Them Deep into Your Lungs

23. Forth - The Verve
Love Is These Words that I’m Singing Again

24. Made of Bricks - Kate Nash
You Said I Must East So Many Lemons ‘cause I Am So Bitter

25. The Way I See It - Raphael Saadiq

26. Life, Death, Love and Freedom - John Mellencamp
I Walked like a Hero into the Setting Sun

27. Way to Normal - Ben Folds
You Wanna See What’s in My My Head

28. Day & Age - The Killers
You Sold Your Soul like a Roman Vagabond

29. Blame it on Gravity - Old 97’s

30. Black Ice - AC/DC
One Hot Angel, One Cool Devil

31. Lenka - Lenka
Life Is a Maze and Love Is a Riddle

32. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
All Your Diction Dripping with Distain

33. This Storm - Sonya Kitchell
This Is the Sound That I’m Thinking Of

34. A Hundred Million Suns - Snow Patrol
Musings from the Back 9: Junior Slumps Edition

35. Some People Have Real Problems - Sia
If I Am a Number I Am Infinity Plus One

36. [Untitled] - Nas
Hate Him or Love Him for the Very Same Reason

37. Meiko - Meiko

38. Learn to Live - Darius Rucker
I’m Gonna Love While I Still Have the Time

39. When the World Comes Down - The All-American Rejects
Nobody Wants to Hear You Sing About Tragedy

40. These Are Good Times People - Presidents of the United States of America
Musings from the Back 9: 90’s Rock Edition

40 Worst Songs of 2008

A strange thing happened while compiling this year’s worst songs list: I actually had a hard time coming up with forty songs. Usually I can easily come up with a list off the top of my head. I am not sure if it was because there actually didn’t release as many bad songs as usual this year or if I was able to avoid them better this year. But in the end I was actually able to come up with the usual forty to signify the death of Top 40 radio. Here are the songs that made my ears bleed the last three hundred and sixty-five days. Wait, sixty-six, it was leap year. And don’t forget the extra second they are tacking onto the end of this year.

1. When I Grow Up - The Pussycat Dolls

2. Womanizer - Britney Spears

3. I Kissed a Girl - Katy Perry

4. Lollipop - Lil’ Wayne and Static Major

5. Damaged - Danity Kane

6. Higher - Heidi Montag

7. So What - P!nk

8. Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya) - Ashlee Simpson

9. Official Girl - Cassie featuring Lil’ Wayne

10. Break the Ice - Britney Spears

11. 4 Minutes - Madonna featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland

12. Can't Believe It - T-Pain featuring Lil’ Wayne

13. Like Me - Girlicious

14. I'm So Paid - Akon, Lil’ Wayne, and Young Zeezy

15. In the Ayer - Flo Rida featuring will.i.am

16. Ur So Gay - Katy Perry

17. Something In Your Mouth - Nickelback

18. Single - New Kids on the Block featuring Ne-Yo

19. Spotlight - Jennifer Hudson

20. Hot N Cold - Katy Perry

21. Chopped N Skrewed - T-Pain featuring Ludacris

22. Nine In the Afternoon - Panic at the Disco

23. Handlebars - Flowbots

24. Feels Like Tonight - Daughtry

25. Got Money - Lil’ Wayne featuring T-Pain

26. Dangerous - Kardinal Offishall featuring Akon

27. Elevator - Flo Rider

28. What About Now - Daughtry

29. Circus - Britney Spears

30. One Step At a Time - Jordin Sparks

31. Summertime - New Kids on the Block

32. Over You - Daughtry

33. Love In This Club - Usher featuring Young Jeezy

34. Fly On the Wall - Miley Cyrus

35. Sorry - Buckcherry

36. Put On - Young Jeezy featuring Kanye West

37. The Time of My Life - David Cook

38. Falling Down - Scarlett Johansson

39. Pocketful of Sunshine - Natasha Bedingfield

40. Crush - David Archuleta

57 Channels and Only This Is On vol. LX

Survivor: When Sugar came in second for the fan vote I wondered why would anyone actually voted for her. Then it donned on me that the rest of the cast was really that unlikeable. All the people I may have latched myself to, except for Bob, were booted early. Then you have someone like Corrine who tried to be a horrible person which Survivor should never catch someone like every again. Having a curmudgeon like Randy is fine if that is him, but having someone who is mean just in hopes to more screen time is the fastest way to get me to stop watching the show. In the end this was one of the top five worst seasons ever and would have been in the bottom two with the season where the porn star won had it not been for Bob’s fake immunity idol because there is nothing better on television today then when someone tries to play a fake immunity idol. You can stream current episodes over at Innertube.

Survivor: Gabon gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.



Rock of Love: Charm School: With last Sunday log jam I was happy when Doug informed me that this was just a recap and not the finale like I thought. But after word came out that Sharon Osborne beat the crap out of one of the contestants during reunion show, I wish they would just skip the finale and show the reunion show this week.

The Big Bang Theory: I have to agree with Sheldon (which happens a little too much) on the giving gift thing and the whole trying to put a monetary value on your relationship and the worry that you will spend much less or more than the other person. And after building it up all episode, I thought they wouldn’t be able to pay off the gift but the Nimoy napkin was priceless. You can stream current episodes over at Innertube. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

Chuck: One thing that bugs me about the show, and this episode definitely is included in the gripe, is Chuck conveniently flashes on certain things but not on others that you would think were in the Intercet. Like how he conspicuously didn’t flash on anything from the car crasher, but did on the hostage negotiator. And it was a little odd that knowing he was Fulcrum, Chuck gave Captain Awesome the green light on the ambush. Why did the general agree with no bumrushing the dude because it would blow their cover? Would anyone bat and eye if Casey took someone down even if they had a gun? And despite the missing toe, Casey should have made it to the Christmas tree farm at some point. With that said, maybe the most enjoyable episode of the year. Seriously, more Carl Winslow please. For a second I thought that was actually Big Mike playing both roles, they look so much a like. You can stream current episodes over at NBC.com. You can also download Chuck on iTunes.

How I Met Your Mother: The marketing people over at the show must have been asleep this week because how could Barney’s Christmas Medley not get uploaded to iTunes? And since it isn’t, anyone who has the MP3, shout me a holla. You can stream current episodes over at Innertube. You can also download The Big Bang Theory on iTunes.

Pushing Daisies: What I really like most about this show (asides from anything that comes out of Emerson’s mouth of course) is that it seems like they always cast people I know, and for the most part like, from something else like this week when the Orlando Jones and the chick from Love Monkey. You can stream current episodes over at ABC.com.



Gary Unmarried: I never really have anything to say about Gary Unmarried except that the main plot always seems to connect with something in my past. Like this week’s paint ball exposition hit a little too close to home. Like how I now know never wear shorts and a t-shirt no matter how hot it is that day because exposed skin and paintball do not go very well together. And when you are playing Capture the Flag when there is just one flag in the middle of the course, do not, under any circumstance offer voluntarily to try to catch the other team off guard and run out and try to get that flag as soon as the game starts. You can stream current episodes over at Innertube.