Best songs and biggest disappointments of 2008

2008 wasn't a great year for music. Take a look at several year-end lists. There is no great rock and roll or hip hop to be found. Instead, we got lists of record-collector-nerd indie rock that most of you will never hear, and I can't say that it is essential that most people ever do. I don't know if this says more about the laziness of music critics or the sad state of music in 2008. I think it's a little of both.

I'm hoping that in 2009 there is a resurgence in music. It would be nice if the auto-tune phenomenon disappears from hip hop and rappers actually start rapping again. Here's hoping that new Eminem and Dr. Dre albums will actually come out and they'll be as good as they should be. The industry needs a reminder how rap is done well. Heck, even Kanye West released a crappy auto-tune-filled album this year, and this was after I spent years going around telling everyone he was a genius after his early work on Jay-Z's The Blueprint.

I'm hoping we hear a few rock albums (punk, metal, alt, anything that rocks) that knock us on our asses with how damn good they are. This year we all we got were Metallica and AC/DC albums that some people wrongly praised simply because they weren't embarrassments, and a Guns N' Roses album that was wrongly praised for simply surfacing.

Even with my complaining, there was music I loved this year. Not enough full albums to make an honest list, but many individual songs. Here's my list of current favorites for the year. There are others I like quite a bit - Jenny Lewis, MGMT, Teenage Bottlerocket, Okkervil River, My Morning Jacket, etc. - but these are five that are probably most replay worthy.

1. Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma. I love this song. The whole album is pretty damn great, and that was a rare thing this year. This is simple minimal pop music, but it is done very well in an original way that make the melodies refreshing and unexpected.


2. Conor Oberst - Lenders in the Temple. Conor released a solo record this year, which may seem slightly unnecessary since he is the major uncontested force in Bright Eyes. If anything, this album made me long for the lush accompaniments that Mike Mogis gives to many Bright Eyes songs. The songs weren't as consistently great as the last few Bright Eyes albums, but there were a few great songs. I love this one, and it wasn't even the single. Damn shame.


3. Weezer - Pork and Beans. No doubt about it, The Red Album is easily the weakest album in the Weezer catalog. At their best, Weezer makes great catchy pop songs with loud guitars. At their worst, Weezer can sound like they forgot their own simple formula and are clueless as to how they should proceed. I suppose it didn't help that Rivers Cuomo let up on his dictatorial bandleader qualities and let his bandmates contribute a song or two, but even his songs weren't always up to snuff this time around. Still, even Cuomo is too good to go an entire album without displaying a little brilliance. Cuomo wrote Pork and Beans after the record company said they didn't hear a single in his latest batch of tunes. Lyrically, he gave the record company his best middle finger response, but musically he fell right in line and gave them one of the catchiest songs of his career.


4. She & Him - Why Do You Let Me Stay Here? If you need yet another reminder why most actors and actresses shouldn't sing, go check out some clips on YouTube of Scarlett Johansen's awful album of Tom Waits covers. By covering Waits, Johansen was clearly trying to make an artistic statement rather than a cash grab, but she's not strong enough of an artist to be making any statement at all.

On the other hand, Zooey Deschanel has an incredible voice, which as an actress she briefly displayed as Will Ferrell's love interest in the movie Elf. This year she teamed up with M. Ward, who is an amazing songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist on his own. His self-produced albums are filled with gems that display guitar and vocals of unmatched warmth. While he left Deschanel to handle the songwriting and vocals as he stuck to guitar work and production on their first album as a duo, Volume One, his style is a perfect match for her voice. I don't think Deschanel is quite the songwriter Ward is yet, so some of his compositions would have been nice. Still, there are moments where their pairing is absolutely perfect.


5. Pink - So What. This was the best radio song of the year if you ask me. Pink and Max Martin are a damn good combination. Hell, Max Martin makes a good combination when paired with anyone. (Hopefully Kelly Clarkson now realizes that after ditching the Since You've Been Gone tunesmith when making her last album for an unsuccesful attempt at writing her own material.) Pink can sing her ass off, and this year she had at least one great catchy song to sing.