My Year In Music: 2008 Edition

Last year it wasn’t until the end of December that I even considered creating a best-of-the-year music countdown. This year, however, I started thinking about my list near the end of summer and decided that I wanted to be more thorough than I was in 2007 by listening to as many new albums as I could.

The result of this was mixed: On one hand, I exposed myself to a lot of great new music and discovered some amazing bands that I wouldn’t have otherwise. On the other hand, I stretched myself a bit thin and wasn’t able to absorb some of the albums as much as I would have liked. But in the end there were still songs and albums that I found myself going back to again and again, even when I had much newer records to listen to. With that said, the following is my personal best and worst of music in 2008:

Favorite Albums of 2008

17. Rediscover - Sleepless Nights
16. Counting Crows - Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
15. Alkaline Trio - Agony & Irony
14. Tokyo Police Club - Elephant Shell
13. T13C! - We've Created a Monster EP
12. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs
11. Fall Out Boy - Folie à Deux
10. Anthony Green - Avalon
9. Jack's Mannequin - The Glass Passenger
8. Forever The Sickest Kids - Underdog Alma Mater
7. Hit the Lights - Skip School, Start Fights
6. The Loved Ones - Build & Burn
5. Every Avenue - Shh. Just Go With It

4. The Audition - Champion
The recent trend of generic, synthesizer-laden pop punk music by groups that just barely avoid being boy bands is one that I won’t be sad to see die. The '80s had New Kids on the Block, the ‘90s had ‘NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys, and this decade has The Cab, The Maine, Metro Station, and hundreds more. Despite my annoyance with this trend that bands seem to be flocking to with the sole purpose of gaining popularity and selling albums, there are a handful of bands that fall under this genre but are still respectable. Case in point: The Audition. What makes it ironic that this, of all the albums in the new pop-punk movement, would be one of the best of the year, is the fact that The Audition’s frontman, Danny Stevens, has unapologetically admitted to getting inspiration for Champion from former boy band member Justin Timberlake. The result is a pop-punk album that contains legitimate rock music, but takes influences from mainstream pop as well. For proof of Timberlake’s influence on the album, check out “Warm Me Up,” the disc's first single which manages to sample “Cry Me a River” and feature a rockin’ guitar solo in the same song.

3. Bayside - Shudder
This was one of my most anticipated albums of the year, which set it up to either be really great or really disappointing for me – there would have been no middle ground. I had concerns that this record would be too different from Bayside’s previous three, but ultimately this is still a Bayside album, and the changes that I did hear were changes that I liked. While Shudder was obviously influenced by the punk records that the band was listening to while writing it, and some of the lyrics are more optimistic than those that frontman Anthony Raneri has been known to write, the album still retains the essential elements that make up a Bayside album: Raneri is still as self-deprecating and bitterly honest as he has always been, and guitarist Jack O’Shea still plays relentless, grinding guitar rifts à la “Rochambo.” I literally danced when I heard the album’s Green Day-reminiscent first single, “No One Understands” for the first time. I later fell in love with “Demons,” the song that opens with the lines “you can never really win, not to say you’re born to lose. You were born to take tenth place out of twenty in the field” – typical unapologetic, tell-it-like-it-is Raneri lyrics. For the second year in a row Bayside has released a fantastic album, further cementing their place as one of my absolute favorite bands.

2. Senses Fail - Life is Not a Waiting Room
The first thing you'll notice when listening to Life is Not a Waiting Room is that the Senses Fail that released Let it Enfold You is nowhere to be found. And this is a very good thing. Lead singer Buddy Nielsen and the rest of the New Jersey quartet have traded emo lyrics, pop-punk influences, and often whiny vocals for a much more aggressive sound and more mature songwriting. Nielsen uses Waiting Room as an outlet for his demons, addressing very personal aspects of his life such as the end of a four-year relationship with his girlfriend, his battles with depression and alcohol abuse, and his estranged father. With its grinding guitar rifts, achingly honest lyrics, and anthemic all-band-sing-along choruses, Senses Fail have proved that it is possible to overcome old criticisms and write an album that even past doubters will love.

1. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
The Gaslight Anthem wasn’t even on my radar until the end of the summer, but when I heard their new album mentioned by a friend I decided to check them out. End result? The ‘59 Sound is my favorite album of the year, even more so than my most anticipated album of the year. The Gaslight Anthem blend punk, old-fashioned American rock, and poetic lyrics to make the aptly titled ‘59 Sound an album that is nostalgic both in its sound and in its subject matter. Frontman Brian Fallon’s ability to write songs that romanticize the struggles and experiences of day-to-day life makes this an exceptionally accessible and timeless album that music fans across several generations will appreciate. In songs like “The ‘59 Sound” and “Here’s Looking at You, Kid,” Fallon pulls the listener into vivid stories of heartbreak and growing up. This record is what Bruce Springsteen would have written if he had been backed up by a punk band instead of the E Street Band. In a time when many bands are jumping on the post-emo, synth-punk bandwagon, The ‘59 Sound is both a refreshing change and assurance that not everyone is selling out.

Top Ten Songs of 2008
(This is mostly according to the number of plays the songs got on my iPod.)

10. "Dear Child" - Anthony Green (Avalon)
9. "Pretty Good Year" - The Loved Ones (Build & Burn)
8. "One of THOSE Nights" - The Cab (Whisper War)
7. "Demons" - Bayside (Shudder)
6. "Help Me" - Alkaline Trio (Agony & Irony)
5. "American Love" - Jack's Mannequin (The Glass Passenger)
4. "Between You and I" - Every Avenue (Shh. Just Go With It)
3. "The '59 Sound" - The Gaslight Anthem (The '59 Sound)
2. "No One Understands" - Bayside (Shudder)
1. "Shut up and Let Me Go" - The Ting Tings (We Started Nothing)

Most Annoying Songs of 2008

2. "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis
You know, I remember when this singer was named Whitney Houston. I liked this song the first ten times I heard it on VH1, but there came a point during the summer when I couldn't turn on a Top 40 radio station without hearing Lewis whine about how she keeps bleeding love. After a while I just started to wish that she would find a band-aid and get on with her life.

1. "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry
As if sexual experimentation and lesbianism were things our society hasn't already grown accustomed to, Katy Perry confides that she kissed a girl -- and she liked it. I wonder if Perry's girl-kissing has anything to do with her and Gym Class Heroes frontman Travis McCoy's reported breakup ...

Album From 2007 That I Still Love

Envy on the Coast - Lucy Gray
I didn't hear this album until after I wrote last year's best-of list. Had I heard Lucy Gray before the end of the year, however, it would have tied The Walking Wounded as my number two favorite release of 2007. Every time I listen to this CD I hear something I hadn't noticed before and find more and more reasons to love it. From the catchy first single, "Sugar Skulls," to the protest of blind faith, "If God Smokes Cheap Cigars," Lucy Gray is reflective of a talented band that still has much more to offer. Their sophomore album, slated to come out in 2009, is officially my first anticipated release of the year.