The 9th Green's Reader's Favorite Songs of 2012

Before I get into my favorite songs of the year tomorrow, I turn the site over you the reader, so here is what you have been listening to this year. Be sure to check back tomorrow for the list of my favorites.

1. We Are Young – Fun. featuring Janelle Monáe

2. Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen

3. Diamonds – Rihanna

4. Somebody That I Used to Know – Goyte featuring Kimbra

5. Spectrum – Florence and the Machine

6. Climax - Usher

7. Born to Die – Lana Del Ray

8. Hold On – Alabama Shakes

9. Swimming Pools (Drank) – Kendrick Lamar

10. Settle Down – Kimbra

11. Emmylou – First Aid Kit

12. Take a Walk – Passion Pit

13. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together – Taylor Swift

14. Losing You – Solange

15. Thinkin Bout You – Frank Ocean

16. Big Beast – Killer Mike featuring Bun B, T.I. & Trouble

17. Clique - Clique – G.O.O.D. Music

18. Sixteen Saltines – Jack White

19. Hot Knife – Fiona Apple

20. I Will Wait – Mumford and Sons

The 40 Worst Songs of 2012

It seems that it gets harder and harder to do this list every year. I am not sure if music is actually getting better or if I am just able to avoid horrible music better. But there are a few songs that got under my skin this year and most involving Nicki Minaj or Chris Brown (a whopping thirteen songs between them).

1. Watchtower - Devlin featuring Ed Sheeran

2. Stupid (Expletive Deleted) - Nicki Minaj

3. Birthday Cake (Remix) - Rihanna featuring Chris Brown

4. Turn On the Lights - Future

5. Let's Talk - Omarion featuring Rick Ross

6. Want U Back - Cher Llyod

7. Starships - Nicki Minaj

8. Whistle - Flo Rida

9. Don't Wake Me Up - Chris Brown

10. (Expletive Deleted) U Betta - Neon Hitch

11. National Anthem - Lana del Rey

12. Rack City - Tyga

13. Turn Up the Music - Chris Brown

14. Beez In the Trap - Nicki Minaj featuring 2 Chainz

15. Good Feeling - Flo Rida

16. Strip - Chris Brown featuring Kevin McCall

17. Scream & Shout - will.i.am featuring Britney Spears

18. Boyfriend - Justin Bieber

19. Blow Me (One Last Kiss) - P!nk

20. Give Your Heart a Break - Demi Lovato

21. Walk Like an Egyptian - Erin Martin

22. Die Young - Ke$ha

23. Wild Ones - Flo Rida featuring Sia

24. Pound the Alarm - Nicki Minaj

25. Dance (Expletive Deleted) (Remix) - Big Sean featuring Nicki Minaj

26. Turn Me On - David Guetta featuring Nicki Minaj

27. Sorry for Party Rocking - LMAFO

28. Live While We're Young - One Direction

29. Give Me All Your Luvin' - Madonna featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.

30. Dance Again - Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull

31. Beauty and a Beat - Justin Bieber featuring Nicki Minaj

32. Bangarang - Skrillex featuring Sirah

33. What Makes You Beautiful - One Direction

34. Cruising California (Bumpin' In My Trunk) - The Offspring

35. Don't Judge Me - Chris Brown

36. Wide Awake - Katy Perry

37. The Motto - Drake featuring Lil Wayne

38. As Long As You Love Me – Justin Bieber featuring Big Sean

39. Gangnam Style (강남스타일) – Psy

40. Rum and Raybans – Sean Kingston featuring Cher Lloyd

I Want My Music Television - 6/7/12

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Gold on the Ceiling – The Black Keys



The Black Keys have released some pretty awesome videos in the past, but released a straight forward (i.e. boring) video for Gold on the Ceiling featuring road footage. Then a couple months later this happened and I have not been able to sleep since. This is some serial killer type ish.


Princess of China - Coldplay & Rihanna



Didn’t Coldplay already do the fake trailer for one of their music videos from this album already? I think I would actually like the fake elephant movie better.


No Church In the Wild - Jay-Z & Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean



Just last week I scratched my head at the random dropping of the latest Kanye West video, and a day later he released yet another video from his album with Jay-Z months after the single was released (and a week after used in The Great Gatsby trailer) featuring people raging against, um, who knows. Check back next week to see what better late than never Kanye releases.


Some Nights - Fun.



If the new Kanye-Jay-Z video is not enough violence for you, here comes fun. Ironically last week while watching the Hatfields and Mccoys miniseries, I thought to myself, “Self, do you know what this needs: an indie pop soundtrack.” Thank you fun. for giving me that visualization. But unfortunately they did not go fully into historical accuracy because there was no crappy auto-tune during the Civil War.

The 9th Green’s Readers Favorite Songs of 2011

Before I get into my favorite songs of the year tomorrow, let’s look at some the songs that made up your soundtrack to 2011. If you didn’t send in your list year, hopefully next year you do so and you can see more of your favorite next year. Also congratulations are in order to Jay who won an Amazon MP3 gift card just contributing to this list. I should have that sent out to you by the end of the day. And thank you to everyone who participated

1. Rolling in the Deep - Adele

2. Video Games - Lana Del Ray

3. We Found Love - Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris

4. Countdown - Beyoncé

5. Midnight City - M83

6. (Expletive Deleted) in Paris - The Throne (including the Remix with T.I.)

7. Shake It Out - Florence and the Machine

8. Bonfire - Childish Gambino

9. Someone Like You - Adele

10. Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People

11. Lotus Flower - Radiohead

12. Super Bass - Nicki Minaj

13. Yonkers - Tyler, the Creator

14. Look At Me Now - Chris Brown featuring Lil Wayne and Busta Rhymes

15. Schoolin’ Life - Beyoncé

16. Starlight - Matt Cardle

17. Lonely Boy - The Black Keys

18. Walk - Foo Fighters

19. Take Care - Drake featuring Rihanna

20. I Need a Doctor - Dr. Dre, Eminem and Skylar Gray

21. Till the World Ends - Britney Spears

22. Still Life - The Horrors

23. California - EMA

24. The Edge of Glory - Lady Gaga

25. Headlines - Drake

The 25 Best Mash Up's of 2011

It seems like every year Mash Up artists latch onto one song and like Since U Been Gone, Crazy and Umbrella before it, Rolling in the Deep got remix every which way this year including eight mash up of which I downloaded this year, a couple that made the list below. If you want to give the mash-up a listen, click its name on the first line (where you will find ways to download it most places) and if you would like to download the song that make it up, click those in the second line and it will take you to iTunes.


1. Mean Planes & Taylor Gangs - Brenton Duvall
Wiz Khalifa (This Plane) vs. Taylor Swift (Mean)



2. Runawayfully - The Hood Internet
Kanye West featuring Pusha T (Runaway) vs. Journey (Faithfully)



3. My Name Is Wopbabaluba - Jimmy Klok
Funkdoobiest (Wopbobalubop) vs. Rihanna featuring Drake (What's My Name?) vs. Snoop Doggy Dogg Who Am I (What's My Name)?



4. The Childish Games - D.veloped
Childish Gambino (Let Me Dope You) vs. Adele (Rolling in the Deep) Ol’ Dirty Bastard (Shimmy Shimmy Ya) vs. Backstreet Boys (I Want It That Way) vs. Phoenix (Lisztomania) vs. 50 Cent (50 Cent) vs. Wu-Tang Clan (C.R.E.A.M.)



5. We No Speak Cantina - G3RSt
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope: Cantina Band - Songs from Star Wars vs. Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP (We No Speak Americano)



6. Johnny's 99 Problems (But The Pot of Gold Ain’t One) - DJ Schmolli
Dropkick Murphys (Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya) vs. Jay-Z (99 Problems)

7. Kiss - Norwegian Recycling
Sixpence none the Richer (Kiss Me) vs. Maroon 5 (She Will Be Loved) Bruno Mars (Just the Way You Are) vs. Savage Garden (Crash And Burn) vs. Jason Derulo (In My Head)

8. Party Man - Mighty Mike
Lynyrd Skynyrd (Simple Man) vs. Bloc Party (SRXT)

9. Eden Snow - Mighty Mike
Snow Patrol (You're All I Have) vs. Ludovico Einaudi (Eden Roc) vs. 30 Seconds to Mars (Kings and Queens)

10. Breathe and Shine - LeeDM101
John Legend and the Roots (Shine) vs. Sia (Breathe Me)

11. Extreme Ways in the Deep - DJ Y alias JY
Moby (Extreme Ways) vs. Adele (Rolling in the Deep)

12. Black Bug - Wick-it the Instigator
Big Boi and Cutty(Shutterbugg) vs. the Black Keys (Tighten Up)

13. My Bitter Cheap Symphony (Still Sweet) - Mashup-Germany
The Verve (Bitter Sweet Symphony) vs. Jason Derulo (Ridin' Solo) vs. B.O.B. featuring Hayley Williams (Airplanes) vs. 4 Non Blondes ( What's Up?) vs. Take That (Never Forget) vs. Snow Patrol (Chasing Cars) vs. Iyaz (Replay)

14. Gerry Barbra Street - DJ Schmolli
Duck Sauce (Barbra Streisand) vs. Gerry Rafferty (Baker Street) vs. Stealers Wheel (Stuck In the Middle With You)

15. What's My Name Jack - Party Ben
John Cougar Mellencamp (Jack & Diane) vs. Rihanna featuring Drake (What's My Name?)

16. Stop! Mashup Time - FAROFF
MC Hammer (U Can'T Touch This) vs. Eurythmics (Sweet Dreams) vs. New Order (Blue Monday) vs. Talking Heads (Psycho Killer) vs. Donna Summer (I Feel Love)

17. Faster, Eagle ! Fly ! Fly ! - Mighty Mike
Steve Miller Band (Fly Like An Eagle) vs Hello Bye Bye (Fast)

18. More Than a Boy - Colatron
Beyoncé (If I Were a Boy) vs Extreme (More Than Words)

19. Lights - Norwegian Recycling
Kanye West (All of the Lights) vs. Blink-182 (All the Small Things) vs. Foo Fighters (Learn to Fly) vs. The Killers (Mr. Brightside) vs. Muse (Starlight)

20. Intro Again - Production Unit
Aaliyah (Try Again) vs. the xx (Intro)

21. Unfaithful Sex - Titus Jones
Rihanna (Unfaithful) vs. Kings of Leon (Sex On Fire)

22. Pumped up Baby - G3RSt
Vanilla Ice (Ice Ice Baby) vs. Foster the People (Pumped Up Kicks) vs. Queen and David Bowie (Under Pressure)

23. Animus Vox - Slaptop
Nelly Furtado (Turn Off the Light) vs. Ludacris (Stand Up) vs. The Glitch Mob (Animus Vox)

24. Warwick Ghetto - Phil RetroSpector
Elvis Presley (In the Ghetto) vs Duffy (Warwick Avenue)

25. La Vida Easy - Mighty Mike
The Commodores (Easy) vs. Coldplay (Viva la Vida)

I Want My Music Television - 10/25/11

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.

Paradise - Coldplay



With the whole formal opening credits for a film I was expecting some grand epic music video, but the very next scenes is someone in an elephant costume with scenes with the elephant in a trunk (get it?), on a unicycle, and in his natural habitat, in the Sahara playing music. Well done Coldplay.


This Isn’t Everything You Are – Snow Patrol



It is not a very good sign when a band rushes out a second single, it usually means the first one bombed, and the first single was so forgettable, I cannot remember its name. The new Snow Patrol song is slightly better, though not as fun as the last video, not that I remember what the song name was, and this one kind of reminds me of the Kings of Leon video for Pyro, but with less freaks and more random dancing.


We Found Love - Rihanna featuring Calvin Harris



Speaking of videos that remind me of other ones, the new Rihanna video looks Teenage Dream if it had been filmed by the director of Trainspotting who wanted to add a completely random intro for no reason.


One Up for Love - Boyz II Men



With The Sing-Off, the Beyoncé sampling Countdown, and contributing to some midget’s Christmas album, I would love for a Boyz II Men comeback (get ready to feel old, Cooleyhighharmony came out twenty years ago). I am not sure this is the song to do it, the opening production (I was going to ask where was Babyface, but upon some research, it turns out he actually produced it), but it did get better by the time the band kicked in. But this is still better than ninety-nine percent of what is considered RnB that is released today.

I Want My Music Television - 6/6/11

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Walk – Foo Fighters



Falling Down is one of the great forgotten, only in the nineties, movies and maybe it is the right time for us to revisit it as we inch closer to an American without a WASP majority. But I was a little disappointed that the Foo Fighters did not give a shout out to the also from the nineties highway parking lot, Everybody Hurts - R.E.M. by R.E.M., by adding some subtitles to the other drivers.


Man Down – Rihanna



In other violent video news, Man Down has gotten a lot of flack for her new video. So for those keeping track at home, man on man violence: funny; chick on dude violence: inappropriate. But if Johnny Cash and Jimi Hendrix’s friend Joe can shoot trifling partners down, why not Rihanna. I just do not understand what is with the Drummer Boy chorus.


Back Down South – Kings of Leon



But speaking of nineties influence, I get a strong southern version of Smashing Pumpkin’s 1979 music video from the new Kings of Leon offering.


Home Is a Fire – Death Cab for Cutie



Not to knock Death Cab for Cutie, but didn’t Selena Gomez and the Scene make this exact video not too long ago. (Yes, yes they did.)

I Want My Music Television vol. LXXXIX

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Power - Kanye West



Do not call this a music video, it ia living portrait. Alrighty, I am not sure that it awesome, or just the most pretentious move ever. Probably both. Hopefully Kanye West doesn’t use the same delivery style throughout his next album because it reminds me of the voice Eminem used during Relapse which was so annoying, Em disavowed it. It is alright for a song or two, but I have no desire to hear and hour’s worth of it.


Love the Way You Lie - Eminem & Rihanna



Speaking of Eminem, he has a new video of his own and you know it is serious because it has big name actors in it. Granted it is hard to take anything serious when Megan Fox is involved because she cannot act, and really can only come close to pulling something off when she is portraying a hooker or succubus.


What Part of Forever – Cee Lo



When his former partner is going the pretentious route by casting the chick from Mad Men in a sci-fi video, Cee Lo is stuck slumming it with vampires on the Twilight soundtrack. Maybe he should have stuck with Gnarls Barkley.


Cold War - Janelle Monae



You may remember Janelle Monae as the house band for this year’s ESPY Awards and here is a super simple video to her latest song reminiscent of Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2U performance.

I Want My Music Television vol. LXXXIII

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


The Ghost Inside – Broken Bells



The latest Broken Bells video just may be the greatest Outer Limits episode never to air and even stars Firefly vet Christina Hendricks who is no stranger to outerspace.


Half My Heart – John Mayer



I am really disappointed that with the absent of Taylor Swift we were deprived of some cheesetastic scenes that harken back to when Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks would share microphones during their duets. Instead we just get John Mayer sulking around as if he just got accused of being a racist.


Holiday – Vampire Weekend



Oh those wacky Ivy Leaguers of Vampire Weekend going all Victorian on us. Well done boys.


Rockstar 101 - Rihanna



If Rihanna is teaching Rock Star 101, who is the professor for 102, Pat Boone?

I Want My Music Television vol. LXIX

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Try Sleeping with a Broken Heart - Alicia Keys



A slightly better song from Alicia Keys than Doesn’t Mean Anything, although the superpowers thing in the video is a little weird.


Russian Roulette – Rihanna



Remember when Rihanna sang silly little pop songs? But in the last year or two, her hair kept getting shorter and shorter, her songs got darker and dark to the point where she scares me like she is a modern day Grace Jones.


Low Rising – The Swell Season



You might remember The Swell Season as the duo that won the Oscar two years ago. They become a couple while filming Once, then broke up, then recorded this most recent album. Hey it worked for Fleetwood Mac. But I am sure touring with an ex may feel like it is raining on you all the time.


Staying in Love – Raphael Saadiq



Just another great song from Raphael Saadiq. And a cool stylistic video worthy of a comic book translation. Have I ever mentioned that my very first concert was MTV Party to Go Tour featuring Tony! Toni! Toné!? I’m sure you will need that information if you are ever on Jeopardy.

I Want My Music Television vol. LXIII

There have been a couple of videos that have caught my eye lately so I thought I’d give them some love since the death of Musical Television left a void for a forum on the art form. If you are interested in buying the video through iTunes, click the title link (where available). If you are interested in buying the song, look for a link in the analysis.


Run this Town – Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West



A better song than D.O.A. but Jay-Z is continuing the obscure movie theme to the video off The Blueprint 3 and Run This Town has a The Warriors by way of Mad Max feel to it but with more face covering with Rihanna coming off as a Mortal Kombat character ion the beginning.


The Fixer – Pearl Jam



I never understood why Pearl Jam gave up making videos after their first album because they did were performance pieces anyways (sans Jeremy) and that is just what this is but with extreme close ups courtesy of Cameron Crowe.


Why I Am – Dave Matthews Band



Just the Dave Matthews Band doing what they do best: perform live.


Sabotage – Kristinia DeBarge



Considering her last name and being produced by Babyface, the first couple singles from Kristinia DeBarge have been disappointing and adding to that, how can you do a video for a song called Sabotage and not feature someone named Cochise?

Of course the original Sabotage is up for the Best Video to Never Win a Moonman which got me thinking, what actually beat Sabotage. It lost to Cryin’ by Aerosmith (can’t complain too much as Alicia Silverstone owned MTV in the mid-nineties) with Heart Shaped Box and Everybody Hurts also in the running. Compare that to this year that features Lady Gaga, Britney Spears naked, Kanye West singing, Beyoncé in a leotard and Eminem dressing up like Bret Michaels. Um, yeah, I think the children are officially no longer the future.