Top Ten Songs of 2017

“The old songs can’t come to the phone right now — why? Oh, because the year is dead…”

It’s that time of year again. Can you believe it? Another year gone, and this one had it all. Well, almost. Trump actually got sworn in, a guy tried to pass Chuck E. Cheese tokens off as Bitcoin, I actually watched an episode of Game of Thrones, and Taylor Swift released one of the weirder first singles in recent memory.

Every year I try and and write up a post with my top ten songs of the year (with a few honorable mentions…whittling down lists is really hard, guys!) and this year was as musically diverse of a year for me that I can remember. For a year covered by what felt like a bleak dark storm cloud, poptimism flowed at an uncannily free rate. My listening habits definitely reflected that in 2017.

In case you’re wondering, this list won’t include anything off of the new Kendrick Lamar album¹, the new Foo Fighters album² , Or the new Taylor Swift album³. Without further ado, here are the songs.

15.) The Story So Far- Out of It:

California emo-punks The Story So Far release this tune later in the year to seemingly little fanfare. It shows insane growth from them. It’s clean, but still biting; fun, but definitely with an edge to it, and just a great contribution from a band that desperately needs to release new stuff in 2018. In a genre that continues to provides new leadership, The Story So Far feels like a band well ready to have a C stitched to their sweater for a long time.

14.) Japandroids- Near To The Wild Heart of Life:

Few bands capture that freewheeling, open the windows and shout spirit that so many raucous rock bands have had over the years more than Vancouver guitar and drums heroes, Japandroids. Their new record is a helluva lot cleaner than their previous efforts, but their Westerbergian vocals and their as big as skyscrapers sound still shines through on their 2017 effort. This single sounds like the exact kind of song the ambitious teenagers of the world need before cruising their way out of that boring-ass hometown that they can’t wait to leave in the rear-view mirror.

13.) Father John Misty- Things It Would Have Been Helpful To Know Before The Revolution:

Shame on the Fleet Foxes for once upon a time kicking out maybe the funniest, most sarcastic guy in indie rock. No less of a crime is that they had Josh Tillman sit behind a drum kit. Tillman, aka Father John Misty⁴, released the year’s best album that is basically a commentary on present-day popular culture. This tune shows that Tillman can absolutely write the kind of song that would be the nihilist compatriot to any late-Beatles McCartney ballad.

12.) Bleachers- Don’t Take The Money:

Look, I like Jack Antonoff just fine. I really do. But I have the creeping suspicion that he and Ed Sheeran suffer from the same fatal flaw. Jack from Bleachers, as he likes to call himself,⁵ tends to give his best songs away. Stay tuned for a little bit of that on this list. But this track feels like the song most likely cut from 2014's Strange Desire, a true triumph of a pop album. This song has such an awesome feel and beat to it. It just feels like a shining beacon amidst a bunch of songs that maybe should have different owners and voices. This was the right one to keep though.

11.) Cloud Nothings- Modern Act:

Early in the year, Cloud Nothings quietly released Life Without Sound, a masterful nine-song record that cleans up the scruffy Ohioans’ sound making them sound like a punkier Spoon. Modern Act is one of those songs that should have ruled alt-rock radio, should it still exist. The buzzy guitars and floor tom-cadenced drums march arm-in-arm in power-pop perfection. Selfishly, I wish Cloud Nothings gave us more than nine songs this year. Maybe if we’re all good, we can get more music from them.

10.) Walking in My Sleep- Andrew McMahon in the Wildnerness:

This was my favorite chorus all year. Shouting “You’re my silver lining/Even When I’m Walking in my sleep” is the most in-love lyric I came across all year. Andrew McMahon has been writing this kind of stuff for the better part of a two decades. In the face of steep odds, McMahon can write a lyric that makes it feel like there is a light at the end of a dark tunnel. He has faced all of that too. And let me tell you, this tune works perfectly when you have to clean your apartment before a night in watching Sing Street with someone special. With this jangly rhythm rattling around in your head, few things tend to go poorly.

9.) John Mayer- In The Blood:

Before releasing this year’s terrific The Search for Everything, John Mayer spent the last few summers touring with the surviving members of the Grateful Dead. Few songwriters seem to be as positive of an influence on Mayer as someone like Bob Weir. Weir’s been to the puppet show and seen the strings. Few things surprise a girzzled vet like him. You can tell on “In The Blood” that fearlessness gleaned off of Weir had a major effect on Mayer. Additionally, this song feels like it pairs well with the songs from Mayer’s criminally underrated Born and Raised like similarly weathered drinking buddies.

8.) Ted Leo- Lonsdale Avenue:

Few songs were so evocative to me when performed live than seeing Ted Leo perform this off of his standout album The Hanged Man in a Dr. Martens outlet on Newbury Street. Maybe it was the impending 30th birthday I was about to experience or the intimacy of hearing a song like this played by just a guy with a hollow-body electric guitar and half stack, but it is one of the simplest, yet most evocative songs I listened to all year. Life has dealt Leo some pretty crappy cards over the years⁶, but he still trudges on making great music like this.

7.) Sweet Creature- Harry Styles:

Don’t laugh. The Harry Styles album is really damn good. Like, really good. Sweet Creature feels like the kind of song that would be written by a twentysomething who grew up on his older brother’s steady diet of Noel Gallagher penned acoustic goodness. Blasphemous as it may be, but this tune feels like the “Talk Tonight” that milennials never knew they were missing. Styles writes with a wisdom beyond his years and a sound that extends well past any bubblegum preconceived notions you may have.

6.) Francis and the Lights- May I Have This Dance (Remix f/ Chance The Rapper):

It turns out that Chance The Rapper was on the year’s best and cheesiest Phil Collins single not by Phil Collins. Chance, ever the hopeless romantic lends his rhymes to a song full of love, life, and the pursuit of happiness. Francis and the Lights are known for having a lengthy list of friends, but this feels like the exact right pairing. It feels like a modern “Isn’t She Lovely” for an age that could use a some of that Stevie Wonder-like positivity.

5.) The War on Drugs- Up All Night:

I promise that my year wasn’t all hate on Jack Antonoff, but the new War on Drugs record was pretty close to the kind of sound I was hoping Jack from Bleachers would come close to. This was my favorite Track 1, Side 1 of the year. Few bands layer as much bright sound as Adam Granduciel and company do. This album is yet another standout from a band that masterfully filters previous generation love for ‘80’s Springsteen through a modern-day filter. That used to be Antonoff’s bread and butter — until The War on Drugs just simply did it better.

4.) Jason Isbell- If We Were Vampires:

I have a friend who sings and writes down in Nashville and we once argued in a Northampton, MA dive bar about Dave Cobb’s production style. He argued that it just feels like Cobb just presses record and just gets whatever result he can from his subjects. That might be the case, or, cohorts like Jason Isbell just create songs that don’t need much knob twisting. This is one of those songs. He and his wife Amanda Shires sing in perfect harmony in this song about growing old together that reads like a solemn southern “God Only Knows.” It’s the kind of writing that makes you pine for the old salty pain first found in those Hemingway books you trudged through during junior year.

3.) Lorde- Green Light

Someone broke Lorde and hopefully doesn’t tell the tale too loud. This comeback single was a triumph for the Kiwi wunderkind complete with a masteful Jack Antonoff beat⁷. This was her “I Will Survive” and she surely didn’t miss with it. Some critics thought it felt too Taylor Swift. and I understand that, but, hearing Lorde do a debut single in a major key was cool development this year. Simply, angry Lorde is also dance-y Lorde, and I am weirdly okay with this.

2.) Haim- Little of Your Love:

HAIM’s return right before the summer felt like a perfect omen for a bright, sunny summer that was pretty awesome to say the least. This track, the second single off of Something to Tell You, was originally intended for the 2015 Amy Schumer vehicle, Trainwreck but was ultimately never chosen for it. 2015’s loss is 2017’s gain as this was such a sugary sweet return for everybody’s favorite sisterly trio. There are some shades of old Fleetwood Mac here too that modern radio has been lacking for a long time. Leave it to three badass sisters to bring it back. Pop music doesn’t have to be something so revolutionary. This song proves that the simple can still be pretty great. We missed you, HAIM. Don’t let us be without a little of your pop brilliance for that long ever again!

1. ) Paramore- Fake Happy:

Upon the release of Paramore’s 2017 disc After Laughter frontwoman Hayley Williams sure sounded sadder than she had in quite some time. On this track from that album, she steers right into the skid. This is the song of a woman freshly scorned, non-plussed, and knocked on her ass. This is some of Williams’ best writing in recent memory. I’m sure Williams has been in plenty of rooms chock full of people trying to see and be seen and she’s no longer going to smile through the crap she has to endure. The difference now is that Williams is completely okay with telling you that she knows that you’re faking that enthusiasm. That may work for you, but she’s sick and tired of it.

[1]Honestly, I couldn’t choose just one tune. It’s that good. Trust me. Do yourself a favor and listen to HUMBLE. Your mind and ears will thank you. This also applies to any perceived Julien Baker snubs too. That album rules in total too.

[2]Conversely, this album sucked. Like truly felt rushed and just mailed in. Yes, I do know that Justin Timberlake is on it. That did not improve my feeling on it in the slightest. Listen to the new QOTSA produced by Mark Ronson instead.

[3]This list has enough Jack Antonoff. More than enough.

[4] Try and find FJM’s Facebook Live from this year where he wrote a song from the perspective of a dog talking to his owner. It would probably get serious Best New Music from Pitchfork if he actually released it.

[5] Dude, you’re kind of really famous. People know you from, like, a lot of things.

[6] Seriously, the guy has been through a whole hell of a lot. Stereogum’s Michael Tedder wrote the best piece on punk’s earnest everyman for this album and you should definitely read it.

[7]See, I didn’t hate everything Antonoff made in 2017. His work on Melodrama is really quite great.