I know many of you have been waiting all year for this, and it is finally here. Yes, time to unveil my 20 favorite songs of the past year. Rather than share the entire list up front and then post videos/audio files and comments for each one, I’m going Casey Kasem on you and unveiling them one at a time.…

“Do They Know It’s Christmas” – Band Aid We begin our three weeks of holiday songs with one of the more maligned songs in the modern Christmas song canon. Are the lyrics cheesy? Yes. Are some of the assertions about Africa factually incorrect? Yep? Is the drama cranked about a few notches too high? Of course. But, come on. The…

“Slippery Slopes” – Jenny Lewis I realized last night that we are only two weeks from when I will begin unveiling my favorite songs of 2014. Although this song will not be on the list, Jenny Lewis will be making an appearance. I highly recommend the album from which this song comes, The Voyager.

http://youtu.be/TLEXHFsSzYU “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” – Tears For Fears I’m not ready to give up on the music from 1985 yet, apparently. Songs From the Big Chair just got its (slightly early) 30th anniversary rerelease this week, and Tears For Fears is making the rounds to promote it. I’ll share a review of the updated album in the…

http://youtu.be/9SaHXd4RhDs “Brill Busters” – The New Pornographers We’re just about a month away from when I’ll begin unveiling my 20 favorite songs of the year. The top ten is pretty locked in. The second ten has some flux in it. And then there’s a third group of 10–15 songs that I’m still debating whether they deserve to slip into the…

“Broken Hearted Savior” – Big Head Todd & The Monsters 1. Not Halloween music, but the band is called The Monsters so it will have to do. 2. Big Head Todd at Red Rocks? No pot was smoked that night. 3. Their drummer is wacky. 4. I’ve been putting together a list of albums you most likely owned if you…

“Oh Sheila” – Ready For The World I’m sticking with this 1985 thing for another week. A week after hitting #1, this was #4 this week in October 1985. There’s a lot to discuss. Prince’s influence is all over this. So much so that even now people think he wrote the song.[1] While the band wrote it themselves, it sure…

“Take On Me” – a-ha One of the most memorable videos ever, no? Also the song that was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts exactly 29 years ago. You know, the last time the Royals were in the World Series.

“Hey Ladies” – Beastie Boys Free. James. Brown. Twenty-five years ago the Beasties blew everyone’s minds with the follow-up to Licensed To Ill, the legendary Paul’s Boutique. I’ve always been proud to say I loved it and embraced it from day one. That’s not to say I completely understood it, but neither did I dismiss it like so many people…

“Run To You” – Bryan Adams I was thinking about the music I was listening to back in the fall of 1985, the last time the Royals were in the playoffs. I know most days that fall the first thing I did after getting home from school was put on the Miami Vice soundtrack. I was listening to a lot…