I usually offer some State of the Music Union thoughts when I share my favorite songs of the year lists. 2016 got off to a great start and then kind of cruised to the finish. Most of my favorite albums of the year came out during its first six months. There were some albums I was greatly looking forward to that I never connected with. To me, 2016 was a better year for singles than albums. And, because of that, I\u2019m offering my biggest Favorites list ever.<\/p>\n
A week ago I was toying with doing a Top 50 list. But I did some whittling, and then some more, and then one more round, and finally ended up with 33 songs. Thirty-three songs? Yep. Partially because I\u2019m throwing out one of my core rules for year-end lists by including two songs from two bands. It was just too hard to pick for each of them. And since all four songs in question were Top 10 material, I figured why keep trying to distinguish between the pairs. Plus, 33 is a magical number when it comes to music.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n This year also continues a trend where more and more female artists are on the list. I always wonder why that is. Is it because I have three girls? None of them listen to this music, but perhaps I\u2019m either channeling what I hope they listen to as they get older, or I just want to constantly project an acceptance of strong, independent women to them. Or maybe there are just more great female indie\/alt rock artists now than ever before, and my preferences just reflect what is going on in the music marketplace. Or, maybe, women are rocking a little harder than men these days. I continue to be frustrated by how the various indie rock channels – be they blogs or SiriusXM stations or over-the-air radio – have been dominated by more synthy, dances music in recent years. I can handle some of that. But I\u2019m a guitar guy first. I\u2019m thankful at least the women aren\u2019t afraid to rock.<\/p>\n Or maybe it means nothing at all. Probably that.<\/p>\n I would also add that the numbers attached to these songs are a little looser than normal. I don\u2019t know that there\u2019s a huge difference between song #32 and #17. If I did the final list tomorrow instead of today, the bottom 23 songs could be shuffled in an number of different orders. If you listen to them in order, though, you will likely find some songs belong next to each other, whether because of title or sound.<\/p>\n They\u2019re all good songs, though. Which is the important thing.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve included both a Spotify playlist of all 33 songs and YouTube videos for each song. As always, keep in mind these videos aren\u2019t always safe for work.<\/p>\n
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