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Frank Kogan ([personal profile] koganbot) wrote2014-01-12 02:29 am

Top 90 Singles, 2013

Tracks that stand out as being less like most of the others on this list:

Wa$$up "Wa$$up" and "Jingle Bell": Like a lot of K-pop, this music draws on American hip-hop. But unlike a lot of K-pop this doesn't sound like K-pop, but rather like American jumprope pop.

Tren-D "Candy Boy": Like a lot of K-pop, this music draws on Italodisco. But unlike a lot of K-pop this doesn't sound like K-pop; it sounds like Italodisco.

Qri "Do We Do We," Boram "Maybe Maybe," Lim Kim "All Right": Not that these three are that similar to each other, but each is from an interesting area of smooth, "All Right" more upmarket, "Do We Do We" and "Maybe Maybe" b-side fluff from T-ara's bench warmers.

After School "Heaven": Smoothly sashays atop the nonsmooth.

Stromae "Papaoutai": Belgian Afro-dance (and family drama).

Baauer "Harlem Shake" and Psy "Gentleman": Relentlessly nondevelopmental mindfucks.

Vick Allen "I'm Tired Of Being Grown": Southern soul.

The Civil Wars "The One That Got Away": Dinner-date folkies let loose with tasteful tears.

Within Temptation "Paradise (What About Us?)": Goth metal (if that's what it's called these days).

Tom Keifer "Solid Ground": Hair metal, which isn't considered metal these days, and fuck these days.

Omar Souleyman "Warni Warni": Syrian wedding music on a speed-racer track.

SNSD "I Got A Boy": Shifts forms, won't establish a plot, shoots its self-conscious audaciousness at us with awesome persistence.

Zhanar Dugalova "Kim Ushin?": A Kazakh grabs the rolling happy spirit of "Behind The Groove"–era Teena Marie, successfully disregarding the fact that Teena Marie was a virtuoso and she isn't.

Fidlar "Cheep Beer": Cheap beer.

1. Crayon Pop "Bar Bar Bar"
2. Baauer "Harlem Shake"
3. GLAM "I Like That"
4. will.i.am ft. Britney Spears "Scream & Shout"
5. MBLAQ "Smoky Girl"
6. EvoL "Get Up"
7. Cassie ft. Rick Ross "Numb"
8. Wa$$up "Wa$$up"
9. Tiny-G "Minimanimo"



10. Gaeko & Choiza & Simon D & Primary "난리good!!! (AIR)"
11. 2YOON "24/7"
12. Qri "Do We Do We"
13. Baek Ji Young "Remember"
14. Miranda Lambert "Mama's Broken Heart"
15. Wa$$up "Jingle Bell"
16. T-ara "Number 9"
17. After School "First Love"
18. Z.Hera "Peacock"
19. Lady Gaga ft. R. Kelly "Do What U Want"

[See footnote.*]

20. G-Dragon ft. Jenova "Crayon (Lam Suet Remix)"
21. D-Unit ft. Zico "Talk To My Face"
22. ChoColat "Black Tinkerbell"
23. Lee Jung Hyun "V"
24. F-ve Dolls "Soulmate #1"
25. Sharaya J "Smash Up The Place"
26. Tiny-G "Miss You"
27. Lady Lykez "I Love My Butt"



28. Margaret Berger "I Feed You My Love"
29. Stromae "Papaoutai"
30. Kacey Musgraves "Blowin' Smoke"
31. Psy "Gentleman"
32. Sistar19 "Gone Not Around Any Longer"
33. Vick Allen "I'm Tired Of Being Grown"
34. Tyga ft. Wiz Khalifa & Mally Mall "Molly"
35. Baek Ji Young "Acacia"
36. Rocko ft. Rick Ross & Future "U.O.E.N.O"
37. T-ara "Target"
38. Nyusha "Naedine"
39. Gaeko "Rhythm Is Life"
40. Far East Movement ft. Riff Raff "The Illest"



41. A$AP Rocky ft. 2 Chainz, Drake, Kendrick Lamar "Fuckin' Problems"
42. (f)x "Rum Pum Pum Pum"
43. Omar Souleyman "Warni Warni"
44. Baek Ji Young "I Hate It"
45. Vixx "On And On"
46. Tren-D "Candy Boy"
47. Bajofondo "Pide Piso"
48. Nine Muses "Gun"
49. Lim Chang Jung "Open The Door"
50. Fidlar "Cheep Beer"



51. Girl's Day "Expectation"
52. D-Unit ft. Vasco "Stay Alive"
53. Beyoncé ft. Jay-Z "Drunk In Love"
54. Annie "Tube Stops And Lonely Hearts"
55. T-ara, The Seeya, 5Dolls & Speed "Painkiller"
56. T-ara "Do You Know Me?"/"What Do I Do?"
57. BoA "Between Heaven And Hell"
58. Yelle "L'Amour Parfait"
59. After School "Heaven"
60. Angel Haze "No Bueno"



61. Bomba Estéreo "Caribbean Power"
62. Pet Shop Boys "Axis"
63. When Saints Go Machine ft. Killer Mike "Love And Respect"
64. Meek Mill "Dreams and Nightmares"
65. Tom Keifer "Solid Ground"
66. SNSD "Love&Girls"
67. GI "Gi"
68. After School "Crazy Driver"
69. The Civil Wars "The One That Got Away"



70. T.O.P "Doom Dada"
71. Ben Pearce "What I Might Do"
72. Trouble Maker "Now (There Is No Tomorrow)"
73. Jewelry "Hot And Cold"
74. Zhanar Dugalova "Kim Ushin?"
75. Lee Hyori "Bad Girls"
76. Boram "Maybe Maybe"
77. Lee Hyori "Miss Korea"
78. SHINee "Dream Girl"
79. SNSD "I Got A Boy"



80. GLAM "In Front Of The Mirror"
81. Busy Signal "Bad Up Who"
82. Sistar "Give It To Me"
83. Within Temptation "Paradise (What About Us?)"
84. Selena Gomez "Come & Get It"
85. Lim Kim "All Right"
86. Delight "Mega Yak"
87. Crayon Pop "Lonely Christmas"
88. Yong Junhyung "Flower"
89. MYNAME "Just That Little Thing"



90. Ray Foxx ft. Rachel K. Collier "Boom Boom (Heartbeat)"

To keep beating a living, snorting, galloping horse, I think it is a curious and not necessarily good thing that few singers over 30 and few male singers front the music that gets on my lists these days. Obviously, if I spent more time listening to banda, southern soul, metal, indie, hip-hop, jazz, etc. I'd get somewhat different results. But just as obviously I'm listening to the stuff that I think is likely to move me most, or at least interest me, or surprise me. And I trust my ears and pleasure centers to know something now just as they knew something back in '73 when I was practically the only kid on my block listening to the Dolls and Stooges. To be crude and reductive, I'll say that guys and adults come off as phonies and dullards. This is partly because almost all pop seems to be set in a world of adolescence, and real adolescents do it better. The youth thing is not just what the suits want to throw money at, it's where a lot of consumers want them to throw money, too.

And while I don't want to over-define social worlds that I don't understand, I'll say that a lot of the stuff I like isn't from people whose politics and social attitudes run all that close to my own liberal-leftist politics and attitudes. Not that I consider these artists reactionary (my guess is that South Korean showbiz runs more liberal than most of South Korea just as American showbiz runs more liberal than most of America). But — while this isn't the same point, it's related — they're not the freaks and the bohos, most of 'em.

That said, this was pretty much my list as of Dec. 31, and I didn't get much chance to listen to the hundreds of ILM nominees, which might have thrown up more contenders from indie and from the dance left.



*[EDIT 2019: YouTube vid for "Do What U Want" was deleted for what I'm sure are strong reasons and I've decided to honor that [though of course there are dupes of the vid on YouTube]; but I've kept (i.e., updated) the song link because whatever I think about R. Kelly's past I don't think it's right for me to edit my old posts to accommodate my current self.**]

**[Except for clarity and typos and stuff like that.]

Chuck's Top 100 singles

(Anonymous) 2014-01-13 02:06 am (UTC)(link)
Frank -- I may have some thoughts formulating about what you've written above, but I need to formulate them more, one of these days I hope. Also, I fully expect to be run over by more spam comments here (in fact, looks like a couple already beat me to "here"), but I wanted to post this before I forget -- This is the top 100 singles list I posted as a facebook note a few weeks back, which might be the first time I've come up with a list this long, most of which I'd probably still stick with (at least in part because I haven't been listening to many 2013 singles since), though if I wanted to do it all over again I might move Night Demon's self-titled single way up (wouldn't mind having a rock/metal song in my top 10, if I'd realized on time how much I like it), and I might add a couple more K-Pop singles you burnt for me (specifically, a couple that wound up reminding me of Latin freestyle, though I have trouble remembering which ones they are or how good they sound when they're not playing, which is part of the problem -- pretty sure one is "V" by Lee Jung Hyun; the other might or might not be something else by Baek Ji Young.) Anyway:

1. 2Yoon – 24/7
2. Regulo Caro – Empujando La Linea (El Minilic)
3. Diego Herrera – Balada Boa (Dulce Balada)
4. Vick Allen – I’m Tired Of Being Grown
5. Stromae – Papaoutai
6. When Saints Go Machine feat. Killer Mike – Love and Respect
7. Yelle – L’Amour Parfait
8. Busy Signal – Bad Up Who
9. Lady Antebellum – Downtown
10. Equanya – Want Ad

11. Baauer – Harlem Shake
12. Black Star Riders – Bound For Glory
13. Noel Torres – La Estructura
14. Taylor Swift – 22
15. Mel Waiters feat. Bigg Robb – Poor Side Of Town
16. Vybz Kartel feat. Gaza Slim – Stop Gwan Like Yuh Tuff
17. Psy – Gentleman
18. Kadavar – Come Back Life
19. Bomba Estéro – Caribbean Power
20. Fidlar – Cheap Beer

21. R.A. The Rugged Man – The People’s Champ
22. Lady Lykez -- I Love My Butt
23. Crayon Pop – Bar Bar Bar
24. KCO – Carolina Shuffle
25. Koban – Feed The Dogs
26. J. Cole feat. TLC – Crooked Smile
27. Droop E feat. Nite Jewel & J. Satin – ‘N the Traffic
28. The Shrine – Whistlings Of Death
29. Tiny-G – Minimanimo
30. Pet Shop Boys – Axis

31. Jeanne Mas – Rebelle
32. Jim Bennett – My Dear
33. Ces Cru feat. Tech N9ne - Juice
34. Annie - Tube Stops and Broken Hearts
35. Yarbrough & Peoples – I’m In…I’m All The Way In!
36. Danny Brown – Side A (Old)
37. Kacey Musgraves – Blowin’ Smoke
38. Young Jeezy feat. 2 Chainz – R.I.P.
39. Mr. Sam – Down At CeeCee’s
40. Spice – Dun Wife

41. Focus – Father Bachus
42. Relatives – Bad Trip
43. Parquet Courts – Stoned And Starving
44. Lee Brice – Parking Lot Party
45. Action Bronson – Strictly 4 My Jeeps
46. Hexvessel – Woman of Salem
47. Spice – Whining Time
48. Mavericks – Born to Be Blue
49. Pistol Annies – Hush Hush
50. Little Mix feat. Missy Elliott – How Ya Doin?



Chuck's Top 100 singles, Pt. 2

(Anonymous) 2014-01-13 02:06 am (UTC)(link)
51. A$AP Rocky feat. 2 Chainz, Drake, Kendrick Lamar – Fuckin’ Problems
52. Roberto Junior Y Su Bandeño – El Coco No
53. Kevin Gates – 4:30 AM
54. Ylvis – The Fox
55. Selena Gomez – Come & Get It
56. Sharaya J – Smash Up The Place
57. Omar Souleyman – Warni Warni
58. Miranda Lambert – Mama’s Broken Heart
59. Gunplay – Bible On The Dash
60. Toby Keith – Drinks After Work

61. Will.I.Am feat. Britney Spears – Scream & Shout
62. M.I.A. – Bring the Noize
63. Gerardo Ortiz – Dámaso
64. Eve – She Bad Bad
65. Azaelea Banks – Yung Rapunxel
66. Night Demon – Night Demon
67. Baek Ji Young – Acacia
68. Wendell B – We Stepping Out Ta Night
69. Los Primos MX – Sólo Tú
70. Icona Pop – I Love It

71. Luke Bryan – That’s My Kind Of Night
72. Brandy Clark - Stripes
73. Jason Aldean – 1994
74. Ashley Monroe – Like A Rose
75. Angel Haze – Echelon (It’s My Way)
76. The Band Perry – Done
77. Mothership – City Nights
78. Gary Allan – It Ain’t the Whiskey
79. Tom Keifer – Solid Ground
80. Kacey Musgraves – Follow Your Arrow

81. G-Dragon feat. Jenora – Crayon (Lam Suet RMX)
82. Maysa – Sophisticated Lover
83. Ashley Monroe – Weed Instead Of Roses
84. Chris Stapleton – What Are You Listening To?
85. Los Canarios De Michoacán – Todo Y Nada
86. Luther Lackey – When I’m Gone
87. Holy Grail – Dark Passenger
88. Black Star Riders – Hey Judas
89. The Civil Wars – The One That Got Away
90. Architects – Peter Fonda

91. Shaliek – The Past
92. Gwen Sebastian – Suitcase
93. Julión Álvares Y Su Norteño Banda – Tú No Tienes La Culpa
94. Los Amos – Tengo Que Olvidarte
95. The Henningsens – American Beautiful
96. Intocable – Te Amo (Para Siempre)
97. Ciara – Overdose
98. Mayer Hawthorne feat. Jessie Ware – Her Favorite Song
99. Sheryl Crow – Easy
100. Carrie Underwood – Two Black Cadillacs