05 BLINK 182 AFTER MIDNIGHT

 

 

Sleep arm in arm in the stairwell, we'll fall apart on the weekend

 

For a band that made their name by voicing juvenile thoughts and concerns over frenetic punk rock, "Neighbourhoods" was a remarkably self-assured record. Maybe not in the lyrics, but for the first time they're not the focus of a Blink album and it's all the better for it. Never is this more apparent than on "After Midnight". Travis Barker sounds fantastic laying down a pretty sparse drum pattern and the trio blend together seamlessly, showing not just maturity but a classical songwriting sensibility that puts the song up with their absolute best.

04 COLDPLAY PARADISE

 

 

It flew away from her reach so she ran away in her sleep

 

Sorry Ke$ha, you're now no longer my favourite #1 of 2011. The outlandishness of this song's chart run has been discussed ad infinitum on this site so I'll stick to the song itself.

 

It's amazing.

 

Looking back at Coldplay's career as a whole, "Paradise" plays almost like a greatest hits package all in itself - marrying the conventional rocky anthemics of their earlier material with the sonic richness they discovered during the "Viva La Vida..." sessions with Brian Eno, they've embraced their pop sensibilities like never been before. Now let's just hope it's not their swansong.

03 KORN feat. SKRILLEX GET UP!

 

 

Times are looking grim these days

 

Korn have never been my favourite nu-metallers. Lacking the songwriting craft of Linkin Park, the radicalism of Rage Against the Machine, the heaviness of Slipknot or the sheer hilarity of Limp Bizkit, they're not helped by frontman Jonathan Davis coming across as a bit of a knob. As the band embarked on what could be seen as a last-ditch shot at a mainstream comeback with a dubstep album swamped in guest producers, Davis was busy harping on about how they "invented dubstep" during their late Nineties heyday. "The Path of Totality" isn't even very good.

 

So far, so meh. One slight problem - the first single was BLOODY AWESOME. The idea of "dubmetal" is a slightly questionable one but here it actually works. The band fully embraces these new sounds with confidence while Skrillex's production manages to subdue Davis' vocals so that they don't take over like on follow-up "Narcissistic Cannibal". If this gets played in any club I'm in it will officially make my life.

02 FOO FIGHTERS ROPE

 

 

I've been cheating gravity and waiting on the fall

 

Bet you didn't expect that, did you? :P

 

After six albums plugging away in Nirvana's wake, it has seemed at times like Dave Grohl has been fighting a losing battle in his quest to escape the shadow of his far less prolific, far more critically revered old band. However, this time around he didn't really need to. With their last two records adding considerably more stylistic strings to their bow after 2002's "One By One" had put them back on track commercially, the Foos were now playing the stadiums that matched their ambitions. However, since they'd been gone the commercial power of rock music (on the singles chart at least) had imploded and the genre was now fighting against a growing crowd saying it was in a rut from which it could never feasibly escape. Suddenly the world that dismissed his band as workmanlike and inconsistent needed Dave Grohl, and this was his response.

 

The immediate impression on hearing "Rope" is that it doesn't exactly reinvent the wheel. "The Pretender", their last lead single, plays like a mini rock opera; "Rope" plays it safe. Sort of. The reintroduction of Pat Smear as a third guitarist has galvanised the band into pushing new creative territory so that sections which would have previously sounded staid now fizz with aggression and ideas. The whole thing comes across almost like radio staple "Learn To Fly"'s sharper, leaner, meaner cousin while the exasperation in Grohl's voice in the chorus mirrors his lyrics perfectly.

01 PARAMORE MONSTER

 

 

Now that you're gone, the world is ours

 

/shameless loon moment

 

Yes, it's my year-end #1. Just. When I started the countdown I half expected this to end up behind "Rope", but in the end heart ruled head and Paramore clinched it. Why? Well, not many expected whatever they released this year to be anywhere near as good as this after they lost Josh and Zac Farro at the back end of 2010. The brothers were the only remaining founder members of the band besides Hayley Williams and significant songwriting contributors to the point where parts of their fanbase assumed that the band would just become a self-parody or a Hayley vanity project. The former members certainly alluded to that in their online outbursts since their departure.

 

If I was concerned that they'd lost their songwriting edge, "Monster" more than settled my fears. All the more satisfying for being a not-so-subtle swipe at the Farros, it carries its multiple tempo changes off with aplomb but - as is so often the case - Williams steals the show. There's something about her singing "I'LL STOP THE WHOOOOOLE WORLD" that's equally electrifying and heartbreaking.

Wow! Excellent #1! :wub: I wasn't sure it would be in here, but I did think you probably wouldn't let it go, but to see it at #1 :wub: Love it. Possibly my favourite song with any sort of rock edge released this year. I was honestly expecting Rope to be #1. I do rather like it, but I far prefer Monster.

 

With regards to the rest, your commentary for Jar Of Hearts is absolutely spot on, I've never gotten bored of it, and it's because of the lyrics. And of course, Paradise is amazing.

 

*makes note to check out the Blink 182 songs and Evanescence (the latter at least I gave up on after What You Want, I may have to try My Heart Is Broken after reading that commentary)*

Some real surprises in here Charlie! Didn't expect to see Moves Like Jagger in the top 20 and I had no idea you were such a fan of Ke$ha :o Monster and Rope are both very good, I've never been a huge Paramore fan but that song ticks all of their usual boxes whilst having some appeal to me. Foos on the other hand are one of the few rock acts that I can generally get on board with (I bought and listen to their Greatest Hits quite often!). Rope indeed isn't anything revolutionary but it has a great chorus and was a decent lead single.