My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #14

#14 “Baby We’re Refugees!” by Jon Fratelli

Released: 12/6/11

Album: Psycho Jukebox

 

In a sweet bit of coincidence I’m actually seeing The Fratellis tonight live in Liverpool on their “Costello Music” 10 year anniversary tour. Can’t wait!

 

Anyway, this is the second time Jon Fratelli has hit this Top 100 – in fact he’s only released two singles as a solo artist and both make the Top 100. His only album to date, “Psycho Jukebox” was a tremendous piece of work and in fact, frankly, nothing The Fratellis have done as a band since have matched how good Jon’s solo album was. This was the last piece of true magic Jon has released as an artist in my opinion, band or solo artist. And “Baby We’re Refugees!” is a heck of a good single. It’s one of the best anthems no one has heard, and it’s over before you know it too, it’s that short a song. The song builds up for just over two minutes and when we finally get the chorus, it’s just magical. As I said it’s just a shame because by the time the chorus kicks in the song is over, but again, that’s the sign of a good song, when you wished it went on for longer than it did. If you ever liked The Fratellis, seriously, listen to Jon Fratelli’s album, and start by listening to this little ditty, it’s underappreciated, truly.

Here's the video if you want to hear it!

If you missed #15 go here.

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My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #15

#15 “Black Skinhead” by Kanye West

Released: 19/7/13

Album: Yeezus

 

I’m trying to remember how I heard this song for the first time. I think it was for an advert on the BBC, I can’t remember what. Either way I really loved the music in the song, it’s so so funky. It’s easily one of the best songs Kanye West has done. For me, Kanye West is one of those artists that, despite trying my hardest to dislike, comes up trumps a lot of the time when it comes to making belter tracks unexpectedly. No matter how much of a penis he is as a person, he’s a very talented hip hop artist that knows how to make good music. “Black Skinhead” was a true highlight of 2013 for me, I even think I said it was my favourite music single of the year at one point, although, of course, there are other songs higher than this on the list from 2013, and you’ll what songs soon.

Here's the video if you want to hear it!

If you missed #16 go here.

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My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #16

#16. "Blame it on the Boom Boom” – Black Stone Cherry

Released: July 2011

Album: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

I can’t find the actual release date anywhere for this single. Frustrating. Anyway, yeah I’ve never been a fan of Black Stone Cherry, and actually, I’m still not. But this song is all kinds of awesome. My girlfriend got me into this track actually, she does like a bit of BSC and she requested it on my radio show one time and then I just fell in love with it. That’s the beauty of doing radio shows, people request songs you either haven’t heard of before or that you’ve not paid much attention to. And then all of a sudden you have a new favourite track. Well, I say new, this had come out a few years beforehand by that point. It’s just got a very catchy chorus, a cool guitar riff and of course, you can’t beat a track with any sort of “yeah yeah yeah” type of singing in it can you?? It’s just a belter, and anyone who likes hard rock or metal need to listen to this track if they haven’t before, it really should be more of an anthem than it currently is.

Here's the video if you want to hear it!

If you missed #17 go here.

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My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #17

#17. "Do I Wanna Know?” – Arctic Monkeys

Released: 19/6/13

Album: AM

So as you may know there’s a cap on three songs per artist in this Top 100 listing and this is the final song by the Arctic Monkeys featured. It’s also the third song from the album “AM”, which shows you how damn good that album was, or at the very least how good the singles were. “Do I Wanna Know” is just such a sexy song. That riff, no matter how simple it is, is just gorgeous. In actual fact the whole song is quite simple but incredibly effective. In a certain way it reminds me of “Seven Nation Army” by the White Stripes in the respect that you just have a plain but memorable riff along with the vocals as the key to the track, everything else while fantastic acts as cherry on top rather than a fundamental part of the music process. It’s a wonderful track and when I first heard it I just could not stop listening to it because once it got into my head it took a long time to leave. And that my friends, is a sign of a magnificent track.

Here's the video if you want to hear it!

If you missed #18 go here.

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My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #18

#18. "Jack Sparrow” – The Lonely Island and Michael Bolton

Released: 7/5/11

Album: Turtleneck and Chain

How the heck is this song 5 years old? I hate growing older, time moves WAY too fast. Anyway this song is just hilarious. Unfortunately it’s one of those songs that lose its impact as time goes on but I’m telling you, the first time I heard it, the first time I saw the video, I belly laughed so hard. Never in a million years would I thought Michael Bolton would not only do something so funny, but to completely steal the show away from three legitimately hilarious people in The Lonely Island takes some doing. A massive part of why this song is so good is the video. In fact, if I never saw the video I probably wouldn’t have liked it anywhere near as much as I do. There’s a reason why I placed it at #36 in my all-time favourite music videos. It’s just simply one of the funniest songs probably ever really in my eyes, I love it that much.

Here's the video if you want to hear it!
If you missed #19 go here.

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My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #19

#19. "Thieves” – Limp Bizkit

Released: 1/11/13

Album: Stampede of the Disco Elephants

Well it’s funny now because Wikipedia is now saying this wasn’t a single. It definitely was, there's evidence of it everywhere. I'm pretty sure it's a promotional single for an album that STILL hasn’t come out I’m keeping this song on this list. Speaking of, when the fuck is this album coming out Fred Durst??

Anyway, this, if you didn’t know, was a cover version of a song by legendary industrial metal band “Ministry”. I’ve been a fan of Ministry and the song “Thieves” for a long time and when I initially heard that Limp Bizkit were to do a cover version of the song I was like “oh no, Fred’s going to destroy it”. Limp Bizkit only wish they were half the band that Ministry are, even if they are more popular with mainstream audiences. But then, apparently Limp Bizkit have been playing this song live for many years, even before they did the cover in the studio.

And fuck me it’s a belter of a cover version. I never expected Limp Bizkit to even do the song an ounce of justice but actually, I hate to say it but they actually match the original in my eyes. Now that is definitely a controversial statement considering what I said above but I stick to my opinion on this. Not only does the song follow the source material well, but they have “Limp Bizkit-afied” it well as well, so it does sound like a Limp Bizkit song . It’s always a tricky thing to do, to stamp your own authority on a song without leaving a dent on the original artist’s song. And credit where it’s due, this is a brilliant cover and I listened to it a lot when I heard it at the tail end of 2013 and into 2014.

Here's the video if you want to hear it!
If you missed #20 go here.

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My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #20

#20. "Something From Nothing” – Foo Fighters

Released: 16/10/14

Album: Sonic Highways

 

You know certain songs bring you back to certain parts of your life? Well “Something From Nothing” sticks with me a lot from a personal perspective because of what happened, well, a good 12 months ago now. Last year I got diagnosed with diabetes, cut a long story short I’ve since lost three and a half stone and got myself in better shape – I actually ran a half marathon a month ago which is crazy considering I hated exercise before. Well a year ago or so I started going to the gym and there’s a jukebox that has a playlist. Most people that went the gym played dance and pop but not me of course. I used to play this a lot, and still do.

 

The song is so good to play in the gym because the build up is so strong. The beginning is so quiet and the way it builds up to “FUCK IT ALL I CAME FROM NOTHING” is immense. It really gave me the energy I needed to dig in deep on that treadmill and last a longer distance at a faster pace each time, sweating like crazy. Music is an amazing thing and it does stuff to you that you wouldn’t expect. I love this song because it’s a great song on a mediocre album, but I also am so thankful for this song for helping me through, in my eyes, a very dark period of my life.

 

Here's the video if you want to hear it!

If you missed #21 go here.

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My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #21

#21. "Howlin’ For You” – The Black Keys

Released: 11/2/11

Album: Brothers

 

Here’s the thing about this song – for a long time I had heard it but never knew what it was called and actually, who sung it. You may know that I appeared on Winter Wipeout (a spinoff of Total Wipeout, yes with the big red balls, you can read about my experience in great detail here). Well when that episode aired on TV nearly five years ago, on that episode my fellow contestant Mark (or Howling Mark) had this song playing in the background. I liked the sound of it but couldn’t put my finger on who sung the song or what it was called (I know, Howling Mark should have given it away but I digress.)

 

I only properly discovered the song a couple of years ago when it was again used on a fantastic TV show called “Release the Hounds”. I then searched tooth and nail for what the song was and was really annoyed when I found out it was under my nose all this time. I mean how could I not know it was the Black Keys? It’s quite hard to find a song though, lyrics wise, if all you can hear is “da-da da da da, da-da da da da”! It’s a fantastic song was a stupendously catchy chorus, and my eldest son fell in love with it when I started playing it over and over again two years ago. I love it.

 

Here's the video if you want to hear it!

If you missed #22 go here.

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My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #22

#22. "House of Pain” – Hot Action Cop

Released: 17/9/14

Album: Listen Up!

So a few entries ago I was talking about unexpected songs being favourable when I mentioned how Crazy Town (the guys who did that awesome “Butterfly” song) have done an awesome song that had made my list. That same feeling was felt more than once in 2014 or early 2015, when I found out that Hot Action Cop had returned.

Now, HAC have done only two albums. Their first was self-titled in 2003 and it was just brilliant, I even ranked it at #11 in my list of favourite albums between 2000 and 2009. After that album, NOTHING. Nothing for six years. I was so disappointed because I really thought they were going to be one of the best bands in that decade. And in six years? They release an EP. And I’m sorry but it was just bad. Just my opinion. But it was pretty bad. Also, sorry, but this new album? Not good. It’s better than the EP but I didn’t think much of it. Sometimes bands release a great album and can’t seem to find that magic consistently for a long time, or even the rest of their careers.

But what was a piece of absolute magic on the new album was the main single, “House of Pain”. What we have here is a song that’s best described as a mixture of Prince and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It’s just brilliant. It’s been clear for a long time that HAC have been influenced by the funky grooves of the Chilis and the rap metal of Limp Bizkit and the crude and funny lyric styles of the Bloodhound Gang. But what I didn’t see coming was the brilliant Prince-esque vocals Rob Werthner provides in this song. They’re insane. And the song is just ridiculously catchy. If you’re a fan of the Chilis and have not heard Hot Action Cop I demand you listen to this song below. And if you like it, listen to “Fever for the Flava” or any of their other stuff off their fantastic self-titled debut album. You won’t regret it.

 

Here's the video if you want to hear it!

If you missed #23 go here.

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