My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #4

#4 “Jungle (Remix)” by Jamie N Commons and the X-Ambassadors (feat. Jay-Z)

Released: 26/12/13 (original) 15/6/14 (remix)

Album: VHS (original, X-Ambassadors album)

I accidentally classed this as a 2013 track but it’s actually 2014 if we’re talking about the remix. It doesn’t really matter either way.

 

Jamie N Commons is a terribly underrated artist, I think I’ve said this a few times now. He’s the guy that sings the chorus in this massive blockbuster summer hit of 2014. He’s done some other awesome songs too, and you may remember him on this earlier at #29 with “Karma”.

 

Jay-Z really bring the whole song together with his awesome rap, before Jay-Z helped out with the remix the song was great but not spectacular. This song is still used on adverts even now more than two years later because of how good it is and how pumped it can make you feel, especially in sports. I listened to this song so many times in 2014 and still play it today, it’s just so much fun to listen to, and of course, it helps that my son loves singing it too!

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

If you missed #5 go here.

For the latest updates on my work, including all my latest radio shows, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #10

#10 “Niggas in Paris” by Jay-Z and Kanye West

Released: 13/9/11

Album: Watch the Throne

So yesterday we had Johnny Cash and today we have Jay-Z and Kanye West. Crazy. Anyway, kicking off the Top 10 in a very different style is the collaborative effort of Jay-Z and Kanye, in what, for me, is probably my favourite song by either artist, working together to create, again, my opinion, what is one of the best hip hop songs, certainly in the last decade or so. That being said even against my opinion it received critical acclaim and even won a Grammy award so it’s definitely not just me! It’s such a catchy, creative track, and it’s fascinating that the egos of both Jay-Z and Kanye never clashed during the process of this exceptional hip hop track. This song reminds me of my clubbing days from a few years ago. It was so much fun to dance to and to let loose to. I just love it, simple really.

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

If you missed #11 go here.

For the latest updates on my work, including all my latest radio shows, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #29

#29. "Karma" – Jamie N Commons

Released: 5/12/14

Album: None

I may have said this before but I’ll say it again – goddammit Jamie N make an album! Enough of these EPs, I want a full length album that you can focus 10-12 high quality tracks towards and produce a piece of brilliance that will get everyone talking and expand your reputation as an excellent songwriter and musician!

You may or may not be familiar with Jamie N Commons, you may have heard that “Jungle” song a few years back, especially the remix of it featuring Jay-Z. It was a collaboration between Jamie N Commons and the X-Ambassadors. It’s the most famous song really Jamie N Commons has done but he’s also done some fantastic tracks over the years. In my eyes he’s far better than, say, Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran and George Ezra, similar artists in the genre. And “Karma” really is a strong track to get into, if you’re not familiar with him. His voice is just gold here and the song itself is quite strong musically so it’s a good combination; a lot of his songs concentrate more on his great vocals so may put off certain people who like a bit of bang to go in the background with these type of singers. I don’t know what to say other than – listen to this man if you haven’t before, you may be missing out on a new favourite singer songwriter!

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

If you missed #30 go here.

For the latest updates on my work, including all my latest radio shows, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #63

#63. “Suit and Tie" – Justin Timberlake (feat. Jay-Z)

Released: 15/1/13

Album: The 20/20 Experience

At first I didn't like this song but it just grew and grew on me and it's ended up being a very good JT track. Then again, Timberlake in general has been one of those guilty pleasures of mine. For long periods of time I denied liking his music but in fairness he's a great talent, in a genre I really don't like much. That's pretty much my relationship with Justin Timberlake in a nutshell.

"Suit and Tie" has some lovely grooves in the track courtesy of some sampling of "Sho 'Nuff" by Sly, Slick and Wicked and Timberland as always does a great job in producing the track. Jay-Z's rap at the end compliments the track well and the music video, directed by David Fincher is simple yet artistic in its simplicity. "Suit and Tie" is simply a fine effort by Justin Timberlake and it became one of my most played tracks of the year 2013.

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

If you missed #64 go here.

For the latest updates on my work, including all my latest radio shows, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

The Mercyside 100 2014

Hi everyone, this is my first post in nearly eight months. For the last two years I've been calculating all my play counts on my personal media player, to see what songs I listen to the most. And then at the start of the year I reveal what 100 songs I've listened to the most. Last year I revealed The Mercyside 100 2013, which was done in seven parts in great detail on this website and as seven DJ shows on my Mixcloud account.

This year I did The Mercyside 100 2014. Instead of 7 parts, I decided to cut it to four parts. So each of the four parts revealed 25 different songs, in reverse order of how often I played them.

You can listen to these four DJ shows on the links below:

Part 1: #100 to #76
Part 2: #75 to #51
Part 3: #50 to #26
Part 4: #25 to #1

I'm not going to go into great detail on this website, like I did last year. But what I will do is reveal to you what the 100 songs were, in reverse order. So if you don't want to find out this way, listen to the shows linked above!

So, in reverse order, here are is The Mercyside 100 2014! These are 100 songs I played more than anything else last year.

So, what was the most played song of the year for me? Here it is...

#1: Snap Out of It - Arctic Monkeys ("AM", 2013)

So there we go! I hope you choose to listen to the shows because they are much better to listen to rather than just see them as words on a screen. Music is for the ears after all! But if not, I hope you find some interesting entries in here, and if so, check them out on Youtube if you would rather do it that way than to listen to the actual shows! If there's something on this list you've not heard before and you end up really liking, let me know, comment below! I'd be happy to have gotten you into a song or an artist you've not heard before!

"Blue text"
Just in case you haven't listened to the shows, the songs in "blue" were "Songs of the Month". Basically, those tracks where played more than any other track, on a particular month of 2014. Here's the list in order, with Youtube links attached:

January 2014: Talk Dirty (feat. 2 Chainz) - Jason Derulo
February 2014: Royals - Lorde
March 2014: Bad Blood - Beck
April 2014: Snap Out of it - Arctic Monkeys
May 2014: Rap God - Eminem
June 2014: Energia - Russkaja
July 2014: Jungle (Remix feat. X Ambassadors and Jay-Z) - Jamie N Commons
August 2014: Handy - Weird Al Yankovic
September 2014: I Will Survive - Cake
October 2014: Howlin' For You - The Black Keys
November 2014: Something from Nothing - Foo Fighters
December 2014: Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson (feat. Bruno Mars)

Multiple Artist Entries

Here's a list of artists with more than one entry in The Mercyside 100 2014:

4 Entries - Eminem, Nine Inch Nails, The Queens of the Stone Age, Weird Al Yankovic
3 Entries - Arctic Monkeys, The Beards, Foo Fighters, Imagine Dragons, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Kasabian, KoRn, Rob Zombie
2 Entries - Beck, Disturbed, Justin Timberlake, Ministry, Muse, Skrillex, Slipknot, Trent Reznor

Multiple Album Entries

Here's a list of albums with more than one entry in The Mercyside 100 2014:

4 Entries - "...Like Clockwork" by The Queens of the Stone Age
3 Entries - "AM" by the Arctic Monkeys; "Mandatory Fun" by Weird Al Yankovic; "The Marshall Mathers LP2" by Eminem; "Venomous Rat Regeneration Vendor" by Rob Zombie
2 Entries - "48:13" by Kasabian; "The Beards" by The Beards, "Night Visions" by Imagine Dragons; "The 2nd Law" by Muse

Here's some charts showing you how often songs appeared by the year, or decade...

Also, FYI, 43 songs on this list were not singles, which means that 57 of them were!

So that's the end! I'll be doing a huge website project very soon so stay tuned for that, to keep upto date with what I'm doing it's best to follow me on Facebook, link is below! Take care!

For the latest updates on my work, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

The Mercyside 100: #40 to #26

Welcome to Part 5 of 7 of The Mercyside 100. I posted this show on Thursday and it felt a little low key, but it was fun to do as always. I cover from #40 to #26 in counting down the 100 songs I played more than any other on my personal media player. Next week's show is the last 15 track set, and after that I'll reveal The Top 10.

You can listen to this in DJ show format here:

The Mercyside 100: #40 - #26 (6/2/14) by Johnny Mercyside on Mixcloud

So here is Part 5 of the Mercyside 100, from #40 to #26!

#40: Bodies

Artist: Drowning Pool

Album: Sinner

Released: 2001

#39: The Great Destroyer

Artist: Nine Inch Nails

Album: Year Zero

Released: 2007
Most played song of August 2013

#38: Figure it Out

Artist: Serj Tankian

Album: Harakiri

Released: 2012

#37: Elephant

Artist: Tame Impala

Album: Lonerism

Released: 2012

#36: Given Up

Artist: Linkin Park

Album: Minutes to Midnight

Released: 2007

#35: Salt in the Wounds

Artist: Pendulum

Album: Immersion

Released: 2010

#34: Gangnam Style

Artist: PSY

Album: PSY 6 (Six Rules), Part 1

Released: 2012

#33: I am the Warlock

Artist: Probot (with Jack Black)

Album: Probot

Released: 2004

#32: Hot Monkey Hot Ass (Remix)

Artist: Black Moustache

Album: Unmade Beds Soundtrack

Released: 2009

#31: Electric Worry

Artist: Clutch

Album: From Beale Street to Oblivion

Released: 2007

#30: Suit and Tie

Artist: Justin Timberlake (feat. Jay-Z)

Album: The 20/20 Experience

Released: 2013

#29: Radioactive

Artist: Imagine Dragons

Album: Night Visions

Released: 2012
Most played song of May 2013

#28: The Vulture

 
Artist: Pendulum

Album: Immersion

Released: 2010

#27: Bassline Junkie

Artist: Dizzee Rascal

Album: The Fifth

Released: 2013

#26: Niggas in Paris

Artist: Jay-Z and Kanye West

Album: Watch the Throne

Released: 2011

So next week I'll be posting the last 15 track part of the listing, which is from #25 to #11 before revealing the 10 most played songs on my media player in 2013!

The Mercyside 100: #40 to #26: 6/2/14
Track listing:
Bodies - Drowning Pool
The Great Destroyer - Nine Inch Nails
Figure it Out - Serj Tankian
Elephant - Tame Impala
Given Up - Linkin Park
Salt in the Wounds - Pendulum
Gangnam Style - PSY
I am the Warlock (with Jack Black) - Probot
Hot Monkey Hot Ass (Remix) - Black Moustache
Electric Worry - Clutch
Suit and Tie (feat. Jay-Z) - Justin Timberlake
Radioactive - Imagine Dragons
The Vulture - Pendulum
Bassline Junkie - Dizzee Rascal
Niggas in Paris - Jay-Z and Kanye West
Total running time: 01:11:37

See other parts of this listing!

#100 to #86 | #85 to #71 | #70 to #56 | #55 to #41 | #40 to #26 | #25 to #11 | #10 to #1

Other entries you might want to read:
Big News Regarding My DJing - Personal Blog
The Metal Hour Show (20/1/14) - DJ Show
My Top 50 Favourite Video Game Villains - Listing

For the latest updates on my work, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

Mercy Licks - March 2013

Hey there, and welcome to the third edition of my Mercy Links. This section is basically me revealing to you the ten songs I've been listening to the most every month. I did February last month and naturally that makes March next on the list.

So what are the Ten Mercy Licks of March 2013? Let's find out...

#10: "Thrift Shop" - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis
This song was a sleeper with me. My brother told me to listen to it, I didn't like it. My friends started playing it, I still didn't think much of it. But it just kept being played in the background in my presence and eventually I caved in. I do like this song, it's very catchy and it sounds different to a lot of the hip hop around at the moment. It's a great track.

#9: "Elephant" - Tame Impala
I heard this on an advert and immediately sought out the song. Adverts are always a good source for decent songs that aren't immediately mainstream. It turned out this song wasn't a big hit when it came out in the first half of last year, and I seem like a minority in searching for the track beyond the advert, which is a shame, as it's a funky little psychedelic indie track. Give it a listen.

#8: "Figure it Out" - Serj Tankian
Serj's solo career away from System of a Down, while has never lacked in effort or quality, has for me and a lot of people been quite underwhelming. It's always hard for a solo career to outshine or even be just as good as a band career, but to be fair, it's even harder when that band is System of a Down, probably the most popular metal band of the last decade (although Slipknot may also claim that crown). But "Figure It Out" is a cracker of a track, and shows Serj has never left his SOAD roots, despite him changing his music direction quite a lot throughout his solo career. It really deserves a listen if you haven't heard it before, especially if you're a SOAD fan.

#7: "Low (feat. T-Pain)" - Flo Rida
I've always liked "Low", although I've never really liked admitting it. I've found myself playing it a lot recently for some reason, more than likely because it comes on a lot in the local club. It's just a really good RnB track, and man, I can't believe it's five years old now. That's a little weird.


#6: "Church" - T-Pain
Ladies and gentlemen! T-Pain makes the list twice, well, kinda. He wasn't the featured artist on the post above so I don't really consider him a double entry. Besides, this song is better than the one above, but chances are you haven't heard this track. I truly mean it when I say this is one of RnB's really great yet underrated tracks of the last decade. I really think you should give it a listen, if it's a genre of music you like chances are you'll really appreciate it.

#5: "Bangarang (feat. Sirah)" - Skrillex
Last Month: #2
And the first song to be featured in multiple months is "Bangarang" by Skrillex. I don't really know what to add to what I said last month, so all I'll say is that it's definitely not boring to play this track yet. It's still fricking awesome and I have it as my ringtone.

#4: "Linchpin" - Fear Factory

Last Month: #7
I predicted this would be featured in March and I was right. In fact, I played it more in March than I did in February. I do love this song a lot. It's just fantastic, and it's become one of my favourite ever industrial tracks. I don't know why I didn't pay more attention to it earlier; I had heard the song years ago!

#3: "Jus a Rascal" - Dizzee Rascal

It's funny. I also played "Bassline Junkie" a lot too, his newest track, which is pretty great I have to admit, but I recently rediscovered this song from his first album. It's probably my favourite Dizzee Rascal song but I had completely forgot about it, and how good it was too. If you're a fan of Dizzee and haven't heard this song, play it now, it sounds as fresh now as it did when it came out.

#2: "Niggas in Paris" - Jay-Z and Kanye West

For some reason, it took me ages to download this song, and since I have I have played it a shit load. It's just one of the best collaborations ever, but then again, Jay-Z has a habit of making great music with other music artists. And Kanye, musical talent wise, is great, even if he comes across as a total dick as a personality. Anyway, "Niggas in Paris" is just an incredible song, and one of the best songs to come out in 2011.

#1: "Get Low" - Lil Jon

Brrrrr-dum-dum... I love this song so much. And the bass is just so awesome on it when you turn it up. Not that that's the reason I've played it so much. I've just been hearing it a lot recently, and evidently played it even more at home. It was simply one of the best hip-hop songs of the last decade, and hasn't aged a bit. Whatever happened to Lil John anyway? He never stayed at the top for very long. This song is just a classic though. I love it.

So, that's a wrap for today. I hope you've enjoyed this list. Until next time, take care!

If you liked this article you might want to read:

• Mercy Licks - February 2013 - Listing
• Metal is Dead - Music Article
• Best of Industrial - Mixtape

For the latest updates on my work, follow me on Facebook and Twitter here!

Noughtie: The 100 Most Important Songs of the Decade (Part 8)

Overall Favourite Artists | Best of 2000 | Overall Least Favourite Artists | Best of 2001

Where Are They Now? | Best of 2002 | Best New Artists | Best of 2003 | My Guilty Pleasures
Best of 2004 | My Favourite Riffs | Best of 2005 | Underrated Artists | Best of 2006
 My Favourite Albums | Best of 2007 | Best Videos | Best of 2008 | Most Important Artists
Best of 2009 | 100 Favourite Songs of the Decade | 100 Most Important Songs of the Decade

To view part 1, click here.
To view part 2, click here.
To view part 3, click here.
To view part 4, click here.
To view part 5, click here.
To view part 6, click here.
To view part 7, click here.

30 entries to go now. It will all be over in a month! I hope you're enjoying it though, here's from #30 to #21!

#30. "By the Way" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Released: 10/6/02
Album: By the Way
Chart Positions: UK - #2, US - #34 (#1 in Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Canada - #2

Despite no appearances or accolades of note, this song was huge. It's arguably the Chili's most famous song, it's definitely so from this decade. It just felt like a culmination of nearly 20 years of music making came to an all time high. It can be argued that "Dani California" is the bigger track, I believe chart success wise it is, but this song gets more airplay, it's a more recognised track now, despite being released 4 years prior. And yes, I personally like this song more as well. "By the Way" was just huge, and when you think of the major Chili's songs of their career, this is up there, that's no dispute.

#29. "Best of You" - Foo Fighters
Released: 30/5/05
Album: In Your Honor
Accolades: Nominated for Best Rock Song at the Grammy Awards,
Chart Positions: UK - #4, US - #18 (#1 in Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Belgium - #3

I swear this song won an award for Best Single at an award ceremony somewhere... I can't find evidence of this so I'm not going to include it. Anyway "Best of You" is my choice of Foo Fighters track of the decade. I have a cap of three songs per artist in this list and this is the third. "Best of You" was not a bigger hit worldwide as "All My Life", but in America and the UK, this was the bigger song. But it's not just about the sales, it's also about the reception of the track. This song, was so well received. Everyone loved "Best of You", and it's unusual for the Foos to release such an emotional and beautiful song as the lead single of an album. They usually release a heavy hitter ("All My Life", "The Pretender", "Monkey Wrench"), and I think that had an impact too. All the music fans, regardless if they were into pop, rock, or were hardcore Foo Fighters fans, they all loved it. It's just such a strong track.

#28. "Empire State of Mind" - Jay-Z
Released: 20/10/09
Album: The Blueprint 3
Accolades: Nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards, #8 in MTV's Best Songs of 2009, #2 in Rolling Stone's Best of 2009, #3 in New York Times Best of 2009, #44 in Pitchfork's Top 100 Tacks of 2009
Chart Positions: UK - #2, US - #1 (#1 in Hot Rap Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Czech Republic - #1

This is only the second song in this listing to get to #1 in the US officially (the first being "Butterfly" by Crazy Town). I think this song is the last song (release date wise) of the decade as well. It's not hard to understand why this song was so important. I mean, New York City is such an amazing city as it is, and has many songs paying homage to it already. But recently, no song has captured the essence of the city, whilst talking about it in a positive and negative light. There are amazing landmarks, people and cultures in the city that are just standard knowledge worldwide. Drugs are rife there, which is unfortunate. Gangs are many too. The lyrics, Jay-Z rapping, Alicia Keys' choruses, the beat in the background. The song is just New York on a musical platter. And it was a worldwide success too, it was just a huge song, arguably Jay-Z's biggest yet. It's definitely one of his finer moments in a fantastic alternative rap career.

#27. "Smooth Criminal" - Alien Ant Farm
Released: 21/7/01
Album: Anthology
Appearances: American Pie 2 (movie), Karaoke Revolution (video game), Guitar Hero On Tour: Decade (video game), Rock Band (video game)
Listings: Best Videos
Chart Positions: UK - #3, US - #23 (#1 in Hot Modern Rock Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Australia - #1

One of the biggest cover versions of all time hits the chart at #27. Who would have thought that covering a Michael Jackson song in a rock style would result in such a huge reception? The song was just fantastic. It had the same great riff from the original, just with an modern alternative metel guitar. It was big here, in Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria, getting into the Top 5 in all those countries. Alien Ant Farm tried to take advantage of the huge reception of this cover version with "Movies" and other tracks, but nothing came close. In fact the band haven't had a Top 5 hit since 2003 (and that was in New Zealand), which is a shame. But it just shows the quality of the cover version, a song by a brilliant and legendary pop musician in Michael Jackson, chewed up and spat out in a hard rock format today produced one of the decade's moments of greatness.

#26. "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" - My Chemical Romance
Released: 13/9/04
Album: Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge
Appearances: Burnout 3: Takedown (video game), Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock (video game)
Chart Positions: UK - #19, US - #86 (#4 in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - New Zealand - #38

It sucks to say it, but this song won't be going aware anytime soon. It's one of the biggest songs of the decade associated with the genre and term "emo", like it or not. It's also the song that really kickstarted My Chemical Romance's career. While they have had more success with other songs chart wise, this track just won't go away. It's just such a well received song, it really describes how a lot of teenagers feel in today's moder world. I don't like the band, but I can see why this song is so well liked, it's the catchy chorus, the (immature) comedy video all to do with school culture. If you're not a teenager, or wasn't a teenager when this track came out, chances are you don't like it. But like it or not as I said, a lot of people who listen to modern music are people in their teens. And this song is hard to be topped in terms of importance to people in that age bracket.

#25. "Clocks" - Coldplay
Released: 10/12/02
Album: A Rush of Blood to the Head
Accolades: Winner of Record of the Year Award at the Grammys, #155 in Pitchfork's 500 Greatest Songs of the 2000's, Nomianted for Best Single at the Q Awards, #68 in Pitchfork's Top 100 Singles from 2000-04, #490 in Rolling Stones' 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
Appearances: In America (movie), ER (TV series), Confidence (movie), The Sopranos (TV series), Third Watch (TV series), Peter Pan (movie trailer), The Wild (movie)
Chart Positions: UK - #9, US - #29 (#9 in Hot Modern Rock Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Netherlands - #2

It probably has occured to you, this is Coldplay's first entry into this listing. So yeah... you might not be surprised (or happy) to find that yes, there are three Coldplay songs in the Top #25.
I'm amazed about the fact that "Clocks" has gone slightly off radar to be honest. You couldn't get away from the song in the early part of the decade. It's that fantastically catchy piano riff (it's so odd using the word riff about a piano, but that's what it is), it's one of the most memorable piano pieces in modern rock. It's really the song that set Coldplay on the path to superstardom, they had "The Scientist" before this, that got them very popular very quickly in this country, but after "Clocks", Coldplay was a band that was popular around the world, hell, it charted higher in the Netherlands and Poland than it did anywhere else. "Clocks" set everything up that was to follow for Coldplay, they had a winning formula musically, that they would use to top the UK and US charts with.

#24. "Misery Business" - Paramore
Released: 15/7/07
Album: Riot!
Appearances: Saints Row 2 (video game), NHL 08 (video game), Guitar Hero World Tour (video game), Lips (video game), Rock Band 3 (video game), Hollyoaks (TV series), Degrassi: The Next Generation (TV series)
Chart Positions: UK - #17, US - #26 (#3 in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Germany - #12

A little known fact. This song got into the Top 20 in South Africa. I found that to be pretty amazing too, as I can't recall any of the 75 songs before this entry to even get into the South African charts.
If you want proof that this listing is unbiased then look no further than this entry. As I said earlier in the Least Favourite Artists of the decade list, I hate Paramore with a passion. I hate this song more than I hate the band as well. I can't stand this track.
But this, like many songs on the listing, was the song that got Paramore mainstream popularity. It made the band. It was very successful, and the video was well received too. A song about bitchiness, with contradiction definitions, this song was very well recieved by the teenage community. The lyrics are vague enough to fit into many different situations, so many young people related to the track. Paramore have had better chart success with other songs than this, but this song still stands the test of time in terms of being their biggest hit. I doubt this song is going away for a while yet either (unfortunately).

#23. "Human" - The Killers
Released: 22/9/08
Album: Day and Age
Accolades: #1 in Rolling Stone's Best Songs of 2008, #77 in XFM's 100 Greatest Songs of All Time, #25 in Absolute Radio's Best Songs of the Decade
Appearances: Guitar Hero World Tour (video game)
Chart Positions: UK - #3, US - #32 (#1 in Hot Dance Club Play Chart), Best Elsewhere - Norway, Spain - #1

2008 personally for me was an incredibly busy year. I started a new job, I welcomed my newborn baby into this world. I didn't do much listening to music that year unfortunately, I was far too busy and commited to other things. But this song just wouldn't go away that year. From the summer of 2008 to the summer of 2009 everywhere you went, you heard this track. You heard the odd chorus lyrics. You heard the soft 80's dance beat. You heard Brandon Flower's relatively distinct vocals. You saw the music video. Radio, TV, or live performance, this was the definitive Killers track at the time. There are other songs that are more impoirtant however, in my opinion, and you'll see them soon.

#22. "Welcome to the Black Parade" - My Chemical Romance
Released: 12/09/06
Album: The Black Parade
Accolades: #17 in Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of 2006
Appearances: Rock Band (video game), Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock (video game), Formula 1 (sports coverage)
Chart Positions: UK - #1, US - #9 (#1 in Alternative Songs Chart), Best Elsewhere - Israel - #1

My Chemical Romance's biggest hit to date just narrowly misses out on my Top 20 songs list. To this day I don't understand the massive appeal to the song, even from an unbiased point of view. Not many heavy rock songs get to the top of the UK charts, so kudos to MCR for that. They did a lot of advertising for the track and the very well received video did favour in its success. I don't even think the band expected to top the UK charts to be honest. "Welcome to the Black Parade" fails to hit the Top 20 because as interest in the song has waned in the last few years, but that being said it's still got a solid amount of airplay, and it's still seen as a big moment for a very popular band in the last decade.

#21. "In the End" - Linkin Park
Released: 9/10/01
Album: Hybrid Theory
Accolades: #1 in Z100's Top 100 Songs of 2002, #121 in Blender's 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born
Appearances: Rock Band 3 (video game)
Chart Positions: UK - #8, US - #2 (#1 in Modern Rock Tracks Chart), Best Elsewhere - Canada - #2

"In the End" is still Linkin Park's highest charting song in America, and is only second to "What I've Done" here in the UK. Yet despite the band's immense worldwide popularity, this song is just one of those songs that are beyond the band in terms of popularity. I doubt Linkin Park can top it for quality, worldwide success and reputation. That's not to say it's my favourite song, but as I've said a few times this is an unbiased listing. And in that mindset, this is their "best". It's the song that really caught a lot of people's attention, although they were very popular by this point already. It solidified their place as one of the most exciting new bands, that's for sure.


To view part 9, click here.
To view part 10, click here.
To view the winner, click here.
To view my methods and explanations, click here. 
To view a full archived stats index of the songs listed, click here.