The Mercyside 100: 2016 Edition

The Mercyside 100: 2016 Edition

Happy New Year people. For the last four 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 next year I reveal what the 100 most listened to songs were that year. Last year I revealed The Mercyside 100 2015, the year before I did The Mercyside 100 2014 and of course the year before I did The Mercyside 100 2013 which was the first one. Click on those if you're interested in what I played most on those years.

This year I did The Mercyside 100 2016. Like last year the reason why I'm not doing this in radio show format is because there's a lot of entries in this list by a certain band called Slaves. Slaves are by far my favourite band at the moment and unfortunately, Mixcloud won't allow you to play more than three songs by one artist in the same show. And that means it's difficult, because, well, they appear a lot. Even more than last year even. Which is crazy!

I was going to make this into a playlist on YouTube but I can't do that either, because certain songs are not on YouTube which is frustrating.

So, in reverse order, here are is The Mercyside 100 2016! 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: Beauty Quest - Slaves ("Sugar Coated Bitter Truth", 2012)

 

So there we go! I hope you find some interesting entries in here, and if so, check them out on Youtube if you can, most of the songs are easily available on there. And if you don't like the band Slaves then this list clearly isn't for you! 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!

"Yellow text"
If you don't listen to The Mercy Side, my radio shows which you can find on Mixcloud, then you may not know that I reveal every month what was my "Song of the Month". Basically, those tracks where played more than any other track, on a particular month of 2016. Here's the list in order, with Youtube links attached:

January 2016: Live Like an Animal - Slaves
February 2016: Well Everybody's Fucking in a UFO - Rob Zombie
March 2016: Control (feat. Slaves) - Chase and Status
April 2016: The Sound of Silence - Disturbed
May 2016: OK - Slaves
June 2016: Leave it All Behind - Cult to Follow
July 2016: Miss Alissa - Eagles of Death Metal
August 2016: Spit it Out - Slaves
September 2016: People That You Meet - Slaves
October 2016: War Time - King 810
November 2016: Dig - Mudvayne
December 2016: NSFW - Psychostick

"Beauty Quest", my most played song of 2016 has never been Song of the Month. It's the first time a song has gotten to #1 without being Song of the Month since 2013, when "Rock and Roll (in a Black Hole) by Rob Zombie did it.

Multiple Artist Entries

Here's a list of artists with more than one entry in The Mercyside 100 2016:

24 Entries - Slaves
14 Entries - King 810
5 Entries - Saul Williams
4 Entries - The Fratellis, Nine Inch Nails
2 Entries - Arctic Monkeys, Eagles of Death Metal, Fear Factory, Foo Fighters, Leo Moracchioli

Multiple Album Entries

Here's a list of albums with more than one entry in The Mercyside 100 2015:

10 Entries - "Are You Satisfied?" by Slaves
8 Entries - "Memoirs of a Murderer" by King 810; "Take Control" by Slaves
5 Entries - "La Petite Mort or a Conversation With God" by King 810
4 Entries - "MartyrLoserKing" by Saul Williams
3 Entries - "Sugar Coated Bitter Truth" by Slaves
2 Entries - "AM" by Arctic Monkeys; "Costello Music" by The Fratellis

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

Also, if you're interested, 53 songs on this list were not singles, which means that 47 of them were!

79% of songs on this list were from the last 6 years, down 1% from last year's statistic of 80% of songs being from the last 5 years.

Again I need to give a proper shoutout to King 810. Both King 810 and Slaves have been bands I haven't stopped listening to over the past two years. Both bands got played a heck of a lot in 2015, but both bands practically doubled their tallies this year. One reason is because they're brilliant bands but the second reason in fairness is because they've both released a new album last year. Both albums are very good. Clearly the message I'm giving you is listen to Slaves and listen to King 810, dammit!!

Well that's it from me at the moment, I'll be back at some point I'm sure with another website project! All the best and thanks for reading!

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

My Top 100 Favourite Songs 2010-14 Edition: #1 (+ more!)

We’ve finally arrived at the end of this listing. It may have taken a lot longer than I ever expected to (it should have only been 100 days!)  but we got there! I hope you’ve enjoyed this listing and I’m sure you want to know what my favourite song has been over the Last Half Decade. Before we get there, I’d just like to recap the whole listing from #100 to #2…

#100: Madness – Muse
#99: Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites – Skrillex
#98: Neat Little Rows – Elbow
#97: No Reflection - Marilyn Manson
#96: Explain My Heart - Saul Williams
#95: I'm in the Mood... For Beards - The Beards
#94: She's Not Gone Yet But She's Leaving - The Fratellis
#93: Shotgun - Limp Bizkit
#92: Can't Rely on You - Paloma Faith
#91: Blue Blood Blues - The Dead Weather
#90: Rebellion - Linkin Park (feat. Daron Malakian)
#89: Paradise – Coldplay
#88: Sing - Ed Sheeran
#87: Mein Land – Rammstein
#86: Elephant - Tame Impala
#85: Love Turns to Hate - The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster
#84: On Top of the World - Imagine Dragons
#83: G.D.F.R. - Flo Rida
#82: Evil Eye - Franz Ferdinand
#81: Little Monster - Royal Blood
#80: Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke
#79: Brendan's Death Song - Red Hot Chili Peppers
#78: Go Kindergarten - The Lonely Island (feat. Robyn)
#77: The Negative One – Slipknot
#76: Royals – Lorde
#75: Government Trash - Death From Above 1979
#74: Survival – Eminem
#73: Sick Bubblegum - Rob Zombie
#72: Gentleman – PSY
#71: Go Right Ahead - The Hives
#70: These Days - Foo Fighters
#69: Word Crimes - Weird Al Yankovic
#68: One for the Road - Arctic Monkeys
#67: Nightmare - Avenged Sevenfold
#66: Princess of China – Coldplay (feat. Rihanna)
#65: Kill the Power – Skindred
#64: Where's Your Car Debbie? – Slaves
#63: Suit and Tie - Justin Timberlake (feat. Jay-Z)
#62: Stevie – Kasabian
#61: Narcissistic Cannibal – KoRn (feat. Skrillex and Kill the Noise)
#60: Bad Girls - M.I.A.
#59: Devil in I – Slipknot
#58: Tighten Up - The Black Keys
#57: QWERTY – Mushroomhead
#56: Radioactive - Imagine Dragons
#55: Dibby Dibby Sound - DJ Fresh vs Jay Fay feat. Ms Dynamite
#54: Came Back Haunted - Nine Inch Nails
#53: Gangnam Style – PSY
#52: Warning – Skindred
#51: Bassline Junkie - Dizzee Rascal
#50: Fat Around the Heart - King 810
#49: Supremacy – Muse
#48: Bridge Burning - Foo Fighters
#47: Never Never – KoRn
#46: Sandpaper – Fozzy (feat. M Shadows)
#45: Out of the Black - Royal Blood
#44: Eez-eh – Kasabian
#43: Sweet Sour - Band of Skulls
#42: Berzerk – Eminem
#41: Santo Domingo - Jon Fratelli
#40: Talk Dirty - Jason Derulo
#39: 99 Percenters – Ministry
#38: The Vampyre of Time and Memory - The Queens of the Stone Age
#37: Right Now – PSY
#36: Panic Station – Muse
#35: Figure it Out - Serj Tankian
#34: Lonely Boy - The Black Keys
#33: Low Hangin' Fruit - Tenacious D
#32: Days Are Forgotten – Kasabian
#31: Figure it Out - Royal Blood
#30: It Gets Worse - Mindless Self Indulgence
#29: Karma - Jamie N Commons
#28: Get Up! – KoRn (feat. Skrillex)
#27: Snap Out of It - Arctic Monkeys
#26: Hey – Slaves
#25: Thrift Shop – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis
#24: Megatron - Crazy Town
#23: If I Had a Tail - The Queens of the Stone Age
#22: House of Pain - Hot Action Cop
#21: Howlin' For You - The Black Keys
#20: Something From Nothing - Foo Fighters
#19: Thieves - Limp Bizkit
#18: Jack Sparrow - The Lonely Island
#17: Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys
#16: Blame it on the Boom Boom - Black Stone Cherry
#15: Black Skinhead - Kanye West
#14: Baby We're Refugees! - Jon Fratelli
#13: The Island - Pt II (Dusk) – Pendulum
#12: Dance - Saul Williams
#11: Ain't No Grave - Johnny Cash
#10: Niggas in Paris - Jay-Z and Kanye West
#9: Smooth Sailing - The Queens of the Stone Age
#8: Rap God – Eminem
#7: Custer – Slipknot
#6: I Just Had Sex - The Lonely Island (feat. Akon)
#5: Killem All - King 810
#4: Jungle (Remix) - Jamie N Commons and the X-Ambassadors (feat. Jay-Z)
#3: Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson (feat. Bruno Mars)
#2: Bangarang – Skrillex (feat. Sirah)

Okay so my favourite song over the Last Half Decade is…

#1 “The Hunter” by Slaves
Released: 17/11/14
Album: Are You Satisfied?

If you know me well, chances are high you probably had an inkling that this would be #1 on my list. And you know what? I actually debated putting it lower in the list because of the fact that it was an obvious choice for me. But when it comes down to it, there is only one song that stands out to me as above and beyond anything else released over this five year period.

I absolutely love this song. I absolutely love this band. I’m so happy I got to see them last month, they were incredible. I love the riff, I love how the song builds up, the video is pretty cool too, it’s discretely catchy and it’s… just… so… cool. I’m not a massive punk rock fan but with Slaves making garage rock merge with punk (a formula done by other bands, I’m not saying they’re the first) they have something that does sound raw and passionate and it packs a massive punch. I do encourage anyone who likes British rock, or punk, or garage rock a listen to this band. Seriously they’re one of the coolest new bands out there, and this is their biggest hit to date, and, clearly in my opinion, the best too.

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

And that’s it! Many thanks for putting up for my long periods of absences in the making of this listing. I’ll probably do a Top 100 Favourite Music Singles of the Decade of 2010-19 in the year 2021 or something. Here’s some nerdy stats of my listing if it appeals to you:

Annual breakdown of music singles:
2010 – 9
2011 – 21
2012 – 16
2013 – 27
2014 – 27

First and last singles on the list in chronological order:
First: “Sick Bubblegum” by Rob Zombie – released 11^th January 2010 (#73)
Last: “Megatron” by Crazy Town – released 17^th December 2014 (#24)

Artists with Two Entries:
Coldplay (#66, #89); Imagine Dragons (#56, #84); Jamie N Commons (#4, #29); Jon Fratelli (#14, #41); King 810 (#5, #50); Limp Bizkit (#19, #93); Saul Williams (#12, #96); Skindred (#52, #65); Skrillex (#2, #99)

Artists with Three Entries (maximum cap):
Arctic Monkeys (#17, #27, #68); The Black Keys (#21, #34, #58); Eminem (#8, #42, #74); Foo Fighters (#20, #48, #70); Kasabian (#32, #44, #64); KoRn (#28, #47, #61); The Lonely Island (#6, #18, #78); Muse (#36, #49, #100); PSY (#37, #53, #72); The Queens of the Stone Age (##9, #23, #38); Royal Blood (#31, #45, #81); Slaves (#1, #26, #64); Slipknot (#7, #59, #77)

Albums with Two Entries:
48:13 by Kasabian (#44, #62); Are You Satisfied? by Slaves (#1, #26); Brothers by The Black Keys (#21, #58); Memoirs of a Murderer by King 810 (#5, #50); (Mylo Xyloto by Coldplay (#66, #89); Night Visions by Imagine Dragons (#56, #84); The Path of Totality by KoRn (#28, #61); Psycho Jukebox by Jon Fratelli (#14, #41); Turtleneck and Chain by The Lonely Island (#6, #18); Volcanic Sunlight by Saul Williams (#12, #96)

Albums with Three Entries:
…Like Clockwork by The Queens of the Stone Age (##9, #23, #38); The 2^nd Law by Muse (#36, #49, #100); .5: The Gray Chapter by Slipknot (#7, #59, #77); AM by the Arctic Monkeys (#17, #27, #68); The Marshall Mathers LP 2 by Eminem (#8, #42, #74); Royal Blood (#31, #45, #81)

I thought I’d do a Mixtape Playlist so if you wanted to listen to the “Best Of” in one go, you can do now this way. I’ve set a cap of only one song per artist. Not familiar with my Mixtapes, here’s a description of what one is:

A Mixtape is a playlist of a certain genre, band or era. The list is generally 80 minutes long, the same length of a blank CD, with further recommendations if some of the songs aren't to your taste. Remember kids, downloading is wrong!

The Best of The Last Half Decade (2010-14)

1.       Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson (feat. Bruno Mars)

2.       Jungle (Remix) - Jamie N Commons and the X-Ambassadors (feat. Jay-Z)

3.       Black Skinhead - Kanye West

4.       I Just Had Sex - The Lonely Island (feat. Akon)

5.       Rap God – Eminem

6.       The Island - Pt II (Dusk) – Pendulum

7.       Bangarang – Skrillex (feat. Sirah)

8.       Niggas in Paris - Jay-Z and Kanye West

9.       Dance - Saul Williams

10.   Ain't No Grave - Johnny Cash

11.   Baby We're Refugees! - Jon Fratelli

12.   Howlin' For You - The Black Keys

13.   Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys

14.   Smooth Sailing - The Queens of the Stone Age

15.   Something From Nothing - Foo Fighters

16.   The Hunter – Slaves

17.   Blame it on the Boom Boom - Black Stone Cherry

18.   Thieves - Limp Bizkit

19.   Custer – Slipknot

20.   Killem All - King 810

And here are your five alternatives:

1.       House of Pain - Hot Action Cop

2.       Megatron - Crazy Town

3.       Thrift Shop – Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

4.       Get Up! – KoRn (feat. Skrillex)

5.       It Gets Worse - Mindless Self Indulgence

I’ve also made this Mixtape on YouTube, you can view and listen to it there if you want by clicking here!

And… that’s the end! Thank you all so much for reading and following this listing. Check out the Music tab above for anything else on music I’ve covered over the last five or six years on this website if you haven’t already. It’s nearly Christmas so I’ll take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

If you missed #2 go here - or go back to #100 by going 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: #26

#26. "Hey” – Slaves

Released: 18/8/14

Album: Are You Satisfied?

So before “The Hunter” became a big hit for this, still, relatively underappreciated band they released “Hey” as their first single off what was to be their first album, “Are You Satisfied?”. It serves as a corner for the band musically and stylistically; their first EP was very raw (hell, the album is too, but the EP is, well, rawer than raw if that’s even possible) and lacked any polish whatsoever. “Hey” was really the first time you could see some layer of production, even if it was just a little bit. Regardless of that, it’s still a heck of a brilliant garage punk rock track and I love it so much. This song often ends their live performances because of the bridge towards the end of the song. “Do you think that’s where it starts, this is where it’s gonna end” gets repeated over and over again live quite a lot of the time. This is one of the heaviest Slaves songs and if you’re a fan of the screaming, the heavy punk rock side of the band, then get your friends to listen to this track rather than “The Hunter” because it really shows some qualities the band have that not everyone is aware of.

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

If you missed #27 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: #49

#49. “Supremacy" – Muse

Released: 20/2/13

Album: The 2nd Law

This is the second song by Muse on the list after "Madness" started proceedings at #100. Supremacy, if you didn't know, was the theme song for The Mercy Side throughout the year 2015. I've now changed it to "Ninety Nine" by Slaves but that's besides the point. The song is such a great song to use as a "theme song". I got the idea because I'm a wrestling fan, and there's a wrestler called Mark Andrews (aka Mandrews) who now wrestles for TNA, and while he was on the wrestling indies here in the UK he used that as his theme song.

I've always thought that "Supremacy" was one of the best songs off the album "The 2nd Law", which is actually my least favourite Muse album. Being the first song on the album, it's job is to set you up for what's to come and it does that job perfectly. With its fantastic guitar riffs and the way it speeds up towards the end, the song is just great. There's a good tint of James Bond in there too, and I mean that in a good way.

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

If you missed #50 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: #50

So here we are at the halfway point. If you've been following my list this far I thank you. Before we start the second half here's a recap from #100 to #51...

#100 - "Madness" - Muse

#99 - "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" - Skrillex

#98 - "Neat Little Rows" - Elbow

#97 - "No Reflection" - Marilyn Manson

#96 - "Explain My Heart" - Saul Williams

#95 - "I'm in the Mood... For Beards" - The Beards

#94 - "She's Not Gone Yet But She's Leaving" - The Fratellis

#93 - "Shotgun" - Limp Bizkit

#92 - "Can't Rely on You" - Paloma Faith

#91 - "Blue Blood Blues" - The Dead Weather

#90 - "Rebellion" - Linkin Park

#89 - "Paradise" - Coldplay

#88 - "Sing" - Ed Sheeran

#87 - "Mein Land" - Rammstein

#86 - "Elephant" - Tame Impala

#85 - "Love Turns to Hate" - The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster

#84 - "On Top of the World" - Imagine Dragons

#83 - "G.D.F.R." - Flo Rida

#82 - "Evil Eye" - Franz Ferdinand

#81 - "Little Monster" - Royal Blood

#80 - "Blurred Lines" - Robin Thicke

#79 - "Brendan's Death Song" - Red Hot Chili Peppers

#78 - "Go Kindergarten" - The Lonely Island

#77 - "The Negative One" - Slipknot

#76 - "Royals" - Lorde

#75 - "Government Trash" - Death From Above 1979

#74 - "Survival" - Eminem

#73 - "Sick Bubblegum" - Rob Zombie

#72 - "Gentleman" - PSY

#71 - "Go Right Ahead" - The Hives

#70 - "These Days" - Foo Fighters

#69 - "Word Crimes" - Weird Al Yankovic

#68 - "One for the Road" - Arctic Monkeys

#67 - "Nightmare" - Avenged Sevenfold

#66 - "Princess of China" - Coldplay

#65 - "Kill the Power" - Skindred

#64 - "Where's Your Car Debbie?" - Slaves

#63 - "Suit and Tie" - Justin Timberlake

#62 - "stevie" - Kasabian

#61 - "Narcissistic Cannibal" - KoRn

#60 - "Bad Girls" - M.I.A.

#59 - "Devil in I" - Slipknot

#58 - "Tighten Up" - The Black Keys

#57 - "QWERTY" - Mushroomhead

#56 - "Radioactive" - Imagine Dragons

#55 - "Dibby Dibby Sound" - DJ Fresh vs Jay Fay feat. Ms Dynamite

#54 - "Came Back Haunted" - Nine Inch Nails

#53 - "Gangnam Style" - PSY

#52 - "Warning" - Skindred

#51 - "Bassline Junkie" - Dizzee Rascal

So here we go! In at no. 50...

#50. “Fat Around the Heart" – King 810

Released: 3/7/14

Album: Memoirs of a Murderer

King 810 are a band that I discovered last year when I found out they were supporting Slipknot, who I was about to see live. In my opinion, they're the best new(ish) metal band around, as discussed on this site before, I believe metal as a genre is a dying art form but King 810 are really keeping it alive. King 810, I've promoted a few times before on this site but also on my radio shows, are a band from Flint, Michigan, which is known as the "murder capital" of the US. King 810 sing songs about life there, the struggle, the death and violence, and despite all that, their pride for their home. "Fat Around the Heart" is a song about these struggles, about life in Flint. The first verse says it all - "I grew up in the church on Sunday/Back again bury friends on Monday/They don't just die they are killed from the gun play or the heroin or a prison stay/It's a shame that we gotta live this way/Your nightmares ain't got nothin' on this place/So stay down stay away stay safe/Cuz you aren't built that way". "Fat Around the Heart" is a great song, lyrically and also as a metal track. If you like Slipknot, have not heard King 810 and want to get into some new music, definitely give this band a listen.

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

If you missed #51 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: #64

#64. “Where's Your Car Debbie" – Slaves

Released: 6/2/14

Album: None

So if you've been following my radio shows or my website recently, you might have noticed that a certain band called Slaves is my current favourite band. And it's not even close. So it's a guarantee that Slaves will appear three times in this list, the maximum an artist will appear in the 100 listings. So here's the first of those tracks. "Where's Your Car Debbie" is Slaves in a nutshell - punky, garage rocky, and very very silly. When Isaac Holman, the lead singer, was asked about the meaning behind this song, he literally said "As we are walking to the car I said where’s your car Debbie?" - and they thought that would be a good lyric. They were actually looking for a car that belonged to Debbie by the way. Fascinating story right?? I know it's silly but in the end, Slaves are a silly band. But they make excellent music, very catchy garage punk and they're just, in my opinion, the most exciting band out there at the moment. If you haven't listened to Slaves yet please give them a listen, they deserve your attention.

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

If you missed #65 go here.

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