Top 25 Songs of 2012
1.
Broken Crown - Babel, Mumford & Sons:
Mumford’s sophomore effort is widely recognized as one of, if not the, best
releases of the year, and though Broken Crown may not have been released as a
single, or garnered any radio airplay, and most of the songs off the record
could be considered as one of the best of the year, this tale in particular has
something haunting, powerful, hopeful, mournful all at once about it that makes
it stand a cut above the rest as an absolute masterpiece of modern rock.
2.
Supremacy - The 2nd Law, Muse:
Essentially the James Bond theme that wasn’t, something about the diversity and
expressions coming through in only just under five minutes shows why Muse is
such a good band, going from Matt Bellamy’s caterwauling between a terrific
heavy rock riff, to horns and piano-laced calm in a matter of thirty seconds or
so quite flawlessly; a much better show of Muse’s true strengths than say, “Madness.”
3.
Live To Rise - Avengers Assemble,
Soundgarden: Based off a powerful riff, some of Kim Thayil’s most
inspired playing yet, and Chris Cornell’s adrenaline-pumping screech,
Soundgarden’s comeback single not only proved to be a great return for the
band, but also a well-fitting theme to one of the year’s best (and certainly
most successful) action flicks, The
Avengers.
4.
Radioactive - Continued Silence EP, Imagine
Dragons: The atmospheric and powerful Radioactive may not have been the
lead single, but it certainly introduced the world to one of the year’s best
new bands, indie rockers Imagine Dragons with a powerful chorus and one of the
best song introductions of the 2000’s.
5.
Little Talks - My Head Is An Animal, Of
Monsters and Men: Sure, a rash of sound-alike folk rockers have been
erupting into the (semi) mainstream ever since Mumford & Sons 2009 debut
Sigh No More, but Of Monsters and Men has something unique about them, mostly
in their strong use of horns and a male-female duet on leads, both of which are
best exemplified in this impressively mature tale of old age and love; a
surefire classic for years to come.
6.
Apocalyptic Love - Apocalyptic Love, Slash
Feat. Myles Kennedy & The Conspiracy: Leading off with a crushing
riff, Slash’s guitar playing might be top notch on this track, but it’s the
melodies of the chorus, and Myles Kennedy’s power on the verses that make this
one of Slash’s best tracks since Guns n Roses mid-90’s collapse, and one of the
best hard rock tracks of the year.
7.
Love Bites (So Do I) - The Strange Case
Of…., Halestorm: One of the best new bands on the hard rock/heavy metal
scene, Halestorm’s main advantage is lead singer Lzzy Hale, a sexy bad girl who
quickly snatched the title of hard rock poster girl from Evanescence’s Amy Lee
with the standout single “Love Bites.”
8.
Stray Heart - Dos!, Green Day: Sure, Green Day’s
three album Uno, Dos Tre opus was a massive failure critically and
commercially, but a couple tracks managed to stand out, this one being the best
of those, a vintage punk pop Green Day based off a popping bass riff and a
return for Billy Joe Armstrong to his more typical lyrics of the 90’s, after
taking a decade long detour into the political and theatrical.
9.
Undaunted - Omerta, Adrenaline Mob:
Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy makes a decisive switch in sound on his new
supergroup project, with this straight ahead headbanger being a surprisingly
refreshing break from his normal ten plus minute opus’ in his previous
group. This song in particular is just
heavy as hell, getting the adrenaline going like nothing else this year and
still sounding surprisingly fresh.
10. Comeback
- Avengers Assemble, Redlight King: Admittedly I might have a bias to
this track, my introduction to the 2011 breakout “band” (the entire group is
the project of minor Canadian celebrity Kazzer) Redlight King, but even apart
from that, it stands that this a unique hard rock song, the riff and lyrics
being something we’ve seen before, but reworked into a powerful tale of defeat
and redemption; there are times I even prefer this to King’s “Bullet In My Hand”
or the other standout from the Avengers
Assemble soundtrack, “Live to Rise.”
11. Babel
- Babel, Mumford & Sons
12. Panic
Station - The 2nd Law, Muse
13. It's
Time - Continued Silence EP, Imagine Dragons
14. Headlong
Flight - Clockwork Angels, Rush
15. What
Makes a Good Man? - The Glorious Dead, The Heavy
16. Ghost
Walking - Resolution, Lamb of God
17. Locked
Out of Heaven - Unorthodox Jukebox, Bruno Mars
18. Lover
Alot - Music From Another Dimension, Aerosmith
19. Burn
That Candle Down - Aftermath of the Lowdown, Richie Sambora
20. Sex -
Single, Motley Crue
21. You
and Your Blues - A Different Kind of Truth, Van Halen
22. Parade
- North, Matchbox Twenty
23. Carry
On - Single, Avenged Sevenfold
24. Ho
Hey - Self-Titled, The Lumineers
25. Too
Close - The Lateness of the Hour, Alex Clare
TOP COVERS
1.)
The Boxer – Babel (Bonus Tracks), Mumford
& Sons (Simon & Garfunkel Cover)
2.)
When a Blind Man Cries – Re-Machined, Metallica (Deep Purple Cover)
3.)
Tainted Love – Comeblack, Scorpions (Soft Cell Cover)
4.)
Today– Empire, Dokken (Jefferson Airplane Cover)
5.)
Glad You Came – Pop Goes Punk 5, We Came As
Romans (The Wanted Cover)
TOP TEN ALBUMS
1.
Babel – Mumford & Sons: Top to
bottom a brilliant record, possible evidence to disprove the sophomore slump
theory, and a show of force that folk
rock still has something—maybe a lot of things—left to say: far and away the
best record of the year in any genre.
2.
Night Visions – Imagine Dragons: The
best new band of the year, Night Visions actually gives the rising indie rock
movement some credibility, churning out an entire record of inspired and
well-rounded rock songs with hooks, melodies, and powerful intros and closings
to boot.
3.
Apocalyptic Love – Slash Feat. Myles Kennedy
& The Conspirators: Pretty much any album Slash puts out tends to
be at least solid, but this is legitimately one of the best he’s done since
Guns n Roses, part of the factor being that he’s finally got his own band, (he
did with Velvet Revolver as well, but that was essentially Guns with Scott
Weiland on vocals instead of Axl) and he treats them as such, allowing for lead
vocalist Myles Kennedy to shine throughout, even during all the excellent but
expected guitar pyrotechnics.
4.
My Head is an Animal – Of Monsters and Men:
Separating itself from the average folk rock record (Lumineers, I’m looking at
you!) through its powerful use of its instruments and an incredible male-female
lead singer duet, this album also includes a number of surprisingly mature
songs for a group of 20 year olds.
5.
Aftermath of the Lowdown – Richie Sambora:
Though this will no doubt be ignored and overlooked by even rock fans, Bon Jovi
guitarist Richie Sambora shows himself to be a more inspired guitarist than one
would gather from his boss’ greatest hits, each of these nuggets of blues-rock
gold being indispensable towards his new records overall strength.
6.
Blunderbuss – Jack White: Though his
solo debut is no White Stripes, Raconteurs, or Dead Weather album, it still
shows white as an excellent guitar player, with songs like “Sixteen Saltines”
and “Love Interruption” ranking up there with some of the best of his quite
impressive total catalog.
7.
The 2nd Law – Muse: Sure, Muse has
done much better, but The 2nd Law is a good way to show their
diversity and definition-defying brand of rock music (alt, prog, heavy, soft,
electronic, symphomic, singer-songwriter, what’s going on here!?!?) to the
general music-buying public, and it’s been working, plus it’s got some good
tracks for their original fan base in there too.
8.
Resolution – Lamb of God: Far and
away the best straight heavy metal album of the year, Lamb of God delivers one
of their most satisfying records yet, the heavy guitars and Randy Blythe’s
growling adding up to more than usual.
9.
King Animal – Soundgarden:
Soundgarden’s comeback record is half powerful success, half enticing failure,
their more traditional tracks paying off in the best way, where many of the
experiments fall on their face, but are still interesting in their own way,
especially with Cornell on vocals and Thayil on guitars keeping things
engaging.
10. Celebration
Day – Led Zeppelin: Technically cheating here, but this five year
anniversary of the Led Zeppelin O2 reunion show proves Led Zep can still bring
it, with Robert Plant giving an especially impressive vocal performance throughout
this set of sixteen of some of Zep’s finest tracks.
