The cycle of music elitism is a very interesting thing. If asked to compile a Top Five Songs list a year ago I would have taken great pleasure in assembling a list of obscurities, rarities, and b-sides that would have made even your older brothers' hippest friend quiver. This year things have changed and I've reached a level of elitism that I never knew existed- the triumphant return to the world of commercial pop music. I may lose my job over this feature, but I don't care anymore. I want choruses, I want handclaps, I want three and half-minute songs! So here it is, with a bullet- the Top Five Songs of the 2005. If you laugh at my choices, you're just not quite there yet.
1. Float On- Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse is the only band that could possibly have made the top five in both 2004 and 2005. To my delight, one of rock's most depressing bands decided sell their indie souls, come out of the darkness, and bless us with the most hope filled sing-a-long since Kumbaya.
2. Mr. Brightside- The Killers
I really wanted to hate this band. Las Vegas, the eyeliner, the last name Flowers- c'mon. But slowly and surely this song ate away at me until I was transformed from player hater, to Killers super-fan.
3. Evil- Interpol
Top Five Song List Rule #207b: If a front man, who usually sounds like a dictator shouting to the masses, decides to sing a lovely song about a girl name Rosemary; that song automatically makes the top five- Sorry guys, rules are rules.
4. Somewhere Only We Know- Keane
Coldplay - Chris Martin + Freddy Mercury - Guitar = Keane. Let's be honest, we all have a hidden copy of this song somewhere in our glove box for those long drives with that special someone. You know exactly what I'm talkin' about.
5. Seventeen Years- Ratatat
The instrumental song that instantly transforms wallflowers into officially licensed rug cutters. Pop it in the tape deck and watch even your coolest friends do the robot.
Well, there it is- the first official Best of 2004 list without a single mention of The Arcade Fire. Thank God!
-Carver
Next: Top 10 Demos!
