Year In Review 2017: Music

2017 was a great year for pop music, if you like mostly okay to bad songs and very little better than that. Honestly music in general wasn't that great this year, I found it hard to find any albums that I really connected to and kept me coming back. Maybe I was just spoiled by so much great albums last year and pretty good pop music (at least compared to this year). Still there was some good stuff out there, one just had to look a little harder and try some new things to find it. So I thought instead of making a Top 10 list of worst and best songs and albums I would just sort of put everything together in one post. I'll just talk about the songs that I hated and loved and everything in-between that. I'll sort of try to put it into some sort of category, but forgive me if I stray away from it. I'll also include some albums from late 2016 that I didn't have time to listen to last year, but put a lot more time into this year.

Biggest Disappointments

Winner: I guess the most obvious choice would be Taylor Swift's big comeback album after her massive album '1989' about three years ago. Not that I'm a huge Taylor fan, but I did enjoy a lot of that last album, it had some great pop songs like "Style", "Out of the Woods" and "Blank Space". Then came 'Reputation' just a few weeks ago. It's not a terrible album, but there really aren't any standout tracks on the album. Of course there's one of the worst songs of the year "Look What You Made Me Do", which has one of the worst choruses Taylor's ever made (or Right Said Fred made anyway). Hearing Taylor complain about her "rich people" problems isn't exactly easy to relate to either, not that I could relate to her music most of the time anyway. Still her audience could probably relate to a lot of her music, but when she's complaining about all her famous friends turned enemies it's harder for anyone to relate. 

Runner Up: Then there's Imagine Dragons with their album Evolve. A very safe and boring album by a band that's becoming more and more frustrating with every release. Sadly one of the only "Rock" acts to actually get mainstream pop attention, but not really making any actual rock music. That would be okay if what they actually released was at least good, but it's all just more safe pop music for the radio that don't really use Dan Reynolds voice to it's full potential. 

Runner Up: Maroon 5 is back again this year too, and I'm still wondering how they are a 7 piece band making such bland pop music.  I wasn't expecting this to be anything more than another bad pop album like the last one they made and honestly I was proved wrong. It's actually a little better than the last album, but not really by much. I think it's about time to give up on the idea that they will ever make fun and funky pop music again or be an actual band again. It's all about Adam Levine now and that's just the way it is. (maybe it was always like that?) 

Biggest Surpises

Winner: I never in a million years thought that this person could create a good album, but it happened. Kesha released her new album "Rainbow" earlier this year and I would've have even bothered givin' it a listen considering what Kesha has made before. Thanks to this blog thing, I had to check out her first single from the album and was surprised to hear that it was actually quite good. I gave the rest of the album a listen to make sure I wasn't losing my mind or that maybe it was just a fluke, but no... it wasn't. Instead what I found was some pretty great tracks like "Praying", "Boogie Feet" and "Let 'Em Talk". If there's one thing I learned this year after hearing this, it's that anything is possible. 

Runner Up: Probably the second biggest song of the year, behind "Shape of You", is a song in Spanish by two Puerto Rican artists. I never would have thought that i'd see the name "Daddy Yankee" again in the U.S charts, let alone the biggest song of the summer this year. Yeah the song was over played and I was pretty sick of it by the end of the summer, but that doesn't take away how crazy it is to see it's success out of nowhere. Even Beyonce had to make a Spanish song to try to capture that popularity, but it didn't work out for her.

Runner Up: Another pretty surprising thing that happened in music was all the random smaller artists taking over the charts over a lot of the bigger names in pop music. As mentioned before, Despacito was a huge surprise for the summer. Lots of big name artists released music, but didn't stay on the top of the charts for very long. Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Lorde all dropped albums and no single from these huge artists really dominated the charts for long at all. Instead we got artists like Post Malone, Migos, Lil Uzi Vert and Cardi B get big hits that stuck around the top of the charts for multiple weeks. Thanks to streaming, new up and comers can get big hits like this without having a big name already or a major label signing them.

Runner Up to the Runner Ups: With the slow dissolve of the boy band One Direction, this year we got many solo debuts from the boys of the popular pop act. Lots of pretty safe and predictable debuts from most of the boys, except for Zayn who seems to just want get rid of any trace of One Direction from his life. While Zayn seems to be going the ex-Disney star route and trying to be a bad boy with lots of sexual lyrics to his music, the rest of the boys seem to at least be trying to do something interesting. This is where the surprising moment comes in, with Harry Styles releasing his debut album earlier this year. Starting off very strong with the powerful "Sign of the Times", which didn't get as much attention as I think it deserved. The rest of the album was quite solid with lots of influence from good old rock, some songs reminded me of John Mayer a lot too. One of the better albums to be released this year, a good album to listen to from start to finish.

Safe Choices (Albums)

Winner: The safest of the safe choices is the 4th biggest album of the year as well, Ed Sheeran's Divide. A great follow up to the mega album "X" from Sheeran a few years back. "Shape of You" dominated the year early on and is probably going to be the song of the year. The rest of the album is full of good to great songs by one of the best songwriters around today. Sheeran knows how to make a hit, I think that's clear when he wrote last years biggest song "Love Yourself" by Bieber and this year's biggest his with "Shape of You". The rest of the album has a lot of charm, with lots of influence from Sheeran's past and his home country of England. Calling it a safe choice isn't meant to sell this album short, but meant to show respect to Sheeran's ability to make a good album. 

Runner-up: This album came out late last year, but was more dominate this year and had a bigger impact on this year than last year. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars was a very good and fun album. This was definitely Bruno's best full album, with not a single track falling short of being good. Really, the only problem with this album was how strangely short it was after a 4 year gap between his last album and this one. With lots of influences from old funk and R&B, Bruno continues to impress with his charm and fantastic vocal ability. 

Runner-up: As rap continues to dominate as a popular genre, one artist continues to drop very strong albums. "DAMN" by Kendrick Lamar is not surprisingly another great album by one of the most respected rappers of today. "To Pimp a Butterfly" was going to be a hard album to follow up no matter what, but Kendrick did a good job with the follow up here. It's an easy listen from front to back and no time feels wasted listening to the entire album. These are lyrics worth paying attention to and the music is a strong back to those words. 

The Worst Album

Winner: A band that's known more for releasing singles every two months finally dropped a new album with lots of new songs and two really big singles ("Something Just Like This" and "Paris"). The whole album is just a chore to listen through, with very little reason to replay. Really the only song that might be worth anything on here is "Something Just Like This" and it's only okay. The rest of the album is Chainsmokers phoning it in and doing what they always do. Boring songs about how every girl in the world wants to be with them, accompanied by lazy and uninteresting music. I just never really understood the love for these guys and I don't think I ever will. The closest I have come to liking a song from them was "Closer" and I only like it every other time I listen to it. The worst thing music can ever be is just plain and boring, and that's pretty much all you get here. 

The Worst Song

Winner: It was a strong year for Spanish music on the charts, and while Despactito was destroying the radio all summer long, a smaller song snuck it's way up to the top of the charts too. Mi Gente by J Balvin and Willy William (great name BTW) was the most annoying song to hit my ears this whole year. The forgettable vocals where bad enough, but what really killed the song was the annoying looping music that DIDN'T STOP THE ENTIRE SONG. It's a terribly frustrating sound that drives me crazy after less than 30 seconds in a 3 minute long song. I really don't get it, how anyone can not be annoyed by this song. Thankfully it's time on the top of the charts wasn't too long, as not even Beyonce herself could make this one good.

Runner Up: Sam Hunt compares his girl's body to a back road and most of the world is confused. But not confused enough to keep it from being one of the top 10 tracks of the entire year. 

Best Album I Didn't Listen To

Jay-Z's 4:44 was such a fantastic album. Too bad I didn't listen to it because it's on a streaming service no one really uses. 

Best Album (From Pop Charts)

Winner: When I first heard this album I was incredibly confused as to what I had just heard. Childish Gambino is known more for rap music than anything else, so to hear the more R&B funk album ""Awaken, My Love!"" was pretty strange at first. The more I listened to it, the more I understood it and appreciated it. After multiple listens I have to say this has grown to be one of my favorite albums of the year period, not just in the pop charts. The interesting music, the funky bass lines, Childish Gambino's interesting vocals and the overall difference from any of his other music really drew me in. 

Best Song (From Pop Charts)

Winner: This one is a much tougher pick, as not a lot of songs that charted really stuck with me for very long. There were some great songs here and there like "Sign of the Times", "Feel It Still", "Castle on the Hill" and "DNA.". Out of all those I think the one I listened to the most was "Castle on the Hill", so I guess that would make it win by amount of listens? It's a great song, I really love the lyrics of the song and how personal they feel to Ed Sheeran, which is the reason why I liked the album so much. Sadly my favorite song from that album "What Do I Know?" didn't chart at all, but "Castle on the Hill" is a great representation of that album overall. 

Best Album (Non-Charting)

Winner: As I said before, I found it hard to find any albums I actually connected with and kept coming back to this year. While I'm sure there's plenty of albums out there that I haven't found this year and will end up loving, but one album this year already has. I wasn't sure what to expect of Paramore's "After Laughter" when it was first announced and teased with the first single "Hard Times". I instantly loved "Hard Times", but I was also unsure of the change that Paramore brought along with it, and if it would work for a full album. The rest of the album didn't disappoint at all, bringing very interesting music and lyrics that work so well together. Paramore's Hayley Williams seems to be very open in her lyrics from every song in this album. The album fittingly starts with the song "Hard Times", a very good introduction to an album about that very subject: going through hard times. Put the lyrics alongside some of the most interesting music Paramore has done, with lots of great and unique guitar and bass lines and lots of little details make it a joy to listen to. The best albums are the ones that bring both great music and interesting/thoughtful lyrics and this one brought that.

Album Recommendations by Genre

Here is a list of some of the albums I would recommend divided by genre (as much as I can define it). 

Electronic:

TWPR - Ladyworld

LCD Soundsystem - American Dream

Lights - Skin  Earth

Washed Out - Mister Mellow

Moda Spira - Moda Spira

Rap and Hip-Hop:

Run The Jewels - 3

Vince Staples - Big Fish Theory

Tyler, The Creator - Flower Boy

Gorillaz - Humanz

Emo/Post-Hardcore:

Citizen - As You Please

Brand New - Science Fiction

Basement - Promise Everything

Movement - Feel Something

Classic Crime - How to be Human

Indie Rock:

The War on Drugs - A Deeper Understanding

Motherfolk - Fold

Acceptance - Colliding by Design

The Front Bottoms - Going Grey

Eisley - I'm Only Dreaming

The National - Sleep Well Beast

Manchester Orchestra - A Black Mile to the Surface

The Mountain Goats - Goths

Big Thief - Capacity

Pop Rock

Temples - Volcano

Phoenix - Ti Amo

Electric Guest - Plural

The Killers - Wonderful Wonderful

WALK THE MOON - What If Nothing

Paramore - After Laughter

Pop Punk/Punk

New Found Glory - Makes Me Sick

The Maine - Lovely Little Lonely

Neck Deep - The Peace and the Panic

Creeper - Eternity, In Your Arms

Waterparks - Double Dare

Alternative

Mute Math - Play Dead

Nothing But Thieves - Broken Machine

St. Vincent - MASSEDUCTION

Joywave - Content

Cold War Kids - L.A. Divine

Pop Charts

Lorde - Melodrama

Bruno Mars - 24K

Kendrick Lamar - DAMN.

Childish Gambino - Awaken, My Love!

Portugal. The Man - Woodstock

Harry Styles - Harry Styles

Ed Sheeran - Divide

Kesha - Rainbow

Rock

Queens of the Stone Age - Villians

Demons - Embrace Wolf

'68 - Two Parts Viper

Icarus the Owl - Rearm Circuits

Feel Free to comment or send me any other great albums I no doubt missed. 

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Lady Bird

Lady Bird stars Saoirse Ronan as Christine McPherson (who only answers to the name Lady Bird) as she struggles in her senior year at a Catholic School to find a way out of Sacramento, California. Her mother Marion (Laurie Metcalf) works hard as a nurse to give her keep her family afloat and give her daughter a future. She struggles to maintain a relationship with her daughter, who doesn't want to do what her mother wants and go to a nearby affordable college, but instead go to the opposite side of the country to get away from the ordinary life in Sacramento. Even though her mother struggles to give her what little her family has, Lady Bird wants more from her life. She wants to be seen as someone with wealth and be someone popular.

I really enjoyed this film, it actually reminded me a lot of one of my favorite films of last year "Edge of Seventeen". The characters in both films seem to go through the same things, but handle it completely differently. Lady Bird is the kind of High School girl who does care what the popular kids think, but never shows any signs of weakness around them. She's much more confident and knows how to talk to people on their level. The film still does a good job at making all the situations she's in relatable to anyone that went through high school. Finding a college you want to go to and actually getting in, having a crush on someone and getting your heart broken, not appreciating the work your parents do for you and trying desperately to be one of the "cool" kids. The writing works very well to make all the characters feel real enough in this fictional work that you can sympathize with their struggles, but also absurd enough that you can laugh at the strange situations they get into and weird things they say.

The film does a good job at presenting Sacramento as a town with a lot of charm, but also shows you enough that you would understand why Lady Bird would want to leave the town. It's a nice film to look at and the cinematography is really good. It's easy to understand leaving a very suburban place like Sacramento to want to go to a big city like New York with the big buildings and busy streets full of life and opportunity. Sacramento just might not be big enough for someone with as much character as Lady Bird. Lady Bird is funny and quirky and it shows through the dialog and her actions as well. She's a very memorable character and she makes the films worth watching. Not to take away from all the supporting characters, because they bring in lots of laughs and charm too. Even with all the laughs, there are still emotional moments between the characters that will bring you even closer to the story.

This film was actor Greta Gerwig's directorial debut and it was a very good start to her new career as a director, if she continues to do it. This film actually broke records on the film review site Rotten Tomatoes and is still standing at a 100% score, which is almost unheard of these days. No, this isn't one of the greatest films of all time, but it's a very good film that tackles commonly done subjects in a new and interesting way with characters that will stick with you after you finish watching. For sure it's one of the best of 2017.

Overall Grade: B+

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The Greatest of All Time Pop Songs IV: Urrsher Got The Voice Edition

Good morn..after...eve...         Hello everyone and welcome to part 4 of my adventure through pop music history and what now. Previously on this list I covered 21-30 and this week I will be covering NOT 31-40. There are a few songs on the list that I've never even heard before and I figured most people haven't heard them, so I'm going to skip them for now. So, sorry to those 90's song that nobody remembered existed. Let's get retar...uhm...this started.

31. Maroon 5  Adam Levine and some over singer - Moves Like Jagger

So back in 2011 a little show called "The Voice" premiered. It was a show that was supposed to have more of an emphasis on vocal ability over looks and other superficial stuff. That being said, pretty much all the contestants that have made it on the show are attractive people so... yep. The Voice really didn't do much to push the singing careers of any of the winners to stardom, but it did manage to make all of the four original judges even bigger stars than they already were. Really the show became more about the judges personalities and chemistry with each other than it did making the contestants into actual stars. "Moves Like Jagger" was a song used to promote the show with the collaboration between the two judges Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera. The song was of course a huge hit and helped the show get some more attention as well. Musically it's nothing special, the whole song being only two notes the whole time. The only interesting part of the song is of course the catchy whistle used at throughout the song, because it will get stuck in your head instantly. Lyrically the song is pretty weird. It came at a time where Mick Jagger references seemed to be all over the place in pop music for some reason, like Jagger paid a bunch of producers to write his name in songs to make him relevant again or something. The song is definitely supposed to be a song all about sex, so it's very strange to hear Adam Levine comparing his sex moves to an old guy way out of his prime. Oh yeah, and Christina Aguilera sings the bridge or something. Christina seemed to be struggling to find her identity as a pop star 2010's and the show did help bring some spotlight back to her, along with this song being a huge hit. Since then Adam Levine is still putting out mostly safe pop songs and Christina seems to be taking a step back from music after two failed albums in a row. 

32. Flo Rida (sigh) - Low (W/ T-Pain)

Flo Rida (AKA discount Pitbull) released his first album back in 2008 and immediately took off with his big hit "Low". Apple Bottom Jeans and Fur Boot sales skyrocketed and that's the end of this story. I know this is going to shock all of you, but I think Flo Rida is very mediocre. He's always the worst part of his own songs, even the ones that are pretty good like "Wild Ones" where Sia outshines him. The only thing that is memorable about this song is just that Apple Bottom Jeans and boots with the fur line that everybody remembers, which aren't even Flo Rida's lines. Flo Rida lacks the charm and charisma of the other artists in the choruses of his own songs. Now Flo Rida's music is used mostly as instrumentals for commercials where they cut his vocals out anyway. 

34. Creed - With Arms Wide OOOOOpen

Before the internet chose Nickelback as the band to hate on, there was Creed. I often wonder, does Creed deserve to be made fun of as much as they do? It comes down to Scott Stapp's.... unique vocals. The way he sings is so incredibly unique and strange that it's hard not to imitate and make fun of. The songs just feel kind of depressing and lyrically are very simple and to the point. "With Arms Wide Open" is supposed to be a hopeful song about a man who is about to have a child and he is telling his unborn son/daughter he is going to show him/her how to live and be a good dad. This song just puts me in a terrible mood, and it's supposed to be inspirational and uplifting. The vocals and music make it feel more like it's coming from a dark place of sorrow and pain and not a place of hope and love. I never thought I would actually be happy to hear the next song that's coming up. The early 00's really were a hard time for radio rock.

35. LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem

It's so weird how a song that I normally would dislike listening to actually puts me in a good mood after listening to that depressing Creed song like 3-4 times. Look, this song is easy to hate with all the annoying sounds and cheesy lyrics, but sometimes that's okay. I mean this song does what it's trying to do very well, and that's have fun. Listen to "With Arms Wide Open" 3-4 times in a row and this song will seem like "Stairway to Heaven" after all the Creed depression. I guess I'm just thankful that it was "Party Rock Anthem" and not "I'm Sexy and I Know It", because that song isn't good even after Creed. LMFAO kinda disappeared after those two big hits and we haven't heard from them again yet. I guess the music industry CAN do good things sometimes. With the way pop music and club songs are going these days, we could probably use more artists like LMFAO to bring some cheesy fun into the radio. 

36. The Year 2004 - YEAH!!!!!!!!11!!!

2004 was a good year for music, pop music was having fun and putting out some good tunes. The biggest name back in 2004 was an indie artist by the name Usher who was playing coffee shops with his acoustic guitar and turned into a big star overnight (or so I hear). Usher released his album "Confessions" in 2004, which was the biggest album of the year with 4 huge hits in 2004 alone. If you had working ears back in 2004, then there's no way you didn't hear the song "Yeah!" played on the radio 40 times a day. This song was an unstoppable force that no one could avoid and everybody was singing along to and quoting. From the looping notes that play from beginning to end, to Little Jon (Lil?) screaming "HEYYY" "YEAHHH", to Ludacris adding an "R" to "URSHER", every moment is forever stuck in my head. Honestly most of this album still holds up pretty good today, and it's easy to see why it was the biggest album of 2004. Usher sadly never reached these heights again and probably never will again. He will always be remember as the artist who ruled 2004.

37. Robin Thin - Blurred Lines (AKA the rapey song)

This song was a giant mess for so many reasons. Starting with the bigger reason why, the song was involved in a huge lawsuit for using a similar music from a Marvin Gaye song by the name of "Got to Give It Up". This split many artists into supporting both sides of the argument, but Robin Thicke and the other songwriters like Pharrell Williams ultimately lost this lawsuit and the court sided in favor of Marvin Gaye's side. It really was a mess and Robin Thicke really shouldn't have lost the case. In my opinion the songs are different enough to not even have to have this conversation, let alone scare a bunch of other artists into never borrowing any grooves from past artists. It's bad when some throwback music is put into a modern hit to give it a nice mix of old and new, but if the music industry is going to act like this we might never see it again.

As for the song itself... it's a very catchy song with a really fun groove, which I guess is "stolen" anyway. I love the bass line in this song a lot too, it's so easy to get into. The thing that makes this song awful are it's gross lyrics and the creepy things that Robin Thicke is saying to the imaginary women he's singing to. It sucks to say that because otherwise this would be a really great pop song. Either way it's probably going to be Robin Thicke's biggest hit and also his biggest failure all in one. 

38. Bruno Mars - Just the Way You Are

Generic love song is generic. Before Bruno become the charming pop star we all know today, he was a generic pop star who made lazy love songs like this. Musically it's pretty boring with three chords repeating the whole song, with not much musical changes except for the beat slightly changing now and then. The lyrics aren't personal at all and can literally be talking about anyone. Going back to his first album and listening to it, I can really see the evolution in Bruno Mars' music and where he went right. Instead of this generic music where he sounds like he's going through the motions, now we get fun interesting music from Mars where he's actually having fun and showing some passion. Bruno Mars is the perfect example of a pop star evolving to become a better artist and elevate himself musically and vocally. Bruno Mars is at his best when he's taking a genre (like funk or 80's rock) and putting his own spin on it.

39. Avril Lavigne - Complicated

Back in 2002 we were getting lots of new female pop singers on the radio with new attitudes and styles going into the new millennium. Artists like Michelle Branch, Michelle Branch, Pink, Kelly Clarkson and of course Avril Lavigne. Avril Lavigne was all about being relatable to younger girls, as she herself was only 17 when she released her first album. "Complicated" went on to be her biggest hit and one of the best selling songs of 2002, along with her album also being a massive hit. Her first album "Let Go" was different from anything that was popular in 2002 (at least on mainstream radio) and it was the perfect mix of post-grunge rock and pop rock sound. Lots of other artists tried this formula and style with much less success like, Ashlee Simpson and Lindsay Lohan. "Complicated" is still a great and relatable song and it's held up well all these years. I can see this being a good way to get into those early 00's alt/punk bands like Sum 41, Blink 182 and other bands with numbers in them. 

Well that's it for this time and here are the hints to what's coming next time...a little more obvious this time, but still bonus points is you know them. 

- Watcha say we watch that scene from "The O.C." with the shooting. 

- There's a song called "Lights" that's not by Journey?

- The internet's favorite band tries a love song and blows no one AWAY. 

- The big girl who sang about her "lady lumps" tries to be emotional and personal.

- (Insert insensitive woman beating line here) Just gotta RUN from the monsters. 

- Strange meat wearing lady randomly sings in french and it's not romantic at all. 

- Huge pop star back when she still played a guitar and bashed her ex-boyfriends who caused her trouble and not her ex-friends.

- For a group who call themselves rejects, they seem popular as hell.

- The most vague/generic post-grunge 00's rock song of all time, this song stank. 

- Did you know this semi-charming song is about drugs?... yep. (one of my favorite bands though) 

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Justice League

***First thing I have to get out of the way before I start really talking about the movie... (I assume it's not a spoiler since it's in the trailers). Henry Cavill (Superman) appears in some flashbacks in the movie and it's extremely noticeable that the mustache he has in real life is being digitally removed in the movie. It's very distracting and weird and once you notice it, you can't look away. It really annoyed me to see this happening and kinda took me out of the movie a little, so that's why I had to mention it. Not sure why Cavill's other film he was working on didn't let him shave it off so he could be more professional and save the studio a lot of money, but anyway!***

Back in 2013, Warner Bros. started a new series of DC comic films that would be connected to each other and bring together our favorite characters. Man of Steel was the first of these movies and it wasn't a great start. It really divided people, as many loved and defended it and many others disliked it. From that point on the DC movies would continue to divide movie goers and spark lots of debate about the films being good or not. Critics always bashed the films, as they got low scores on many websites including the popular Rotten Tomatoes. Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad both were financially successful, but critical failures. Personally I found both movies to be huge messes, with lots of wasted potential from great actors and their characters (Except Jared Leto's Joker, which was the worse Joker of all time). 

Everything changed in 2017, when the first female lead comic book film Wonder Woman was released. It was everything that DC needed, especially with Justice League only a few months away. It was the first movie in this new DC series that was loved both by fans and critics. It ended up being the biggest movie of the summer, even past the also great Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2 and Spider-Man. Now Justice League has the job to keep that momentum going and keep audiences and critics both entertained. Now that it's out, did it do the job? Yes and no...

Right from the start, the critics gave it bad scores with only 37% on Rotten Tomatoes and audiences didn't go turn up as much as Warner Bros. hoped they would. Is Justice League really that bad? No it really wasn't that bad, so it's confusing to see these numbers and low sales on it's first weekend. Justice League was by no means a great movie, but it was enjoyable throughout it's whole run-time.

What makes Justice League a good movie are the characters that we get to spend time with throughout the movie. Every character is played well by the actors and are given good dialog with each other, that were funny and charming. Some characters are given more time than others, but it works for the most part. To me, the only character that I think needed some more time was Aquaman. Aquaman was great in the parts that he was in, but I don't think the movie did a great job showing us who he really was, besides just a badass mer-man. Cyborg had some problems too, mostly that I don't really understand his powers all that well from what they showed. It seemed like his powers just helped in whatever was convenient at the time, so I didn't really fully get what limitations he had.

Everything else in the movie was just fine, the cinematography was better than Batman V Superman, and things felt a lot less dark and dull in this movie. Every location felt like it needed to feel and look like it needed to look. Of course the ending is much like any of these comic book movies, with the hundreds of generic enemies fighting our heroes and lots of CG. The CG was good though, with the exception of a couple things, mainly Superman's mustache and Cyborg's overly CG body. The action was fun to watch though, and all the characters got their time to shine.

The story wasn't anything special either and the villain was about as good as your average Marvel movie villain. Evil guy with short flashback backstory wants to destroy earth because he is evil for some reason. He controls an army of monsters that are about as threatening to our heroes as a paper-cut. The villain doesn't matter and serves just to bring everyone together.

I didn't go into this movie expecting to be blown away and left in awe. This movie didn't need to do that to be successful, (though it would have been nice) it just needed to establish the new characters and continue to build the characters we already know. At the end of this movie, I really loved every member of the Justice League (except Superman's CGI Mustache, which could have a movie of it's own at this point) and I can't wait to see more of each character in their own movies. Thanks to Wonder Woman earlier this year and now Justice League, the DC movies look like they are going to be going to great places and we should be excited as fans of the DC characters.

Overall Grade: C+

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The Greatest of All Time Pop Songs III: Katy Perry is a Serial Killer Edition

Back at it with part three of these "Greatest of All Time Pop Songs" list with numbers 21-30. Last time was sort of a mixed bag with mostly decent to good songs except that one Ke$ha song that was just.. amazing. This week was a little more all over the place with two songs I don't even remember ever hearing included.

21. Savage (no relation) Garden - Truly Madly Deeply

The 90's were truly an interesting time in music and 1998 was one of the more interesting years in music. Hip-Hop and R&B slowly getting stronger and stronger in the charts, grunge and adult alternative still had a strong presence and boy bands were becoming the next big thing. Then there's Savage Garden, two Australians who got four big hits, the biggest one here called "Truly Madly Deeply" from their 1997 self titled album. The song went on to be the 4th biggest song of 1998 just behind the massive 90's music star Shania Twain. This was one of those songs that you couldn't escape if you were alive during 1998, it was played on the radio non-stop. 

1998 was full of these slow, pop love songs with songs like "You're Still The One" by Shania Twain, "All My Life" by K-Ci & JoJo and "How Do I Live" by LeAnn Rimes to name a few. "Truly Madly Deeply" is still an interesting song 20 years later. It's oozing that 90's nostalgia charm that seems to be really popular these days and honestly I think it mostly holds up. The melodies are extremely catchy and the lyrics are extremely memorable so much that I remember a lot of it even after years of not listening to this song. Musically there's nothing that really stands out except for a short and sweet acoustic guitar solo that's fine. This song really is just all about the vocals anyway and the music does a good enough job to drive the song and support the vocals. It's not a song I could just put on at any time, but it's worth going back to every now and then. At least it's better that other song they did... To be continued?

22.3 (not 22.3, but...no nevermind) Doors Down - Kryptonite 

If I go crazy will you still call me Superman? Superman references are really overused in music, and here's probably the most famous song that uses one. I also noticed that almost all of 3 Doors Down's hit songs start the same, with guitar picking by itself. Anyway, if you're an adult reading this than no doubt you've heard this song at least 1000 times in your lifetime.

 Even though "Hanging By a Moment" and "Here Without You" are more successful songs, this is the song I always think about first when early 2000's rock comes up in topic. The late 90's and early 2000's were a point where rock music was slowly making it's way out of the pop music charts and post-grunge era was sort of the last hoorah for high charting rock bands. Lots of great bands that would go on to shape modern rock were appearing at this time. Artists like Animal Collective, The White Stripes, The Strokes, Blink 182, Radiohead and Arcade Fire were helping change rock music and take it to new and interesting places, while artists like 3 Doors Down and Creed were riding the last few years of the 90's love of post-grunge. 3 Doors Down is an okay band that helped keep rock in the charts for a little while longer before rap and R&B took over in the mid to late 2000's. "Kryptonite" is a fun, fast and catchy song that brings pleasant memories of a time where mainstream rock music really wasn't all that good. Thanks to the internet though, we were able to find more and more indie bands that didn't sound like the Post-Grunge we were getting on rock radio all the time. The early 2000's seem to be the last time that a very specific genre of rock dominated. With so much out there for us to listen to now, it might never happen again. 3 Doors Down and other Post-Grunge bands of the early 2000's could very well be the last time that was a thing. 

23. Katy Perry - Dark Hoarse*

This song was actually the top song when I first started following the Billboard Hot 100 back in late 2013/early 2014. I remember nothing could take this song out for what seemed like months until Pharrell's song "Happy" took over and ended up being the number one song of 2014. In Dark Horse, Katy Perry continues her famous formula of Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Guest Rapper-Chorus. This time she brings the super talented and not at all irrelevant in 2014 rapper Juicy J of Three 6 Mafia fame. Throughout the song Katy Perry is trying to convince everyone that she is a person you don't want to mess with or she will destroy you with her magic powers or something. Doesn't really make sense that she's calling herself a dark horse when she also has magic powers that she can destroy you with if you cross her. I don't think she knows what a dark horse is... I did kind of enjoy the "She eat your heart out, like Jeffrey Dahmer" line though. I'm starting to think this whole song is just about Katy Perry's secret life of killing men. 

24. Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone (Since You've Been Gone?)

Back in 2002 there was a small show by the name of American Idol created to find a new music star. The winner of the first season was Kelly Clarkson and she went on the be one of the few stars from the show to actually crossover to the Billboard charts. Kelly Clarkson's fame is one that shows like The Voice have been trying to create again with not much success. Using her success on American Idol and her first album, she released the album "Breakaway" which I guess was her not so subtle way to show that she wanted to separate herself from the reality TV show a little more. "Since U Been Gone" ended up being a massive hit in 2005, being the 4th biggest song of the year here. It's a song that still holds up really well even more than 10 years later. Kelly Clarkson's vocals carry the song very well, with the softer verses exploding into the powerful and catchy chorus eventually leading into the even louder bridge. Just like the Savage Garden song earlier, the music really helps drive the song and elevate the Kelly's vocals. Sadly for me, none of her other hits really stuck with me like this one. 

25. Britney Spears - ...Baby One More Time

One of the biggest teen pop stars of all time in her first big single of her long and strange career. It's easy to hate a song like this for it's stupid lyrics, Britney's weird pronunciation of certain words, and the cheesy-ass music. It all mostly works... at least for what I think it's trying to do. It's a strangely sexual song coming from a girl who's still in High School, but I guess that's normal for the music industry (Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez, Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber). Besides that, it's a very memorable song from the 90's that everyone remember. That piano right at the beginning instantly takes you back to the 90's and transports you to the era of boy bands and blonde teen pop stars. I can instantly recall the ridiculous music video at the high school. It's tough to say if I would even like this song if it came out when I was older an actually had opinions on music, but for now I remember as a fun song from my childhood that's still okay to go back to for some memories. Surprisingly, Britney managed to make it through the tough life of teen stardom (with some bumps along the way) and is still out there making hits and maintaining her pop star status. I have to give anyone who can do that kudos, because most of those child stars sadly don't make it out okay.

26. Timbaland - The Way I Are

Timbabland's (yep) 2007 album "Shock Value" is one of the strangest things I've seen in a while. Every song of course features guest artists and it's really a who's who of of artists. Elton John, Fall Out Boy, The Hives, Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliot, OneRepublic are all artists on here. AND somehow we get stuck with this song featuring two unknowns Keri Hilson and D.O.E. This song is just really boring. I know Timbaland was a huge name in the 2000's, but I don't know how such a bland song managed to make it so high up on this list. I gotta listen to something else FAST.

27. Kelly Clarkson - Because of You

Kelly comes back to save the day from bad music. Honestly a lot of what I said about "Since U Been Gone" can pretty much be copied and pasted here. "Because of You" is another great pop song by Kelly that still holds up pretty good. It carries the same emotion that "Since U Been Gone" with the powerful choruses and the music drives it all well. It's the perfect showcase for Kelly's Talent. 

28. Jay Sean and some gross dude - Down

A nice return to the crappy heartless pop music of the late 2000's. Jay Sean is about as exciting as a cardboard box, but at least a cardboard box is useful. The auto-tune is very strong in this one, making Lil Wayne sound somehow worse than his normal self. Jay Sean tries his hardest to sound like he can actually sing, but it just doesn't work. This song is about as generic as a pop song could be in 2009 and it brings nothing interesting to the table, which makes it sad that it was one of the highest selling songs of 2009 AND 2010 (as if 2010 couldn't get any worse with Kesha topping the charts). Thankfully I can go back to forgetting this song exists now.

Black Eyed Peas - Where is the Love?

Black Eyed Peas first album after adding Fergie to the group was when the group really started to see chart success. Not really sure if it was because of Fergie or maybe also because slowly changing to a pop sound from a more funky hip-hop sound. At this point Black Eyed Peas were an interesting group that was making some cool music that felt different from other songs on the chart. They later went on to make some of the most annoying pop music of the of the late 2000's with terrible songs like "Imma Be", "Boom Boom Pow" and butchering a classic song with "The Time (Dirty Bit)". But before all that was "Where is the Love", a song that talks about all the mess that the United States was going through post 9/11. An inspirational song that asks of course, Where is the Love? Most of the topics brought up in the song were totally relevant back in that time period, but it's hard to hate a song that actually is trying to bring up and talk about serious topics and trying to bring people together at a time where everyone was on edge. It's strange to think a group that can make something this meaningful and powerful can go on to make a crappy song all about Fergie's body and use the line "Milk with my coco puffs"... then again they did make a song called "Let's Get Retarded" in the same album as "Where is the Love?" so maybe I should have seen that coming. 

30. Ed Sheeran - Shape of You

This song has only been about a year an it's already at the 30th spot, which goes to show the power of Ed Sheeran. I've talked about this song a few times before as it was number one on the charts earlier this year for a pretty long time. I really liked his album "÷", it was one of the bright spots of pop music this year, though "Shape of You" is one of my least favorites of the album. It's still a good song and I don't mind listening to it when i'm going through the album at all. I still think it feels kind of out of place in the album and was just included to be a hit song and help sell his new record, but I think that's okay since the rest of the album is worth listening to. Ed Sheeran is one of the few big music stars of today that I actually like and look forward to listening to alongside artists like Bruno Mars and Adele. 

and that's all for this time, but here a preview of next time...

- You Got moves like a really old white dude?

- Wearing fur boots in a club?

- The biggest surprise on this list. 

- One of the most made fun of bands and songs of the early 2000s

-  PAUSE: (Shake That.)

- 2004 in a nutshell

- Rapey song with lawsuit

- Bruno before the charisma

- Hello Kitty obsessed Canadian pop star's first hit

- That song from the 90's you forgot existed. 

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The Florida Project

The Florida Project is a low budget film that takes place in the tourist area of central Florida. The film follows the daily life of a single mother (Halley) and her daughter (Moonee) living in a hotel, as Halley struggles with the responsibilities of being mother. Willem Dafoe plays the manager of the hotel (Bobby) and faces his own daily struggles of running a hotel, not made any easier by Halley and Moonee. Halley is about as carefree as a person can be, which makes it hard for her to provide a good life for Moonee (especially when she acts like more of a friend than a mother to her daughter). Halley is willing to take risks for her daughter, even if it could put her in danger. Moonee is somehow even more carefree than her mother, spending all her days adventuring around the tourist area with her friends at the hotel. Willem Dafoe does an amazing job in this movie playing Bobby the hotel manager. He's just so good at playing the loving but strict manager as he cleans up after all the girls messes they cause. 

The whole film was actually shot here in Florida in an area I've gone by at least a hundred times, the Magic Castle Hotel near US192 and 535 (A nice purple and yellow monstrosity). It honestly made the movie even better to see the characters walking by and visiting places i'm all too familiar with... I wonder if this is how people in LA and NY feel when they watch movies. Even without all that I thought this movie was great because of how different it was from anything else this year. It was just a bonus that it felt so close to home. The movie actually helped changed the way I see that large tourist are of Kissimmee, i'll explain why later. 

The best thing this movie does is the dialog between the characters. There are good chunks of the movie where it's just kids hanging out with kids, and it just feels so real. The way they talk to each other and play just feels very natural and not at all fake and Hollywood like other movies and shows. They say stupid things that kids say and act like wild and hyper like kids act, it's some of the most well done work with kids I've seen. Not to take away from the adults, as they really capture a type of lifestyle that isn't really shown too often in movies. 

The movie is beautifully shot and directed, which is the reason why I can see that part of town differently now. Seeing that tourist area through the eyes of a Moonee, who is having everyday adventures in the area, really makes a place that the average person might avoid, look somehow amazing. Now a place that I always thought of as meaningless to me holds a lot more meaning and has a lot more beauty when seen through the eyes of a kid. The parts of Halleys struggle as a mom are captured really well too and it can be heartbreaking. It's a really nice film to look at from beginning to end either way. 

The Florida Project was just a great film. See the world through the eyes of two characters with a carefree attitude, but understand the consequences of that. Hangout and see the world like a child does again with Moonee, who gives one of the best child performances I've seen in a long time. See Willem Dafoe give one of his best performances. 

Overall Grade: B+

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The Greatest of All Time Pop Songs II: Unnecessary Scat Edition.

The Greatest of All Time Pop Songs: 11-20

Welcome to part 2 (kind of) of my review of Billboard's greatest performing pop songs of all time! I was able to find a list on another site that i'm pretty sure is the same exact one as I was using last time. Billboard seems to have taken down the original page with the list they created, but at least now I can still continue...yay? Previously on the list, I covered mostly rock hits from the early 00's and some from the 90's. I'm hoping things will go a bit differently this time around because I really don't want to listen to Nickelback and 3 Doors down anymore. I guess it could always be worse than those two bands though, imagine a Ke$ha song being on here...

11. Maroon 5 - One More Night

Starting things of with a more recent song, New Year's Day 2012 to be exact. That's right, Maroon 5 released this on the first day of the year. I guess it's good to get the bad music out the way as early in the year as possible. This album was the first album where Maroon 5 changed completely to pop, getting rid of any rock elements pretty much entirely. Yes, the music suffered greatly for it but the band became more popular than ever because of it as well. I don't think One More Night is a bad song though, it far better than anything from their next two albums and the other big single from this album "Payphone". It still has the presence of guitars, bass and drums that actually don't sound too bad. It's a damn catchy song that will easily get stuck in your head, so it's easy to see how it could end up being on this list I guess. While it might be catchy as hell, it is missing that Maroon 5 charm from their old albums, especially when it comes to the music. It's all just OKAY, it's missing that funky bass and interesting guitar parts of their older albums. Adam's voice just sounds so much better when he's being supported by interesting music and isn't the only focus of the song. Still comparing it to all the other pop songs of 2012, this one is probably one of the better ones.

12. Avicii - Wake Me Up (Inside?)

This is the first song on the list that I didn't know much about at first listen. It's confusing for me to see a song like this listed on the greatest of all time pop songs considering I don't think I've ever heard before. I have no memories of this song and I don't have any strong opinions on it. It's an okay song that isn't as interesting as I think it's trying to be. The folksy guitars paired with the loud EDM chorus works better than I would have thought it could. EDM just isn't something I ever took much interest in. It's something that I can't listen to for long without having to take a break from it. Maybe i'm just too old too get it?  I actually much prefer the acoustic version by Aloe Blacc, I think it works better with the softer instrumentals in-between the verses. I still don't really get why this is so high on the list above other iconic songs, but it was definitely a huge hit regardless of how I feel. It was in the top 20 best selling songs for two years in a row.

13. Ke Dollar-Sign Ha - Tik Tok

2010 Was a strange year for music and the fact that "Tik Tok" was the number one song of the year proves that. This song is obnoxious in every single way possible. The lyrics, the loud annoying music, the auto-tuned like crazy vocals and her delivery is just UGH. I can't listen to this song more than once, so I really have no idea how this got so much radio play and sales. It's weird though, because with all her obnoxious music she was able to score multiple hits on the charts and this one becoming one of the most successful songs of all time. Now when she actually drops the whole dumb party girl act and releases an album that's actually pretty damn good, she can't even score a song in the top 10. Makes me wonder just what people are looking for in their music these days. Was the fact that "Tik Tok" was so annoying the reason it was so popular? Was it because people played it to annoy their friends and family? Maybe Kesha really is a genius... In fact, I'm almost certain she is.

14. Goo Goo Dolls - Slide

I vaguely remember this song from my childhood, I know I heard it back then it was still on the radio. This song was a big hit back in '99, and I remember hearing it past that. I always find myself coming back to this song every now and it's always a treat. Though, when you listen to the lyrics the happiness this song gives doesn't really match with the topic here. The song is actually about a guy who gets a girl pregnant at a catholic school. The girl goes on to get an abortion and gets kicked out of the school, while the guy is confessing his love for her and trying to convince her to run away with him and get married. It's something I think pretty much everybody can relate too, maybe? I don't Know, It's a pretty heavy subject to be singing about in such a happy tone anyway. I guess it's supposed to be from the perspective of the guy who's madly in love. Besides all that crazy/creepy stuff, it's a great song with an interesting way to present such a messed up story.

15. Catholic Schoolgi-- i mean, Goo Goo Dolls - Name

Don't worry this one doesn't have anything to do with abortions and catholic schoolgirls...probably. It is a lot sadder though, and it shows through the music AND the lyrics this time. To me this song is all about growing older and becoming different people than we dreamed of being when we were younger. It seems to be coming directed at someone who is in pain, maybe from the realization that their dreams didn't come true or just that life isn't at all what you imagined when you were younger. It's a great song with good guitar work throughout and calmer, but still great vocals. The song slowly builds over time, eventually getting to a "happier" bridge towards the end. "Name" isn't a song I come back to very often, but it's a good rainy day song. As much as I hate to say, the Catholic schoolgirl song wins this round.

16. OneRepublic - Counting Them Stars

I mentioned this song on my last post, comparing it to the inferior "Apologize". OneRepublic was one of those bands that I could never see myself getting into when they were still new to the scene. They took a long break between their second album in 2009 and finally released a new album in 2014 with "Native". I wouldn't have paid it any attention, but once I heard the song "Counting Stars" I was very curious. Actually I didn't even realize it was OneRepublic when I heard it because it was such a cool song. This went on the be the best selling "rock" song of the year and 4th overall for 2014. It was an interesting year full of many newcomers hitting the top of the charts like; Sam Smith, Meghan Trainor, and Lorde. OneRepublic felt like a completely new act themselves with this album. This song was everywhere for quite a few months, and I never found myself getting tired of it. It's catchy, musically interesting and different than most pop songs in 2014.

17. Rihanna/Calvin Harris - We Found Love

THIS SONG IS okay. Both artists have done much better and much worse than this. It's catchy and the music isn't as annoying as other songs in this genre. The main problem I have with it is that it just seems to stay on the same level throughout it's whole run-time. There's a tiny pause near the halfway point, but besides that it doesn't really go anywhere, especially in the vocals. There's nothing much wrong with this song besides that. Passable vocals, lyrics and music make for a passable song.

18. Spin Doctors - Two Princes

I slowly scroll down the list of songs for this week and see the title Two Princes. "Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time" I whisper to myself. I listen to the song and I wonder to myself: "Is this song so bad it's good or just actually good"? "I'm pretty sure it's not good especially since I have no damn clue what this song is actually about". As If my confusion in the words wasn't enough, the song decides to breakout into the most unnecessary scat singing I've heard since Jason Mraz in "I'm Yours".

Just to be serious though, I actually like this song a bit. It's not something I would listen to frequently, maybe two or three times a year i'll put it on for nostalgia's sake. It has memorable music, especially the guitar and the solo and the melody is instantly recognizable and transports me to the 90's. There are probably 1,000 better rock songs from the 90's than this, but this still stands out as one of those memorable songs everyone remembers from that time. At least it's better than Dave Matthew, amirite?

19. Bruno Mraz - Locked Out of Heaven

When Bruno Mars first started getting big around 2010 I didn't much care for him. He made catchy pop songs that were very safe and just felt boring and generic. It wasn't until I heard the song "Locked Out of Heaven" from his second album that I really understood the talent that Bruno Mars had. Like many artists, it takes some risks in trying new things and really using your talent to really hit your stride. Bruno Mars did that when he started taking inspiration from other artists like The Police, James Brown, Boys II Men and Michael Jackson and putting it into his music. The songs don't feel like rip-offs, but they feel like homages to artists that Bruno clearly loves and takes inspiration from. "Locked Out of Heaven" has a great 80's vibe with some new modern ideas thrown in. Those two elements combine to make one of the best selling pop songs of 2013 in a year where there were an above average amount of good pop songs. I doubt that Bruno could ever be a part anything better than this song though. Not even a throwback to the old-school funk days could accomplish that. Never. 

20. Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars - Uptown Funk

Yeah I should have seen this one coming... Here is one of the best pop songs that's been made at least in the last decade. A song that came out of nowhere and stole the hearts of anybody who still has one to steal, because if you don't love this song you have no heart and you're dead inside. Everything about this song just works so well. Bruno comes across as someone who's having the time of his life singing this song and the music matches that mood so well. This song spent 14 weeks at the top spot and was the number one song overall for the year 2015 with 56 overall weeks on the hot 100 chart. This song was around for over a year in the charts, which is pretty insane. It just has so much staying power, more than I think any song has this decade. It never got old, it just kept going and going and it's still fun to listen to almost three years later. The funny part about this is, I couldn't tell you a single song other than "Uptown Funk" from that album. I don't think anyone really can without looking it up. This album had one of the most popular songs EVER and 10 other tracks that nobody will ever talk about. It's a hard act to follow for sure, but maybe Ronson can make lightning strike twice in the future. Doubt it.

That's all for this time... Here's a preview for next time:
I'll Stand with you on a mountain
Wonder if you'll call me superman
Make you my Aphrodite
Won't be able to breath for the first time
Confess I still believe
Let you touch my love for free
Play on the safe side so I don't get hurt
Be your only even if the sky is falling
[Some stupid Black Eyed Peas song]
Talk for hours (and hours) about the sweet and the sour.

Bonus points if you know any of those songs. The second one is pretty obvious though... 

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The Greatest of All Time Pop Songs (According to Billboard): Spanish Harlem Mona Lisa Edition

The Greatest of All Time Pop Songs: 1-10

So I was looking through the Billboard charts the other day while doing one of my reviews and I stumbled upon a list called "Greatest of All Time Pop Songs" and I thought, "Well this should be good". So what I found was a list of 100 best performing songs from the year 1992 till late 2017 and what a weird list it was indeed. So I'm just going to take a nostalgic trip through the last 25 years of music and see how well these songs hold up and what I remember of them when they first came out. Just starting with the first ten then maybe if this isn't so painful going down until the 100th later on. I'll put a playlist of the first ten songs and slowly add to the same playlist as I go down the list of 100 songs.

So it begins... and a very strange beginning it is.

1. Real McCoy - Another Night

I honestly had no idea what this song was when I saw the name, but as soon as the first note played I was instantly taken back to the 90's. This has that sound that could only have existed in the 90's dance club scene and OH is it glorious. The low and almost talk-singing creepy male vocals paired with the over passionate female vocalists in the chorus with catchy chorus to bring up the mood. The loud bass sounds blasting throughout the song with the higher synth sounds filling in the rest of the song. It all comes together to make something so strange but unique that you could only find in the 90's. Of course the 90's club scene was never my thing (because I was a child) and this kind of music is only fun for it's nostalgia. Honestly though compared to the club music of today, this is much better and full of energy and I can see why people would have enjoyed this at a club or party setting back then. 

The reason I remember this song so well and I have nostalgia for it is because it was featured in the movie "Night at the Roxbury" in the late 90's. That was one of my favorite movies growing up and I think that's why this song is still fun to listen to now. Does this song hold up today? No, not really. It's not something I would listen to myself and I can't see it being played at any club or dance party without it being a 90's themed party/club night. I find this song to be more funny than I think it's supposed to be, with the cheesy lyrics and music it's hard not to find this funny. I do think that dance and club music needs to be this fun though, and not so serious and depressing like a lot of dance/club music seems to be today. Overall a cheesy fun song that thankfully didn't make it past the 90's

2. Santana/Rob Thomas - Smooth

Anyone that was old enough to remember the year 1999 or 2000 probably remembers hearing this song at least one thousand times or more. This song was number one for 12 whole weeks and it stuck around for what felt like an eternity in the radio and anywhere else you could possibly hear music. Every single part of this song is memorable from the drum introduction, the Santana riffs, the strange lyrics like "7 inches from the midday sun" and "my Spanish Harlem Mona Lisa". There's so much going on in this song musically and it's fun to listen to each instrument separately. Of course there's the obvious guitar that cuts in and out with different riffs that fit in perfectly and don't feel out of place. The bass is busy throughout the song doing with lots of different lines to keep it fresh. The drums really get busy at the end when Santana goes into his fade out solo. Theres other percussion and keys and horns in the mix too, giving it that latin feeling. Listening to this today, it's still a great song that holds up very well. I have to imagine myself being back when this song was at it's peak and wonder if I would feel the same. Knowing how popular this song was and the massive play it was getting, would I just be sick of it or would it really stand strong? I remember liking this song even before I really got into music, but that's not really saying much when I also liked Papa Roach back then. Forget you read that.

3. Lifehouse - Hanging By a Moment

Speaking of songs that were overplayed to death on the radio in the early 2000s, here's that one Lifehouse you remember for some reason. Much like "Smooth", right from the first slide of the bass at the beginning I knew instantly what this song was. Lifehouse is just one of those bands that I think a lot of people remember from the 2000s, but don't really listen to anymore. They are still around to this day making music, though they never saw the same success as they did with this song. They did get a few hits here and there with smaller radio hits like "Between the Raindrops", "You and Me" and "Halfway Gone". "Hanging by a Moment" was actually the number one song for the year 2001, dominating at a time where alt-rock was still able to get some big hits with bands like Matchbox Twenty, Train and 3 Doors Down where massively popular in the pop charts. 

"Hanging By a Moment" still holds up in my opinion. The memorable bass sliding bass effect and bass lines, the guitars following right along and adding more to the layers and the extremely catchy melodies that will get stuck in your head for at least a week or two. It reminds of a time where we were still getting catchy rock music (and some pretty bad rock music) on the radio before hip-hop and club music took over the charts and airplay. Lifehouse is a solid band that was able to make it past the awkward music of the early 2000s and continue to make pretty good albums that were successful enough. 

4. OneRepublic - Apologize (Timbaland version)

Oh boy, I didn't expect to see this one here. I just have to say that I really find this song to be pretty overrated. This song was a big hit back in 2008, coming out as 5th best performance of that year and also doing pretty well the previous year at the 66th best song in 2007. The competition was indeed, not fierce. The number one song of 2008 was "Low" by the always amazing Flo Rida and right above this song at the 4th spot was Lil Wayne with his magnum opus: Lollipop. 

Apologize is just one of those songs that gets old after one listen. The music is boring and the vocals and melody aren't anything special. There are a few interesting things in the background done with the keys, but the song just drags on after the first chorus. Thankfully OneRepublic did go on to make some great music after about 7 years and got another big hit with the much better song "Counting Stars". Kinda weird how much better your music can be when it actually sounds like you're having fun being creative with it. 

5. Nickelback - How You Remind Me

What can I say about Nickelback that hasn't already been said by everyone on the internet and countless memes? This song isn't really that terrible, but much like the previous song, it just doesn't have anything special here. Yes the melody is memorable and catchy, but the music is so generic and boring that it really doesn't give me a reason to listen to it multiple times. Unlike early 2000's rock songs like "Smooth" and even "Hanging by a Moment", this one has nothing interesting or original. Boring strumming and power chords though the whole song. Then of course there's the fact that they pretty much ripped the music from this boring song of and copied it onto another single from the next album they released with "Someday", which is pretty hilarious. Anyway, just another forgettable from the early 2000s from the most infamous band in the world. By the way, this was the best performing song of 2002, a year that also had Puddle of Mudd in the top 10 songs of the year. I know what you're thinking and I agree. This was the greatest year of music ever. 

6. 3 (not 6.3, but this is the 6th song on the list and the band's name has a 3 in it so it looks like it's 6.3 but it's actually not, so don't get confused about this. I mean it's not that I think your dumb or anything, but I just wanted to make sure it wasn't confusing to you. Because it kinda looks like it says 6.3 but it's not the 6.3rd entry on the list because that doesn't exist. I don't think you're getting it... here let me expl--) Doors Down - Here Without You

The early 2000s rock continues with one of the most popular bands back then: 3 Doors Down. Remember when it was still cool to have numbers in your band name? I honestly don't know how to feel about this song. I think at one point in my life when the song was still popular, I actually really liked this song. It's overdramatic, memorable music, and sad. That was what I was all about back then.. and probably still today. Without nostalgia to attach to this song though, I don't think this is one of those early 2000s rock songs that really holds up today. I'd say I like this better than Kryptonite by the same band (which I was surprised not to see in this spot), but that doesn't really mean much. Besides their popular songs, I don't know anything else about this band, except that they are still making music and touring the world.

The guitar is really the only memorable part musically, with all it's depressing glory. The lyrics are pretty cheesy and the strings that follow along are somehow even cheesier. It all strangely works to make this a somewhat enjoyable listen in that nostalgic sort of way. It has enough to keep it from being too boring, but not enough to make it anything worth coming back to multiple times. With songs like these I guess maybe we know why rock music was eventually gone from the pop charts. 

7. No Doubt - Don't Speak

A record breaking song back in 1996, sadly wasn't allowed to be included in the Top 100 songs of the year from Billboard because no official single was released for the song. If not for that the song no doubt (sorry) would have been number one for 1996, possibly beating out the Macarena. This song was from one of my favorite 90's albums "Tragic Kingdom" released back in 1995. The song was written by Gwen Stefani's brother back when he was still in the band. The song showed a different side of Gwen and No Doubt as they were more known for their ska-punk sound back then. 

This is one of those songs that just works on every single level. The music is so unique with the iconic opening guitar, the inventive bass lines on the chorus, Gwen's fantastic vocals and that beautiful acoustic solo. It's the kind of song that stands the test of time because of it's attention to detail in every aspect. A good melody and vocals can be enough to get a song on the charts but I feel it takes a song like this one, that gets that AND the music right, to really stand the test of time. I know it's not always the case, but I just really appreciate the way everything comes together. Sadly, No Doubt would go one to focus on a more pop sound later on and never really reach these heights again. 

8. Goo Goo Dolls - Iris

Much like the last song, Iris was a record breaking song in the number one spot for 18 weeks. The song also wasn't allowed on the end of the year charts like "Don't Speak" for the same reason. The song would probably have taken the number one spot from "Too Close" by Next, which is a song I had no idea even existed by a group I also didn't know existed. Iris is a reminder of how popular movie soundtracks used to be back in the 80's and 90's as it was part of the soundtrack for the film "City of Angels". The song actually went on to become more popular than the movie it was featured on. 

This song just feels incredible from start to finish. The guitar actually has a very strange tuning to give it the unique sound it has (BDDDDD tuning is used here, good luck doing it without popping a string). The guitar along with the nice and simple but present bass and the strings all come together very nicely. I love how the songs slowly builds to the epic guitar solo in the bridge. Overall you're left with one of the most memorable songs I've ever heard, the kind of song that sticks with you in a good way. It's something that I feel is sorely missing from the music charts of today...

9. Chainsmokers - Closer

This song is actually pretty special to me now, it was the first song I wrote one of this reviews for. Over the months, I've grown to hate and love this song. One week I hate it for it's crappy male vocals, bad drop, dumb/cringe lyrics. The next week I can't deny it's incredible catchiness and just enjoy for what it is, a dumb pop song. I think I can say that this song is fun and enjoyable despite it's obvious flaws. It's strangely the only modern pop song on this list, I would have expected Taylor Swift to be up here. Like it or not, this song represents what modern music is now. Lots of electronic sounds, with guest vocals and a simple catchy melody. It's tough to say where music is really heading these days, but I would like to see more focus on music brought back. There will always be a place on the radio for songs like this, but it would be nice to get some more songs that also focused on great music and not just vocals and catchy hooks. 

10.Donna Lewis - I Love You Always Forever

Donna Lewis? Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time. 1996 on the radio to be exact. To my surprise I actually do remember this song, but I have no freakin' clue how. Maybe that speaks to the power of music and how a catchy song will just sleep as a memory in your brain only to be awakened 20 years later for a blog post about the best performing songs of the last 27 years. OR maybe the government used Donna Lewis' music to put these memories in the US citizens back in 1996 to one day trigger everyones memory at the same time and drive us all mad? OR maybe Donna Lewis is part of the Illuminati which led her to...

Actually what probably actually happened was: Donna Lewis wrote a ridiculously catchy song in 1996 that was played on the radio constantly and I listened to it so many times that it was put into my long term memory... that's how the brain works right? 

Actually I just have nothing to say about this song so I just rambled on about nothing to make it look like I talked about the song when I actually didn't.   

Anyway that's the first ten songs from the list of 100. And while working on this it looks like Billboard took down the list from their site like they knew I was using it, bastards. So I guess that's the perfect excuse to not continue doing this anyway. Or I could just guess the rest of the list, I'm sure I have enough experience with the list to do that...

11. Justin Bieber - Bohemian Rhapsody 

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Billboard Top 10 (11/04/2017): Robot Beyonce and a Sad British Man

Hot 100 Weeks of Nov. 4, 2017. 

I usually come back to these when enough has changed in the Top 10 so that I don't have to talk about the same songs over and over again. A lot has changed over the past few weeks, though mostly just positions and not so much the songs on the list. Still, I enjoy getting to listen to some new pop songs and sharing my totally relevant feelings about them because I am an expert on all things music, especially a genre that I don't really care much for to begin with and still for some reason review. All kidding aside here's what's goin' on this week. As before there shall be a playlist at the butt of the page. 

1. Post Malone - Rockstar

Like a lot of pop music these days, this one is another song that just doesn't really stand the test of time for me. While enjoyable for a few listens in the car or just for some moody music while working on other things, it just isn't something I find myself wanting to go back to in the close future. But like all music on the charts, it's all about how long it will stay relevant and popular in streaming and radio. While it's not a bad track and it's pretty enjoyable compared to a lot of other stuff in the charts, it just doesn't feel like something that SHOULD stay up here for a long time. It might just take a big album drop like Taylor Swift's upcoming album in a few weeks to drop this one back down. Post Malone seems to be creating a big name for himself these days though and I think that's a good thing. 

2. Cardi B - Bodak Yellow 

Okay so I kinda avoided this song last time, mostly just cause I couldn't really even finish listening to the song. While it's great to see a new artist, especially a female rapper, hit the number one spot... Well this just isn't that great. I just kinda find the way she raps mildly annoying and hard to listen to. Maybe that's just cause i'm not into this kind of modern rap style with the minimal repeating music that gets annoying after 30 seconds. It's just not something I can get into no matter how hard I might try to give it a chance, and I did give it a couple listens. Still, good on Cardi B for making it this high on the charts. 

3. Logic - 1-800-273-8255

I think I said enough about this song last time and pretty much all the things I said still hold over to this week. All I can say is I hope to see more music like this getting attention. I didn't go into the music part of the song too much, but it's pretty standard pop song stuff. Repeating the same chords throughout most of the song, with small changes here and there. It's nothing special, but forgiven this time because the song carries most of it's power through the lyrics. Still maybe there was potential for this to not just be a good song, but a great song IF more attention was put into the music. 

4. Portugal. The Man - Feel It Still

The biggest surprise of the year keeps rising on the list, now all the way to number 4. It's amazing that a unique song (especially a rock song) made it this far. Slowly fighting it's way up the charts to this point, I see no reason why it can't make it to the number 3 spot. Of course the dream is that this would somehow make it to number one even if just for one week. Two years back the song "Shut Up and Dance" by Walk The Moon also shockingly made it to the top 10 out of nowhere, peaking at the number 4 spot and staying in the charts for 54 weeks. Sadly I think this might be another situation where a band gets that big hit and is never able to match it again (bands like Bastille and Jimmy Eat World come to mind). Hope it's not just a one time event.

5. Imagine Dragons - Thunder

It must be nice being a "rock" band with two singles back to back in the top 10. This would be the point where I complain about the fact that i've heard in a crap-ton of commercials and the like, but honestly this song isn't as bad with that as believer. By the way here's a list of places I heard the song Believer used in some way:

- Trailer for the Murder on the Orient Express film

- Marvel Inhumans TV Show

- Riverdale TV show

- Nintendo Commercial

- Black Panthers Meetings

- Jeep Commercial

- WWE Network
- Funerals
- Edgy Youth Groups

Some of those are just educated guesses though. 

While Believer was played out very fast, Thunder got old even faster. This song just has nothing really to offer past a few listens. The dead verse that leads to the slow and boring chorus that repeats the same lines over and over with no emotion. Then the pointless bridge that just quickly falls into the chorus again. The song finally starts to pick up for the last 15 seconds, but it's too late to save this song. GOD IS THIS SONG ANNOYINGLY CATCHY. Look, I want to hate this song so badly... so, so badly. I just can't do it because of its catchy-ness. This is not a good song in any way. Just. really. annoyingly. catchy. Imagine Dragons is great.

6. J Balvin - Mi Gente (W/ Beyonce)

Okay so this happened. Another latin song in the top 10 right after Despacito leaves the charts. The only mistake this one made was getting Beyonce for the guest and not Justin Bieber, as everyone knows Justin Bieber is the one that gets you number one singles. This song definitely lacks all the charm that Despacito had this whole summer. Very annoying club beats and whiny music that gets old in less than 1 minute, which sucks cause it goes on pretty much the entire song. Add the part where everyone has to introduce themselves along with catchphrases and you got yourself a cliche club song. It was pretty cool to hear a robot version of Beyonce speaking Spanish though, that alone gets a 10/10. 

7. Demi Lovato - Sorry Not Sorry

So this song is... okay, I think. One thing I really appreciate about this song is that it didn't have a rap verse after the second chorus like every hit female pop song in the last five years or so. Demi Lovato is an artist I really don't have any strong feelings for, I don't love her or hate her. Really I don't find her music to be anything special, but she does have a few songs that are fine. "Cool for the Summer" was a song I really enjoyed back in 2015, but besides that nothing else. "Sorry Not Sorry" is a fine song, but there's nothing here to bring me back after very few listens. Yeah the music is more interesting than a lot of pop music these days because it actually changes for the verses, pre-choruses, choruses and the bridge. The chorus is the weakest part of the song in my opinion, just screeching vocals yelling the overused lines "Baby I'm sorry (not sorry)" and "Being so bad got me feeling so good". The whole ex Disney child star trying to be the bad girl/boy thing is really overdone. What you get is another inoffensive pop song that's not the worst, but really doesn't bring anything new to the charts or Demi's catalog.

8. Sam Smith - Too Good at Goodbyes

Right from the first word spoken I knew this was going to be Sam Smith doing his "I'm very sensitive, isn't it sexy?" Sam Smith thing. But joking aside this is another decent song by Sam Smith. I've never really loved a Sam Smith song, but I totally see the talent in his vocals and I feel like his talent could be elevated with some better music behind him. The music starts off slow and pretty boring, but thankfully picks up near the end of the song and it works well. Lyrically it's an interesting topic about being so guarded and used to pain that he's afraid to get close to someone even though he loves them and wants to be with them or vice versa. I'm not sure exactly was was missing here, but in the end it's a fine song to choose as a first single. There's potential here for some good to great music and I hope to see it soon from Smith.

9. French Montana - Unforgettable

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhjk Sorry. Feel asleep on the keyboard. Somebody get this guy a personality already.

10. Taylor Swift - Look What You Made Me Do!

It looks like I'm not the only one who thought this song was complete garbage. Only being on the charts for 9 weeks and already sliding off the Top 10, only being in the number one spot for a shorter 3 weeks. Compared to her two huge hits from her last album "Shake it Off" and "Blank Space", which held on the number one spot for what felt like an eternity (Blank Space was on top for at least two months I believe). This song does NOT get any better with multiple listens, in fact it actually gets worse as you realize this is in fact actually a real song written by a real artist. Listening to the other singles released so far isn't helping me have any more hope for her new album dropping in less than two weeks. Albums and singles are important to staying relevant in the pop world, Taylor should know this as her last album pretty much launched her to the top of the music industry and that top spot can go away pretty fast. In the pop music world it's all about what's happening now and not what happened before, and while a strong back-catalog and diehard fans can help you stay relevant after some bad releases, people will always quickly move on from you once they see you aren't making anything they connect with anymore. Still that won't happen over just one bad album, at least not for Taylor. It will take many bad decisions from Taylor to really see her drop from the spotlight at the moment. The big question now is, will this be the only single from her new album to hit number one? Probably not, but I kind of hope so.

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