friday random ten, 2007 edition

1. Avril Lavigne, "Girlfriend." Hey hey, youtube youtube ... supposedly the most-viewed YouTube video of all time, although there's a lot of controversy there, if anyone cares. Speaking of controversy, anyone who thinks this sounds like the Rubinoos is deaf.

2. M.I.A., "Jimmy." I like Avril Lavigne just fine. But I imagine in 20 years or however many it has to be, it'll be M.I.A. entering the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Someone will be complaining she's not rock and roll ... some Rubinoos fan, is my guess.

3. Kanye West, "Barry Bonds." Here's another hit!

4. Van Hunt, "Turn My TV On." People outside make me scared, so I stay in my room in my underwear ... I turn my TV on.

5. Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, "Killing the Blues." One of the more astute marketing moves aimed at baby boomers in many a year. Luckily, it's a good album.

6. Colbie Caillat, "Realize." Equally astute, although the connection to boomers is second-hand (her father worked on Rumours), Caillat is a My Space Queen. In the great tradition of pop stars who wrote their autobiographies while still in their teens, and right in line with her Internet heritage, Caillat's "discography" gets its own Wikipedia page, even though she's only released one album.

7. The Smithereens, "I Saw Her Standing There." It's become semi-popular for aging rockers to give concerts where they play one of their old chestnut albums, track for track. The Smithereens went one better, recording an album that covered Meet the Beatles, track for track. Entertaining enough, I suppose, although they are no Rutles. The video is of the real moptops.

8. Los Campesinos!, "You! Me! Dancing!" Holy moly, is this track the greatest or what? Here's how you do smart (as in intelligent, not as in smartypants, although truthfully, this is both) pop. Nice to hear a band who listened to the Toy Dolls when they were kidz.

9. Jay-Z, "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)." Speaking of boomers ... heck, speaking of GenXers ... do they realize that Jay-Z is The King of his era? He's a fuckin' rock star, he is. I know this is supposed to be about 2007, but Jay-Z had such an interesting 2008, I can't resist talking about it. The man who seemingly had everything reminded us of the one thing that was missing, which he fixed: he married Beyoncé. Then he headlined a big rock festival, and when that doofus from Oasis didn't like it, he opened his set with "Wonderwall."

10. Gogol Bordello, "Alcohol." In case I haven't made it clear in the past, listen to El Viejo Rubio: go see Gogol Bordello live. Seriously. Pay attention to me on this one. You won't be sorry.

[edited to add Spotify playlist]

Comments

[Geoff]

He's totally right about Gogol Bordello

[Gabby]

Smithereens also came out this year with b-sides:

Track:
01 Thank You Girl 02:03
02 There's A Place 01:57
03 I'll Get You 02:08
04 You Can't Do That 02:37
05 Ask Me Why 02:27
06 Cry For A Shadow 02:26
07 P.S. I Love You 02:10
08 I'm Happy Just To Dance With You 01:57
09 If I Fell 02:19
10 Slow Down 03:00
11 I Don't Want To Spoil The Party 02:39
12 Some Other Guy 02:04