The Stones' first new studio recording since 2005's A Bigger Bang opens as expected – with the rough, lowdown stammer of Keith Richards' guitar – and moves like old times, propelled by the straight, brisk swing of drummer Charlie Watts. "Doom and Gloom" is also grimly perfect for this election season, like a tough-bastard spawn of "Start Me Up" crossed with the hard red rain of "Too Much Blood." Mick Jagger snarls and sneers through a long list of bad mojo – including zombies, wartime, eco-armegeddon and drunk assholes on planes – taking only a quick break at the end of the chorus for some dancing in the ruins. He spends more time, in the second verse, squeezing every drop of bitterness from the word "screws." "Doom and Gloom," produced by Don Was, is unusually stark for a Stones single – all pulse and paranoia, peppered with Ron Wood's short feral barks of lead guitar. But it sticks to your skin like chicken wire.

Listen to "Doom and Gloom":

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."