The 100 Best Songs of the Year

31 "The Clock"
Thom Yorke
Radiohead's singer makes tense, hermetic despair from tangled strands of looped guitar and insect-chatter percussion.

32 "Do It to It" [Video] [Song]
Cherish
A perfect night out in Atlanta: Four R&B sisters pop their backs over a loping, unstoppable beat as they tip their hats to the Ying Yang Twins and Dem Franchize Boyz.

33 "Chillout Tent" [Song]
The Hold Steady
Boy and girl go to outdoor festival, gobble too many mushrooms and wind up making out while hooked up to IVs. The verdict: "It was kinda sexy, but it was kinda creepy."

34 "When You Were Young" [Song]
The Killers
This hard-rocking hit showed the Killers could make it without glitz and eyeliner. It also proved you could turn "he doesn't look a thing like Jesus" into a killer hook.

35 "Summersong" [Song]
The Decemberists
"Rambling, where to begin?" wonders Colin Meloy in the first line -- a ravishing pause for reflection, like an Eighties power ballad decked out a la Fairport Convention.

36 "SOS"
Rihanna
In case you hadn't guessed, you cannot front on this Soft Cell beat. And you also cannot underestimate the allure of green-eyed ladies from Barbados who get this much wiggle in their voices.

37 "Strange Apparition" [Song]
Beck
The folk-rap changeling confronts a crisis of faith with dry wit ("Lord, please don't forsake me/In my Mercedes-Benz") and a salvation package of country funk and saloon piano that sounds like '68 Rolling Stones.

38 "Gin & Milk" [Song]
Dirty Pretty Things
If you spent the summer hanging around sleazy punk-rock bars, this song was blasting the night you made out with your ex-girlfriend's ex-boyfriend's bassist in the bathroom line. Not a pretty night, but a freaking great song.

39 "Dance, Dance" [Song]
Fall Out Boy
Don't fight them: an irresistible number in which Patrick Stump spews at a cheating lover he'd still agree to take back if she'd just sleep with him again, damn it.

40 "Incinerate" [Song]
Sonic Youth
The guitars do exactly what the title says, as the rejuvenated Youth kick out the jams in an ode to burning adult passions.

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