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>> Post your picks for Best Song of the Year! PLUS: Check out Rolling Stone's Top 50 Albums of the Year list--and speak your mind about it here.
1 "Crazy"
[Video]
[Song]
Gnarls
Barkley
In a perfect world, Al Green could still sing collard-green soul
gems like this one, but Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse stepped up with an
instant classic, winning this year's "Hey Ya!" award for the song
nobody even pretended not to like. Everybody tried to cover it (our
personal fave: the Raconteurs') -- but nobody can hit the chorus
like Cee-Lo, and nobody ever will.
2 "Steady As She
Goes"
[Video]
[Song]
The
Raconteurs
The first single from Brendan Benson and Jack White's garage-glam
band was a perfect dirty sundae of fuzz-box stutter, metallic zoom
and pop-chorale candy. It is also a good reason to hope the
Raconteurs are no one-album project.
3 "Ridin'"
[Song]
Chamillionaire
The song least likely to be played in Drivers' Ed.: Chamillionaire
dodges the cops, riding dirty with a car full of thugs who don't
care where they're rolling or if they get there in one piece.
4 "What You
Know"
[Video]
[Song]
T.I.
T.I. gets majestic with bass and synth strings booming like your
car just flipped the corner. What you know about that? T.I. knows
all about that.
5 "Vans"
[Song]
The Pack
Bay Area MCs the Pack broke out with this sleek, bare-bones ode to
midpriced sneakers. Words of warning: "Lace 'em past the fourth
hole, you some type of sucker."
6 "Thunder on the
Mountain"
[Song]
Bob
Dylan
So that's how you bring sexy back! Dylan slaps on a cowboy hat and
greases up his favorite Chuck Berry guitar riff, one step ahead of
the apocalypse and one step behind Alicia Keys.
7 "Smile"
[Video]
[Song]
Lily
Allen
This deceptively named ditty was '06's most gloriously bitter
breakup song: Part Mike Skinner, part Gwen Stefani, part Blondie,
the young Allen defined her very own bratty, musically adventurous
style on "smile," a reggae-lite platter about the joys of an ex's
despair.
8 "Wamp Wamp (What
It Do)"
[Video]
[Song]
Clipse
with Slim Thug
Best line: "So proper/Hammertime gun-cocker." But the lyrics
aren't really the point here -- the cuckoo-for-coconuts Neptunes
steel-drum beat is.
9 "Dimension"
[Song]
Wolfmother
Aussie guys dig out their big brothers' worn vinyl copy of
Master of Reality and let the brain-bludgeon guitars off
the chain.
10 "Ooh La
La"
[Video]
[Song]
Goldfrapp
The kind of groovy dance number Kylie used to write, full of
steamy, sweaty vocals and a fierce Sixties vamp.
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11 "World Wide
Suicide"
[Video]
[Song]
Pearl
Jam
The president -- "writing checks that others pay" -- gets it in
this top-shelf blast of bad news and fighting spirit from the
Seattle band that refuses to die.
12 "Read My
Mind"
[Song]
The
Killers
A shimmering singalong about love in the sticks. Ever wonder what
Bono would sound like if he grew up in Vegas?
13 "Free
Radicals"
[Song]
The
Flaming Lips
Damn-near-genius space pop, inspired by a dream about Devendra
Banhart trying to reason with a suicide bomber.
14 "Ghetto
Story"
[Song]
Cham
This year's "Welcome to Jamrock" but darker, prettier, with
descriptions of inner-city struggle supposedly strong enough to
keep it off the radio in Jamaica.
15 "Miss
Murder"
[Song]
AFI
The soundtrack to a goth-punk siege of your high school dance. Any
cities that still had decent rock radio stations were hearing this
punk-pop barnburner, a torrent of "whoa-oh-ohs" that charges right
in with a monster chorus and doesn't stop.
16 "You Only Live
Once"
[Song]
The
Strokes
A sharp-twang cocktail of bravado and concession from the recently
married Julian Casablancas sounds like he?s still mystified by the
art of commitment but intrigued enough to try.
17 "Welcome to the
Black Parade"
[Video]
[Song]
My Chemical Romance
Singer Gerard Way and his eyeliner-rock brigade envision Teen Goth
America as a salvation army. Get in step.
18 "Ain't No Other
Man"
[Song]
Christina Aguilera
Aguilera digs up DJ Premiere for a zoot-suit-riot dance cut, all
brassy horn samples and even brassier vocals.
19 "Get Myself
Into It"
[Song]
The
Rapture
Step aside, "House of Jealous Lovers"! Gangly funk punk stormed
back, and steely-eyed hipsters found themselves forced to dance
again.
20 "The Long Way
Around"
[Song]
The
Dixie Chicks
A heart-tugging guitar anthem for small-town girls with big dreams
-- and the best ersatz Springsteen song in a year that was packed
with them.
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21 "SexyBack"
[Song]
Justin Timberlake
Probably the jam that drove Britney back to the gym. Justin brings
sexy all the way back like a grown-ass man, in sync with Timbaland
on a spaced-out Prince-style funk fantasia.
22 "Tell Me
Baby"
[Video]
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Chili Peppers mix socks-on-dicks-era crunch with a comforting
pop sweetness that bursts into Hendrix-style flames when John
Frusciante steps up.
23 "Fidelity"
[Video]
[Song]
Regina
Spektor
Russian-American Brooklynite breathes as much heartbreaking
meaning and inflection into individual syllables as most singers
give entire words.
24 "How Can a Poor
Man Stand Such Times and Live"
[Song]
Bruce Springsteen
Springsteen honors New Orleans' fight against nature and FEMA with
an uplifting version of this Depression-era ballad, updated with
heated new lyrics.
25 "When the Sun
Goes Down"
[Video]
[Song]
Arctic
Monkeys
"I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor" got more attention, but
this was the fan favorite for a reason: a humble song about hookers
on the dreary side of town that somehow turns into a singalong.
26 "Province"
[Song]
TV
on the Radio
Gorgeous: Brooklyn band blends voices with guest David Bowie,
bouncing off a wall of guitar feedback and burbling synth.
27 "Capillarian
Crest"
[Video]
[Song]
Mastodon
Nobody gets heavier than Mastodon -- the metal guitars hit you
like you're playing buck-buck with Fat Albert.
28 "Level"
[Song]
The
Raconteurs
A fever dream of sludgy keyboards, a doubled guitar part that'd
make Boston blush and snarling traded verses between singers Jack
White and Brendan Benson. What's not to like?
29 "Smiley
Faces"
[Song]
Gnarls
Barkley
Cee-Lo plays a wise R&B loverman amid a groove that sounds
like Motown funk with dance-club appeal and a dash of
psilocybin.
30 "Over &
Over"
[Video]
[Song]
Hot
Chip
The genius late-night punk-disco club banger of the summer, all
pumping bass and postcoital synth throbs and filthy guitar. We
think it sounds like ZZ Top, but then we've never heard it
sober.
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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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41 "Me &
U"
[Video]
[Song]
Cassie
Cassie ain't necessarily the most gifted singer in the world, but
none of the world's most gifted singers have done an electro tune
this spellbinding lately.
42 "Origin of
Species"
[Song]
Chris
Smither
Folkie makes delicious fun of the "intelligent design" crew,
singing about a God who sits "back in the shade/While everyone gets
laid." Required listening for Biology 101.
43 "Tony the
Beat"
[Song]
The
Sounds
The world can never have enough sexy Swedish synth-pop bands,
that?s for sure. The Sounds know their way around a nasty beat, and
they ride this one with more bounce to the ounce.
44 "Hustlin'
"
[Song]
Rick Ross
Trunk-rattler of the year: Big, narcotic beat and slo-mo flows
from an ex-dope man who manages to get away with rhyming "Atlantic"
with "Atlantic."
45 "Yo (Excuse Me
Miss)"
[Song]
Chris
Brown
Usher didn't drop any new panty-dissolver R&B ballads this
year, so Brown stepped up to the plate, doing for "U Make Me Wanna"
what "Run It!" did for "Yeah!"
46 "Hang Me Up to
Dry"
[Song]
Cold
War Kids
Indie rock with a little sex: Nathan Willett howls like a country
bluesman as the other three Kids elbow their way through a mess of
art-damaged funk.
47 "Cheer It
On"
[Song]
Tokyo
Police Club
They're not from Tokyo, they're not cops and the only club they
could get into is probably the Strokes Fan Club -- but these mods
score with a gloriously dumb garage-punk thrash-terpiece.
48 "He Said, She
Said"
Shawnna
with Ludacris
On this mix tape, a greasy beat sets up lyrics that would make
Blowfly blush: Ludacris plays a hilariously over-the-top ass hound,
while fuck-buddy Shawnna goes on about double-jointed pussy.
49 "Chasing
Cars"
[Song]
Snow
Patrol
Channeling Coldplay and starry skies, U.K. quintet Snow Patrol
deliver a radiant ballad for Molly Ringwald girls and the nice guys
who love them.
50 "My
Love"
[Song]
Justin Timberlake
The loverman slow jam of the year, thanks to Justin's fluttery
vocals and Timbaland's stuttery beats.
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51 "Black
Sweat"
[Song]
Prince
A tune that finds Prince at his horniest and most inspired,
brandishing the world's best falsetto over a killer bump-and-glide
beat like James Brown and vowing to make her scream "like a white
lady."
52 "Makedamnsure"
[Video]
[Song]
Taking Back Sunday
A knee-crumbling emo anthem so masterfully formulated that you'd
have to be a heartless bastard not to wipe away a tear as you
holler along with its love-sucks chorus.
53 "O
Valencia!"
[Song]
The
Decemberists
True love takes a hit in a bullets-and-hot-rods adaptation of
Romeo and Juliet, fueled by spangled folk-rock guitar and
garage-combo organ.
54 "Kilo"
[Song]
Ghostface
Killah
The hottest song about the metric system ever. Ghostface and
Raekwon rhyme about lowlife dealers hooked on cranberry Snapple as
a Sesame Street-style soul chorus delivers the goods.
55 "Nausea"
[Song]
Beck
Beck writes like a man overwhelmed -- "I'm a seasick sailor/On a
ship of noise" -- but vocally he hangs ten on this choppy-water
collage of Marc Bolan-style strum and Kraftwerk electronics.
56 "Promiscuous"
[Song]
Nelly
Furtado with Timbaland
Timbaland has never jacked the 1980s as shamelessly as he does here
-- it's easy to imagine the Force M.D.'s or Gregory Abbott singing
over this, and that's a compliment.
57 "Love Me or Hate
Me"
[Song]
Lady
Sovereign
"I ain't got the biggest breastesses, but I write all the best
disses": A defiant theme song that hews to the theory that no
insult can hurt if you say it about yourself first, all while
bubbling with Atari electro effects.
58 "Idlewild
Blues"
[Song]
Outkast
The supercatchy soundtrack cut drags hip-hop into the Cotton Club:
Amid a dusty, swinging riff and party-people whoops, Andre 3000
channels both old blues records and his id, transmitting heartache
through swishy croons and swishier scats.
59 "Bossy"
[Song]
Kelis
with Too
$hort
The lady makes demands. Kelis continues her amazing roll with this
fierce hip-hop dominatrix anthem. Nas, be very afraid.
60 "Phenomena"
[Song]
Yeah
Yeah Yeahs
Karen O gets hot for a dude who's "something like an astronomer,"
while Nick Zinner's space-punk guitar rocks like a hip-hop DJ on
the cut.
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61 "Let's Make
Love and Listen to Death From Above"
[Song]
CSS
Five Brazilian girls (plus one dude with an excellent handlebar
'stache) rock their spaz-disco hit describing the perfect
date.
62 "Work, Work, Work
(Pub, Club, Sleep)"
[Song]
The Rakes
A herky-jerky art-rock jam that's pointy and pretty in all the
right places, courtesy of some seriously gangly U.K. boys.
63 "The
Funeral"
[Song]
Band
of Horses
Two Seattle boys with a strong tune sense and lips that need
kissing something fierce make a gloomy downer that sulks like
Tonight's the Night-era Neil Young, then gets epic like
the Arcade Fire.
64 "Put Your Records
On"
[Song]
Corinne Bailey Rae
A breezy, wickedly catchy summer jam that could light up both a
house party and a wine-and-cheese soiree.
65 "Penny on the
Train Track"
[Song]
Ben
Kweller
Inspiration for wistful young men. Imagine a Weezer tune written by
Fats Domino: sloppy-drunk piano pounding with a locomotive engine
rhythm and wide-eyed lyrics.
66 "Ballad of Bitter
Honey"
Eef Barzelay
"That was my ass you saw bouncing/Next to Ludacris," sings nerdy
indie guy Barzelay in the voice of a hip-hop video vixen. The best
folk song ever about "hoochie skanks."
67 "Deja
Vu"
[Song]
Beyonce
with Jay-Z
Not "Crazy in Love," but it'll do: a powerhouse that felt like a
Marvin Gaye-Tammie Terrell duet for the hip-hop generation.
68 "Bigger Boys and
Stolen Sweethearts"
[Song]
Arctic
Monkeys
It probably got left off the album because it sounded too much like
the Libertines, but this superbly jealous, wiggly pub-rock cut from
the I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor EP is well worth
seeking out.
69 "Trouble"
[Song]
Jay-Z
Maybe if Jay leaked this one first instead of "Show Me What You
Got," the heads would have given him a warmer welcome-back cheer.
One of the nastiest Dr. Dre beats in years, and Jay doesn't let it
go.
70 "I
Gotcha"
[Video]
[Song]
Lupe
Fiasco
Backed by a prime Neptunes shuffle tagged to a jazzy piano riff,
Chicago newcomer Fiasco gives his tongue a workout while his brain
works overtime. One of the year's most lovable hip-hop tracks.
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71 "Let Me
Know"
[Song]
Yeah
Yeah Yeahs
This spare acoustic B side to "Gold Lion" could have been a
children's play song: Its lazy martial rhythm and Karen O's vocals
circle endlessly back upon themselves. Perfect for jumping rope or
nodding out.
72 "Louisiana
"
[Video]
[Song]
The
Walkmen
A joyful, laid-back homage to summers spent driving down South at
sunup, from a band that specializes in a peculiar mussed-up
impression of Blonde on Blonde Dylan.
73 "Pushover"
[Song]
The Long Winters
Guitar troubadour surrenders to his girlfriend with two and a half
minutes of rootsy sweetness, and you can't help but surrender
too.
74 "Just
Drums"
[Song]
Tapes
'N Tapes
Minneapolis rockers get you "reeling in fog, kneeling in fog" with
brittle, brutal guitar work in the service of an off-kilter
groove.
75 "Before He
Cheats"
[Song]
Carrie
Underwood
Country-jukebox fave of the year -- the American Idol
sweetheart is reborn as a psycho stalker, slashing her man's tires
outside the honky-tonk.
76 "Fire
Department"
[Song]
Be
Your Own Pet
Four wild-eyed skater-punk teens from Nashville stomp the bejesus
out of a Buzzcocks guitar riff that's older than they are.
77 "Trapped in the
Drive-Thru"
[Song]
"Weird
Al" Yankovic
We thought R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" was beyond parody
until we heard this "Weird Al" joint, which chronicles a couple's
struggle to get dinner.
78 "That's How I Got
To Memphis"
[Song]
Solomon
Burke
Just a warm, weathered voice calling out for a departed lover:
Burke's version of this Tom T. Hall tune is the best song from his
excellent new covers disc.
79 "It's Going
Down"
[Song]
Yung Joc with Nitti
"Meet me in the club/It's going down": More proof of the power of a
pure, synthy snap beat and a singsongy rhyme.
80 "I'm
Free"
[Song]
Pimp
C
A tweaked sample of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin' " makes a perfect
hook for this lovable, slow-rolling celebration of the Houston MC's
release from prison.
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81 "Temperature"
[Video]
[Song]
Sean
Paul
A sweaty sugar-shot hit anchored by the reggae-pop star's zippiest
beat yet.
82 "London
Bridge"
[Song]
Fergie
A true original! Well, not exactly -- just the Black Eyed Peas'
token blonde ripping off "Hollaback Girl" with a boombastic rhythm
track. But it does the trick.
83 "Who's Gonna Help
Brother Get Further"
Elvis
Costello and Allen
Toussaint
Toussaint wrote this funky plea for charity and unity in 1970 for
Lee Dorsey. The urgency is greater in this explosive rock 'n' soul
version, cut in New Orleans four months after Katrina.
84 "The Only
Difference Between Martyrdom and Suicide Is Press
Coverage"
[Song]
Panic!
At the Disco
Sporting a title taken from a Chuck Palahniuk novel, "Difference"
has what Panic! do best: churning riffs, an explosion of syllables
from Brendon Urie that takes the place of a guitar solo, and
hypercatchy non-hooks ("Trophy Boys! Trophy Wives!")
85 "Well Thought Out
Twinkles"
[Song]
Silversun Pickups
If loving Smashing Pumpkins is wrong, then Silversun Pickups don't
wanna be right: bombastically dreamy alt-rock that surges from a
whisper to a shriek.
86 "The Saints are
Coming"
[Song]
Green
Day and U2
Billie Joe Armstrong and Bono rescue a tune from Scottish punk band
the Skids and turn it into a redemption song for New Orleans. Also,
check the live recording from the Superdome.
87 "U +Ur
Hand"
[Song]
Pink
The title reads like a snippet from a nasty text message, and the
huge, sexy song follows suit: Pink walks into a bar and tells a
horny jackass he'll have to get himself off tonight.
88"The
Greatest"
[Song]
Cat
Power
The strings are breathtaking and the backing vocals are ethereal,
but it's Chan Marshall's eerily aching voice that makes this
soar.
89"Show
Me"
[Song]
John
Legend
Legend proves he's more than a mellow piano dude with this fragile
Jeff Buckley-ish tune, powered by a burbling, Hendrix-style guitar
riff.
90"Britney's Silver
Can"
[Song]
James Kochalka Superstar
Kochalka, a very funny moonlighting comic-book artist, makes the
definitive tune about Britney's rough past few years.
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91"Buttons"
[Song]
The
Pussycat Dolls
Pretty much all you could ask for from a horny-girl-group hit:
snaky synths, hot chorus, Snoop cameo. That, and girls begging you
to help them undress.
92"I'm Shipping Up to
Boston"
[Song]
Dropkick
Murphys
Punk vets do for The Departed what the Ronettes did for
Mean Streets, revving up a sea chantey and making it sound
like a tavern full of scurvy pirates.
93"Saving
Grace"
[Video]
[Song]
Tom
Petty
Petty roars on, getting his ZZ Top on with this roadhouse stomper.
Welcome back, old friend.
94"Stuntin' Like My
Daddy"
[Song]
Lil'
Wayne and Birdman
One of the Country's best MCs (Wayne) and his patron Bridman keep
New Orleans on the hip-hop map with a synth-bouncec track that puts
extra grease in your grits. "Cash money still the company," says
Birdman. "And, bitch, I'm the boss." Don?t argue.
95"Don't Feel
Right"
The
Roots
Black Thought sounds fierce on this banger about the world going to
hell in a handbasket while riding a dark ?uestlove beat.
96"If I Was in El
Dorado"
[Song]
Oakley
Hall
Imagine the Band if they were twenty-first-century New York kids. A
steady-rollin' rave-up that wanders off into the tall grass of a
long, loose jam.
97"Automatic
Lover"
[Song]
Teddybears
Scandinavian ex-punks drop a vocoder-driven electropop number.
Think music for robots that's so sexy it'll make your laptop
sigh.
98"Take
Control"
[Song]
Amerie
Ms. "1 Thing" shows she has something else in her pocket. Why
didn't any rock bands have a guitar riff this cold in 2006?
99"Baby Let's Have a
Baby Before Bush Do Somethin' Crazy"
[Song]
The
Coup with Silk E
Introducing War on Terror sex: "Bombs going off everywhere. . . .
But I still got some love to share." The sweet soul helps.
100"Skinny
Boy"
[Song]
Amy
Millan
Singer from Canadian indie-pop outfit Stars applies angel-voiced
cynicism to delicious Mazzy Star-style tune. Best line: "You've got
lips I could spend a day with."
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