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This is just a list I've been adding to (and not taking away from) for ages now, of bands I've decided at the time deserved a place on it. Looking at some of them now, there are a few I hardly like at all any more, so it's not 100% representative of my taste, but neither are my overall charts. Perhaps they balance eachother.


3 Inches of Blood
The 69 Eyes
A Perfect Circle
A Skylit Drive
AC/DC
Acid Bath
After Forever
Agents of Oblivion
Alesana
Alexisonfire
Alice Cooper
Alice in Chains
all:my:faults
Aphex Twin
Apocalyptica
Apoptygma Berzerk
Arcade Fire
Arch Enemy
As I Lay Dying
Avril Lavigne
Bauhaus
The Beatles
Bella Morte
Beto Vázquez Infinity
Billy Idol
The Birthday Massacre
Black Sabbath
Blind Guardian
Bloc Party
Blur
Boards of Canada
Bullet For My Valentine
Cascada
Cathedral
Children of Bodom
Chiodos
Chumbawamba
The Clash
Coheed and Cambria
Coldplay
Corrosion of Conformity
Cradle of Filth
The Crüxshadows
The Cure
Daft Punk
Dark Moor
Deadboy & the Elephantmen
Deathstars
Delain
Demons & Wizards
Derek and the Dominos
Devendra Banhart
Dimmu Borgir
Dir en grey
The Doors
Draconian
DragonForce
Dreadful Shadows
The Dresden Dolls
Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Wizard
Elvenking
Ensiferum
Epica
Escape the Fate
Evanescence
The Fall of Troy
The Feeling
Finntroll
The Flaming Lips
Four Tet
Franz Ferdinand
The Fratellis
Freternia
Funker Vogt
Gackt
Gamma Ray
The Go! Team
Gorillaz
Hard-Fi
Hawthorne Heights
Hellogoodbye
The Holloways
I Am Ghost
IAMX
Iced Earth
In Flames
Infected Mushroom
Inkubus Sukkubus
Iron Maiden
It Dies Today
Jack Off Jill
The Jam
Jason Mraz
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Joss Stone
Katatonia
Keane
Klaxons
The KLF
KOTOKO
Kraftwerk
La Roux
Lacuna Coil
Lady GaGa
Leaves' Eyes
Led Zeppelin
Linkin Park
Little Man Tate
Lostprophets
Lunatica
Madness
MALICE MIZER
Manic Street Preachers
Metallica
Mind.In.A.Box
Mindless Self Indulgence
Misfits
Moonspell
Muse
My Dying Bride
The New Radicals
Nightwish
Nine Inch Nails
Nirvana
Oasis
ohGr
Ozzy Osbourne
P!nk
Panic! At the Disco
Pierce the Veil
Pink Floyd
Placebo
The Police
The Postal Service
Power Quest
Primal Scream
Queen
Queens of the Stone Age
R.E.M.
Rammstein
Rascal Flatts
Razorlight
The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Rob Zombie
The Rolling Stones
Rotersand
Röyksopp
Scissor Sisters
Seabound
Silverstein
Sinergy
The Sisters of Mercy
Skillet
Skinny Puppy
The Smiths
Snow Patrol
Sonata Arctica
Squarepusher
Stewart Copeland
The Stone Roses
Stone Sour
The Style Council
Suede
System of a Down
Tarot
Terrorvision
Thirteen Senses
Tool
Tristania
U2
The Upper Room
Vashti Bunyan
The Velvet Underground
The White Stripes
White Zombie
The Who
Wintersun
Within Temptation
:wumpscut:
Xandria
X JAPAN
Yes

Rolling Stone recently came out with their top 100 songs of the decade and it really disappointed me. Not only was their list mostly composed of major label artists, but it also lacked a lot of the hindsight of the past decade, focusing only on artists from the past few years.

I vowed then and there to make a better list -- I'm not saying that these are the best 100 songs of the past decade, but I think this list better represents artists large and small, singles and non-singles, and also reflects music of the past decade more than what Rolling Stone put out there. You're welcome to disagree with me as you like.

1. At the Drive-In - Arcarsenal
2. Radiohead - Knives Out
3. Shipwreck - Melusine
4. Deltron 3030 - 3030
5. Deftones - Change (In the House of Flies)
6. Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood
7. !!! - Feel Good Hit of the Fall
8. Interpol - Obstacle 1
9. ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Another Morning Stoner
10. The Dismemberment Plan - Following Through
11. Rainer Maria - Artificial Light
12. Queens of the Stone Age - Go With The Flow
13. The Black Keys - 10 A.M. Automatic
14. Daft Punk - Harder Better Faster Stronger
15. M83 - 0078h
16. Reverend and The Makers - Heavyweight Champion Of The World
17. ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Heart in the Hand of the Matter
18. Fugazi - The Kill
19. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Y Control
20. Muse - Stockholm Syndrome
21. The Mars Volta - Inertiatic ESP
22. Secret Machines - Faded Lines
23. William Shatner - Common People (feat. Joe Jackson)
24. System of a Down - Chop Suey!
25. Mew - Snow Brigade
26. Unwound - October All Over
27. Death From Above 1979 - Romantic Rights
28. Sonic Youth - Reena
29. I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - At Last Is All
30. The Appleseed Cast - Fight Song
31. Blonde Redhead - Dr. Strangeluv
32. Soulwax - NY Excuse
33. Editors - All Sparks
34. Cave In - Anchor
35. Kasabian - L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)
36. Minus the Bear - Pachuca Sunrise
37. Les Savy Fav - The Sweat Descends
38. Mastodon - Blood and Thunder
39. The National - Apartment Story
40. Probot - Shake Your Blood
41. Deastro - Vermillion Plaza
42. The Walkmen - The Rat
43. Nada Surf - Hi Speed Soul
44. The Hives - Hate To Say I Told You So
45. dredg - Bug Eyes
46. British Sea Power - Carrion
47. Gorillaz - DARE
48. Test Icicles - Circle Square Triangle
49. Starflyer 59 - Things Like This Help Me
50. The Jim Yoshii Pile - Up - Silver Sparkler
51. Sonic Youth - Pink Steam
52. Faunts - M4 (part ii)
53. Beck - Gamma Ray
54. Justice - D.A.N.C.E.
55. The Kills - Love Is a Deserter
56. Headlights - It Isn't Easy To Live That Well
57. A Perfect Circle - The Outsider
58. 120 Days - Come Out (Come Down, Fade Out, Be Gone)
59. Peter, bjorn and john - Young Folks
60. Radio 4 - All In Control
61. Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
62. Ikara Colt - Automatic
63. TV on the Radio - Halfway Home
64. Soulwax - Accidents and Compliments
65. A Place to Bury Strangers - My Weakness
66. Deltron 3030 - Positive Contact
67. Telefon Tel Aviv - The Birds
68. Andy Palacio & The Garifuna Collective - Miami
69. The Black Angels - The First Vietnamese War
70. Klaxons - Two Receivers
71. The Rapture - Sister Saviour
72. Beck - Think I'm In Love
73. LCD Soundsystem - North American Scum
74. The Raveonettes - Dead Sound
75. Wilderness - Marginal Over
76. DeVotchKa - Transliterator
77. Whitey - Stay On The Outside
78. Nine Inch Nails - Echoplex
79. Radiohead - Reckoner
80. Doves - Kingdom Of Rust
81. John Frusciante - Omission
82. HEALTH - We Are Water
83. The Phenomenal Handclap Band - Tears
84. Battle - Tendency
85. Death Cab for Cutie - Meet Me On the Equinox
86. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Love Burns
87. Guitar Wolf - Invader Ace
88. Interpol - Specialist
89. The Avalanches - Frontier Psychiatrist
90. The Faint - Agenda Suicide
91. Primal Scream - Accelerator
92. Calla - Simone
93. The Life and Times - My Last Hostage
94. The Gossip - Listen Up!
95. Cut Copy - Hearts On Fire
96. Tracer - Indigenous
97. Bloc Party - Luno
98. The Raconteurs - Steady, as She Goes
99. Les Savy Fav - Hold on to Your Genre
100. The Flaming Lips - Pompeii Am Götterdammerung

First, make a list of your top-20 artists overall. Then, for each of these artists, add the 8 most similar artists to your list. Delete any duplicates, count up the number of entries on your list and this will give you some idea of how eclectic your listening habits are. A score of 9 represents an extremely unvaried musical taste while a 160 represents an extremely varied one.

Jack Johnson

1 Donavon Frankenreiter
2 Matt Costa
3 Animal Liberation Orchestra
4 Zach Gill
5 Ben Harper
6 John Mayer
7 G. Love & Special Sauce
8 Jason Mraz

Beans on Toast

9 Frank Turner
10 Kid Harpoon
11 Chris T-T
12 Jay Jay Pistolet
13 Laura Marling
14 Jeremy Warmsley
15 Johnny Flynn
16 Emmy the Great

Bad Religion

17 Pennywise
18 NOFX
19 Lagwagon
20 Descendants
21 Anti-Flag
22 Millencolin
23 Good Riddance
24 No Use for a Name

A Day to Remember

25 The Devil Wears Prada
26 Attack Attack!
27 Four Year Strong
28 A Skylit Drive
29 Set Your Goals
30 Asking Alexandria
31 I See Stars
32 Silverstein

Billy Talent

33 Pezz
34 Rise Against
35 Sum 41
36 Zebrahead
Anti-Flag
37 Green Day
38 The Offspring
39 Three Days Grace

Frank Turner

Beans On Toast
40 The King Blues
41 Chuck Ragan
Chris T-T
42 Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
43 Dave House
44 Mumford & Sons
45 Jonah Matranga

The John Butler Trio

46 Xavier Rudd
47 The Beautiful Girls
48 Powderfinger
49 Dispatch
50 Blue King Brown
51 Bernard Fanning
52 The Waifs
53 Ben Harper

Wax Tailor

54 Chinese Man
55 Blockhead
56 Le Peuple de l'Herbe
57 Doctor Flake
58 Sporto Kantes
59 Birdy Nam Nam
60 Waldeck
61 The Herbaliser

Incubus

62 Foo Fighters
63 Audiovent
64 Audioslave
65 311
66 Chevelle
67 A Perfect Circle
68 Deftones
69 Alien Ant Farm

Chimaira

70 DevilDriver
71 Lamb of God
72 Machine Head
73 God Forbid
74 Unearth
75 Bleed the Sky
76 Shadows Fall
77 Divine Heresy

Joshua Radin

78 William Fitzsimmons
79 Schuyler Fisk
80 The Weepies
81 Cary Brothers
82 Meiko
83 Matt Nathanson
84 Joshua James
85 Ingrid Michaelson

Lagwagon

86 Bad Astronaut
87 No Use for a Name
Good Riddance
88 Pulley
89 Strung Out
NOFX
90 No Fun At All
Pennywise

Pearl Jam

91 Eddie Vedder
92 Temple of the Dog
93 Alice in Chains
94 Mother Love Bone
95 Soundgarden
96 Mad Season
97 Stone Gossard
98 Screaming Trees

Avenged Sevenfold

99 Bullet For My Valentine
100 Atreyu
101 The Confession
102 Trivium
103 Eighteen Visions
104 All That Remains
105 Killswitch Engage
106 Escape the Fate

Seether

107 Shinedown
108 Staind
109 Breaking Benjamin
110 Three Days Grace
111 Puddle of Mudd
112 Crossfade
113 Alter Bridge
114 Saliva

Common Rider

115 Against All Authority
117 Operation Ivy
118 The Suicude Machine
119 The Arrogant Sons of Bitches
120 Big D and the Kids Table
121 MU330
122 Bomb the Music Industry!
123 Slapstick

Queens of the Stone Age

124 Desert Sessions
125 Eagles of Death Metal
126 Kyuss
127 The Crooked Vultures
128 Mundo Generator
129 Masters of Reality
130 Fatso Jetson
131 Fu Manchu

Donavon Frankenreiter

Jack Johnson
Animal Liberation Orchestra
Matt Costa
The Beautiful Girls
132 G. Love
133 Pete Murray
G. Love & Special Sauce
Ben Harper

Millencolin

Pennywise
Lagwagon
No Use for a Name
No Fun At All
NOFX
Pulley
Bad Religion
134 Satanic Surfers

Rage Against the Machine

135 One Day as a Lion
Audioslave
136 Zach De La Rocha
137 The Nightwatchman
138 Street Sweeper Social Club
139 Red Hot Chili Peppers
140 Limp Bizkit
141 Tool

141 out 160 isn't bad, would of been better with 160 obviously

A
Alex Turner
Arctic Monkeys

B
Babyshambles
Blondelle
Blondie
Blur
Bombay Bicycle Club

C
Calvin Harris

D
David Bowie
Dirty Pretty Things
Dizzee Rascal
Does It Offend You, Yeah?

E
Empire of the Sun
Enter Shikari

F
Five O'Clock Heroes
Florence + The Machine
Franz Ferdinand
Friendly Fires

G
Gary Numan!
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly
Glasvegas
Good Shoes

H
Hadouken!
Hockey
Hot Hot Heat

J
Jamie T
Joy Division
Julian Casablancas

K
Kasabian
Kings of Leon
Klaxons

L
La Roux
Late of the Pier
Lightspeed Champion
Little Boots

M
Marina & the Diamonds
Marmaduke Duke
MGMT
Milburn
Mongrel
Mystery Jets
M.I.A

N
New Cassettes
New Order
New Young Pony Club
Nickel Eye

O
Oasis
Ou Est Le Swimming Pool

P
Paloma Faith
Pendulum
Peter Doherty
Phoenix
Plasticines

Q
Queens of the Stone Age

R
Razorlight
Remi Nicole
Reverend and The Makers
Robots in Disguise

S
Santigold
Simian Mobile Disco
Skint & Demoralised
Stricken City

T
The Asteroids Galaxy Tour
The Beatles
The Big Pink
The Charlatans
The Clash
The Coral
The Courteeners
The Cribs
The Cure
The Dead Weather
The Dead 60s
The Dodgems
The Enemy
The Flaming Lips
The Fratellis
The Gossip
The Hives
The Holloways
The Horrors
The Human League
The Jam
The Kilers
The Kills
The Last Shadow Puppets
The Libertines
The Like
The Living End
The Long Blondes
The Maccabees
The Paddingtons
The Prodigy
The Rapture
The Rascals
The Raveonettes
The Rumble Strips
The Smiths
The Strokes
The Suzukis
The Temper Trap
The View
The White Stripes
The Who
The Wombats
Them Crooked Vultures
Transformer
TV on the Radio

V
Vampire Weekend

W
We Are Scientists
White Lies

Y
Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Sun 13 Dec – Them Crooked Vultures, Sweethead

Another gig, another missed support act. This is getting to be quite an accidental habit, and one I don't like very much at that!
However, this was a slight exception in the fact that I didn't actually care an awful lot. I just knew that this was one of these gigs where whatever was before the main event would just feel like a slow, dragging annoyance, no matter how good they were. Seems they were called Sweethead. Oh well, Sweethead...me and you, it just wasn't meant to be...

BECAUSE I AM GOING TO WATCH THEM CROOKED VULTURES.
Quite unlike my usual wafflings I am having trouble with exactly how to put into words how astonishing this gig was. I thought they were gonna shake the whole Winter Gardens down, that's how much it rocked. They're the first new band in ages that rock so hard they make me pull cheesy rock faces while listening to them, and that's just in my car! Imagine my cheesy rock faces now!! (Good job it was dark).
Of course the set was made up of tracks from the recently released self-titled album. (Them Crooked Vultures), but there was just the one track somewhere around the middle that I didn't recognise. They mixed stuff up a bit of course, rather than just playing every track as it is on record...it would've been rude not to, given the circumstances. My personal highlight being JPJ's keyboard solo towards the end of the show.

Of the three members, it is Dave Grohl that I have had the least musical love affair with, however the sheer unadulterated power of his drumming hits you like a jackknife juggernaut. Aside from (of course) John Bonham, he and John Paul Jones make the perfect team.
As for Josh Homme, I saw him with Queens of the Stone Age at Leeds Festival 2005, but never since. The man's a god, he's like rock music personified. I don't want to sound like a gushing fangirl here but I just can't help it. Everything seems so effortless with him, he's got so much swagger I'm surprised he doesn't fall over all the time (swigging neat vodka onstage can't help in that matter, either...far out man, far out.) If I were a man I would actually want to be Josh Homme. Hell, I think I want to be Josh Homme as it is!

As for John Paul Jones...well, what can I say. He really is The Thunderthief, because he stole it and delivered it to Blackpool!! (Fnarrr). Obviously his bass lines are always THERE, but just sometimes he pulls out a phrase that jumps straight out of the track, makes your ears prick up, think "what the...?!" and then pull another inevitable cheesy rock face.

All in all, though, it didn't matter who the band members were. Even if their album had been released as a debut by some unknowns, it would still be the most outstanding collection of rock songs I've heard in ages. Of course this can't help but translate 100-fold live when you've got three rock legends (I hate that phrase but there's not really a better way of putting it...) on the stage. From time to time I even found myself forgetting who I was watching, because the songs just suck you in.
Them Crooked Vultures are my new favourite band, and the fact that they just happen to be an excuse to further hero-worship (especially) two of their members then I guess that's just the way it'll have to be.

Albums of the year - 2009
Two ratings, one for the album, one for the album compared to average of artist's previous albums. Mostly just for me to come back to next year to have a look.

LPs

1) dredg - The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion, 10/10 - 8.5/10
Most poppy of their albums but it’s still fucking amazing.
2) Muse- The Resistance, 9/10 – 7.5/10
Exogenesis <3
3) Alice in Chains - Black Gives Way To Blue 8.5/10 - 8/10
Not quite up there with Dirt and EPs, but it’s growing on me.
4) Amorphis – Skyforger, 8/10 – 8/10
5) AFI - Crash Love, 7.5/10 - 8/10
One of my fav AFI albums. I thought they were full-on going emo after Decemberunderground, but luckily they decided to write a decent rock record
6) Placebo- Battle For The Sun 7/10 - 6/10
6) Porcupine Tree - The Incident, 7/10 - 6/10
7) The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die, 7/10 - 7/10
9) N.A.S.A. - The Spirit of Apollo, 7/10
Good bunch of collaborations with decent artists. It works.
10) K'naan – Troubadour, 7/10 - 6/10
Much shorter and not as good as The Dusty Foot Philosopher, but has some good songs (my favs – Wavin Flag, Fire In Firetown, I Come Prepared, Fatima)

EPs.

1) Puscifer- "C" Is for (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference HERE), 10/10 - 10/10. (The new 3 tracks are pretty much the best Puscifer tracks)
2) Massive Attack - Splitting The Atom, 8/10 - 8/10 (3 really good songs and1 really boring one- Bulletproof Love)
3) RJD2 - Tin Foil Hat, 6.5/10 - 6/10 (fav track - Thine Planetarium)
4) Modest Mouse - No One's First, And You're Next, 6/10 – 4/10 (it is a collection of B-sdies hence why it’s not that good)

Pretty Decent LPs

Katatonia - Night Is The New Day (need to listen to this more)
Imogen Heap - Ellipse
k-os - Yes!
Norah Jones - The Fall
Weezer – Ratitude (usual weezer immaturity)
Owl City - Ocean Eyes
Billy Talent - Billy Talent III (solid catchy album as usual)
Chali 2na - Fish Outta Water
Dream Theater - Black Clouds & Silver Linings (need to listen to more)
Dub Pistols - Rum & Coke
Eminem – Relapse (never gonna match SS or MM Lps but not bad)
Mos Def - The Ecstatic
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz!
Zero 7 - Yeah Ghost
Ziggy Marley - Family Time
Jazz Liberatorz – Fruits of the Past (random good find, jazzy hip-hop)
Kid Cudi - Man On The Moon: The End Of Day (pretty good for mainstream hip-hop. Whole album is pretty good)
Metric– Fantasies
The Sounds - Crossing The Rubicon
Tech N9ne – Sickology 101 (pretty angry lyrics but he can rhyme pretty damn well)
Awol One & Factor – Owl Hours
The Crystal Method – Divided By Night

Ones that should have been much better

311 - Uplifter
Air - Love 2
Lacuna Coil – Shallow Life (really forgettable)
Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures (eh.. guys, it doesn’t work especially well. Let’s get back to Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age and retirement)
Street Sweeper Social Club - Street Sweeper Social Club (a lot of it blends into one, maybe I’m just pissed it’s not RATM)
Elysian Fields –The Afterlife (maybe I need to listen to it more, but not especially liking this one)
Dizze Rascal - Tongue N' Cheek (only a few ok songs, the others are puke-inducing - Holiday, Leisure, etc)

The utter anal crap

Chris Cornell – Scream

Pretty good year for music. The top 10, especially top 3 made it a pretty excellent year.

101. Muse - Map Of Your Head
Impressively, this is one of two Muse B-sides on the list, showing the depth of their catalogue.

102. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps
This was released back in 2003 and it still feels fresh.

103. Death Cab for Cutie - Marching Bands of Manhattan
Okay, the lyrics are mostly cringe-worthy (except for the part about living like a hermit in your own head), but it's a great tune.

104. Oceansize - Massive Bereavement
Oceansize is probably the most underrated band of our time. The climax of this song is mind-blowing.

105. Slow Club - Me and You
"I've got a feeling someone else is reading the letters I wrote to you."
"Well my pet's illiterate and I live alone, so it's someone in betwixt of me and you."

106. The Mars Volta - Meccamputechture
They manage to make a saxophone sound menacing, which is an accomplishment in itself.

107. Oceansize - Meredith
The first Oceansize song I really loved. Apparently this was on The O.C.?

108. The National - Mistaken for Strangers
It's hard for The National to make a really bad song, because Matt Berninger's voice is so awesome, but the songwriting on this one stands out.

109. Frightened Rabbit - The Modern Leper
An overwhelmingly good track.

110. Joanna Newsom - Monkey & Bear
Lyrically, this is Joanna Newsom's most cohesive song. It tells an interesting story, which unlike most of her songs is fairly easy to follow.

111. Animal Collective - My Girls
Animal Collective: it's not just for hipsters anymore!

112. Fleet Foxes - Mykonos
I can't decide whether this or White Winter Hymnal is their best song. This is the more complex of the two, though.

113. The New Pornographers - Myriad Harbour
The vocals on this song are just bursting with joy. It's hard not to smile when you listen to it.

114. Arcade Fire - Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
Youthful idealism tinged with sorrow in the form of a song.

115. Queens of the Stone Age - No One Knows
That riff!

116. Radiohead - Nude
I'm just glad that when I google this I don't get pictures of Thom Yorke naked.
("You'll go to hell for what your dirty mind is thinking...")

117. The Decemberists - O Valencia!
Colin Meloy's voice is always kind of flat, but it's got a certain charm, especially on this song.

118. Grizzly Bear - On a Neck, On a Spit
These guys sure can write songs. Everything on this song is put together perfectly, but the drumming stands out.

119. Regina Spektor - On the Radio
This song reminds me how great "November Rain" is. Also, it's got some of Regina Spektor's most touching lyrics.

120. Oceansize - One Day All This Could Be Yours
Chilling.

121. Joanna Newsom - Only Skin
The best song on the best album of the decade. I can't possibly say enough good things about it.

122. Oceansize - Ornament/the Last Wrongs
If you only listen to one Oceansize song, make it this one. But really, you should listen to everything they've ever recorded.

123. Okkervil River - Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe
Yet again, Will Sheff's impassioned vocals make this song.

124. Audioslave - Out Of Exile
Awesome solo.

125. Hot Chip - Over And Over
The joy of repetition.

126. Björk - Pagan Poetry
One of the best videos of the decade, for one of the best tracks.

127. of Montreal - The Past is a Grotesque Animal
Too many good lyrics to list. The 12 minutes go by like 4.

128. Regina Spektor - Pavlov's Daughter
The best of her early songs, on which her quirkiness really comes through.

129. Joanna Newsom - Peach, Plum, Pear
Best harpsichord solo since The Art of the Fugue?

130. The Shins - Phantom Limb
Well, The Shins didn't change my life, but this is a great song.

131. Muse - Plug In Baby
Sure, it's just an arpeggio, but I bet you've never come up with a riff this good.

132. Coldplay - Politik
This is from when Coldplay used to write good songs. Ah, those were the days.

133. Explosions in the Sky - A Poor Man's Memory
A lot of EITS songs leave me cold, but I really like this (and Have You Passed Through This Night?).

134. Ludovico Einaudi - Primavera
This is the only classical song on my list - I mean, the 21st century isn't exactly known for its classical music. Einaudi obviously takes a cue from Vivaldi, because you can hear the influence of the cascading strings from the last movement of Summer (not Spring, ironically) on this track.

135. Animal Collective - The Purple Bottle
Animal Collective's lyrics are somehow obtuse and direct at the same time, especially in their love songs: "Sometimes I'm naked and thank God sometimes you're naked, well hello." The last couple minutes of this song are incredible.

136. The Fiery Furnaces - Quay Cur
This is the first Fiery Furnaces song I heard, and I was hooked after about 30 seconds.

137. Carla Bruni - Quelqu'un m'a dit
I'm willing to bet that Michelle Obama couldn't write a song this good.

138. Bon Iver - Re: Stacks
"This is not the sound of a new man or a crispy realization"

139. Regina Spektor - Real Love
I don't listen to many covers, and this is the only one on my list. But damn, the crescendo at the end is soulful.

140. Mates of State - The Re-Arranger
Again, how am I the only one who really loves Re-Arrange Us?

141. Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
The best song on the album, and it's an amazing album.

142. Muse - Recess
Most bands would kill to have a bassline like this on an A-side or an album track, let alone a B-side.

143. Radiohead - Reckoner
Thom Yorke singing "Because we separate like ripples on a blank shore..." gives me goosebumps every time.

144. The Strokes - Reptilia
Incredibly catchy. This is the song that made me pay attention to the Strokes.

145. Portishead - The Rip
Haunting. The keyboards and general droniness at the end combine perfectly with Beth Gibbons' vocals.

146. Akron/Family - River
What an uplifting song. It's even more awesome live, like every Akron/Family song. (Seriously, their live show is like a big party.)

147. Bright Eyes - Road to Joy
Okay, it's pretty lazy to use Ode to Joy as the basis for a song, but Conor Oberst does magical things with it.

148. Islands - Rough Gem
This is what cotton candy would be like in the form of music.

149. The Mars Volta - Roulette Dares (The Haunt of)
Surprisingly, since De-Loused in the Comatorium is my favourite Mars Volta album, this is the only song from it on my list. The "exoskeletal junction at the railroad delayed" refrain is stunning.

150. Au - RR vs. D
This sounds like the kind of song WHY? would write, and that's a good thing. It also has pretty much the best use of handclaps in an indie song I've heard.