The name makes increasingly less sense as time goes on, and iPods join Walkmen as museum pieces, but the name is traditional at this point.
1. “Glue Sniffer” – Daddy Issues 2. “Make Me Feel” – Janelle Monáe 3. “Best Friend” – Sofi Tukker 4. “When the Tequila Runs Out” – Dawes 5. “Lucky Penny” – JD McPherson 6. “Hope the High Road” – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit 7. “Wild and Reckless” – Blitzen Trapper 8. “Bikini” – Caroline Rose 9. “Kill of the Night” – Gin Wigmore 10. “Oldest Surfer on the Beach” – Jimmy Buffett 11. “Sweet Child O’ Mine” – Metalachi 12. “Island Song” – Adventure Time and Ashley Ericksson 13. “Hunt You Down” – The Hit House 14. “Flower of the Universe” – Sade 15. “Today is the Day” – The Eels 16. “Run to Your Mama” – Goat 17. “California Love” – 2Pac 18. “You Will Be Free” – The Thermals 19. “Matador” – The Buttertones 20. “Jenny Loves the Sun” – Dead Coast 21. “Bomb (Girly-Sound Version)” – Liz Phair 22. “Livin’ On a Prayer” – Metalachi 23. “Kelp Monster” – Babewatch 24. “Swedish Fish” – Bombón 25. “Suckerfish (Girly-Sound Version)” – Liz Phair
I got fewer books read this year than I’d like. That’s partly because things got busy at times, but also because the final two Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser books — Swords & Ice Magic and The Knight and Knave of Swords — are real slogs. Like Heinlein, toward the end of his life, Leiber was probably over-sharing about his sexual proclivities, making for dissatisfying adventure stories that are also impressively anti-erotic. I’m glad that I read them, but I’d never recommend the last two or three of those books to others.
The book club with my son included The One and Only Ivan, which is set to be a Disney movie in the coming years, I believe, and was a really great book assigned at school. We also read Traveler: The Spiral Path, the illustrated version of the first Harry Potter novel, the House with a Clock in Its Walls, and Squirm all of which we enjoyed.
Because the unexamined musical taste is not worth indulging.
And yes, a lot of stuff off of soundtracks this year, along with stuff I was listening to on KROQ when I moved to Los Angeles 20 years ago this past August. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.
I hope there will be more looking forward musically in 2018, rather than looking back.
1. “Love Is” – Dude York
2. “You’ll Never Walk Alone” – Dropkick Murphys
3. “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” – Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
4. “Talk to Me” – Run the Jewels
5. “I Love Seattle” – Tacocat
6. “Nowhere to Run” – Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
7. “Big Time” – Peter Gabriel
8. “Fight the Power” – Public Enemy
9. “The Power” – Sweet Spirit
10. “Love” – Lana Del Rey
11. “Add It Up” – Violent Femmes
12. “Little Blue World” – Jeremy Messersmith
13. “Morning Glory (iTunes Live: London Festival)” – Oasis
14. “Everywhere” – Ex Hex
15. “Gamma Knife” – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
16. “Cigarettes & Alcohol” – Oasis
17. “Fox on the Run” – The Sweet
18. “Blister in the Sun” – Violent Femmes
19. “Der Kommissar” – After the Fire
20. “Immigrant Song” – Led Zeppelin
21. “Don’t Look Back in Anger” – Oasis
22. “Baby Driver” – Simon & Garfunkel
23. “Hazy Shade of Winter” – The Bangles
24. “The End of Things” – Bob Mould
25. “Nightmare” – Bruise Violet
In 2017, I did something I haven’t done since 2013, which was abandon an unreadable book. Despite that, I easily beat my goal of reading 17 books over the course of the year, in part because my fifth grader and I started our own book club, to help him reach his reading goals in school.
Ironically, A Wrinkle in Time is an easier read, according to the Accelerated Reader website than the Warcraft and Minecraft novels we read, despite being much meatier in all the most important ways. And yes, he and I will be there opening weekend for the movie this spring, so we can play compare and contrast with the book.
This year’s goal is 18 books. I had never intended to have these synch up with the calendar year, but that’s an easy way to remember the goal, I suppose. (It’s going to be grim in 2100, though.)
Like so many other things 2016-related, I’m not going to even try to justify that title making sense any more. This is also the first one of these lists to feature a band I first heard playing live at a presidential candidate’s rally. And finally, also true to 2016, there’s a lot of dead people on this year’s list.
1. “Never Come Back Again” – Austin Plaine
2. “Sleep When Dead” – A Giant Dog
3. “All Work” – Fever High
4. “I Shall Rise (From ‘Rise of the Tomb Raider’)” – Karen O
5. “Ain’t I a Man” – The Foghorns
6. “This Land is Your Land” – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
7. “Let’s Be Still” – The Head and the Heart
8. “I Can Be Afraid of Anything” – The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die
9. “Make the World” – Lee Fields & the Expressions
10. “Lady Liberty” – Dressy Bessy
11. “Tangerines” – The Gods Themselves
12. “Stop” – Jane’s Addiction
13. “Authority Song” – John Cougar Mellencamp
14. “Girl From Conejo Valley” – M. Ward
15. “Runaway” – Nice As Fuck
16. “I Could Never Take The Place of Your Man” – Prince
17. “Drive North” – SWMRS
18. “Kirby” – Aesop Rock
19. “Grown Man” – Full Moon Royalty
20. “Nothing More to Say” – The Frightnrs
21. “Bad Reputation” – Joan Jett
22. “Video Games” – Lana Del Rey
23. “Katmandu” – Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band
24. “Good Girls” – Elle King
25. “Hurt” – Johnny Cash
26. “Hole in My Soul” – Kaiser Chiefs
27. “Tiki Hut” – Miles Corbin
28. “You Know I’m No Good” – Arctic Monkeys
29. “Fishing Blues (feat. The Grouch)” – Atmosphere
30. “One Big Holiday” – My Morning Jacket
31. “Guns” – Nice As Fuck
32. “California (Tchad Blake Mix)” – Phantom Planet
33. “Can’t Hardly Wait” – The Replacements
34. “I’m Still Here” – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
35. “Hey You” – The Thermals
36. “California Kids” – Weezer
37. “Valerie” – Amy Winehouse
38. “Space Oddity” – David Bowie
39. “Mujer Moderna” – Fea
40. “You Want It Darker” – Leonard Cohen
41. “Sweet Child O’ Mine” – The Martini Kings
42. “Little Red Corvette” – Prince
43. “Awkward Waltz” – Acapulco Lips
44. “Bravado” – Aqua Velvets
45. “Shame” – Big Bad Hats
46. “Hightimes” – The Big Pink
47. “Keep on Keepin’ On” – Bleached
48. “No Sleep Till Brooklyn (Daft Science Remix)” – Coins
49. “The Midnight Special” – Creedence Clearwater Revival
50. “Changes” – David Bowie
51. “Green Peppers” – Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
52. “Blue Jeans” – Lana Del Rey
53. “Take Five” – Martini Kings
54. “Galaxy Song” – Monty Python
55. “1999 (Edit)” – Prince
56. “Killing in the Name (Live)” – Prophets of Rage
57. “Taurus” – Spirit
58. “Ha Ha Ha Ha (Yeah)” – White Denim
59. “Gringo” – Aqua Velvets
60. “Jockey Full of Bourbon” – The Blue Hawaiians
61. “Daydream” – Britta Phillips
62. “Alive/Intergalactic (Daft Science Remix)” – Coins
63. “Three Packs a Day” – Courtney Barnett
64. “Life on Mars?” – David Bowie
65. “Too Soon” – DMA’S
66. “Dancing With Myself” – The Donnas
67. “Where the Night Goes” – Josh Ritter
68. “Bone” – King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard
69. “Soul Bossa Nova” – The Martini Kings
70. “Angel” – Nice As Fuck
71. “Take Me With U” – Prince & The Revolution
72. “100 Days, 100 Nights” – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
73. “Where Did You Sleep Last Night (Live)” – Sonny Knight & The Lakers
74. “Black Hole Sun” – Soundgarden
75. “Swampbilly Hop” – Aqua Velvets
76. “The Kingdom of the Universe” – Ashley Park
77. “Red House” – Chase Walker Band
78. “Fame” – David Bowie
79. “Radio” – Lana Del Rey
80. “Hurtin’ (On the Bottle)” – Margo Price
81. “Cantaloupe Island” – Martini Kings
82. “Door” – Nice As Fuck
83. “Numb” – O.J.R.
84. “Killer” – Phoebe Bridgers
85. “Darling Nikki” – Prince & The Revolution
86. “Prophets of Rage” – Prophets of Rage
87. “Dark Necessities” – Red Hot Chili Peppers
88. “Another Lie” – Stewart Lindsey
89. “L.A. Girlz” – Weezer
90. “Beauty and the Beach” – Aqua Velvets
91. “Ain’t It a Sin” – Charles Bradley
92. “Nothing But Love” – James
93. “Homerun” – Nice As Fuck
94. “Raspberry Beret” – Prince
95. “No Sleep Til Cleveland (Live)” – Prophets of Rage
96. “Good Man” – Raphael Saadiq
97. “All For One” – The Stone Roses
98. “Orange Color Queen” – Ty Segall
99. “Bulletproof Love (feat. Method Man)” – Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad
100. “Surf Boogie” – Aqua Velvets
Previous editions can be found here: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. This is now a long-term longitudinal study with data that no one but me cares about.
Ironically, A Wrinkle in Time is an easier read, according to the Accelerated Reader website than the Warcraft and Minecraft novels we read, despite being much meatier in all the most important ways. And yes, he and I will be there opening weekend for the movie this spring, so we can play compare and contrast with the book.
