Top 500 Songs Of 2009 - #200-#176

#200 White Lies - "E.S.T." from "To Lose My Life" - White Lies is the darkest of the Joy Division influenced indie rock bands that have claimed a huge chunk of the market. "To Lose My Life" is the first I've heard from them, but they seem to have a promising future.

#199 Rain Machine - "Smiling Black Faces" from "Rain Machine" - This isn't the highest charting Rain Machine song, but I thought this would be a good time to point out that Rain Machine is a TV on the Radio side project. The band itself had a cover of Bowie's "Heroes" on the "Dark Was The Night" compilation, but that song didn't make my countdown.

#198 Green Day - "East Jesus Nowhere" from "21st Century Breakdown"

#197 Lou Barlow - "Gravitate" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist

#196 Robyn Hitchcock - "Up To Our Necks" from "Goodnight Oslo" - Robyn's only song on this year's countdown, "Up" seems like it must be some sort of lost relic from the British Invasion.

#195 Grizzly Bear - "Slow Life" from "Twilight: New Moon Soundtrack" - Seriously, "New Moon" might be the worst blockbuster since Bad Boys 2, but I struggle to think of anything that's promoted indie rock to the masses more in recent years than the "Twilight" series.

#194 K'naan - "15 Minutes Away" from "Troubador"

#193 Bob Mould - "Argos" from "Life And Times"

#192 Dinosaur Jr. - "Friends" from "Farm"

#191 Green Day - "Know Your Enemy" from "21st Century Breakdown"

#190 Brand New - "At The Bottom" from "Daisy"

#189 Street Sweeper Social Club - "Clap For The Killers" from "Street Sweeper Social Club" - Rage-ish lyrics combine with a fantastic Morello hook for the best non-Rage song of Tom's career.

#188 Camera Obscura - "French Navy" from "My Maudlin Career" - The best female vocal in a pop song not released by Neko Case this year.

#187 Frank Turner - "Sons Of Liberty" from "Poetry Of The Dead"

#186 The Temper Trap - "Down River" from "Conditions"

#185 Dolores O'Riordan - "Be Careful" from "No Baggage"

#184 The Swell Season - "In These Arms" from "Strict Joy" - Do you remember that Irish duo that won an Oscar for their song from the movie "Once"? This is the best song off of their new album. It's not quite as good as the song from "Once", but it's still excellent.

#183 Fleet Foxes - "False Knight On The Road" from "Mykonos"

#182 Them Crooked Vultures - "Elephants" from "Them Crooked Vultures" - This song essentially has every Zeppelin hook condensed into one long song.

#181 The Derek Trucks Band - "I Know" from "Already Free"

#180 The Avett Brothers - "Slight Figure Of Speech" from "I And Love And You"

#179 Jay-Z - "Empire State Of Mind" from "The Blueprint 3" - Alicia Keys' version of this song is also on my countdown, but I prefer the rap focus on this song to the R&B focus on Keys'.

#178 Jeff Bridges - "Somebody Else" from "Crazy Heart Soundtrack"

#177 The Dirty Projectors - "Cannibal Resource" from "Bitte Orca"

#176 Miranda Lambert - "Heart Like Mine" from "Revolution" - The best country song of 2009.