Top 500 Songs Of 2009 - #350-#326

#350 30 Seconds To Mars - "This Is War" from "This Is War"

#349 Jeff Bridges - "Hold On You" from "Crazy Heart Soundtrack" - The "Crazy Heart" Soundtrack is the best soundtrack from a fake artist since "Walk Hard" and Jeff Bridges is a great outlaw country singer.

#348 Phish - "Joy" from "Joy" - I hate obsessive Phish fans, but a great song is a great song.

#347 The Drums - "Don't Be A Jerk, Jonny" from "Summertime!" - Cross The Smiths with The Ramones and you get the Drums. You'll probably be hearing more from them in the future.

#346 The Flaming Lips - "Powerless" from "Embryonic"

#345 Matisyahu - "One Day" from "Light"

#344 Brendan Benson - "A Whole Lot Better" from "My Old, Familiar Friend"

#343 Death Cab For Cutie - "I Was Once A Loyal Lover" from "The Open Door"

#342 Brand New - "In A Jar" from "Daisy" - I've never heard emo sound so Nirvana-ish as the most recent Brand New album.

#341 The Arctic Monkeys - "Pretty Visitors" from "Humbug"

#340 Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band - "To All The Lights In The Windows" from "Outer South"

#339 Wolfmother - "Caroline" from "Cosmic Egg"

#338 The Raveonettes - "Bang!" from "In And Out Of Control"

#337 The Generationals - "When They Fight, They Fight" from "Con Law"

#336 Street Sweeper Social Club - "The Squeeze" from "Street Sweeper Social Club" - Guitar legend Tom Morello teams up with his latest Zach substitute, Boots Riley (of the Coup) to form Street Sweeper Social Club. It's doubtful that they'll last long as each artist has their own bands to focus on, but so far, so good.

#335 Them Crooked Vultures - "Bandoliers" from "Them Crooked Vultures"

#334 Beck - "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" from "War Child - Heroes Vol. 1" - Beck's funky cover of the Bob Dylan classic is one of the best covers of the year and a highlight of "War Child".

#333 Jemina Pearl - "Selfish Heart" from "Break It Up"

#332 BrakesBrakesBrakes - "Don't Take Me To Space (Man)" from "Touchdown"

#331 Wheat - "El Sincero" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist

#330 The New York Dolls - "Lonely So Long" from "Cause I Sez So"

#329 The Drums - "Let's Go Surfing" from "Summertime!"

#328 K'naan - "I Come Prepared" from "Troubador"

#327 Team William - "You Look Familiar" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist

#326 The High Strung - "Standing At The Door Of Self-Discovery" from "Ode To The Inverse Of The Dude"

Top 500 Songs Of 2009 - #375-#351

#375 Mary J. Blige - "The One" from "Stronger With Each Tear"

#374 Clipse - "Kinda Like A Big Deal" from "Till The Casket Drops"

#373 Grand Duchy - "Come On Over To My House" from "Petits Fours" - Frank Black's annual contribution to my list.

#372 Juliette Lewis - "All Is For God" from "Terra Incognito"

#371 Slayer - "Playing With Dolls" from "World Painted Blood"

#370 Conor Oberst - "NYC - Gone, Gone" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist

#369 Jarvis Cocker - "Caucasian Blues" from "Further Complications"

#368 Slaughterhouse - "The One" from "Slaughterhouse" - Slaughterhouse is a rap supergroup that flew under the radar in 2009.

#367 Metric - "Gimme Sympathy" from "Fantasies"

#366 Sonic Youth - "Poison Arrow" from "The Eternal"

#365 Megadeth - "Dialectic Chaos" from "Endgame" - The second of two instrumental songs on the countdown.

#364 Allison Iraheta - "Trouble Is" from "Just Like You" - The highest ranking song on the countdown from an American Idol veteran.

#363 The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - "A Teenager In Love" from "The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart"

#362 Fastball - "The Malcontent (The Modern World)" from "Little White Lies"

#361 The New Pornographers - "Hey, Snow White" from "Dark Was The Night (Red Hot Compilation)"

#360 Thom Yorke - "All For The Best" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist - If it wasn't for Blalock's playlist, I might never have found this song because it hasn't been on any album to my knowledge.

#359 The Doves - "The Outsiders" from "Kingdom Of Rust"

#358 Sonic Youth - "Leaky Lifeboat (For Gregory Corso)" from "The Eternal"

#357 Rhett Miller - "Like Love" from "Rhett Miller"

#356 Spinnerette - "All Babes Are Wolves" from "Spinnerette"

#355 La Roux - "Quicksand" from "La Roux"

#354 Modest Mouse - "History Sticks To Your Feet" from "No One's First And You're Next"

#353 Orianthi - "Highly Strung" from "Believe" - The highest ranking of the two instrumental songs on the countdown.

#352 Spinnerette - "A Spectral Suspension" from "Spinnerette"

#351 The Von Bondies - "Earthquake" from "Love Hate And Then There's You"

Top 500 Songs Of 2009 - #400-#376

#400 Nine Inch Nails - "Not So Pretty Now" from NINJA 2009 Tour Sampler - With the band's recent "break-up" the singles released on the Ninja Tour CD might be the last we hear from Nine Inch Nails. You know, until they re-unite in a couple of years.

#399 Cancel The Astronauts - "I Am The President Of Your Fanclub (And Last Night I Followed You Home)" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist

#398 Music Go Music - "Reach Out" from "Expressions"

#397 The Thermals - "How We Fade" from "Now We Can See"

#396 Dolores O'Riordan - "Apple Of My Eye" from "No Baggage"

#395 The Dave Matthews Band - "Funny The Way It Is" from "Big Whiskey And The GrooGrux King" - "GrooGrux" is the best DMB album in a decade and this is one of the best songs on that album.

#394 Bear In Heaven - "Lovesick Teenagers" from "Beast Rest Forth Mouth"

#393 Marie Digby - "Feel" from "Breathing Underwater"

#392 Animal Collective - "Summertime Clothes" from "Merriweather Post Pavilion"

#391 White Lies - "The Price Of Love" from "To Lose My Life"

#390 Thao With The Get Down Stay Down - "Know Better Learn Faster" from "Know Better Learn Faster"

#389 Jay-Z - "Off That" from "The Blueprint 3"

#388 Alicia Keys - "Empire State Of Mind (Part II) Broken Down" from "The Element Of Freedom" - The rap version of the song charts much higher on this list, but the soul version is outstanding as well.

#387 Green Day - "Horseshoes And Handgrenades" from "21st Century Breakdown"

#386 Kid Cudi - "Heart Of A Lion" from "Man On The Moon"

#385 Great Northern - "Houses" from "Remind Me Where The Light Is"

#384 Wintersleep - "Oblivion" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist

#383 Regina Spektor - "Human Of The Year" from "Far"

#382 Crystal Stilts - "Love Is A Wave" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist

#381 Mika - "Blame It On The Girls" from "The Boy Who Knew Too Much"

#380 La Roux - "As If By Magic" from "La Roux" - 2009 was a big year for the Blondie-esque band that not only released a great album, but put a song on the pop charts, the much higher-ranking "Bulletproof".

#379 The Roots - "How I Got Over" from "How I Got Over" - Technically, the album this song is on came out in 2010, but it's been frequently delayed and I first came across this song in 2009. It may show up on both lists at the end of the day, but it's a great tune.

#378 King Khan And The Shrines - "Welfare Bread" from "What Is"

#377 Lisa Mitchell - "Coin Laundry" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist - It's surprising to say this in a year that featured a Belle And Sebastian project (God Help The Girl), but this is definitely the best twee song of the year.

#376 30 Seconds To Mars - "Kings And Queens" from "This Is War"

Top 500 Songs Of 2009 - #425-#401

#425 - Monsters Of Folk - "Baby Boomer" from "Monsters Of Folk"

#424 - Dear And The Headlights - "Cal Solomon Blues" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist

#423 - Drake - "Best I Ever Had" from "So Far Gone" - I haven't listened to his debut album yet, but his mixtape is sensational (of course Wale's was too, and his album let me down). Hard to believe this is the kid from Degrassi.

#422 - BrakesBrakesBrakes - "Oh! Forever" from "Touchdown"

#421 - Sunset Rubdown - "Silver Moons" from "Dragonslayer"

#420 - My Morning Jacket - "El Caporal" from "Dark Was The Night (Red Hot Compilation)" - "Dark Was The Night" was an outstanding compilation album featuring original songs from many of the biggest bands in indie rock. There are several more songs on the countdown from this album.

#419 - White Lies - "From The Stars" from "To Lose My Life"

#418 - The Noisettes - "Never Forget You" from "Wild Young Hearts"

#417 - Japandroids - "Heart Sweats" from "Post-Nothing"

#416 - Jay Reatard - "Faking It" from "Watch Me Fall"

#415 - Metric - "Front Row" from "Fantasies"

#414 - Royce Da 5'9 - "Gun Harmonizing" from "Street Hop"

#413 - The Arcade Fire - "Lenin" from "Dark Was The Night (Red Hot Compilation)"

#412 - Wale - "90210" from "Attention Deficit"

#411 - Hurt - "Pandora" from "Goodbye To The Machine"

#410 - Sean Paul - "Running Out Of Time" from "Imperial Blaze"

#409 - Ben Harper And The Relentless 7 - "The Word Suicide" from "White Lies For Dark Times"

#408 - Datarock - "Not Me" from "RED"

#407 - Fastball - "Little White Lies" from "Little White Lies"

#406 - Miike Snow - "Burial" from "Miike Snow"

#405 - Lady Sovereign - "Student Union" from "Jigsaw" - Easily the best female British rapper. Not that there's any competition or anything.

#404 - Lily Allen - "Not Fair" from "It's Not Me, It's You"

#403 - Throw Me The Statue - "Ancestors" from "Creaturesque"

#402 - The Black Hollies - "Gloomy Monday Morning" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist - A garage rock throwback, but I haven't found any more of their music yet.

#401 - Green Day - "Viva La Gloria" from "21st Century Breakdown"

Top 500 Songs Of 2009 - #450-#426

#450 - M. Ward - "Never Had Nobody Like You" from "Hold Time" - M. Ward's only song as a solo artist (he has a few with his folk super-group Monsters Of Folk), though this song was the latest in his on-going collaboration with actress/singer Zoey Deschanel.

#449 - Echo And The Bunnymen - "Think I Need It Too" from "The Fountain"

#448 - Brandi Carlile - "Pride And Joy" from "Give Up The Ghost"

#447 - Adam Lambert - "Sure Fire Winners" from "For Your Entertainment" - It's weird to have songs by American Idol albums on my list, but while the viewership for the show has gone way down over the past few years, the quality has gone way up.

#446 - A.F.I. - "Okay, I Feel Better Now" from "Crash Love"

#445 - Miike Snow - "A Horse Is Not A Home" from "Miike Snow"

#444 - Phoenix - "Lasso" from "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix"

#443 - Grizzly Bear - "While You Wait For The Others" from "Veckatimest"

#442 - Asher Roth - "Lark On A Go-Kart" from "Asleep In The Bread Aisle" - Roth had a huge hit with "I Love College", but I couldn't stand that song. In fact, it may be the worst song on an otherwise great album. "Lark" is a much better tune, propelled by a fantastic beat.

#441 - Chuck Prophet - "Barely Exist" from "Let Freedom Ring!"

#440 - Bruce Springsteen - "Life Itself" from "Working On A Dream"

#439 - Pearl Jam - "Unthought Known" from "Backspacer"

#438 - The Vivian Girls - "Where Do You Run To" from "The Vivian Girls"

#437 - Miranda Lambert - "White Liar" from "Revolution"

#436 - Rancid - "Last One To Die" from "Let The Dominoes Fall" - Rancid released yet another great album this year, even if only one song made it into the top 500.

#435 - Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros - "Home" from "Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros - It's not surprising that this song sounds nothing like their other song on the countdown ("40 Day Dream"), considering the band has something like 25 members in it.

#434 - Kasabian - "Underdog" from "West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum"

#433 - Billy Talent - "Rusted From The Rain" from "Billy Talent III"

#432 - Graham Coxon - "Dead Bees" from "The Spinning Top"

#431 - Muse - "Unnatural Selection" from "The Resistance" - The first of six songs from "The Resistance", Muse's breakthrough album.

#430 - Roman Candle - "Why Modern Radio Is A-Ok" from "Oh Tall Tree In The Ear" - One of 2009's most interesting songs, "Modern Radio" is a song that focuses on the point that certain songs can break your heart and really make you feel something... and that bands like Fall Out Boy and blink 182 will never make that kind of song.

#429 - Lily Allen - "Him" from "It's Not Me, It's You"

#428 - Wolfmother - "Cosmonaut" from "Cosmic Egg"

#427 - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Dull Life" from "It's Blitz!"

#426 - Perry Farrell - "Nasty Little Perv" from "NCIS: The Official TV Soundtrack" - I don't actually watch NCIS and the Perry Farrell song wasn't the reason I listened to this CD. There was a song by the Airborne Toxic Event I wanted to hear and while that song didn't make the countdown, Farrell's did.

Thoughts On VH1's new 100 Greatest Artists List

It is ridiculous to remove the following artists from the 1998 list:

Eric Clapton
The Eagles
Buddy Holly
Crosby, Stills And Nash
The Sex Pistols
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Roy Orbison
The Grateful Dead
Smokey Robinson
Frank Zappa
The Allman Brothers
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Rod Stewart
Simon And Garfunkel
Devo
T. Rex
Santana
Tom Waits
Diana Ross And The Supremes

The following artists are welcome new additions to the top 100:

AC/DC
Radiohead
Black Sabbath
Guns N Roses
Metallica
Jay-Z
Rage Against The Machine
Public Enemy
Genesis
Tupac Shakur
The Cure
Rush
Run DMC
NWA
Beastie Boys
Green Day
Pearl Jam
Outkast


Random thoughts:

Ray Charles and The Police drop more than 30 spots. Granted, it's crazy The Police were #10 on the original list, but what did Brother Ray do to fall out of favor?

Prince jumps to #7, ahead of James Brown and Elvis Presley. I doubt Prince would agree that he's more important to rock n roll than James Brown.

The Doors drop from #20 to #65. What, they should have kept releasing albums after Jim died? I don't get it.

Absence has been great for Freddie Mercury, as Queen jumps 20 spots with no output other than letting Paul Rodgers crap on Freddie's legacy.

Early rock artists sank like a stone this time around while R&B, Motown and Blues artists disappeared from the list entirely. I guess creating rock n roll isn't as important as it used to be.

Elvis Costello has released several great albums since 1998 and drops from #38 to #90. Why?

Nirvana shoots up from #42 to #14. Must be all that new content since '98.

Sorry, SRV. You're dead, but you're not Michael Jackson dead.

Current events have way too much influence on the people voting in this poll. In 1998, Michael Jackson came in #40, which was way too low, as voters probably felt icky about his legal problems at the time. This year he's somewhere in the top 5, which is a little bit too high. Had this poll taken place before Jackson's death, he'd be somewhere between 10 and 20, in all likelihood.

Madonna jumps from #86 to #16. Remarkable considering how little she's actually done creatively since 1998. She was recently voted into the Hall Of Fame though, so I'm guessing that is what's really behind her jump in the polls. This also could explain The Stooges 28 slot jump and the new inclusion of Genesis and ABBA.

Hard rock has a much larger presence in this list than in the previous one as horribly snubbed artists like AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Rush, Metallica and Guns N Roses finally get their due.

Several great 90's artists make their debut as well. In 98 it would have been way too soon for Pearl Jam, Radiohead or Rage Against The Machine, but now we have some perspective and can see how great they were and still are.

Hip Hop and Rap also make their first appearances on this list. I don't know if I would have picked Jay-Z as the top artist of the genre or included LL Cool J, but who can argue with Public Enemy, N.W.A., Tupac, Biggie or Outkast?

Sade at #50? Well, that came out of nowhere.

Beyonce at #52 ahead of Little Richard? Nope. No artist whose career is that fresh belongs in a retrospective list of this nature. That goes the same for Coldplay, Justin Timberlake and Alicia Keys as well.

Cheap Trick ahead of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers? Absolutely not.

Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey? I'll buy that. Both are great singers with long track records. I do wish they had better written songs to sing, but I think the deserve the honor.

Justin Timberlake at #66 is the worst thing about this list by a mile. Two albums and less than ten years as a solo artist. Complete nonsense.

Coldplay doesn't deserve to be at #67, either, but they're probably worthy of the tail-end of the list.

Def Leppard at #70? Why? Are they supposed to be the token hair band or something?

Hall And Oates wouldn't be on this list if it weren't for "(500) Days Of Summer".

Overall, I think this list reflects the decline of VH1 as a rock n roll network. In the late 90's, VH1 was a network dedicated to the history of rock n roll and ever since has become more and more focused on reality television and pop culture, basically becoming a cheap MTV knockoff instead of a decent alternative. I'm still going to watch the presentation of the new list, but it's going to be hard to avoid throwing the remote at the TV when some of the more nonsensical rankings come up.

Top 500 Songs Of 2009 - #475-#451

#475 - Bruce Springsteen - "Working On A Dream" from "Working On A Dream"

#474 - Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band - "Worldwide" from "Outer South"

#473 - Wilco - "Bull Black Nova" from "Wilco (The Album)"

#472 - Favours For Sailors - "I Dreamt That You Loved Me In Your Dreams" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist

#471 - Death Cab For Cutie - "My Mirror Speaks" from "The Open Door"

#470 - Jay Reatard - "Wounded" from "Watch Me Fall" - One of the saddest stories in rock history, Reatard built up a reputation over a number of years, releasing several singles and EPs, put together an excellent debut album... and then died shortly after it's release. R.I.P. Jay.

#469 - And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - "Insatiable (Two)" from "The Century Of Self"

#468 - Neil Young - "Just Singing A Song" from "Fork In The Road"

#467 - The Handsome Furs - "Radio Kalininbrad" from "Face Control"

#466 - Mika - "Touches You" from "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" - If you think Muse is over the top and bites frequently from the Queen apple on their last album, you clearly haven't heard of Mika before.

#465 - Basement Jaxx - "Raindrops" from "Scars"

#464 - Them Crooked Vultures - "Scumbag Blues" from "Them Crooked Vultures"

#463 - Shirock - "New Solution" from "Everything Burns" - Do you like U2 but hate Bono? Shirock is the band for you. You know how sometimes generic cereal tastes exactly like the name brand product? That's Shirock. So if you love the taste of U2...

#462 - Ben Harper And The Relentless 7 - "Keep It Together (So I Can Fall Apart)" from "White Lies For Dark Times"

#461 - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - "Contender" from "The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart" - Mmmmm.... that's good shoegaze!

#460 - The Asteroids Galaxy Tour - "Lady Jesus" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist

#459 - Discovery - "Swing Tree" from "LP"

#458 - Fastball - "She's Got The Rain" from "Little White Lies" - Fastball is one of the most under-rated pop rock bands of the past twenty years and their latest album is no exception, putting three songs on the countdown.

#457 - The Yes Pleases - "70%" from Blalock's Indie Rock Playlist

#456 - Asher Roth - "La Di Da" from "Asleep In The Bread Aisle"

#455 - The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - "103" from "The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart"

#454 - Animal Collective - "Brother Sport" from "Merriweather Post Pavilion"

#453 - A.F.I. - "End Transmission" from "Crash Love"

#452 - Billy Talent - "White Sparrows" from "Billy Talent III"

#451 - The Soundtrack Of Our Lives - "Flipside" from "Communion"