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Written by Alex Schreiber Wednesday, 01 February 2012 12:49

I hope you can take away some songs from my list and enjoy them before they become the background to diaper commercials.

 

My number one song last year was Cee Lo Green’s “Fuck You.” That song became huge this year; it also was transformed into the terrible “Forget You” so that it could be more radio friendly. By putting in an extra syllable and taking away the catharsis of hearing ‘fuck’ in a fun, poppy song permanently destroyed its charm. Even the Muppets are now singing this once truly original track. Songs are continually suffering from overplay and commercial spots. M83’s “Midnight City” is one of this year’s best songs, but it was placed in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show commercial, which inevitably ruined some of its uniqueness. If that’s the end of “Midnight City” being whored around on commercials—the background music to some of the world’s most beautiful women strutting around in lingerie—I will be content; hopefully, a way to bring great songs out of obscurity without taking away from the song will present itself in the future. For now, I hope you can take away some songs from my list and enjoy them before they become the background to diaper commercials.

1. M83 | “Midnight City”

2. Architecture in Helsinki | “Contact High”

3. Wild Flag | “Romance”

4. St. Vincent | “Cruel”

5. Ryan Adams | “Lucky Now”

6. Charli XCX | “Nuclear Seasons”

7. College feat. Electric Youth | “A Real Hero”

8. Yuck | “Get Away”

9. Mates of State | “Maracas”

10. Avril Lavigne | “What the Hell”

11. Lykke Li | “Get Some”

12. Future Islands | “Balance”

13. Real Estate | “It’s Real”

14. The Rapture | “How Deep Is Your Love?”

15. Kurt Vile | “Jesus Fever”

16. Rihanna | “We Found Love”

17. Gotye feat. Kimbra | “Somebody That I Used to Know”

18. Los Campesinos! | “By Your Hand”

19. Smith Westerns | “All Die Young”

20. The Black Keys | “Run Right Back”

21. The Joy Formidable | “Whirring”

22. EMA | “California”

23. Destroyer | “Kaputt”

24. Neon Indian | “Polish Girl”

25. The Sounds | “Something to Die For”