Dec 30
Most Overplayed Songs on the Radio 2010
Now that 2010 is about to come to a close, I thought a quick recap of the songs that have driven us crazy this year would be in order. Usually it starts with a pretty catchy song that you hear once or twice on the radio. Then you start to hear it being played more frequently and thoroughly enjoy it. Then…you start hearing it every day on the way to and from work, on multiple radio stations at once, and so on and so forth. It’s at that point at which many of us declare our hatred for said song, and decide it is definitely time for it to go. Here’s my list of songs that were played way too many times in 2010.
Honorable Mentions
In making this list, I had to leave out quite a few songs that would certainly be worthy to mention. Two songs that just missed the top 5 are “I Like It” by Enrique Iglesias and “Club Can’t Handle Me” by Flo Rida. The fact that Enrique hasn’t been too popular in the music industry in a while is cool and all, but does he have to spam the radio to make sure every last person knows? Then there’s Flo Rida, who often casually forgets to credit the other artists in his songs, let’s not dwell on him though.
5) Eminem – Love The Way You Lie ft. Rihanna
Eminem exploded back onto the music scene this year with his album titled “Recovery”. “Love The Way You Lie” is a very well done collaboration between Eminem and Rihanna, and thusly dominated the summer and fall radio airplay. This probably would rank higher on my list just solely based on airplay, but since I’m a fan of the song I’m ranking this at #5. Oh did I mention that Megan Fox is in this song’s music video? (Sweet!) Also Dominic Monaghan (played Charlie on “Lost”) co-stars in the video.
4) Bruno Mars – Just The Way You Are
Bruno Mars jumped into the mix this year with his debut album, and “Just The Way You Are” was everywhere during the summer. I’m guessing that he appeals much more to women with his sappy slow songs, because I’m not a fan at all. Basically, this song was just played way too much.
3) Katy Perry – California Gurls ft. Snoop Dogg
There’s usually one big song each year that screams “heyyyy, it’s summer time, yay!”, and “California Gurls” was definitely it this year. It was by and far the most played song late spring and summer of 2010. Albeit a really catchy song, the radio definitely played this song to death.
2) Usher – DJ Got Us Fallin’ In Love ft. Pitbull
Usher has once again proved this year that he is a dominant artist in the music industry. I’ll be honest though, I’m more of a fan of his albums in the early 2000′s. His songs now are almost all geared towards dance music for clubs. Oh well. Also I think Pitbull is one of the worst artists I’ve heard in a long time…but whatever. Both of these guys are racking in the dough from this song.
1) Taio Cruz – Dynamite
“Dynamite” by Taio Cruz is a clear winner here. During the summer and fall I heard this song on the radio almost every day going to and from work. Also on a 4 hour road trip I heard it over 5 times while trying to find legitimate stations. Making things worse, there was even one frightening day when it was being played at the same time on 3 of my 6 programmed stations in my car. Anyway, I can’t stand Taio Cruz, and hope his run on the charts is on the brief side.
So here’s to closing out 2010, the actual good songs that were produced with reasonable (or even little to no) radio time, and also the ones that completely sold out to the radio stations. Let’s hope for a better setlist in 2011!
Oct 23
Linkin Park’s “A Thousand Suns” Album
Linkin Park released their newest album, “A Thousand Suns”, on September 14, 2010 in the U.S. This is the fourth studio album by Linkin Park, and they are currently promoting the album through their A Thousand Suns Tour. Recording for the album began in 2008, shortly after the release of Minutes to Midnight. Vocalist Mike Shinoda explained the experimentation that the band would be working with on this new album. “It’s not going to be Hybrid Theory. It’s not going to be Minutes to Midnight. And if we do it right, it’ll have a cutting edge sound that defines itself as an individual record separate from anything else that’s out there.”
“A Thousand Suns” is a concept album dealing with nuclear warfare and themes of war in general. The album’s title comes from the quote: “If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one,” which is in reference to the atomic bomb. Drummer Rob Bourdon admitted that the album was a challenge to complete.
“We’ve been making music for a long time so one of the challenges was to evolve and make something to keep us interested and also have a lot of fun in the process.” Adding to the political theme, the album features samples of notable speeches by political figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr., J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Mario Savio.
The first single off of Linkin Park’s new album is “The Catalyst”, which has performed fairly well on the charts in comparison with their previous singles. The band is also promoting their new songs digitally. Six songs from the album (“Blackout”, “Burning in the Skies”, “The Catalyst”, “The Messenger”, “Waiting for the End”, and “Wretches and Kings”) are available as downloadable content in the game Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. The track pack was released on October 19th on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Live Marketplace, and the Wii Shop.
Upon listening through the album, the experimental sound and difference from Linkin Park’s previous albums is very evident. “A Thousand Suns” is a new platform that the band is using to transition from the traditional rock band stereotype to their own unique sound. The variety of songs makes it hard to place a single genre on this album. The band has shifted their concentration to the melodies of their songs and the development of a “layered” song structure. The guitar riffs don’t dominate nearly as much as before, but rather each instrument is distinctively heard.
The overall sound of the album and how each song seamlessly links to the next has been done very well. Be it intentional or not, “A Thousand Suns” is meant to be listened to as a whole instead of each song individually. When the songs all come together they seem to tell a story and express the band’s thoughts and theme of the album. For more casual listeners, some of the better songs to try out would be “Blackout”, “The Catalyst”, and “Burning in the Skies”.
After how displeased Linkin Park fans were with their prior album, “Minutes to Midnight”, “A Thousand Suns” may alienate a significant part of the band’s fan base. If you’re looking for hard-hitting guitar riffs and vocals on every track, you may have to look elsewhere. Linkin Park is taking their band in a totally new direction and they are making the music they truly want to make. I don’t think their mindset is to maintain the fame generated from their previous work, but to try and redefine the industry. Overall the album is well done and has some notably good songs. The fact that Linkin Park keeps trying out different styles of music instead of producing the same guitar lines with new lyrics thrown on top is very respectable.
