Lots to talk about here so let's get right to it.
What went wrong? My least favorite CDs that I really wanted to be good would have to be the new ones from Brand New Sin, Distilled, and Lita Ford's Wicked Wonderland. I just hated almost everything about both of them and I've liked a lot of stuff by both artists. Bleh.
Comebacks... Ace Frehley returned with Anomaly and I really dug a couple of songs on it, but most of it wasn't good I thought. I was disappointed. I did however like Cheap Trick and Foreigner's new CDs and welcomed them back with open ears. Nothing compares to the comeback of Alice In Chains in my book though. I didn't really think it could be done without Layne but I'll be damned if Black Gives Way To Blue isn't just awesome. It got a whole lot of spins from me this year and will in future years I can assure you. KISS finally put out a new CD, Sonic Boom, and while it didn't blow me away by any means I thought it was a catchy pop/rock CD and was pleased.
New bands... my very favorite is Heaven and Hell, which you could technically say isn't a new band as Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice feel more like the Dio-era Sabbath. It's just a big, heavy CD that you can't possibly listen to and not make the devil horns and bang your head. Not possible. Another "super group" of sorts (I hate that term for the record) that tops my list of favorite new bands is Chickenfoot, featuring Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Joe Satriani and Chad Smith. I wasn't blown away by their CD at first, but within a week I really got into it and have played it a lot. It's fun, catchy rock n roll with excellent harmonies from Anthony and Hagar. Not a new artist per say, but new to me this year and I love the dude now, is country artist Jamey Johnson. I just love this guy and his old school country tales. Lastly, another heavy band that I just got into this year is Destrophy and their self-titled CD.
Favorite country CDs... well this isn't really fair as I only buy a few country CDs a year (I download singles though) but I'm confident my 2 choices are great CDs no matter how many I bought... Jack Ingram's Big Dreams & High Hopes and Keith Urban's Defying Gravity. Both CDs rock at times and are probably under the "nu country" banner.
Best laugh... Steel Panther's magnificent opus "Feel The Steel" is just absolutely brilliant... also filthy, catchy and funny as all hell.
Arkansans... our very own Kris Allen had a pretty good year I guess, winning American Idol and releasing his first post-Idol CD. The CD debuted at #11 and he wrote or co-wrote 9 of the 12 tracks. I didn't buy it, but I downloaded "Live Like We're Dying" and think it's a pretty good upbeat, poppy little track. I hope he has a long career personally.
Let's get to the big stuff I guess.
My favorite songs of the year for various genres:
* The Lonely Island ~ I'm On A Boat (comedy)
* Steel Panther ~ Stripper Girl (comedy)
* Brad Paisley ~ Then (country)
* Keith Urban ~ Kiss A Girl (country)
* Rascal Flats ~ Summer Nights (country)
* Randy Houser ~ Whistlin' Dixie (country)
* Jamey Johnson ~ My Way To You (country)
* Eminem ~ Bagpipes From Baghdad (hip hop/rap)
Rock/Pop:
* Cavo ~ Champagne
* Chickenfoot ~ Sexy Little Thing
* Heaven & Hell ~ Bible Black
* Breaking Benjamin ~ I Will Not Bow
* Hurt ~ Wars
* Alice In Chains ~ Check My Brain
* Creed ~ Rain
* Deepfield ~ Give Until It Hurts
* Far ~ Pony
* Destrophy ~ Why I Hate Goodbye
* Maylene and the Sons Of Disaster ~ Step Up (I'm On It)
* Marilyn Manson ~ Four Rusted Horses
* Chevelle ~ Letter From A Thief
* Seventh Void ~ Heaven Is Gone
* Tantric ~ Coming Undone
* Sick Puppies ~ You're Going Down
* The Last Vegas ~ I'm Bad
And lastly... my 20 favorite CDs of the year:
20. Throwdown ~ Deathless
19. Daughtry ~ Leave This Town
18. Five Finger Death Punch ~ War Is The Answer
17. Jack Ingram ~ Big Dreams & High Hopes
16. Bruce Springsteen ~ Working on a Dream
15. Wolfmother ~ Cosmic Egg
14. Burning Borders ~ Yesterday's Gone
13. Queenrsyche ~ American Soldier
12. Papa Roach ~ Metamorphosis
11. Pearl Jam ~ Backspacer
10. Tantric ~ Mind Control
9. Maylene and The Sons of Disaster ~ III
8. Creed ~ Full Circle
7. Megadeth ~ Endgame
6. Marilyn Manson ~ The High End of Low
5. Breaking Benjamin ~ Dear Agony
4. Keith Urban ~ Defying Gravity
3. Chickenfoot ~ s/t
2. Heaven & Hell ~ The Devil You Know
1. Alice In Chains ~ Black Gives Way To Blue
As I've said before, 2009 was another great year as far as I'm concerned. There was a lot of music that I'll still be playing years from now.
