Favorite Songs of 2006

2006 was a year dominated by independent and alternative songs (at least as far as I’m concerned). Here’s the list of my favorites (in very rough chronological order, with the artists in parentheses).

Hypnotize (System of a Down)
Reason is Treason (Kasabian)
Bigtime (Soundtrack of Our Lives)
Precious (Depeche Mode)
Dare (Gorillaz)
Juice Box (The Strokes)
Heart in a Cage (The Strokes)
Jacqueline (Franz Ferdinand)
Every Day is Exactly the Same (Nine Inch Nails)
Speak Easy (311)
I Turn My Camera On (Spoon)
Worldwide Suicide (Pearl Jam)
Gold Lion (The Yeah Yeah Yeahs)
If You Talk Too Much My Head Will Explode (People in Planes)
I Dare You (Shinedown)
Vicarious (Tool)
The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism (The New Pornographers)
Spanish Techno (The New Pornographers)
I’ll Follow You Into the Dark (Deathcab for Cutie)
Out of the Way (The Vines)
This Year (Mountain Goats)
Molly’s Chambers (Kings of Leon)
God’s Gonna Cut You Down (Johnny Cash)
Miss Murder (AFI)
Wonder Boy (Tenacious D)
Best of Jill Hives (Guided by Voices)
Spooky Action (Dear and Glorious Physician)
Knight of Cydonia (Muse)
Nausea (Beck)
Le Disko (Shiny Toy Guns)
Sugar (Ladytron)
White Unicorn (Wolfmother)

My top favorite song of 2006 was Tool’s Vicarious which, no matter how many times I heard it, I never tired of. In fact, my appreciation of this disturbing indictment of people who take joy in observing the suffering of others has only grown with each successive hearing. My #2 song for 2006 was Reason is Treason by Kasabian, a relentless, driving tune that I’ve heard has been featured on the TV series The OC (which I’ve never seen). Spoon's I Turn My Camera On, with a very strong bass and catchy beat, has been on a TV commercial. Another of my favorites for the year was the politically-incorrectly titled The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism by the politically-incorrectly named band the New Pornographers. This Year, by the Mountain Goats, contained the funniest line, “I am going to make it through this year if it kills me”! Come to think of it, the entire Tenacious D song Wonder Boy cracks me up! And the Strokes who, along with Kasabian, are in my opinion the two best bands currently around, came out with two winners: Heart in a Cage and the screaming-loud Juice Box. The best emotional tear-jerker was Shinedown's I Dare You.