Personal Top Ten Favorite Songs of 2014

Well, another year has gone by and it's time for me to review my favorite songs of 2014.  Being an enthusiast for alternative rock music, it came as a very pleasant surprise a few months ago to discover that two local stations, Gainesville's WHHZ/100. 5 ("The Buzz") and Jacksonville's WXXJ/102.9 have changed their programming format to feature "my" kind of music.  Since then I've been accumulating a few personal favorites that they play periodically.  Most of these are current hits, but a few, like Florence + the Machine's Dog Days Are Over, have been around a few years.  But you'll notice that this song is still on my list of favorites from 2014.  Earlier this year I purchased Beck's latest CD Morning Phase and discovered a track, titled Blackbird Chain, which I regarded as my favorite song of 2014 for the first half of the year.  But when those two radio stations kicked in, a flood of other songs joined it on the "list".  Ultimately, it came down to five songs I liked the most...each of which has a distinctive sound, style and message from the others.  After giving it all due consideration, though, I have to pick the Foo Fighters' new hit Something From Nothing as my "song of the year" for 2014.  It reminds me a lot of the style of my favorite grunge band, Soundgarden, while at the same time gradually builds up in intensity and complexity much the same way that Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven did.  But the other tunes on the list are great, too.

Here's my list of personal favorite songs of 2014, with the artist mentioned in brackets:

1 Something From Nothing..... [Foo Fighters]
2 Dog Days are Over..... [Florence + the Machine]
3 Take Me to Church...... [Hozier]
4 I Will Wait...... [Mumford and Sons]
5 Come With Me Now...... [The Kongos]
6 Dangerous..... [Big Data]
7 Train Wreck 1979...... [Death From Above 1979]
8 Come a Little Bit Closer..... [Cage the Elephant]
9 Blackbird Chain..... [Beck]
10 The Walker..... [Fitz and the Tantrums]