I went back and forth on whether to put Spoon’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga on the best-of list. There’s a couple songs on the album I’m not too crazy about like The Ghost of You Lingers and Eddie’s Ragga but, in the end, I thought this was overshadowed by the fantastic stuff that’s on the album. And by fantastic, I mean the best.
After much much contemplation I decree that You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb is the song of the year. Though several songs on the album grew on me, this one was love within 30 seconds. The song starts off with a great hard driving drum beat and a fucking stellar bass riff, something I find I can rarely ever really distinguish. But the real genius strikes you once the hook kicks in with its big horn section and the tambourine in the drums. It strikes me as an stellar mix of pop-rock (Beatles’ pop-rock, not modern day pop-rock) with the bass, tambourines, and horns that make up the Motown sound. Honestly, we need a Motown sound revival. I don’t think anyone’s really gonna top Stevie Wonder but it’s worth trying.
Two other songs on the album are also worth severely pointing out. First, The Underdog. I think I’m a sucker for a rock song with a horn section (and hand claps, love the hand claps). The best part of the song is the build-ups to the chorus. You know how every great Daft Punk song builds up to the chorus so perfectly that by the time it gets there you’re like “fuck yeah!”. This song has that same kinda feeling. Britt Daniel’s even yells out “Right!” right before the last chorus, signifying exactly what I mean. It’s a very celebratory song and was actually used perfectly this year in an episode of How I Met Your Mother when the gang is at the bar celebrating the fact that Marshall passed the Bar exam.
Second, is Black Like Me. I don’t know how to explain this song so I’ll just steal Pitchfork’s comment as it made their top 100 songs of the year: “Emotionally, Black Like Me is heartland indie rock territory, and Spoon know the tiny details that make songs bleed you a little”.