THE BEST OF 2020 - The Best ROCK Of The Year

 

- Continuing what will be a recurring theme of this year's Best of 2020 posts ... 2020, it must be said, was a strange year. Because of COVID-19, it was a year (mostly) without concerts and live music. It was a year where we were all stuck at home. It was a year where almost nothing went according to plan.

The last live concert I saw was in February. My amazing girlfriend Rebecca and I went to the Microsoft Theater in downtown LA to see the annual 80's Weekend show (it's an annual show, but this was my first!) - featuring dozens of bands who made their name in the most radical of decades. It was a ton of fun - I saw some of my favorites of the era live for the first time. From bands I am genuinely a big fan of like Missing Persons, to one-hit wonders (okay, in some cases three-hit wonders) like Wang Chung, Josie Cotton, Flock of Seagulls, Dramarama, Big Country, Violent Femmes, and The Romantics. The closer was none other than MC Hammer himself - a bit of an outlier in the lineup (especially given that I think of him as more of an early 90's star) - but man, I was an MC Hammer *fanatic* as a young kid, so it was cool to once again get "2 Legit 2 Quit." And by the way, MC Hammer was actually the first big concert I ever attended as a kid - so it was definitely a full-circle moment. I guess if things never get better, pandemic-wise, it would be a weird irony if somehow my first and last concerts both featured Hammer.

And then, things just ... stopped. When things got bad in March, I had tickets to see a bunch of live shows later in the year - Alice Cooper, a live performance of Hamilton at the Pantages theater ... and sadly, one by one, they were all cancelled (along with other planned 2020 events like The Paley Fest, WonderCon, and Comic-Con ...).

Even so, music was a big part of my quarantine survival strategy. Music helped me to concentrate while working, writing, and exercising. It helped me to relax, whether I was chilling out at home or driving to nowhere in particular. It helped to funnel my anger at the insane politics of this year, and motivated me to do what I could to "fight the power," scream to the rafters that #BlackLivesMatter, and push for change to whatever extent that I could. In fact, for me (and I suspect many), one of the best musical moments of the year came on a Saturday night in November - watching Joe Biden's big victory speech on TV. After the speech, a medley of songs played as fireworks boomed in the night sky. Tom Petty's "I Won’t Back Down" began to play, and man, was that a great moment. It was then that the battle of the last four years finally felt over - at least for a bit. We could pause, reflect, breathe, and take a moment to remember those we'd lost along the way.

So with that said, here are my top rock songs of 2020. A mix of long-established stalwarts and newer acts, this was a year where hearing new music from old favorites was certainly welcome. To that end, this year saw great new music from the likes of AC/DC, Springsteen, and McCartney. It also saw the reunion of one of my favorite recent rock acts, Foxy Shazam. And it saw a flood of pandemic-inspired songs meant to inspire and rally us - some worked, some didn't.

Here's to a better 2021 filled with concerts, live shows, and lots of rock.

DANNY'S TOP ROCK SONGS OF 2020:

1.) Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band - "Ghosts"

- The Boss has always been a chronicler of hard times, and there were no harder times than 2020. In a year when so many were in denial, when so many seemed so removed from the plight that this country was in, from the hurt people were feeling - here was Springsteen to guide us towards the light. I'm no diehard Bruce fan - casual at best - but every so often one of his songs just really soars and speaks to the moment, and this year that song was Ghosts. We are here, we are alive, and we will get back to where we were and where we can be. 

2.) AC/DC - "Witch's Spell"

- AC/DC has been a constant in the world of rock for decades upon decades - but it seemed that their long trek across the highway to hell might finally be coming to an end. The death of Malcolm Young and the health issues of Brian Johnson forced the band to cancel their tour several years ago and stay off the road (I was lucky enough to be at their last-ever show in LA). But against all odds, AC/DC returned in 2020, and they were as thunderstruck as ever - with a new album that was exactly what any fan would want. "Witch's Spell" was, to me, the standout - a hard-driving rocker with a hint of supernatural menace. Inject it into my veins, baby.

3.) Miley Cyrus (with Billy Idol) - "Night Crawling"

- Miley is no ordinary pop princess - she knows how to turn out genuine rock bangers, and her latest album has a few of them. But to me, the one that hit the hardest was her retrowave, synth-filled, fist-pumping song "Night Crawling" - a collaboration with 80's icon Billy Idol. The song could stand proudly next to other 80's Idol classics, prompting listeners to let out a rebel yell due to its sheer retro awesomeness.

4.) Tom Petty - "California"

- I was devastated by the death of one my my true rock n' roll heroes, Tom Petty, back in 2017. I was at his final concert - an incredible show held at the Hollywood Bowl only days before his passing. It was a death that hit me hard - Petty's music had particular meaning to me, and I always looked forward to buying new Tom Petty albums. In 2020 though, we got one last collection of new Petty songs - as part of the Wildflowers & All The Rest album reissue, which included a whole batch of unreleased songs from the archives. "California" was the one that spoke to me - as a California transplant, the lyrics hit home - "California's been good to me." It was good to Tom, and it's been pretty good to me too.

5.) Paul McCartney - "Find My Way"

- A late-in-the-year treat, Paul McCartney's latest solo album featured a song, "Find My Way," that felt like the perfect song with which to end 2020 and head towards (hopefully) a new and better year ahead. Yes, in this upbeat rocker, Sir Paul promises to guide us towards that light at the end of the tunnel. With blaring horns and crunchy Queen-like guitars, this song acknowledges the anxieties of the pandemic era while also offering to lift us up towards good times to come.

6.) Foxy Shazam - "Dreamer"

- After a seeming breakup and long hiatus, Foxy Shazam returned in 2020, and thank the lord for that. At one point, I was convinced that Foxy was destined to be the next big thing in rock - a band that seemed to channel both the majesty of Queen and also the unhinged energy of Iggy Pop. "Dreamer" is a great song from their comeback album - a slowly-escalating power-ballad that, eventually, erupts into a glorious explosion of rock. Welcome back.

7.) Alice Cooper - "Don't Give Up"

- Perhaps Alice Cooper was an unlikely candidate to provide an inspirational, motivational pandemic anthem - and yet, as a devoted fan of the legendary shock-rocker, I know well that he's an incredibly versatile musician who can do just about anything. "Don't Give Up" has a 90's grunge sort of sound - complete with spoken-word interludes in between its hard-driving chorus. Cheesy? Maybe. Awesome? Hell yeah. Released back in May, hearing Alice Cooper's distinct voice telling us "don't give up" was just the rallying cry I needed.

8.) The Pretty Reckless - "Death By Rock And Roll"

- The Pretty Reckless at their best create music that rocks like some femme fatale version of Guns n' Roses. One of their new 2020 songs, "Death By Rock And Roll," channels that classic brand of GnR sleaze-rock to great effect, augmented by Taylor Momsen's powerful pipes. Come for the kick-ass rock, stay for the cheeky Gossip Girl reference in the song's opening line.

9.) Dead Sara - "Hands Up"

- Dead Sara is one of the best rock bands of the last twenty years, and they delivered some new rock n' roll goodness this year - with another album that went hard against bigots, fascists, and Trump himself. This was the kind of rage-against-the-machine rock we needed desperately in 2020. And few frontwomen can growl out lyrics like singer Emily Armstrong.

10.) Weezer - "Beginning of the End"

- 2020 saw a new Bill & Ted movie, and thus it also needed a new catchy rock song to go along with this new most-excellent adventure (after all, let us not forget that Bogus Journey gave us the KISS classic "God Gave Rock & Roll to Us"). This new Weezer jam from the Bill & Ted soundtrack is a catchy bit of retro guitar rock - fitting with the classic-rock tone that seems to characterize the band's upcoming and long-delayed album Van Weezer. 

THE BEST OF 2012 - The Best ROCK Of The Year

THE BEST OF 2012 - THE YEAR IN ROCK

- All in all, rumors to the contrary, rock n' roll was quite alive - and even kicking - in 2012. This may sound cheesy, but I felt like rock got a kick in the pants thanks to a single song that sent shockwaves through the system. That song is "Weatherman" by the band DEAD SARA. Maybe you've heard it, maybe you haven't. It wasn't a mainstream hit (few real rock songs are these days), but it marked the first time in a long time that I heard a new, totally out-of-nowhere song on the radio and said "what is that? I need to hear that again right now!" The song, with its driving guitars and flaming-hot vocals from lead singer Emily Armstrong, was a revelation. In a year when rock radio was taken over by folk revival bands, Weatherman was a stark reminder that real rock n' roll was still out there, and it could still hit you like a thunderbolt when the right new song or band came along.

Another similar revelation about the state of rock came about early in the year, when I went to see THE DARKNESS in concert. The Darkness coming back after a hiatus of several years was big in and of itself. A playful throwback to glam-rock excess, The Darkness were my favorite new band during my college years, and it was fantastic to finally have them back - touring and putting out a great new album to boot. I was psyched to finally see The Darkness live, but the real eureka moment at the concert came before the band even took the stage. A band I'd never previously heard of, called FOXY SHAZAM, was the opener. They got on stage, and within about 20 seconds my jaw was on the floor, shocked at what I'd seen. Channeling the likes of Queen and Iggy Pop, the band owned the stage like few other rock acts I've seen, and churned out a set of instantly-memorable, bombastic rock songs that, quite frankly, blew my mind. This was another sign to me that rock n' roll was very much alive. 

In fact, this year I sought out, listened to, and enjoyed more great new music than I have in a long while.

Old favorites - Aerosmith, Kiss, Green Day - turned out albums that, even if not top-to-bottom successful, at the least contained some killer tunes. The Offspring rallied from a disappointing couple of albums with a kick-ass return to form. Rush had an epic new concept album that only got better the more I listened. The Darkness finally came out with their long-awaited third album, and it was pretty damn good. Jack White went solo, and had an exciting debut. Bruce Springsteen had a timely new album that produced the rallying cry of the year and Barack Obama's political anthem. This was a great year for rock n' roll.

Personally, I saw some incredible concerts this year. I started the year with a bang, with the aforementioned Darkness / Foxy Shazam show at the House of Blues in Hollywood. Soon after that, I got to see another awesome show from one of my classic-rock favorites, The Scorpions. A year earlier, my brother and I thought we'd seen seen them on their last-ever tour. But now, they were back for one "final sting," and seemed as good as ever ... perhaps talk of their retirement was premature. 

Speaking of classic rockers, this past summer I saw the legendary Meatloaf in concert at the Wiltern in LA. Meat has made more headlines lately for his political stunts than anything else - but, putting that aside, it was a thrill to see a musician I've long been a fan of live and in concert. Meatloaf still had some real power in his voice, and despite a lukewarm crowd it was a really great show. I'm glad I saw him in concert while I had the chance. 

Also this the summer, I went to the Hollywood Bowl to see another band that I wasn't sure if I'd ever get to see again - Aerosmith. The last time I was set to see the Bad Boys from Boston live, they cancelled the show due to a Steven Tyler injury. Soon after that, the band essentially broke up. Then Tyler joined American Idol, and the hopes for more 'Smith seemed shaky at best. But, finally, the band got their act together and went back on tour. And man, they were in fine form on that summer evening. After being intro'd onstage by none other than Stan Lee, Tyler, Joe Perry, and the rest of the band blasted through classic after classic (plus some choice cuts from their new album) looking rejuvenated, and reminding fans why they shouldn't be a pop-culture punchline, but should truly be considered one of America's great rock n' roll institutions. And also, it was great to see opener Cheap Trick again. This was my fifth time seeing Aerosmith in concert, and it was up there as one of the best live overall performances I've seen from them. 

In the Fall, I finally crossed a big item off of my rock n' roll bucket list - I saw RUSH live! The concert, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, was truly epic. Surrounded by an elaborate, steampunk-themed set, the soon-to-be Hall of Famers played a number of classics (a lot of 80's stuff, in honor of the 30th anniversary of their Signals album), plus a good portion of their new Clockwork Angels album, backed by a full string section no less. A series of video vignettes telling the story of the sci-fi themed album set the mood, and the pyrotechnics were spectacular. Plus, Rush ended with a kickass play-through of the 2112 sequence, only appropriate given the year. A ridiculously awesome, monumental show. 

Finally, I capped off 2012 by heading to the Orpheum in downtown LA to see another legend - Alice Cooper. I'd seen Alice once before, paired with Rob Zombie, but this was the first time I'd seen him as a headliner. And it was great to see Alice and his band (which included the female guitar virtuoso Orianthi) tear through so many of the hits - 70's classics like "Eighteen", "School's Out," and "Welcome to My Nightmare," 80's monster-mashers like "He's Back (The Man Behind the Mask)", "Hey Stoopid," and "House of Fire," "Feed My Frankenstein" from the 90's, and a couple of great songs off his latest album, including a previous rock song-of-the-year pick from me, "I'll Bite Your Face Off." Alice also paid tribute to fallen rock comrades by doing a "Raise the Dead" segment of the show, covering classics from Hendrix, Lennon, The Doors, and more. The theatrics - from sword-fighting to hangings to giant Frankenstein monsters - were all vintage Cooper. And the odd coincidence of the year? At both the Aerosmith and Alice Cooper shows I attended, none other than Johnny Depp made a surprise appearance towards the end of each concert, showing up onstage rather mysteriously and hammering through several songs on backup guitar. 

I saw some amazing shows this year - some - The Darkness/Foxy Shazam, Rush, and Alice Cooper - I'd count as easily among the best I've ever seen. 

But, back to the new music that came out this year ... here they are, my picks for the year's best in rock.



DANNY'S TOP ROCK SONGS OF 2012:


1.) Dead Sara – “Weatherman”

- A sonic blast of pure, straight-up rock n' roll, this was far and away the single most kickass rock song of 2012 - a reminder of what rock can be when it's in-your-face and unrelenting. A pure adrenaline rush, matched with Emily Armstrong's raspy, passionate, almost apocalyptic vocals, "Weatherman" is rock magic, the likes of which we haven't seen from a brand new band in a long, long time.



2.) Bruce Springsteen – “We Take Care of Our Own”

- A rallying cry for 2012, this latest Springsteen rocker was a great song but also a poignant one, a thesis statement for what America can and should be. The song was prescient, summing up the stakes in the 2012 presidential election, and boldly challenging the GOP platform by questioning if they stood for the masses, or only the select few. Sometimes Springsteen can be overhyped, but this was a song that was worthy of the praise, and of instant-classic status.


3.) The Darkness – “She’s Just a Girl, Eddie”

- Man, it was great to have The Darkness back, with a new album that showed the band to still be in top form. This is my favorite comeback track, a sing-along rocker that's just-about perfectly crafted in every way - mixing the band's trademark glam-rock bigness with their tongue-in-cheek lyrics. One of the best-ever "get over that girl" songs.


4.) Foxy Shazam – "Holy Touch"

- This is such a good song - catchy as hell and sort of a "we have arrived" statement of purpose from the best up-and-coming rock band around, Foxy Shazam. When you hear singer Eric Nally's soaring vocals, you can't help but think of Freddie Mercury. And indeed, Foxy performs with the same operatic bombast as Queen, kicking down the door of the rock world, singlehandedly working to save rock with the holy touch of the guitar gods.


5.) Rush – "Wish Them Well"

- My favorite track off of Clockwork Angels, this song works as the a kickass climax to an epic concept album that could only have come from the minds of Geddy Lee and his band. Who else would make a steampunk sci-fi concept album like this? What other classic rock band could make such a top-to-bottom great album - one that is harder and heavier than almost anything they've done before - at this stage of their careers? Rush is one of a kind.



6.) Aerosmith – “Out Go the Lights”

- Yes, Aerosmith's new album "Music From Another Dimension" is a bit of a mixed bag. It's got enough lame ballads (including a duet with Carrie Underwood) to make a hardcore member of Aeroforce One cringe. But ... and this is a big but ... a good 50 to 60% of the new album actually owns it, and "Out Go The Lights" is case in point. A big, brash, bluesy, soulful rocker that is vintage 'Smith, this song makes me smile and sing along every time. 


7.) The Offspring – "Slim Pickens Does The Right Thing and Rides the Bomb to Hell"

- I think I unfairly dismissed the new Offspring album when I heard the first single, "Days Go By," and assumed that the whole album would be that same sort of semi-bland pop-rock. Luckily, I was wrong, as the album is a total comeback for the band, and features a great mix of pop-punk, novelty songs, and more hardcore, vintage Offspring-style songs like this one. "Slim Pickens" is just a jolt of energy, a burn-it-all-down bit of nihilism that begs you to crank up the volume.


8.) Rush – "The Wreckers"

- The most epic song off an an insanely epic concept album, "The Wreckers" is a five-minute sonic journey that is emblematic of Rush's ability to tell a story and create a whole fictional universe via song. Another reason why Clockwork Angels is among the finest albums of the year.


9.) Green Day – "Wow! That’s Loud"

- Green Day released two of my all-time favorite rock albums in American Idiot and 21st Century Breakdown. It was going to be tough to follow those up, but the band, ever-ambitious, chose to release a trio of back-to-back-to-back companion albums late this year. Did we really need a triple-album? No - in my view there's a lot of filler on these three discs. But there are some gems, particularly on Dos, which I thought was by-far the best overall album of the three. Among the standouts is "Wow! That's Loud," an instantly-catchy anthem that feels like classic Green Day.


10.) Foxy Shazam – "Freedom"

- Foxy Shazam infuses their lyrics with a mix of personal confession, jokey satire, and bombastic balladry. While "Holy Touch" is a bouncy, jokey, darkly-funny song, "Freedom" hints at the band's ability to craft a modern-day power-ballad for the ages. Freedom is Springsteen-esque swagger and Americana mixed with Queen-style go-for-broke bigness. It's over-the-top, but man, it's over-the-top in the way where you've simply got to turn it up and belt it out.


THE REST OF THE BEST:

11.) Green Day – "Nightlife"
12.) Foxy Shazam – "Last Chance at Love"
13.) Green Day - "Let Yourself Go"
14.) Aerosmith – "Legendary Child"
15.) Kiss – "Take Me Down Below"
16.) Aerosmith – "Beautiful"
17.) Slash with Myles Kennedy – "Anastasia"
18.) The Offspring – "Cruisin’ California (Bumpin’ in my Trunk)"
19.) Jack White - "Sixteen Saltines"
20.) The Darkness – "Keeps Me Hangin’ On"
21.) Linkin Park – "Burn It Down"
22.) Kiss – "Outta This World"
23.) Jack White – "Freedom at 21"
24.) Foxy Shazam – "The Temple"
25.) The Darkness – "Living Each Day Blind"

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR:

1.) Foxy Shazam - The Church of Rock n' Roll
2.) Rush - Clockwork Angels
3.) Tie: The Darkness - Hot Cakes, The Offspring - Days Go By

POP SONGS OF THE YEAR:

- Yes, as much as I love rock, I like all kinds of music - pop, hip-hop, rap, whatever. I appreciate a great pop-song, and here are my picks for the best tunes of the year that, hey, even a guy like me can't help groovin' to on occasion.

1.) Rihanna - "Diamonds"
2.) Gotye featuring Kimbra - "Somebody That I Used to Know"
3.) Carly Rae Jepson - "Call Me Maybe"
4.) Ke$ha - "Die Young"
5.) Fun featuring Janelle Monae - "We Are Young"


And that's the year in ROCK for 2012. Thoughts? Personal picks? Feel free to comment. But hey, here's to 2013 being a rockin' year for us all.