Ye Olde Hit Parade: Alcoholics Unanimous

Editor's note: Ye Olde Hit Parade takes a look back at my favorite songs year by year (starting in 1978, when I really started paying attention to music).

2009: Art Brut - Alcoholics Unanimous

The first decade of the new millennium came to a close with a global pandemic of all things. The H1N1 swine flu caused more than 12,000 deaths in the U.S. and about 284,000 worldwide. Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett died on the same day (June 25). And the biggest-selling album in the world was by...Susan Boyle?

It was also a strange year for late night TV. NBC announced that Conan O'Brien would take over The Tonight Show from Jay Leno, only to pull the rug out from under O'Brien after seven months. Jimmy Fallon ended up getting the gig and O'Brien got a show over at TBS.  


It was a decent year for me personally. I ran the Boston Marathon for the third and last time in the spring, finishing in just under 3:57. We drove up to Toronto for a vacation for the first time in several years. Got to see a great Roy Halladay start for the Jays vs. the Red Sox. I didn't end up doing a fall marathon, but I did my first Reach the Beach relay in the NH (which I continued for the next 10 years; we'll see if they hold it this fall).


Musically, there was a lot of good stuff as usual. I was on an MP3-heavy diet of indie rock: Mission of Burma, Jarvis Cocker, Johnny Foreigner, Dead Weather, Dinosaur Jr., St. Vincent, Metric, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Arctic Monkeys and more. My music discovery was done primarily via blogs and podcasts.

Concerts attended: Jason Isbell/Deer Tick, The Tragically Hip, The WMBR Breakfast of Champions 25th birthday show (Condo Fucks/Bevis Frond/Sleepyhead), Destroyer, Eagles of Death Metal, Dinosaur Jr., Them Crooked Vultures, Sonic Youth/Feelies, Ted Leo/Titus Andronicus and Sloan.



My favorite song of '09 was a fun ripper from Art Brut called "Alcoholics Unanimous" off their Art Brut Vs. Satan album. I had their previous two albums, which were good, but this record (produced by Frank Black) was a lot more raw and immediate, echoing the sound Black was accustomed to getting from his solo projects. Art Brut frontman Eddie Argos is more of a shouter than a singer, kind of the British equivalent to the Hold Steady's Craig Finn (see yesterday's post). The song details a wild night out and the resulting after-effects, which is something I didn't really do anymore, but it definitely took me back to my 20s.


Honorable mentions: Mission of Burma - "1, 2, 3, Partyy!"; Them Crooked Vultures - "Mind Eraser, No Chaser"; Them Crooked Vultures - "Elephants"; Mastodon - "Oblivion"; Jarvis Cocker - "Angela"; Art Brut - "Slap Dash for No Cash"; Art Brut - "Alcoholics Unanimous"; Arctic Monkeys - "Crying Lightning"; The Dead Weather - "Treat Me Like Your Mother"; Japandroids - "Rockers East Vancouver"; Johnny Foreigner - "Ghost the Festivals"; Danananananaykroyd - "Watch This"; Patterson Hood - "Heavy and Hanging"; Dinosaur Jr. - "Over It"; The Von Bondies - "Pale Bride"; Metric - "Gimme Sympathy"; St. Vincent - "Actor Out of Work"; The Raveonettes - "Bang"; Sonic Youth - "Sacred Trickster"; Obits - "Two-Headed Coin"; Pearl Jam - "The Fixer"; Alice in Chains - "Check My Brain"; Brendan Benson - "A Whole Lot Better"; The Gaslight Anthem - "Great Expectations"; Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - "Soldiers Get Strange"; The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - "Young Adult Friction"; Neko Case - "People Got a Lotta Nerve"; Riverboat Gamblers - "A Choppy, Yet Sincere Apology"; The Tragically Hip - "Love is a First"; We Were Promised Jetpacks - "Ships With Holes Will Sink"; Wilco - "Bull Black Nova"; Jay Reatard - "I'm Watching You"; Yo La Tengo - "Here to Fall"; Condo Fucks - "What'cha Gonna Do About It"