Ye Olde Hit Parade: Evil

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).

2010: Grinderman - Evil

The new decade began as the previous one ended: In the throes of an economic recession. Fortunately, I still had a job, but it was bad. The stock market continued to plunge, there were more layoffs at my company, and Ronnie James Dio died.


I ran the Providence Marathon in May, but unfortunately for me, it was 80 degrees and super humid that day. I was fine until about mile 20, when I got dehydrated and started struggling with muscle spasms. The last five miles of the race or so were mostly walked. It was not good. In the fall, I was going to run a full in Hampton, NH, but an injury forced me to drop down to the half. Which was a good thing, because it started pouring at mile 9. I was soaked to the bone, but I was glad I didn't have to run another 13 miles.

We went on a different vacation this year, flying in July to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It was pretty fun, although the one time I went on a computer in a nearby internet cafe, I found out there were layoffs at work. Crazy.

It was a strong year from a musical perspective. Plenty of good stuff to dig into, from Ted Leo & the Pharmacists to Superchunk to the Henry Clay People to LCD Soundsystem. Concerts included We Were Promised Jetpacks, the Feelies (who had six encores on a late Friday night show that had me begging for it to end, even though it was great), Mission of Burma, Spoon, Drive-By Truckers, Los Campesinos!, the Kominas, Superchunk (on my 43rd birthday), The Hold Steady, Greg Dulli, Black Mountain/Black Angels, Guided By Voices and Grinderman.



My song of the year was by the last band mentioned, Nick Cave's hard rocking side project Grinderman. I will admit to being extremely late to the Cave bandwagon, only really getting into his stuff in the previous few years (something I've worked to remedy over the last decade). They've only done the two albums, but both are glorious works, with Cave presiding over the unholy clatter like a deranged televangelist. "Evil" is but one of several killer tracks on this album. And live, holy crap, what an amazing show. Cave is one of the most magnetic frontmen ever, and this song presents him at the peak of his powers. 


Honorable mentions: Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - "Bottled in Cork"; Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - "Mourning in America"; Titus Andronicus - "A More Perfect Union"; Grinderman - "Heathen Child"; Superchunk - "Digging for Something"; The Black Keys - "Tighten Up"; Black Mountain - "The Hair Song"; The Henry Clay People - "Your Famous Friends"; Spoon - "Written in Reverse"; Los Campesinos! - "Romance is Boring"; Les Savy Fav - "Sleepless in Silverlake"; Drive-By Truckers - "This Fucking Job"; LCD Soundsystem - "Drunk Girls"; Girl Talk - "Oh No"; The Besnard Lakes - "Albatross"; Frightened Rabbit - "Swim Until You Can't See Land"; Das Racist - "Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell"; The Hold Steady - "Hurricane J"; The New Pornographers - "Your Hands (Together)"; Wintersleep - "Blood Collection"; Wolf Parade - "Ghost Pressure"; Arcade Fire - "Ready to Start"; Iron Maiden - "El Dorado"; The 20/20 Project - "Back to Work"; Neil Young - "Angry World"; Cee-Lo - "Fuck You"