Ye Olde Hit Parade: Seventeen

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). 

2019: Sharon Van Etten - Seventeen

So here we are, caught up to last year. Of course, the way things have been going lately, 2019 feels like it was a decade ago. It was a year full of presidential candidates strutting their stuff, noted perv Jeffrey Epstein is arrested and ends up dying while in prison and articles of impeachment of President Trump are introduced. Deaths include Luke Perry, Bill Buckner, Ric Ocasek, Dick Dale, David Berman and Eddie Money.

I did a fair amount of traveling, going to Huntington Beach, Calif., in January, Toronto (for another Leafs game), Virginia (for a soccer tournament Lily played in), Houston, Philadelphia, Ottawa (for a college visit), Baltimore (with a brief trip to Washington, DC, to go to a Capitals game with my brother) and Orlando.

Musically, it was a pretty diverse year. I got heavily into albums by The New Pornographers, PUP, Titus Andronicus, Bob Mould, Purple Mountains, Ex Hex, Mike Krol, DIIV, Ride, Hallelujah the Hills, Pile, Mark Lanegan, Desert Sessions and Kim Gordon.

Concerts included Belinda Carlisle (a corporate gig at a conference I went to), Bob Mould, Jawbreaker, Drive-By Truckers, Iron Maiden, Courtney Barnett, Titus Andronicus, Sleater-Kinney, Superchunk and Caspian.



My favorite song came from an unexpected source: Sharon Van Etten, whose album Remind Me Tomorrow was one of my favorites early on. I fully admit to not being overly familiar with Van Etten's previous work, but her fifth album grabbed my attention with its synth-driven and sweeping looks at life as a teenager and the various pitfalls she (or her protagonist) encountered. Van Etten revisits those teenage decisions with the wisdom of hindsight, but the excitement of being in the moment. Her song "Seventeen"is a haunting look back at the loneliness of those teen years, but from the vantage point of a mature adult who knows things will get better.


Honorable mentions: Bob Mould - "What Do You Want Me to Do"; Beach Slang - "I Hate Alternative Rock"; PUP - "Morbid Thoughts"; Black Mountain - "Future Shade"; Telekinesis - "Set a Course"; Better Oblivion Community Center - "Dylan Thomas"; Fontaines DC - "Big"; Ride - "Future Love"; Piroshka - "Everlastingly Yours"; Jenny Lewis - "Red Bull & Hennessy"; Weyes Blood - "Everyday"; Flat Worms - "Into the Iris"; Hash Redactor - "Step 2: Success"; Kiwi Jr. - "Leslie"; Ex Hex - "Diamond"; Nanami Ozone - "Affection"; Elizabeth Colour Wheel - "34th"; Versing - "Tethered"; Goon - "Datura"; Pile - "The Soft Hands of Stephen Miller"; Titus Andronicus - "(I Blame) Society"; L7 - "Fighting the Crave"; Courtney Barnett - "Everybody Here Hates You"; DIIV - "Skin Game"; Froth - "Laurel"; Plague Vendor - "New Comedown"; The Menzingers - "America (You're Freaking Me Out)"; Mini Mansions - "Bad Things (That Make You Feel Good)"; Purple Mountains - "All My Happiness Is Gone"; Hallelujah the Hills - "Folk Music Is Insane"; The New Pornographers - "Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile"; Big Thief - "Shoulders"; Redd Kross - "Beyond the Door"; Sleater-Kinney - "Bad Dance"; Refused - "REV001"; Ty Segall - "Whatever"; Mikal Cronin - "Shelter"; Kim Gordon - "Air Bnb"; Mark Lanegan - "Stitch It Up"; Desert Sessions - "Something You Can't See"; Lizzo - "Truth Hurts"; Mike Krol - "What's the Rhythm"

And that wraps up my look at 41 years of favorite songs. I put all the songs I picked into a Spotify playlist that's pretty damn good if I say so myself. Check it out here.