My 30 Best Albums of the Decade: #7

#7. Drunken Lullabies - Flogging Molly

I've already described the gift this century that was Flogging Molly, and nothing has changed in the last six weeks on that front. They're still Irish, they still kick ass. But while Float was incredible on it's own, and even though it was more widely acclaimed by those toolbags we know as "Critics", it can't hold a (Bailey's scented) candle to Drunken Lullabies.

The title track kicks off the album itself and the rest is pretty much history. Less than a second after pressing “PLAY”, you’re treated to a heavy symphony of drums, horns, bass, bagpipes, you name it. It’s also one of those tunes that reaches you personally: “We find ourselves in the same old mess singing drunken lullabies”. That’s pretty much how my Saturday nights end. But while it sounds like a simply Irish drinking anthem, it’s anything but. It kinda asks a question that’s rarely asked about the troubles in Northern Ireland (or the Middle East, Pakistan, you name it):

What savior rests while on his cross we die

"Forgotten Freedom Burns"

Has the Shepard led his lambs astray

to the bigot and the gun?

Yep. Where’s your Messiah now? Enough of my soapbox though because the rest of the album is near-perfect. Not only do they cover what’s probably my favorite Irish standard: “The Rare Ould Times”, they don’t PC it up by avoiding some less than “acceptable” language by 21st Century standards the way I’ve heard other, lesser bands do so in recent years. Written decades ago (really, I have no idea when), the song’s as meaningful today as it was way back when. In a world of outsourcing, crumbling economies and infrastructure, nobody can really go “home” anymore. I’m a fan of progress, it does more good than harm, but sometimes, to put it bluntly, progress sucks.

The album also boasts one of the 65 or so songs that I want put on my funeral playlist: “If I Ever Leave This World Alive”. Don’t ask me why, but our own mortality fascinates me. Maybe it’s an Irish thing. Maybe it’s another unfortunate side affect of a Catholic upbringing. Maybe it’s cause I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that when you’re done, you’re done. Finito, end of story cause I’m a control freak and don’t like not understanding things, so this explanation makes the most sense. Yet given that belief structure, I’m captivated by this pledge of post-mortem love and support from man to woman. What can I say; sometimes I’m a walking dichotomy.

Possibly my favorite song on the album is the rebellious anthem “What’s Left of the Flag”. I’m a sucker for songs about rebellion, in particular Irish ones. “Flag” has it all: the heavy instruments, the inspiring battle cries, and blatant insults hurled at the enemy. Side note: I’m not into “rebellion” hymns of the Confederacy though. Not in the least. It really chaps my ass that 150 years later I’ll occasionally hear “Dixie”, or that “The Night They Drove Ol’ Dixie Down” paints Sherman’s march as a borderline War Crime. Dude, you rebelled based of the principles of denying human rights (save me the “it’s not all about slavery” bullshit, I’ve heard it and you’re just whitewashing things. And Jim Crow ended any shadow of a doubt about that. Plus, we won.)

I could go on and on about each track but it’s all going to come back to the same underlying point: this album will kick your ass while making you think at the same time. And really, I can’t say that about anything else without copping to the use of illicit substances.

My 30 Best Albums of the Decade: #8

Year is running out faster than Ronan Tynan at a Seder. Need to get back on the ball, still got a lot to do. For nobody's amusement other than my own of course.

#8. Hot Fuss - The Killers

There are a couple things in life that - regardless of how often I’m exposed to them, contemplate them, or experience them - I still can’t make up my mind on how I feel about them. Hummus is one of them. Emerill is another. Same with Tom Hanks and high-end vodka. You can also add the Killers to the mix.



Five years after first hearing them I still don’t know. Talented? Lucky? Overrated? Underappreciated? Manufactured? Original? I’m clear on two things however:


1. Their second album Sam’s Town was the most disappointing follow-up album in music history since Slave to the Grind.


2. It can only be classified as such a bomb because their debut album Hot Fuss was an instant classic, despite how overplayed it may have gotten at times.


I have to credit my wife with summing it up best: “These guys sound like they’re making a John Hughes movie soundtrack.” To some that may be an insult. But people are so easily insulted these days anyway so don’t put any credence into that. Decades later (ouch. old.) the old John Hughes movie tunes still resonate, and reappear in movie after movie to the point where a whole new generation’s been exposed to them, without ever having the joy of watching the Breakfast Club or St Elmo’s Fire. OK, tangent on the incredible ability of the late John Hughes to compliment his movies with a near perfect score is over.

From start to finish, Hot Fuss is eminently listenable (one would think all albums should be, but we all know that aint the case). Sure, a lot of it is catchy, but who cares because it’s also pretty real.


Who hasn’t had their Mr. Brightside moment? Either as Mr. Brightside himself, or his cheap two-timing slutty girlfriend on the verge of jerking off another dude as she’s being disrobed, or, as the other dude. I kinda like those anti-love songs that pull no punches about how fucked up relationships can be. Save me your “I Will Always Love You” or “Miss You Like Crazy” crap. Give me a “Brightside” or a “Say Goodbye” any day of the week. Or even Motley Crue’s “Your All I Need” (yeah, google the lyrics and find out how twisted I can be)


While the whole album has a distinct sound, it’s also pretty diverse. Lead singer Brandon Flowers (who I keep mistaking for a Steelers linebacker) tries a tad too hard to sound like Jim Morrison in the opening minute of “On Top” but that doesn’t last too long. “All These Things That I’ve Done” (Known for it’s repetitive made-for-Gatorade-and-Nike-commercials chorus of “I Got Soul But I’m Not a Soldier”) is one of the better songs cut this decade.

And then you have “Somebody Told Me”, which, honestly, I don’t know if it’s a “Lola” style homage to transvestites or not, so I’m not really going to get into it and make myself sound foolish. Don’t need anymore help in that department.


Some songs take more than a few listens to really get into (“Andy You’re a Star” comes to mind). And as always, the fact that it’s an album that can either be cranked for all to enjoy, or conversely be played as simple background music also makes an enticing argument for greatness. But there’s no greater compliment one could pay an album than to say that’s fully enjoyable from start to finish, and there aren’t many albums cut in the 00’s that met that mantra better than Hot Fuss.

Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe, Anthony Michael Hall and the gang would be pleased.

My 30 Best Albums of the Decade: #9

Been a bit behind over the last week, in a funk because I realized too late that I really did shun "The Rising", insulting it at #10. But alas, I move on. Which I'm normally not very good at but promise to get better.

#9. Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not- Arctic Monkeys

The "new album" that started my renaissance of "new albums". I was living in a musical cave for some time in the earlier part of this decade. A pre-iTunes cave. Heck, I even used to wonder what the bloody point of an iPod was. I was that caveman besmirching the need for a wheel I guess. I had a CD player. I had all my classics. Why would I sit in front of a computer, with a 3 year lifespan, and put my entire catalog on it? The entire concept sounded foreign to me.  

5 years later and I vow to never, ever, under any circumstance doubt technological improvements without seeing for myself. Never again would I be the technological equivalent of George Wallace.

I had heard a lot of great things about these Brits but that didn't really impress me at the time. I had heard a lot of great things about Hillary Clinton from fellow democrats too and she turned out to be a shallow power-hungry troll without principle. But this album delivered. So much so that at the end of 2006, I ranked it higher than some works that have yet to be accounted for in this pointless little countdown.

There's nothing too deep or special about the album, which is just a pain in the ass to continue to retype, but to put it bluntly, it's fucking fun. That's it. No more, no less. The catchy "Mardy Bum" pretty much sums up the occasional nonsense that cohabitating couples deal with, but not in an Eminem-sense where violent rage and threats of assault are the common medium of expression. Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But does a great job of capturing the annoyance of dealing with, well, people. People who want to sell you shit. People who want to control your shit. People who want to own your shit. Fake Tales of San Francisco is a lovely ode to bullshit. And there's not enough of those.

The rest of the album touches upon the same basic premises of "You Suck, Just Let Me Be", without getting too deep or too preachy. And it moves at a quick enough pace that you can throw it on while entertaining and nobody's going to get caught up in any deep bullshit or wonder if your accusing them of time-burglary (the answer is likely yes).

Is there anything special or groundbreaking about the album as a whole? No, not really. Would many people rank it this high? Doubt it. But they suck, just let me be.