Month: November 2023

Top 30 Songs for November 26-December 2, 2023

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Weekly Top 30's16 Comments

The boisterous “HONEY (ARE U COMING?)” by Italian rock band Måneskin remains on top for a second week, while “ONE MORE TIME” by blink-182 holds at #2 for a second week after spending four weeks at #1. “More Than a Love Song” by Black Pumas spends a fourth week at #3, while the Foo Fighters‘ “Under You”, Western Jaguar‘s “Darling”, The 23s‘ “My Kinda Girl” and Bad Omens‘ “DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND” all advance a notch. Green Day enter the top 10 at #8 with “The American Dream Is Killing Me”, while The Beatles‘ “Now and Then” moves up one spot to #11. The song debuted at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 but plummeted to #76 in its second week, indicating that it was heavily streamed upon its release, but that the public seems to have quickly lost interest, which is really too bad.

As we enter the final month of 2023, five terrific songs make their debut on my chart this week. First up is the gorgeous “White Horse” by Nashville-based country-rock artist Chris Stapleton, entering at #26. The lead single from his fifth studio album Higher, “White Horse” was actually released this past July. Next up is “Modern Girl” by alternative pop-rock band Bleachers, headed by singer-songwriter and producer extraordinaire Jack Antonoff. The rousing song, which features some marvelous sax, took a while to grow on me but finally enters my chart at #27. Entering at #28 is the soulful “What Now” by American singer-songwriter Brittany Howard, who possesses one of the more powerful and interesting voices of any artist today. The song is the lead single of her forthcoming second album of the same name. Bringing up the rear are two wonderful dance singles, the first of which is the delightful “How Did You Get Here?” by talented young British singer-songwriter Antony Szmierek, which I learned about from fellow blogger Andy Peterson (who has a great blog titled The Voice Of Unreason). And last, but certainly not least, is “Houdini”, the latest single by impossibly beautiful English-Albanian singer-songwriter Dua Lipa.

  1. HONEY (ARE U COMING?) – Måneskin (1)
  2. ONE MORE TIME – blink-182 (2)
  3. MORE THAN A LOVE SONG – Black Pumas (3)
  4. UNDER YOU – Foo Fighters (5)
  5. DARLING – Western Jaguar (6)
  6. MY KINDA GIRL – The 23s (7)
  7. THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND – Bad Omens (8)
  8. THE AMERICAN DREAM IS KILLING ME – Green Day (11)
  9. SUMMER OF LUV – Portugal. The Man feat. Unknown Mortal Orchestra (9)
  10. EVICTED – Wilco (10)
  11. NOW AND THEN – The Beatles (12)
  12. LOVING YOU – Cannons (4)
  13. ATOMIC CITY – U2 (16)
  14. THE SHAMEFUL – Amongst Liars (17)
  15. ANGRY – The Rolling Stones (18)
  16. YOUR SIDE OF TOWN – The Killers (19)
  17. RUN AWAY WITH ME – Cold War Kids (20)
  18. ATTRACTION – Wild Horse (21)
  19. GOOD OLD DAYS – The Revivalists (22)
  20. MY LOVE MINE ALL MINE – Mitski (24)
  21. HOLD ME LIKE A GRUDGE – Fall Out Boy (15)
  22. WILD – Brian Lambert, Harmoni Kelley & Marc Schuster (25)
  23. ALL I DIE FOR – SWiiMS (26)
  24. COOL ABOUT IT – boygenius (27)
  25. RUNNING OUT OF TIME – Paramore (13)
  26. WHITE HORSE – Chris Stapleton (N)
  27. MODERN GIRL – Bleachers (N)
  28. WHAT NOW – Brittany Howard (N)
  29. HOW DID YOU GET HERE? – Antony Szmierek (N)
  30. HOUDINI – Dua Lipa (N)

Top 30 Songs for November 19-25, 2023

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Weekly Top 30's12 Comments

What an exciting chart we have this week, with a new #1 song and new debuts by two legendary acts. Since winning the Eurovision Song Contest two and a half years ago with “Zitti e Buoni”, Italian rock band Måneskin have amassed enormous commercial success and legions of passionate fans, if not always critical acclaim. Formed in 2016 while still in high school, the irrepressible and charismatic foursome consists of Damiano David (lead vocals), Victoria De Angelis (bass), Thomas Raggi (guitar) and Ethan Torchio (drums). I love their bombastic rock extravaganza “HONEY (ARE U COMING)?”, which takes over the #1 spot on my Weekly Top 30 chart after spending three weeks at #2.

Released on September 1st, the song is the sixth single from their most recent album RUSH (previous chart-topping singles from the album include “SUPERMODEL” and “THE LONELIEST”). Though generally favorable, reviews for RUSH were mixed, with Sam Law of Kerrang! writing that Måneskin are “still utterly unstoppable when they tap into the youthful exuberance and fiery eccentricity that got them here in the first place“, whereas Jeremy Larson of Pitchfork called it “absolutely terrible at every conceivable level: vocally grating, lyrically unimaginative, and musically one-dimensional. It is a rock album that sounds worse the louder you play it.” While I think the album is a bit too long (it features 18 tracks, but was reissued on November 10th as RUSH (ARE U COMING?) with a whopping 22 tracks), I love the band’s explosive energy and enjoy most of their songs.

The two very notable debuts, both of which were released on November 2nd, enter my chart quite high this week. The first, entering at #11, is “The American Dream Is Killing Me” by California pop-punk trio Green Day, released alongside “Look Ma, No Brains!” as the lead single from their forthcoming 14th studio album, Saviors, due out next year. Never afraid of making a socio-political statement, band front man Billie Joe Armstrong told Stereogum that the song is “a look at the way the traditional American Dream doesn’t work for a lot of people—in fact, it’s hurting a lot of people.”

Debuting right behind at #12 is “Now and Then” by The Beatles. At first I had mixed feelings about the song and how it came to be, but I’ve come to like it. Released as a double A-side single along with a new stereo remix of their first single, “Love Me Do”, they serve as a kind of “bookends” to the band’s history. “Now and Then” was written and recorded by John Lennon in 1977 as a solo piano demo on his home tape recorder, but was never finished. After his death in 1980, the song was considered for inclusion along with “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” for The Beatles’ 1995–1996 retrospective project The Beatles Anthology, but shelved due to its poor audio quality. Paul McCartney later remarked that George Harrison disliked the song, calling Lennon’s demo recording “fucking rubbish“. (Wikipedia)

Fast forward to 2023, McCartney and Ringo Starr were able to use the machine-learning-assisted audio restoration technology – originally commissioned by Peter Jackson for his 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back– to successfully extract Lennon’s vocals from the original demo. They then added their new vocal overdubs, Harrison’s 1995 guitar tracks along with a new slide guitar solo by McCartney, Starr’s new drum parts, and a string section written by Giles Martin (son of legendary Beatles producer George Martin), McCartney, and Ben Foster, to complete the new version of “Now and Then.” The result is a song that’s, in the words of Benjamin H. Smith who wrote about it for the website Decider, “underwhelming at first, due to its minor key verse and stately tempo, [but] repeated listens pull you in with its its artistry and gravitas“, which was exactly my own personal reaction.

The song has generally been well received by many critics who felt it was a worthy finale for the Beatles, however, some have been less generous, with a few bloggers I follow bitterly denouncing the entire project. Be that as it may, “Now and Then” has already topped the music charts in the UK, Germany, and Austria, and last week debuted at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the highest-charting song by the Beatles since “Free as a Bird” reached #6 in 1995.

Also worth noting on this week’s chart is the 10-point jump of U2‘s anthemic “Atomic City” (another song I was initially ambivalent about, partly because the chorus sounds a lot like Blondie’s “Call Me”), which is currently #1 on the Billboard AAA chart. With songs out now by both the Beatles and Rolling Stones, as well as veteran acts U2, Green Day, Wilco, Foo Fighters and blink-182, one can be forgiven for wondering what year we’re in!

  1. HONEY (ARE U COMING?) – Måneskin (2)
  2. ONE MORE TIME – blink-182 (1)
  3. MORE THAN A LOVE SONG – Black Pumas (3)
  4. LOVING YOU – Cannons (4)
  5. UNDER YOU – Foo Fighters (6)
  6. DARLING – Western Jaguar (8)
  7. MY KINDA GIRL – The 23s (9)
  8. THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND – Bad Omens (10)
  9. SUMMER OF LUV – Portugal. The Man feat. Unknown Mortal Orchestra (11)
  10. EVICTED – Wilco (12)
  11. THE AMERICAN DREAM IS KILLING ME – Green Day (N)
  12. NOW AND THEN – The Beatles (N)
  13. RUNNING OUT OF TIME – Paramore (5)
  14. WHEN WE WERE CLOSE – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (7)
  15. HOLD ME LIKE A GRUDGE – Fall Out Boy (15)
  16. ATOMIC CITY – U2 (26)
  17. THE SHAMEFUL – Amongst Liars (20)
  18. ANGRY – The Rolling Stones (21)
  19. YOUR SIDE OF TOWN – The Killers (22)
  20. RUN AWAY WITH ME – Cold War Kids (23)
  21. ATTRACTION – Wild Horse (24)
  22. GOOD OLD DAYS – The Revivalists (25)
  23. DIAL DRUNK – Noah Kahan (13)
  24. MY LOVE MINE ALL MINE – Mitski (27)
  25. WILD – Brian Lambert, Harmoni Kelley & Marc Schuster (28)
  26. ALL I DIE FOR – SWiiMS (29)
  27. COOL ABOUT IT – boygenius (30)
  28. OVERCOME – Nothing But Thieves (14)
  29. BAD IDEA RIGHT? – Olivia Rodrigo (16)
  30. PULL ME THROUGH – Royal Blood (17)

Top 30 Songs for November 12-18, 2023

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Weekly Top 30's6 Comments

It’s been quite a while since a song has spent four weeks at #1 on my chart (the last time was two years ago this month with Two Feet’s “Don’t Bring Me Down”), but “ONE MORE TIME” by blink-182 still strongly resonates with me. “HONEY (ARE U COMING)?” by Italian rock band Måneskin holds at #2 for a third week, and in fact, the entire top 7 remains unchanged from last week.

The middle of my chart, however, has lots of movement, with several songs making big upward moves. Three songs enter the top 10: “Darling” by Canadian artist Western Jaguar; “My Kinda Girl” by British synth-pop trio The 23s, and “THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND” by American metalcore band Bad Omens, all of which advance six spots. The biggest climbers this week are “Summer of Luv” by Portland-based alt-rock band Portugal. The Man featuring Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and “Evicted” by Chicago alt-rock veterans Wilco, each jumping seven spots to #11 and #12, respectively. The bottom third of the chart is more sluggish, with all ten songs advancing one spot. Bringing up the rear is the lone debut, “Cool About It” by boygenius, a long-overdue addition to my chart.

  1. ONE MORE TIME – blink-182 (1)
  2. HONEY (ARE U COMING) – Måneskin (2)
  3. MORE THAN A LOVE SONG – Black Pumas (3)
  4. LOVING YOU – Cannons (4)
  5. RUNNING OUT OF TIME – Paramore (5)
  6. UNDER YOU – Foo Fighters (6)
  7. WHEN WE WERE CLOSE – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (7)
  8. DARLING – Western Jaguar (14)
  9. MY KINDA GIRL – The 23s (15)
  10. THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND – Bad Omens (16)
  11. SUMMER OF LUV – Portugal. The Man feat. Unknown Mortal Orchestra (18)
  12. EVICTED – Wilco (19)
  13. DIAL DRUNK – Noah Kahan (10)
  14. OVERCOME – Nothing But Thieves (12)
  15. HOLD ME LIKE A GRUDGE – Fall Out Boy (17)
  16. BAD IDEA RIGHT? – Olivia Rodrigo (11)
  17. PULL ME THROUGH – Royal Blood (13)
  18. FRANCESCA – Hozier (8)
  19. WALK THROUGH THE FIRE – The Frontier (9) 21st week on chart
  20. THE SHAMEFUL – Amongst Liars (21)
  21. ANGRY – The Rolling Stones (22)
  22. YOUR SIDE OF TOWN – The Killers (23)
  23. RUN AWAY WITH ME – Cold War Kids (24)
  24. ATTRACTION – Wild Horse (25)
  25. GOOD OLD DAYS – The Revivalists (26)
  26. ATOMIC CITY – U2 (27)
  27. MY LOVE MINE ALL MINE – Mitski (28)
  28. WILD – Brian Lambert, Harmoni Kelley & Marc Schuster (29)
  29. ALL I DIE FOR – SWiiMS (30)
  30. COOL ABOUT IT – boygenius (N)

Top 30 Songs for November 5-11, 2023

On By EclecticMusicLoverIn Weekly Top 30's15 Comments

blink-182 maintains a firm grip on the #1 spot for a third week with their heartwarming “ONE MORE TIME”, while Måneskin‘s boisterous gem “HONEY (ARE U COMING)?” holds at #2 for a second week. I’ve fallen in love with Black Pumas‘ soulful “More Than a Love Song”, which jumps eight spots to #3 this week. The song has now spent five weeks at #1 on the Billboard AAA chart. The sensuous “Loving You” by LA dream pop trio Cannons moves up two spots to #4, and Paramore‘s rousing “Running Out of Time” – which could be my theme song – moves up two spots to #5. Foo Fighters climb four spots to #6 with “Under You”.

Three songs debut this week: the ethereal beauty “My Love Mine All Mine” by Mitski, from her wonderfully-titled latest album The Land Is Inhospitable And So Are We, at #28; “Wild”, the cool title track from the new album by prolific Texas singer-songwriter Brian Lambert, featuring contributions by Harmoni Kelly and Marc Schuster, at #29; and the enchanting “All I Die For” by Toronto, Canada indie rock trio SWiiMS, at #30. I was introduced to the song by fellow blogger The Alternative Mixtapes, a terrific blog worth checking out.

  1. ONE MORE TIME – blink-182 (1)
  2. HONEY (ARE U COMING) – Måneskin (2)
  3. MORE THAN A LOVE SONG – Black Pumas (11)
  4. LOVING YOU – Cannons (6)
  5. RUNNING OUT OF TIME – Paramore (7)
  6. UNDER YOU – Foo Fighters (10)
  7. WHEN WE WERE CLOSE – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (8)
  8. FRANCESCA – Hozier (3)
  9. WALK THROUGH THE FIRE – The Frontier (4) 20th week on chart
  10. DIAL DRUNK – Noah Kahan (5)
  11. BAD IDEA RIGHT ? – Olivia Rodrigo (12)
  12. OVERCOME – Nothing But Thieves (13)
  13. PULL ME THROUGH – Royal Blood (14)
  14. DARLING – Western Jaguar (15)
  15. MY KINDA GIRL – The 23s (16)
  16. THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND – Bad Omens (17)
  17. HOLD ME LIKE A GRUDGE – Fall Out Boy (18)
  18. SUMMER OF LUV – Portugal. The Man feat. Unknown Mortal Orchestra (19)
  19. EVICTED – Wilco (20)
  20. KISSES – Slowdive (9)
  21. THE SHAMEFUL – Amongst Liars (22)
  22. ANGRY – The Rolling Stones (23)
  23. YOUR SIDE OF TOWN – The Killers (24)
  24. RUN AWAY WITH ME – Cold War Kids (27)
  25. ATTRACTION – Wild Horse (28)
  26. GOOD OLD DAYS – The Revivalists (29)
  27. ATOMIC CITY – U2 (30)
  28. MY LOVE MINE ALL MINE – Mitski (N)
  29. WILD – Brian Lambert, Harmoni Kelly & Marc Schuster (N)
  30. ALL I DIE FOR – SWiiMS (N)