Narrowcast's Top 100 Singles of 2008 (Part 1 of 2)
51. John Legend - "Show Me"
Not one of the five (!) charting singles off of his 2006 sleeper Once Again, but Legend finally shot a video for his surprisingly convincing Jeff Buckley impression earlier this year to promote his charity foundation named after the song.
52. T.I. - "No Matter What"
This hit harder back when there was still some mystique surrounding Paper Trail and there was no whiff of the eventual hit'n'miss pop smashes from it that would follow, but it's still way above par for the usual 'serious statement' preview single from a rap superstar.
53. Snoop Dogg - "Sensual Seduction"
A year and a hundred other AutoTuned rappers later, I have to give it to Snoop, he was by far the least annoying, and came up with a pretty catchy melody. But then, he's always had a pretty enjoyable singing voice and a real grasp of R&B of all eras beyond most of his contemporaries.
54. The Roots f/ Wale and Chrisette Michelle - "Rising Up"
In grabbing a D.C. rapper and whipping up a fake Go-Go jam, The Roots actually managed to make something roughly 10x better than any of the real local records D.C. radio's been playing in the past couple years.
55. Jesse McCartney - "Leavin'"
Like most white boybanders, McCartney has a clear jones to make the reverse crossover from pop to R&B, and even though he's the same age Timberlake was when he made Justified, he's still just a little too baby-faced and nonthreatening to pull off lines like "that thang you got behind you is amazing." It's still not as awkward as it should be, though, because Tricky Stewart provided his very best lullabye thump.
56. Janet Jackson - "Luv"
Compared to the 2 absolute duds that she shot videos for, this was the true standout hit that could've rescued Discipline from being Janet's third consecutive flop.
57. Atreyu - "Falling Down"
Even as one of the rockcrit blogosphere's premiere mainstream radio apologists, I can't front, 2008 was a pretty dire year for finding the gems, especially compared to '07. But sometimes a big, swinging horn section on top of generic active rock track was really all something took to stand out from the pack.
58. Nine Inch Nails - "Discipline"
That this massive groove wasn't as big a hit as the tinny shoutalong "Survivalism" is the final word on whether leaving Interscope hurt NIN's mainstream profile at all.
59. Jadakiss f/ Ne-Yo - "By My Side"
Eric Hudson should've start lacing everybody with singles as soon as "Flashing Lights" hit, but maybe too many people assumed Kanye did the beat, so it's only just now that we're finally getting more of his string swoops and drum thuds on the radio.
60. Nelly f/ Fergie - "Party People"
Of all the flailing attempts at singles that Nelly threw out in an attempt to rescue Brass Knuckles from its inevitable failure, this was by far the most entertaining.
61. Ace Hood f/ T-Pain and Rick Ross - "Cash Flow"
"I'm So Hood" was garbage until the remix facelift, but next time the same team tried the formula they got it right on the first try.
62. G-Unit - "I Like The Way She Do It"
Most rappers, no matter how ugly, operate under the premise that girls actually like them, so you kinda have to respect Tony Yayo for saying "I love it when you like and say my eyes are dreamy," if nothing else. And I mean, there really is nothing else.
63. One Day As A Lion - "Wild International"
I was pretty ambivalent about the idea of a Rage Against The Machine reunion, but when I heard this song and just assumed it was their new song, I did get pretty excited.
64. Missy Elliott - "Ching-A-Ling"
Any Missy/Timbo reunion is bound to disappoint (look no further than the flipside of this, "Shake Your Pom Pom," for proof), so I'm glad that she's setting up blind dates with worthy suitors like Swizz Beatz that at least yield entertaining one-offs, if no long term chemistry.
65. Coheed And Cambria - "Feathers"
Of all the songs on this list that were sent to radio stations but scarcely picked up, this is the one I probably most wish I could've heard on my car radio on the regular.
66. Plies f/ Jamie Foxx and The-Dream - "Please Excuse My Hands"
The union of the three skeeviest, sleaziest men in urban pop for an anthem about groping is one of the strangest ideas anyone had this year, and whoever they were, bless them for it.
67. Erykah Badu - "Honey"
I still think it fits in with the rest of New Amerykah well enough that it shouldn't have been forced to sit out on the front stoop as a bonus track, but I can also understand why it's the only song they bothered to release as a single (although "Soldier" probably deserved a shot anyway).
68. Foxboro Hot Tubs - "Mother Mary"
Taken on its own, it's at most a retro trifle, but taken in the context of a pseudonymous Green Day side project, it's a delightful diversion to slide between American Idiot and whatever self-important bullshit they're serving up next.
69. Chingy f/ Amerie - "Fly Like Me"
Really nice little slice of late '07 pop rap that came and went really quickly at the end of last year, but I didn't want to let it slip through the cracks and not get counted at least this year.
70. Sheek Louch - "Good Love"
Fittingly, Sheek's career is itself an anachronism of a time when talkative helium samples were often hooks for hit songs.
71. T.I. - "What Up, What's Haapnin'"
That Shawty Lo continues to exist after this song dropped disappoints me on a daily basis.
72. Ne-Yo - "Go On Girl"
In 2007, I thought Stargate and Ne-Yo had completely exhausted their bag of tricks, and then in 2008 they managed to completely win me back with a superb streak of hits. This last single that slipped out of Because Of You still probably belongs in the category of cheap "Irreplaceable" knockoffs, but it dropped this year and I like it, so I'm slotting it as part of their comeback.
73. Busta Rhymes - "Don't Touch Me (Throw Da Water On 'Em)"
Yes, we're so starved for any remnant of the Busta that made "Gimme Some More" that we'll take any scraps that come out of his otherwise worthless new roughneck persona.
74. Sophia Fresh f/ Kanye West - "What It Is"
One of about 5 tracks featuring T-Kanye this year that's far better than anything on 808s, especially because the real T-Pain (a far better producer than Kanye this year) did the beat.
75. Ice Cube - "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It"
Not much less ponderous than you could expect a message song like this to sound, but the sarcastic wit still makes it pretty listenable.
76. Metro Station - "Shake It"
Even by emo teenybopper standards these kids are shockingly ugly, but that just makes their catchiness of their shameless pickup lines that much more jarring and enjoyable.
77. Bun B f/ David Banner, Rick Ross, 8 Ball & MJG - "You're Everything"
The only Southern pride posse cut of the year that hitched its wagon to something as unexpected and perfect as a histrionic Jodeci sample, from the one with that video where they're in the desert no less.
78. Weezer - "Troublemaker"
The cult of Weezer has been puzzling and repulsing me for over a decade now, but for some reason I kind of like when Rivers comments on it himself with that whole "I am so unlike the singers in the other bands" spiel.
79. Red Cafe f/ Fat Joe, Fabolous and Jadakiss - "Paper Touchin' (Remix)"
Shows of NYC unity featuring one or more of the same guests seem to happen roughly once a week these days, but they rarely bang this much.
80. Keri Hilson f/ Lil Wayne - "Turnin' Me On"
The incumbent cameo king of '07 maintained the quantity, but in quality terms this is the only thing I thought was worth making even such a big fat inclusive list. No I.D. strikes again on the co-production tip with Polow.
81. Plies f/ Chris J. - "Put It On Ya"
No I.D. has been the co-pilot of choice for so many producers of equal or usually lesser talents but greater name recognition lately, from Jermaine on American Gangster tracks to Kanye on 808s and Polow on "Turnin' Me On," so it's nice that he got at least one prominent production credit all to himself this year.
82. John Mayer - "Say"
At this point I can't even act like I grudgingly respect Mayer or like him in spite of myself; I genuinely enjoy his corny slow jams.
83. Lee Carr - "Stilettos"
Although I'm glad that his link to The-Dream has gotten L.O.S. Da Maestro's funky, idiosyncratic beats out there, I hope he doesn't stay so hitched to that wagon that he doesn't keep doing tracks for superior vocalists.
84. Usher f/ Young Jeezy - "Love In This Club"
I have to admit that learning that Polow just cut-and-pasted the synths from this song out of a software preset onto some of his less inspired drums was a real eye-opening emperor's new clothes moment for me. But I still like the song, no matter how lazy its assembly was.
85. Sara Bareilles - "Bottle It Up"
It's definitely not on the level of "Love Song" (which, spoiler alert! is in my top 10), but there's something I find irresistible about her voice that usually I don't get from post-Fiona Apple piano pop ingenues.
86. Michelle Williams - "We Break The Dawn"
After years of lurking in the shadows as a Beyonce b-girl and a gospel solo artist, the Michelle Williams that wasn't on "Dawson's Creek" made a pretty enjoyable dip into secular dance pop.
87. New Kids On The Block - "Summertime"
Better than ever, but only because the didn't have any halfway decent hits the first time around.
88. Leona Lewis - "Bleeding Love"
It feels much more sonorous and subdued than a world-conquering hit probably should be, but that probably doesn't bother me because I never really heard it that often.
89. Danity Kane - "Damaged"
The "do! do you! have! a!" verses are catchier than anything that follows, but that part is repeated often enough that it might as well be the chorus.
90. Say Anything - "Shiksa (Girlfriend)"
I'm still bitter that I heard a half dozen potential hits on In Defense Of Genre that never got released as singles, but at least they got one decent one out there, even if it predictably underperformed.
91. Nickelback - "Something In Your Mouth"
I don't think I'd find this song quite so entertaining in its disgusting innuendo and hip hop patois if my wife didn't find it revolting enough to make me change the station the moment it comes on the radio every time.
92. Paramore - "Decode"
They do a lot of other stuff better than teen vampire movie power ballads, but when asked to they can deliver those too.
93. Timbaland f/ Keri Hilson and Nicole Scherzinger - "Scream"
I hated every ubiquitous Shock Value hit, and then when they finally drop a song I outright love from it noone pays attention except to make fun of the bizarre video.
94. LL Cool J f/ The-Dream - "Baby"
I have to admit I experienced some major schadenfreude the week that both LL and Gym Class Heroes posted up terrible first week numbers after putting their lead single eggs in The-Dream's basket, reaffirming the fact that he won't be a T-Pain-style hook machine anytime soon. But the drums on this were still dope, and LL's always had a knack for entertainingly dopey rhymes, but never anything quite as ridiculous as the "mandingo/make me tingle" nonsense in this song.
95. Death Cab For Cutie - "Cath..."
I only liked Death Cab a little back when they were just another Pacific Northwest Built To Spill knockoff, so it's fitting that the first song I've enjoyed since their mainstream breakthrough was the one that had me thinking for a confused instant that I was hearing BTS on the radio.
96. Pink - "Sober"
In the context of Funhouse, it's a lowlight, but that album is so front-to-back enjoyable that it's still pretty good outside that context.
97. Jaheim - "Never"
Never get tired of a good laid back Jaheim jam.
98. Chingy f/ Ludacris and Bobby Valentino - "Gimme Dat"
Luda welcomes one estranged DTP member with another labelmate just before kicking another one out the back door, but drama side the song bangs in a wierdly late 90s way.
99. Big Boi f/ Raekwon and Andre 3000 - "Royal Flush"
There's something really depressing about the fact that even when Big Boi goes to release a solo album that isn't packaged with an Andre album, he can't help but put 3 Stacks on the lead single and let the guy outshine him with a verse twice as long.
100. Gun's N' Roses - "Better"
I came close to listing this in my singles list in 2006 when it leaked, and based on how pitifully it's done on the charts as an official single released on the heels of the terminally buzz-killing "Chinese Democracy," I might as well have. In a more crazy-Axl-friendly world, if not a more just one, this would've been a proper comeback smash.
Not one of the five (!) charting singles off of his 2006 sleeper Once Again, but Legend finally shot a video for his surprisingly convincing Jeff Buckley impression earlier this year to promote his charity foundation named after the song.
52. T.I. - "No Matter What"
This hit harder back when there was still some mystique surrounding Paper Trail and there was no whiff of the eventual hit'n'miss pop smashes from it that would follow, but it's still way above par for the usual 'serious statement' preview single from a rap superstar.
53. Snoop Dogg - "Sensual Seduction"
A year and a hundred other AutoTuned rappers later, I have to give it to Snoop, he was by far the least annoying, and came up with a pretty catchy melody. But then, he's always had a pretty enjoyable singing voice and a real grasp of R&B of all eras beyond most of his contemporaries.
54. The Roots f/ Wale and Chrisette Michelle - "Rising Up"
In grabbing a D.C. rapper and whipping up a fake Go-Go jam, The Roots actually managed to make something roughly 10x better than any of the real local records D.C. radio's been playing in the past couple years.
55. Jesse McCartney - "Leavin'"
Like most white boybanders, McCartney has a clear jones to make the reverse crossover from pop to R&B, and even though he's the same age Timberlake was when he made Justified, he's still just a little too baby-faced and nonthreatening to pull off lines like "that thang you got behind you is amazing." It's still not as awkward as it should be, though, because Tricky Stewart provided his very best lullabye thump.
56. Janet Jackson - "Luv"
Compared to the 2 absolute duds that she shot videos for, this was the true standout hit that could've rescued Discipline from being Janet's third consecutive flop.
57. Atreyu - "Falling Down"
Even as one of the rockcrit blogosphere's premiere mainstream radio apologists, I can't front, 2008 was a pretty dire year for finding the gems, especially compared to '07. But sometimes a big, swinging horn section on top of generic active rock track was really all something took to stand out from the pack.
58. Nine Inch Nails - "Discipline"
That this massive groove wasn't as big a hit as the tinny shoutalong "Survivalism" is the final word on whether leaving Interscope hurt NIN's mainstream profile at all.
59. Jadakiss f/ Ne-Yo - "By My Side"
Eric Hudson should've start lacing everybody with singles as soon as "Flashing Lights" hit, but maybe too many people assumed Kanye did the beat, so it's only just now that we're finally getting more of his string swoops and drum thuds on the radio.
60. Nelly f/ Fergie - "Party People"
Of all the flailing attempts at singles that Nelly threw out in an attempt to rescue Brass Knuckles from its inevitable failure, this was by far the most entertaining.
61. Ace Hood f/ T-Pain and Rick Ross - "Cash Flow"
"I'm So Hood" was garbage until the remix facelift, but next time the same team tried the formula they got it right on the first try.
62. G-Unit - "I Like The Way She Do It"
Most rappers, no matter how ugly, operate under the premise that girls actually like them, so you kinda have to respect Tony Yayo for saying "I love it when you like and say my eyes are dreamy," if nothing else. And I mean, there really is nothing else.
63. One Day As A Lion - "Wild International"
I was pretty ambivalent about the idea of a Rage Against The Machine reunion, but when I heard this song and just assumed it was their new song, I did get pretty excited.
64. Missy Elliott - "Ching-A-Ling"
Any Missy/Timbo reunion is bound to disappoint (look no further than the flipside of this, "Shake Your Pom Pom," for proof), so I'm glad that she's setting up blind dates with worthy suitors like Swizz Beatz that at least yield entertaining one-offs, if no long term chemistry.
65. Coheed And Cambria - "Feathers"
Of all the songs on this list that were sent to radio stations but scarcely picked up, this is the one I probably most wish I could've heard on my car radio on the regular.
66. Plies f/ Jamie Foxx and The-Dream - "Please Excuse My Hands"
The union of the three skeeviest, sleaziest men in urban pop for an anthem about groping is one of the strangest ideas anyone had this year, and whoever they were, bless them for it.
67. Erykah Badu - "Honey"
I still think it fits in with the rest of New Amerykah well enough that it shouldn't have been forced to sit out on the front stoop as a bonus track, but I can also understand why it's the only song they bothered to release as a single (although "Soldier" probably deserved a shot anyway).
68. Foxboro Hot Tubs - "Mother Mary"
Taken on its own, it's at most a retro trifle, but taken in the context of a pseudonymous Green Day side project, it's a delightful diversion to slide between American Idiot and whatever self-important bullshit they're serving up next.
69. Chingy f/ Amerie - "Fly Like Me"
Really nice little slice of late '07 pop rap that came and went really quickly at the end of last year, but I didn't want to let it slip through the cracks and not get counted at least this year.
70. Sheek Louch - "Good Love"
Fittingly, Sheek's career is itself an anachronism of a time when talkative helium samples were often hooks for hit songs.
71. T.I. - "What Up, What's Haapnin'"
That Shawty Lo continues to exist after this song dropped disappoints me on a daily basis.
72. Ne-Yo - "Go On Girl"
In 2007, I thought Stargate and Ne-Yo had completely exhausted their bag of tricks, and then in 2008 they managed to completely win me back with a superb streak of hits. This last single that slipped out of Because Of You still probably belongs in the category of cheap "Irreplaceable" knockoffs, but it dropped this year and I like it, so I'm slotting it as part of their comeback.
73. Busta Rhymes - "Don't Touch Me (Throw Da Water On 'Em)"
Yes, we're so starved for any remnant of the Busta that made "Gimme Some More" that we'll take any scraps that come out of his otherwise worthless new roughneck persona.
74. Sophia Fresh f/ Kanye West - "What It Is"
One of about 5 tracks featuring T-Kanye this year that's far better than anything on 808s, especially because the real T-Pain (a far better producer than Kanye this year) did the beat.
75. Ice Cube - "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It"
Not much less ponderous than you could expect a message song like this to sound, but the sarcastic wit still makes it pretty listenable.
76. Metro Station - "Shake It"
Even by emo teenybopper standards these kids are shockingly ugly, but that just makes their catchiness of their shameless pickup lines that much more jarring and enjoyable.
77. Bun B f/ David Banner, Rick Ross, 8 Ball & MJG - "You're Everything"
The only Southern pride posse cut of the year that hitched its wagon to something as unexpected and perfect as a histrionic Jodeci sample, from the one with that video where they're in the desert no less.
78. Weezer - "Troublemaker"
The cult of Weezer has been puzzling and repulsing me for over a decade now, but for some reason I kind of like when Rivers comments on it himself with that whole "I am so unlike the singers in the other bands" spiel.
79. Red Cafe f/ Fat Joe, Fabolous and Jadakiss - "Paper Touchin' (Remix)"
Shows of NYC unity featuring one or more of the same guests seem to happen roughly once a week these days, but they rarely bang this much.
80. Keri Hilson f/ Lil Wayne - "Turnin' Me On"
The incumbent cameo king of '07 maintained the quantity, but in quality terms this is the only thing I thought was worth making even such a big fat inclusive list. No I.D. strikes again on the co-production tip with Polow.
81. Plies f/ Chris J. - "Put It On Ya"
No I.D. has been the co-pilot of choice for so many producers of equal or usually lesser talents but greater name recognition lately, from Jermaine on American Gangster tracks to Kanye on 808s and Polow on "Turnin' Me On," so it's nice that he got at least one prominent production credit all to himself this year.
82. John Mayer - "Say"
At this point I can't even act like I grudgingly respect Mayer or like him in spite of myself; I genuinely enjoy his corny slow jams.
83. Lee Carr - "Stilettos"
Although I'm glad that his link to The-Dream has gotten L.O.S. Da Maestro's funky, idiosyncratic beats out there, I hope he doesn't stay so hitched to that wagon that he doesn't keep doing tracks for superior vocalists.
84. Usher f/ Young Jeezy - "Love In This Club"
I have to admit that learning that Polow just cut-and-pasted the synths from this song out of a software preset onto some of his less inspired drums was a real eye-opening emperor's new clothes moment for me. But I still like the song, no matter how lazy its assembly was.
85. Sara Bareilles - "Bottle It Up"
It's definitely not on the level of "Love Song" (which, spoiler alert! is in my top 10), but there's something I find irresistible about her voice that usually I don't get from post-Fiona Apple piano pop ingenues.
86. Michelle Williams - "We Break The Dawn"
After years of lurking in the shadows as a Beyonce b-girl and a gospel solo artist, the Michelle Williams that wasn't on "Dawson's Creek" made a pretty enjoyable dip into secular dance pop.
87. New Kids On The Block - "Summertime"
Better than ever, but only because the didn't have any halfway decent hits the first time around.
88. Leona Lewis - "Bleeding Love"
It feels much more sonorous and subdued than a world-conquering hit probably should be, but that probably doesn't bother me because I never really heard it that often.
89. Danity Kane - "Damaged"
The "do! do you! have! a!" verses are catchier than anything that follows, but that part is repeated often enough that it might as well be the chorus.
90. Say Anything - "Shiksa (Girlfriend)"
I'm still bitter that I heard a half dozen potential hits on In Defense Of Genre that never got released as singles, but at least they got one decent one out there, even if it predictably underperformed.
91. Nickelback - "Something In Your Mouth"
I don't think I'd find this song quite so entertaining in its disgusting innuendo and hip hop patois if my wife didn't find it revolting enough to make me change the station the moment it comes on the radio every time.
92. Paramore - "Decode"
They do a lot of other stuff better than teen vampire movie power ballads, but when asked to they can deliver those too.
93. Timbaland f/ Keri Hilson and Nicole Scherzinger - "Scream"
I hated every ubiquitous Shock Value hit, and then when they finally drop a song I outright love from it noone pays attention except to make fun of the bizarre video.
94. LL Cool J f/ The-Dream - "Baby"
I have to admit I experienced some major schadenfreude the week that both LL and Gym Class Heroes posted up terrible first week numbers after putting their lead single eggs in The-Dream's basket, reaffirming the fact that he won't be a T-Pain-style hook machine anytime soon. But the drums on this were still dope, and LL's always had a knack for entertainingly dopey rhymes, but never anything quite as ridiculous as the "mandingo/make me tingle" nonsense in this song.
95. Death Cab For Cutie - "Cath..."
I only liked Death Cab a little back when they were just another Pacific Northwest Built To Spill knockoff, so it's fitting that the first song I've enjoyed since their mainstream breakthrough was the one that had me thinking for a confused instant that I was hearing BTS on the radio.
96. Pink - "Sober"
In the context of Funhouse, it's a lowlight, but that album is so front-to-back enjoyable that it's still pretty good outside that context.
97. Jaheim - "Never"
Never get tired of a good laid back Jaheim jam.
98. Chingy f/ Ludacris and Bobby Valentino - "Gimme Dat"
Luda welcomes one estranged DTP member with another labelmate just before kicking another one out the back door, but drama side the song bangs in a wierdly late 90s way.
99. Big Boi f/ Raekwon and Andre 3000 - "Royal Flush"
There's something really depressing about the fact that even when Big Boi goes to release a solo album that isn't packaged with an Andre album, he can't help but put 3 Stacks on the lead single and let the guy outshine him with a verse twice as long.
100. Gun's N' Roses - "Better"
I came close to listing this in my singles list in 2006 when it leaked, and based on how pitifully it's done on the charts as an official single released on the heels of the terminally buzz-killing "Chinese Democracy," I might as well have. In a more crazy-Axl-friendly world, if not a more just one, this would've been a proper comeback smash.
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