2006 in music. • Page 3

Being a teenager is wild man

 

This is SO good @SpyKi and @JM95 !!! Cannot believe I had never even HEARD of this band. Can't really rank an album with just one listen of course, but can easily see why this is making lists. Thanks!

 

I can't believe you wrote two sentences about Fightstar without mentioning Busted or Charlie Simpson, that's the first time anyone has ever done that

 

I thought you might, seemed right up your street.

And @The Lucky Moose - he had to go into the album not thinking of Year 3000.

 

There was a short moment in time in which it seemed that Papoose was about to become the best rapper alive. He never did in the end, but that moment sure was sweet.

 

If I couldn't then nobody should

 

Seems like every band this year went serious or was trying to make a "rock" album. Some of it worked for me, some of it didn't, but this is definitely the year I started to occasionally make money of my own and further developed my specific tastes.

1. "Weird Al" Yankovic - Straight Outta Lynwood

• Even without the sentimentality attached that this was my first Weird Al album as a new fan, I do think this holds up as one of his most consistent releases. Also the first concert I attended of my choosing was this tour, so this album means a lot to me. It was also released as a DualDisc with music videos for half of the album, which is legendary to my brain now. Pancreas is underrated.

2. Forgive Durden - Wonderland

• This is an album that feels impossible to show people now because of how era-specific it sounds. It literally sounds like Seattle '06. What made me love this at the time was that it took the jagged sounds and unpredictability of Gatsby's and added super catchy choruses. It mostly holds up, imo.

3. My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade

• My fav MCR album for sure. Just rocked my world in so many different ways. I loved this album, my parents loved this album, my friends loved this album. It was just absolutely unavoidable. But that's ok because the songs rule! I still remember staying up late to watch the Teenagers music video premiere on MTV and being shocked at how many lyrics they censored, including the word "shirt" from "what you've got under your shirt."

Honorable Mentions
Boys Like Girls - Boys Like Girls

• Probably my favorite album for a time. Still catchy af, still sounds great, and the bonus is that I like The Night Game just as much.

New Found Glory - Coming Home

• Outside of a few songs, this one didn't work for me at the time. By the time I came around to it, they had already moved past this sound and it's a shame, because this is definitely their last all-around strong collection of songs (although I do quite like Makes Me Sick).

The Format - Dog Problems

• I got into The Format after Fun., so I've never loved it quite as much, but this album is pretty undeniable. Catchy banger after catchy banger and I can see why it has persevered the way it has.

Gatsby's American Dream - Gatsby's American Dream

• The final Gatsby's album is an ugly but catchy set of songs. I've always liked it and thought it was so "profound" when I was a kid, but turns out they were pretty spot on about the music industry. Too bad no one writes songs like they do anymore.

Bowling For Soup - The Great Burrito Extortion Case

• Another solid BFS album! Some great tunes, some forgettable tunes, and some regrettable lyrics.

Others
Sparks - Hello Young Lovers

• I didn't discover this band/album until last year, but this is definitely one of the better late-period Sparks albums (that is somehow over 15 years old). Dick Around is a masterclass.

Marianas Trench - Fix Me

• A very emo debut for a band that would go on to much much better things. Some good tunes here though!

Taking Back Sunday - Louder Now

• Was my favorite album for a while when I was a kid. Now it's like 4-5 great songs propped up by pretty good filler and I hate the drum production (a gripe I have with most Valentine productions), but definitely the last gasp of old TBS.

Pearl Jam - Pearl Jam

• The final "classic" PJ album, imo. I actually don't like this one that much, I think it is homogenous and blends together as a sort of band-mandated course correction after a few albums in the wild.

Tenacious D - The Pick of Destiny

• Fun. Loud. Dumb. Good guitar parts.

Butch Walker - The Rise and Fall

• A more fun than average Butch Walker album, it's never been my favorite but is full of catchy tunes!

Have Heart - The Things We Carry

• The worst boss I've ever had showed me this album and I'm still mad about it because it's great. Armed With a Mind is excellent.

+44 - When Your Heart Stops Beating

• Liked this WAY more than Angels & Airwaves, but hasn't stuck with me much outside of that context, tbh.

Cobra Starship - While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets

• Goddamn I listened to this album way too much when I was younger. Some legitimately not-bad songs on here, but also lots of bad ones.

Gym Class Heroes - As Cruel As School Children

• Goddamn I listened to this album way too much when I was younger. Some legitimately not-bad songs on here, but also lots of bad ones.

Yellowcard - Lights & Sounds

• I've never liked this album much outside of the singles and I stand by that. Sure Thing Falling has a killer riff though.

Rise Against - The Sufferer & the Witness

• My fav Rise Against album. The perfect blend of aggression and melody wrapped up in some of Bill Stevenson's best production.

 

I had a friend who loved this one. He basically was Jack Black. Fun times.

I was out of the pop punk game at that time, so whenever I saw that name pop up somewhere back then my brain turned it into +41 and then Sum 41

 

Weirdly enough I had Pick of Destiny the album waaaaaay before I was actually allowed to see the movie haha.

Sum 41 is better than +44, imo

 

I feel like its a pointless thing to bring up unless they already know of Busted haha.

 

Okay so RIGHT after Grand Unification finished - I queued up their most streamed song on Spotify, 2015's "Overdrive", and I HAVE heard this song.

I'm guessing just because the band name is kinda .... generic ? (not in a bad way), is why I thought I'd never heard of them before. But truly only ever heard that one song from 2015. Still gonna consider this a good find.

 

01) BRAND NEW - The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me

Like probably most of you, I haven't been able to listen to this since late 2017 but I can't deny how much I connected with this in 2006. Perfect soundtrack to completely falling apart (as I felt I was in the year after college).

02) MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE - The Black Parade

A cinematic, sweeping follow-up to a breakout record. MCR was big but this truly made them INTERNATIONAL stars (seriously, the amount of modern K-pop groups that cite them as an influence is astounding).

03) ARCTIC MONKEYS - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

The UK press is always over-excitable so I was skeptical upon first hearing about this band but their debut absolutely delivered and, unlike the similarly-hyped Strokes, they've been consistently great across their career.

04) THE DECEMBERISTS - The Crane Wife

Major label debut for a long-running indie band which didn't sacrifice any of their quirks.

05) RISE AGAINST - The Sufferer And The Witness

Stripping back the glossy production of Siren Song this is Rise Against at their most pummeling with no clunkers.

06) GNARLS BARKLEY - St. Elsewhere

Definitely expanded my taste in 2006. Plenty of hooky songs alongside "Crazy" that sit next to beautiful dark soul.

07) PLACEBO - Meds

My favorite Placebo record with Brian Molko sounding both sweet and sinister in the same breath. This was also the only time Placebo seemed interested in breaking the US as they did 3 US tours (including Linkin Park's Projekt Revolution).

08) MUTEMATH - Mutemath

Really unique blend of pop, rock, soul, jazz and many other genres by this ever-eclectic outfit.

09) BUTCH WALKER AND THE LETS GO OUT TONITES - The Rise And Fall Of

Butch steps away from singer/songwriter mode and into full-on glam with excellent results.

10) MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA - I'm Like A Virgin Losing A Child

Normally I'd have to make a case/introduce this band but given this is Chorus.FM, everyone knows this album's beautiful brilliance

11) TOOL - 10,000 Days

Stripping away their technical precision and focusing on a more open/earthy sound, Tool create their most ambient but still rockin' release to date.

12) BILLY TALENT - Billy Talent II

Ferocious and hooky, this built upon the debut and offered a leaner cut of these Canadian rock stars

13) SHE WANTS REVENGE - She Wants Revenge

Had to throw in some uncool records and this might be the most uncool as it was written off as a straight up Interpol-rip-of-Joy-Division rip-off but, damn, these songs still kill.

14) AFI - Decemberunderground

Leaning into their 80's gloom-pop love, AFI step outside the punk boundaries to explore more interesting textures and melodies while still throwing in some ferocious tracks for the old-timers.

15) PEARL JAM - Pearl Jam

The "we're back to rockin" album that Pearl Jam casual fans had been yearning for. This is a nice re-introduction of melody into Pearl Jam's catalog.

16) DEFTONES - Saturday Night Wrist

The bleakest period in a long bleak period for Deftones but I still think this is some of their most beautiful and weird music, especially given the friction in the band at the time.

17) RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS - Stadium Arcadium

Some may say this runs a bit long but the Peppers have always been about over-indulgence in both music and lifestyle so I love getting a long 28-song collection of beautiful Cali-lite love songs.

18) MUSE - Black Holes And Revelations

Muse finally broke the US with this ambitiously huge collection of paranoid prog-rock

19) HEAD AUTOMATICA - Popaganda

Tradind disco-rock for power-pop was a great move. Still have fond memories of queing up "Graduation Day" on my actual college graduation day.

20) SNOW PATROL - Eyes Open

Like Coldplay, Snow Patrol embraced U2's stadium grandosity for their 4th album and made a record full of lite-FM anthems

21) ROCK KILLS KID - Are You Nervous?

Lost in the shuffle of many bands going back to the 80's due to the success of The Killers, RKK made an excellent hooky debut that unfortunately never went anywhere.

22) YELLOWCARD - Lights & Sounds

Backlash was invetiable (at least around these circles) for Yellowcard but now that the dust has settled, this album is the one I return to most often given the variety and the focus on letting the violin lead the songs as opposed to just being a novelty feature.

23) BLUE OCTOBER - Foiled

Beautiful portrait of a man on the constant brink of a breakdown (similar to the #1 on here) but just coming at it from a different angle.

24) BREAKING BENJAMIN - Phobia

Big meaty drop C riffs with ridiculously catchy melodies without resorting to 80's sleaze-rock tropes, I wish all post-grunge was done this way.

25) SUGARCULT - Lights Out

Combining the infection hooks of Start Static with the morose mood of Palm Trees and PoweR Lines, Lights Out was an excellent swan song for Sugarcult.

26) MEN WOMEN & CHILDREN - Men Women & Children

More dance-punk lost in the mix, these guys made an excellent debut and then disappeared.

27) DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL - Dusk And Summer

I was fairly Dashboard-agnostic until this album which finally gave Chris Carraba's songs some beautiful textures to compliment them

28) THE KILLERS - Sam's Town

While every other band was aping their modern new wave style, The Killers pivoted hard into Springsteen territory with results that have held up well over the years.

29) INCUBUS - Light Grenades

Toning down the instrumental ambition, Incubus contributed their leanest and most song-oriented record to date.

30) THE KOOKS - Inside In / Inside Out

Fun, catchy pup-rock from overseas and the only front-to-back good record this band has ever made (though "Jackie Big Tits" probably wouldn't fly these days)

 

Remember when Tom Delonge and Brandon Flowers both proclaimed the albums they put out this year would be the best of the next 20 years?

 

Interesting seeing some love for the Goo Goo Dolls record from this year. To me, this is when they jumped full-on into the "Mix FM" genre which I didn't particularly care of. "Can't Let It Go" is still an all-timer though.

 

YES! There is a big big forgotten one for me from '06. Thanks for the reminder. I still have that CD somewhere. Might crack my Top 30 actually.

If I recall, it was Todd (formerly of Glassjaw) that started this band. Definitely fell off the map entirely after one album though.

 

1. Josh Ritter - The Animal Years
2. TV on the Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
3. The Hold Steady - Boys & Girls in America
4. Band Of Horses - Everythig All The Time
5. Tom Waits - Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers, & Bastards
6. Brightblack Morning Light - Brightblack Morning Light
7. Clipse - Hell Hath No Fury
8. Joanna Newsom - Ys
9. Glen Hansard - The Swell Season
10. Chris Knight - Enough Rope
11. Pharoahe Monch - Desire

 

i guess i wasn’t explicit enough above, so i will be now: a vote for brand new is a vote i won’t be counting.

 

Can't believe I'm just now finding out about this album, it is extremely '06 me's shit

 

I'll change my #1 to SOAD's "Mesmerize/Hypnotize" then

 

Just give the five points to The Black Parade.

 

Wait I thought you said it would count and whoever di dit would have to live with voting for a pedo if they won? haha

With them getting votes I was probably gonna knock them out of my top 3 just to avoid giving them the chance to win, but if they have no chance to win, maybe i'll rearrange rankings and make sure I have a 4th album there for you to give the points to instead if they make the top 3. IDk yet....This year has enough albums I enjoy in full that I can prob knock it out. Still thinking about some other albums and how high I want to put them....very glad you give us a week to do this so I can see other people's answer and have it refresh my memory on albums lol

 

1. Taking Back Sunday- Louder Now
2. My Chemical Romance- The Black Parade
3. +44- When Your Heart Stops Beating

 

Always felt Louder Now fell off in the second half (minus "Error Operator").

 

Whaaaat. I love the run of Spin-Error: Operator

I've never been a big fan of I'll Let You Live, but maybe I should try giving it another shot sometime.

 

Saosin - S/T
Underoath - DTGL
Alexisonfire - Crisis