We’ve reached the end of yet another year. So, in keeping with tradition, we begin our top 10 lists to determine what we liked and didn’t like this year.
We are here once again to the end of yet another year on Freezenet. As is tradition around here, we take the opportunity to look back at the year that was and start counting down the top 10 best and worst things we’ve seen. Today, we are going through the top 10 worst tracks we’ve reviewed this year.
Before we jump into that, we decided to get into some general overall observations for the year. We began by continuing off where we left off and focused largely on music released in 1999. We actually had high hopes for music released in the 90s. To be honest, we were left pretty disappointed with only the odd track here and there really impressing us.
We then continued on and focused largely on music released in 2000, 2001, and 2002. For us, things started getting a bit more interesting. We saw some moments where music got interesting in 1998 and a few more sprouts started turning up in 1999. We actually became interested in whether this trend continued.
What we ended up seeing is one of two things happening. For one, trance became much more accessible starting around 2000. As a result, there have been a few highlights from that genre. On the other side, rock music actually started picking up in quality. We saw the emergence of nu metal as well as the surging of punk rock. As a result, music just got much more interesting at about this time.
We don’t really see either the underground or the mainstream music start pulling ahead of each other. Instead, both sides started increasing in quality at about this time. For us, this raises a rather interesting question: at what point did mainstream music tank, allowing underground music to completely dominate like we see in more modern times? We’re not sure if we’ll get an answer to that next year, but it’ll be interesting to see if one side starts pulling away from another at some point.
So, with all of that said, what came out on top? By this, we mean, what came out on top by bombing the hardest? Let’s find out right now:
10. Buckcherry – Lit Up
(RIAA)
This year, we kick things off with this boring and repetitive track. This in spite of the odd idea of cramming in three guitar solo’s into one track. Nothing much to listen to here.
6/10
9. Bruce Springsteen – Born In the U.S.A.
(RIAA)
At the time of this release, a lot of the sounds just sound plain outdated. You’d think this track was released in the 70s or 80s based on how it sounds, but in fact, it was released in 1999. Throw in a repetitive set of keys throughout and you get a placement on this years list.
6/10
8. N’Sync – Bye Bye Bye
(RIAA)
Coming in at number 8 is a track that pretty much tormented listeners in the early 2000s. This mediocre track played so much on mainstream radio that it made you want to smash it just for a few moments of avoiding listening to it for the millionth time. As it stands now, this track wound up being exceedingly mediocre, repetitive, and flat.
6/10
7. Britney Spears – Oops!… I Did It Again
(RIAA)
If you thought the previous entry was a horror show from memory lane, this one actually manages to top it. With transitions that need work and the track being quite flat in other places, it’s no wonder this one managed to make the list. The awful icing on this cake is the random out of place voice sample thrown in the middle seemingly for no real reason.
6/10
6. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication
(RIAA)
There’s nothing with being a little edgy. In fact, some of the best music we’ve ever heard wound up being pretty edgy. The thing is, you should probably back that up with some decent sounding music. This track pretty much missed the boat on that last point. While the deeper meaning can be appreciated, it gets lost in the overall tracks blandness.
5.5/10
5. AC/DC – Stiff Upper Lip
(RIAA)
From what we’ve been told, this track is supposed to be some amazing music with attitude and personality. What I got was the overall impression that this track is severely overrated. The track starts off with a good hook, then promptly falls flat on its face after. Add a dash of being outdated, and you got a track that manages to snag a top 5 spot on this list of bad music.
5.5/10
4. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Free Girl Now
(RIAA)
We now reach the barely passable tracks at this point. This portion is kicked off with this track. It’s one that boasts garbled lyrics and an overall blandness that simply fails to excite. A decent flow isn’t enough to really save this one though.
5/10
3. Backstreet Boys – The Call
(RIAA)
This years top three kicks off with yet another boy band flop from the early 2000s. This one features an overall lack of creativity. The short verses and the overall structure needs a lot of work. With almost no redeeming qualities, this track definitely belongs in this years list.
5/10
2. Black Label Society – No More Tears
(RIAA)
This years runner up wound up being on a completely different part of the music spectrum. While the hard rock sound is definitely there, trying to find anything else going for it wound up being quite difficult. Vocals wind up getting lost in the mastering and the false ending wound up making this track extremely drawn out. So, another barely passable one here.
5/10
1. Pearl Jam – I Am Mine
(RIAA)
It’s probably a compliment to this years batch of music that the worst track wound up getting a passing score. In fact, it was quite hard to figure out which track would be this years winner. As a result of some much better competition to this years lineup, this track wound up surprisingly on top. An overall boring track with a lot of garbled lyrics. A guitar solo does try to liven up this otherwise sleepy track, but wasn’t a redeeming enough of a quality to really make this track, well, not be boring. So, another barely passable one in our books.
5/10
Honourable Mentions
This year, we have some honourable mentions. The interesting thing is that, this year, it isn’t a full slate like previous years. Again, we are definitely seeing an uptick in quality lately. As a result, we only have two honourable mentions this year.
The Avalanches – Frontier Psychiatrist (RIAA) This years best of the worst wound up being this bizarre psychedelic track. While an interesting mixture of samples, it isn’t enough to really make this a particularly good track to listen to.
6/10
Metallica – I Disappear (RIAA) This years track that just barely missed out on the main list is this one. Repetitive and hard to understand lyrics means this track just isn’t all that great in the end.
6/10
That’s it for this years top 10 worst tracks we’ve listened to. Amazingly, there were no tracks that flat out failed this year. Definitely an impressive achievement. It also means that other track that are more mediocre than terrible wound up being listed instead. Anyway, join us tomorrow as we count down the top 10 worst games we’ve played this year.
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
