For Christmas of 2004 my parents got me a car CD player that also plays MP3s. Early January of 2005 was the last time I listened to commerical radio on a regular basis. Since then I've used a program that converts streaming audio into MP3s and made mix cds with a couple hundred songs each on them every month. This has made me very happy.

But, as I noted in an earlier entry, my car had to be replaced just before Christmas. I haven't gotten around to putting my CD player in the new car, so I've listened some to formerly favorite radio stations. Wow, they play a lot of music I don't like!

So I decided to get the 100 Best Songs of 2006 from one of those stations and see how things stack up. Anything with an * in front of it is a song I didn't hear before December 22nd. Lots of them! The ones with no notation are either ones I couldn't find or didn't bother to because I don't like the bands (strokes, U2, Pearl Jam).

Here goes nothing... On a scale of:

hate this song -->don't like this --> eh --> it's okay --> like this --> really like this

• 1) My Chemical Romance – Welcome to the Black Parade (hate this song)


• 2) Red Hot Chili Peppers – Dani California (it's okay)


• 3) Killers – When You Were Young (don't like this)


• 4) Racounteurs – Steady as She Goes (really like this)


• 5) AFI – Miss Murder (like this)


• 6) Gnarles Barkley – Crazy (it's okay)


• * 7) Gorillaz - Dare


• * 8) Arctic Monkeys – I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor (it's okay)


• 9) Panic at the Disco – I Write Sins Not Tragedies (it's okay)


• 10) Pearl Jam – Worldwide Suicide


• * 11) Matisyahu – King Without a Crown (don't like this)


• 12) Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars (it's okay)


• * 13) Death Cab for Cutie – Crooked Teeth (it's okay...best DCfC song yet!)


• 14) She Wants Revenge – Tear You Apart (really like this)


• 15) Angels and Airwaves – The Adventure (don't like this)


• 16) Keane – Is It Any Wonder (don't like this)


• 17) Taking Back Sunday – Make Damn Sure (it's okay)


• 18) Fray – How to Save a Life (hate this song)


• 19) Muse – Knights of Cydonia (eh. None of their music has been really good since Showbiz)


• * 20) Coldplay – Talk (eh)


• 21) NIN – Everyday Is Exactly the Same (it's okay)


• 22) OK GO – Here it Goes Again (okay)


• * 23) Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Gold Lion (like this. The diplo remix I found too)


• 24) Red Hot Chili Peppers – Tell Me Baby (eh)


• 25) Damone – Out Here All Night (it's okay)


• * 26) Beck – Nausea (eh)


• 27) Sia – Breathe Me (really like this)


• * 28) Tool - Vicarious (it's okay)


• 29) Thom Yorke – Black Swan (I don't think I liked this)


• 30) Racounteurs – Level  (don't like this)


• 31) Rock Kills Kid – Paralyzed (really like this)


• 32) AFI – Love Like Winter (like this)


• 33) Panic at the Disco – The Only Difference Between Matrydom and Suicide Is.. (really like this)


• * 34) Foo Fighters – No Way Back (eh)


• 35) Jet – Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is  (don't like this)


• * 36) Say Anything – Alive with the Glory of Love (it's okay)


• * 37) Matisyahu – Youth (it's okay)


• * 38) OK GO – A Million Ways (like this)


• 39) She Wants Revenge – These Things (like this)


• 40) Gnarles Barkley – Gone Daddy Gone (eh)


• 41) Killers - Bones (eh)


• 42) Silversun Pickups – Lazy Eye (like this)


• * 43) Dashboard Confessional – Don’t Wait (eh)


• * 44) Subways – Rock and Roll Queen (eh)


• * 45) Pearl Jam – Life Wasted


• * 46) Strokes – You Only Live Once


• 47) Panic at the Disco – Lying Is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have (eh)


• 48) Muse - Starlight (eh)


• 49) Pete Yorn – For Us (like this/really like this)


• 50) Plus 44 – When Your Heart Stops Beating (really like this...odd considering how much I dislike Boxcar Racer and Angels & Airwaves)


• * 51) Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood (don't like this)


• * 52) Death Cab for Cutie – I Will Follow You Into the Dark (eh)


• * 53) Audioslave – Original Fire


• 54) Nada Surf – Always Love (like this)


• 55) Angels and Airwaves – Do It For Me Now  (don't like this)


• 56) Band of Horses – The Funeral (eh)


• 57) Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cheated Hearts (it's okay)


• 58) Hawthorne Heights – Saying Sorry (Okay - didn't recognize the title, though)


• * 59) Red Hot Chili Peppers – Snow (okay...hard to believe how big a fan I was 1/2 a lifetime ago)


• * 60) U2/Green Day – The Saints Are Coming (eh)


• * 61) Hard Fi – Cash Machine (eh)


• * 62) Yellowcard – Rough Landing Holly (eh)


•  63) Sounds – Song With a Mission (like this)


• 64) Snow Patrol – Hands Open (eh)


• * 65) Teddy Bears – Cobrastyle (eh)


• * 66) Fallout Boy – A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More Touch Me


• *67) Arctic Monkeys – Fake Tales of San Fran (it's okay)


• * 68) Dresden Dolls – Sing


• * 69) Strokes – Heart in a Cage


• * 70) Beck – Think Im In Love (like this)


• * 71) U2 – Window In the Skies


• 72) Boy Kill Boy - Suzie (it's okay)


• * 73) Sufjan Stevens – Chicago (eh)


• 74) Incubus – Anna Molly (like this)


• * 75) Nightmare of You – I Want to Be Buried In Your Backyard(eh)


• * 76) My Morning Jacket - Off the Record


• * 77) Blackalicious – Powers


• * 78) Pearl Jam - Gone


• 79) Hard Fi – Hard to Beat (it's okay)


• * 80) Editors – Munich (it's okay)


• 81) Guster - Satellite (okay)


• * 82) Wolfmother – Joker and the Thief


• * 83) Taking Back Sunday – Liar (really like this)


• * 84) Gorillaz – El Manana


• * 85) Matchbook Romance – Monsters (like this)


• 86) Rock Kills Kid - Hideaway (it's okay)


• 87) Rapture – Get Myself Into It (it's okay)


• 88) MC Lars – Download this Song (it's okay)


• 89) Elefant – Lolita (really like this)


• 90) Dear Leader – Radar (like this)


• * 91) Vines – Don’t Listen to the Radio (eh)


• 92) Aqualung – Brighter Than Sunshine (don't like this)


• * 93) Sonic Youth - Incinerate  (don't like this)


• 94) The Academy Is – Slow Down (eh.)


• * 95) Atmosphere – Say Hey There (it's okay)


• * 96) Taxpayer – When You Were Young (like this)


• * 97) Secret Machines – Lightning Blue Eyes(it's okay)


• * 98) Anti Flag – The Press Corpse (it's okay)


• * 99) Lady Sov – Love Me or Hate Me (eh... any relation to Le Tigre?)


• 100) As Fast As – Florida Sunshine (okay... surprisingly. I hate most of the stuff the band these guys started out in - Rustic Overtones - have ever done)

While looking for songs on PureVolume, I learned something  enlightening: there are/were named two bands named Atmosphere. One in the US and one in the UK. I've heard a couple songs by one and one by the other... now I get why they were so different!

Bet you're dying to see part two, huh?