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Those guys have since become friends of mine, so I'm a little biased—but it was one of my favorite LPs this year one way or the other. The climax in "Swam Out" is such a gorgeous conclusion to a record. I really hope they start getting some more (deserved) attention in the States.

"Pattern" was *very* close to making my top 10...that album in general stuck with me through most of the year and I wish they'd gotten more recognition.

Some honorable mentions: Jim O'Rourke - "Half Life Crisis," "Last Year" (not on Spotify, unfortunately) Everything Girl Band put out A$AP Rocky - "Holy Ghost," "L$D," "Fine Whine" Adele - "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" Blur - "Pyongyang," "Ong Ong" Brandon Flowers - "I Still Want You," "Lonely Town" Pretty much all the new archival material on Springsteen's River box set, which I'm not sure even counts Carly Rae Jepsen - "Run Away With Me," "Emotion" Destroyer - "Dream Lover" Django Django - "Giant," "Shot Down" EL VY - "I'm The Man To Be," "Happiness, Missouri" Father John Misty - "The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment" Florence + The Machine - "Ship To Wreck" Fufanu - "Northern Gannet," "Blinking" Gardens & Villa - "General Research" Grimes - "Realiti" (demo), "Artangels" Heather Woods Broderick - "Wyoming" Hot Chip - "Need You Now" Jamie xx - "Gosh," "The Rest Is Noise" Kamasi Washington - "Change Of The Guard" Kendrick - the songs others mentioned in their own lists, + "The Blacker The Berry" Kurt Vile - "Wild Imagination" Line & Circle - "Roman Ruins" (technically originally released in 2012, but my favorite off their debut this year//one of my favorites of the year) Los Colognes - "Backseat Driver" Lower Dens - "Sucker's Shangri La" Mark Ronson - "Uptown Funk," "Daffodils" My Morning Jacket - "Like A River," "Tropics (Erase Traces)" Other Lives - "Pattern" Outfit - "Swam Out" PINS - "Curse These Dreams," "House Of Love" Ryan Adams' cover of "Shake It Off" Ryley Walker - "Summer Dress," "Love Can Be Cruel" Pretty much everything on Shamir's record Sharon Van Etten - "I Don't Want to Let You Down" Slonk Donkerson - "Sonata," "Build Something, Break Even," "Destiny" Susanne Sundfor - "Accelerate," "Fade Away" The Tallest Man On Earth - "Sagres" Tame Impala - "Cause I'm A Man" (since Tom called it) Title Fight - "Chlorine" Titus Andronicus - "Lonely Boy," "I Lost My Mind," "Dimed Out," "Fatal Flaw," "Mr. E. Mann," "Come On, Siobhan" Torche - "Loose Men," "Restarter" Viet Cong - "Death" Wilco - "You Satellite"

As long as Wayne is up for it, I'd gladly do an interview like this every year.

"Pass Me Down The Wine" was a close contender, but there was too much to choose from the Don't Believe The Truth era, so it just barely didn't make the cut.

I actually love that album and it has some of my favorite National songs (particularly "Available" and "Lucky You"). But I think they were still building something there that got really refined on Alligator in comparison, and that Alligator was where their identity and voice came into their own.

A personal thread I didn't touch on in the piece: I grew up in a nowhere-ish place in the US as well, and also found myself drawn to Blur and Pulp and all that for some reason. So I can relate to what you're saying, but one thing I also started thinking about with The Great Escape today is: obviously, this is still a quintessentially British album, but even though the self-titled was their embracing America stylistically and all that, there are elements of this one that feel very American to me. Or, much more relatable to an American than the rest of the Britpop trilogy. The '90s suburban ennui bit, for sure. You mentioned driving around with your friends but what really hit me while writing this was "He Thought Of Cars," which is one of my favorite Blur songs, but I hadn't heard it for a while. Ignore the reference to Heathrow, take “He thought of cars and where, where to drive them/ Who to drive them with/ There, there was no one." Totally feels like living in one of those nowhere American places to me. Only now realizing why this was my favorite Blur record for a while when I still lived in my hometown.

I can recognize that the Bends is great as an album and I do really like it when I put it on, etc., but I tend to gravitate towards '00s Radiohead the most, so I can relate to that particular contrarian impulse. If I'm going to throw a random Radiohead song on a playlist, chances are it's from Kid A onwards, and I get a lot more out of "Supercollider" than I do out of most of the Bends stuff. "Street Spirit" is one of their best songs, though, so I always have to give the Bends that.

I originally had a tangent about Hail to the Thief in there that had to go, but...for a long time that was my favorite Radiohead album, and I suppose some days it might still be, but I think there's a big disparity between the highs there and the stuff that drags, and a few of the songs are starting to sound dated to me in a way that, say, Kid A still doesn't. But no question: "There There" is one of their best songs, and "Where I End And You Begin" and "A Wolf At The Door" are two of my personal favorites. And, in general, I have a soft spot for sprawling, shaggy albums as their own kind of genius thing, but I guess it's just tough when you have something as cohesive/consistently brilliant as In Rainbows following HTTT.

I made the TKOL Complete playlist back when all these songs were new, and might toy with it a bit now, but this is what it looked like: 1. Bloom 2. Morning Mr. Magpie 3. Little By Little 4. These Are My Twisted Words 5. The Daily Mail 6. Feral 7. The Butcher 8. Lotus Flower 9. Codex 10. Give Up The Ghost 11. Staircase 12. Separator 13. Supercollider In particular, after I went on about how great Codex/Ghost/Separator is as a run, I might have to move Staircase.

I was trying to find a place to talk about "Timebomb," but didn't. Totally love that song, probably one of my favorite Beck tracks actually.

Agreed with RJ on this one. Which could be partially attributable to the fact that Springsteen's my favorite artist and if there's a trace of him somewhere, I'll hear it, but also the first time I played the album for a friend back in January, he started singing "Dancing In The Dark" along to the opening synth line of "Burning," and there was definitely a little shared DNA.

I actively dislike Sam Smith's "Stay With Me." Kinda find it cloying, or something. "I Won't Back Down" is good, though also not my favorite of Petty's hits.

Same here re: Teeth Dreams. My other honorable mentions: New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers The Horrors - Luminous A Sunny Day In Glasgow - Sea When Absent TV On The Radio - Seeds The Juan Maclean - In A Dream Hamilton Leithauser - Black Hours

I tend to avoid including artists who are known for covers and re-arrangements, in favor of finding stuff a little bit weirder or more random. Stuff that'd be a bit harder to just stumble upon than like, the Vitamin String Quartet doing whichever song. Also, from what I remember of Richard Cheese's music, I'd kind of have to give him the same award every time, no?

They were one of the names on the initial, slightly more massive list, and we went back and forth about it a bit. But even though "Losing My Edge" and the self-titled were contemporary with everything that did wind up on the list, and even though DFA/Murphy were factors around this time, ultimately LCD just feels like definitively the next era of NYC music to me. I associate them with the more heavily Brooklyn-oriented indie era, and like I said in the intro, I think once you get into them and the National and Vampire Weekend and all that stuff, that's a different thing than this scene in character/sound, etc. The National were actually active at the same time as all these bands, too, but they didn't start even remotely coming into the sort of prominence they have now until 2007/2008, with Boxer and "Fake Empire" being associated with the first Obama campaign. And obviously Alligator was released in '05, and there was the stuff that came before that, too. The logic, ultimately, was that those guys (and LCD with Sound Of Silver and This Is Happening) were at the forefront of everything that came after this, and represented different trends and ideas, even if there was some chronological/stylistic overlap with the bands who were on top a few years prior.

Agreed—"Enemy" was the one that got me hooked and excited to do this piece, but the more I listen to the record, the more obsessed I've become with the title track and "Green Lady." The latter, in particular, has become one of my favorite songs of the year. Couldn't get enough of it when I was driving around Florida.

I'd take "Follow Me Around," "Cuttooth," "Fog," "I Am A Wicked Child," "Gagging Order," "Staircase," "Daily Mail," anything off the 2nd part of In Rainbows but especially "4 Minute Warning" (on some days I wish that had been the closer of In Rainbows instead of "Videotape"), or "Supercollider" over "Talk Show Host" any day. I forgot how many of their b-sides or non-album tracks I loved—"Supercollider" and "Fog" are among my favorite Radiohead songs, actually. But yeah, I'm more of a latter day Radiohead person, so that might explain part of my "whatever" feeling about "Talk Show Host."

I used to end playlists with "Everything In Its Right Place" which might be cheating by just inverting it, but that's the sort of song...I don't know, that's one of the top 5 openers of all time, probably, and I'm not going to fault Crowe for wanting to steal a bit of that. That being said, I like your challenge, and agree that some of the best soundtrack moments come out of how a movie or tv show plays with your pre-conceived notion of how the song is going to work. For that matter, Vanilla Sky's use of "Good Vibrations" was cool because that was a lot more disturbing than that song ever warranted.

That's another one I haven't seen for a while, but I suspect at this point I'd be more into the moment with "Exit Music." I know this is borderline blasphemous, but never been a huge fan of "Talk Show Host," especially compared to some of the later b-sides or non-album tracks.

Haven't seen Children of Men since it came out, but I'll have to watch it again sometime soon—always loved how it ends with John Lennon's "Bring On the Lucie." As for Prisoners, I do remember you mentioning that, though I still haven't seen that one. The Dissolve article mentioned a few I hadn't seen, including "Reckoner" in Choke, which if I recall correctly he didn't love but some of the readers did. He also reminded me of "Everything In Its Right Place" in Vanilla Sky. That's another movie I haven't seen for probably about 6 years, but I also forgot about it when writing this article, because as far as I can recall, it's a great use of that song. But I wasn't necessarily intending to say that there weren't any uses of Radiohead's music out there, though I realize my phrasing kind of made it seem that way. I just feel like there'd be more, given the emotive and at times cinematic qualities of their own music, or at least more uses by directors who knew how to deploy it well. If you're invested in this topic you should definitely check out the Dissolve piece, because he goes into this at great length and has a lot of interesting thoughts on it.

Interesting that everyone wants to see more Demon Days here. I had a version of this list that was about 70% Demon Days and/or D-Sides ("Stop the Dams" very nearly made it), but figured it was better to choose a more balanced selection of my favorites, and that people wouldn't have liked a top 10 comprised heavily of material from one album. Demon Days is a classic, though, and even though the self-titled was the starting point, Demon Days was where I really, really got into Albarn's work. So I agree with everyone here—if someone else had written this list, I'd be happy to see "Last Living Souls," "Kids With Guns," "O Green World," "Dirty Harry," "Every Planet We Reach Is Dead," or "DARE" represented, for sure.

Yeah I certainly listened to "19-2000 (Souldchild Remix)" almost as much "Clint Eastwood," and I'm a big fan of "DARE" as well, I just wanted to write about some deeper cuts, too. But those were both in consideration and easy candidates for a list like this.

Agreed, love both of those songs and especially the synth parts in "Dirty Harry." Ultimately, way too many Demon Days songs were vying for this list at some point or another. Even stuff from D-Sides—I've always loved "We Are Happy Landfill" and "Stop the Dams."

Glad you liked Place Beyond the Pines. I was just thinking about that scene with SALEM the other day actually. As for Prisoners, I actually never saw it. When I was catching up in November and December for that end of year wrap-up, it was on my radar because I'd heard about "Codex," but it was just one of those things that I didn't get to. I feel like some dark, atmospheric, and visually stylish drama could make amazing use of "Brainfreeze" at some point. Like it probably would've been a stretch for True Detective last season (or maybe not, because that Bosnian Rainbows cue in Episode 5 had a similar effect?), but if the show moves someplace more urban, or takes place entirely in the present next time around, I could see it fitting well within the tone of that series.

Yeah, given that it just aired last night I tried to be a little more careful with spoilers than I normally would be in this column. Although, to be honest, I think I also somehow mistook that for score upon my first viewing—but you're right. It's a brutal scene, and that song works so well in it. Like yourself, it was one of the moments that sold me on this show's potential and convinced me that I'd be following it closely. And now that we're talking about Fuck Buttons, when is someone going to use "Brainfreeze" in a movie or show? One of my favorites from last year.

Same here, I'll play too: The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream Sharon Van Etten - Are We There EMA - The Future's Void Elbow - The Take Off and Landing of Everything Wye Oak - Shriek St. Vincent - St. Vincent Parquet Courts - Sunbathing Animal Hamilton Leithauser - Black Hours The Horrors - Luminous And then probably LDR's Ultraviolence; haven't spent as much time with it yet, but "West Coast" is easily one of my favorite songs of the year. And then honorable shout outs to Courtney Barnett's re-release, Nothing's Guilty of Everything, and I Break Horse's Chiaroscuro, which also has another one of my favorites this year with "Ascension."

I haven't seen that show yet, but I'll check it out. "Smokin & Drinkin" was one of my favorite songs from last year.

If I was still the one writing it, I'd say #4 would be a safe bet. I haven't listened to the entirety of Ghost Stories yet, but having seen most of the songs live and having heard the songs they released ahead of time, so far I'd say it strikes me as an improvement on Mylo Xyloto. But I don't think it'd challenge Parachutes, A Rush of Blood to the Head, or Viva La Vida in the top 3.

Were it not for the "I'm A Man" sequence being so striking and worthwhile to talk about in a bit more depth, I would've made the entry about that "If 6 Was 9" ending to the third episode as well. Either way, I imagine the show will be showing up in this column again soon.

From what I remember he's a big fan of Wilco in general, but particularly A Ghost Is Born & Tweedy's guitar playing on that record. I'm just starting to get into Wilco myself (after hearing "Spiders (Kidsmoke)" playing at the resort during My Morning Jacket's One Big Holiday thing) so he recommended that to me. As for Pearl Jam, he and I are different kinds of PJ fans —I'm most into their mid and late '90s output, whereas he stopped following them more or less after Vitalogy. But I was surprised to see how much he was into PJ, given I don't hear them much in his music. But we definitely spent some time talking those first three albums, particularly how gutsy it was to follow Ten with VS. and Vitalogy. Adam's a big fan of Vitalogy in general. Sadly, he does not seem to share my love for No Code besides "Off He Goes."

This guy.

We wound up cutting this bit, but in response to your comment about Adam seeming like a true student of great rock music: over the course of the day in the studio, it was cool to hear their network of references as they were shaping their cover of "Touch Of Grey." The intro got compared to the Cars, Adam was talking about a very specific guitar tone from "Born to Run," Dave was talking about a Keith Richards-esque guitar part, and Adam at one point wanted to put "Can percussion" all over it. He and I also had some pretty great conversations about Wilco and Pearl Jam later that night. He's definitely the kind of guy where it's cool to just sit around and really geek out about records.

Also seems a little out of character for Rust, right? The man's familiar with so many philosophical texts, and all that.

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band are #1, though it's close, and I've seen MMJ somewhere around 11 or 12 times more, I think. In a very early draft of this piece I actually had a paragraph where I took a few of the artists I've seen several times (Pearl Jam and U2 were also in the mix, I think) and compared the nature and size of their shows; this was in the section about what makes a MMJ show special, but ultimately it felt just a little too tangential.

You think so? I mean, you're right that Heaven is very accessible and has some hooks to pull you in—mainly the title track and "Heartbreaker." I suppose what I'm getting at is that, in the grand scheme of their sound, Bows + Arrows "rocks" the most conventionally, and I feel like those with only a passing interest in the Walkmen could turn on "The Rat" or "Little House of Savages" or "My Old Man" and enjoy it more so than something like Heaven, which has its share of mellow material and almost old-time-y balladry (something like "No One Ever Sleeps" or "Jerry Jr.'s Tune").

Can't disagree with anything any of you (or anyone else in the comments) said regarding the strengths of MCIS. Had I written this two years ago, I probably would've had it at #1, too, but Siamese Dream has just sounded really perfect to me recently. I love what you said about the album Michael, but it might also get at why I ranked Siamese Dream at #1. It feels like Corgan's carefully crafted world, but one that I can slip back into and understand (that bit I went on about it being "shelter"). It can still be hard to wrap your head around the entirety of MCIS; it inspires awe more than anything else. That's great in of itself, but a different experience, so I suppose it depends on where you'd be leaning when approaching their catalog. I wouldn't fault anyone putting MCIS in the top position.

It didn't exist on the same level (not that it could; totally different musical/cultural landscape), but I thought M83's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming was a pretty good argument for a new millennium answer to Mellon Collie.

The ones I managed to shout out in the piece are my absolute favorites: "Cherub Rock," "Soma," "1979," and "Thru the Eyes of Ruby." Lots of love for "Jellybelly," "Rhinoceros," "Cupid de Locke," "Thirty-Three," "Porcelina of the Vast Oceans," "Mayonnaise," "Rocket," and I've always had a thing for "Perfect" and "Ava Adore." After revisiting everything for this list, I'm currently pretty into "Raindrops + Sunshowers" from MACHINA and "Daphne Descends" from Adore. I'm glad to see you and so many others love "Thru the Eyes of Ruby." Beyond hearing the hits on the radio, that was maybe the first song that really got me hooked on the Smashing Pumpkins.

It's not my favorite, but I agree with you that Binaural gets a raw deal. It's probably their most forgotten/wrongfully maligned. You've got "Nothing As It Seems," "Of the Girl," and "Thin Air," which are all great, and "Light Years" and "Insignificance," which are actually two of my favorite Pearl Jam songs. A lot of underrated stuff on there, and two of their best b-sides ("Sad," "Fatal") were recorded during those sessions.