Under the Scalpel 01.02.09: The Best 30 Songs To Pound My Eardrums in 2008 (Part 1)

Posted by Mark Ingoldsby on 01.02.2009

Best of 2008 including Atmosphere, Avenged Sevenfold, Big Blue Ball, Black Stone Cherry, Cavalera Conspiracy, Counting Crows, Cure, Motorhead, Nine Inch Nails, Offspring, Slipknot and more.

"Under the Scalpel: Dissecting Pop Culture One Song at a Time" is a weekly column written by Mark Ingoldsby, songwriter and guitarist for the hard rock band A Simple Complex. For three free tracks that will rock your panties off, check out www.asimplecomplex.com

2008 was definitely not an exciting year musically by any stretch of the imagination. However, if you dug deep enough to get past all of the bandwagon retro-wannabes, long-awaited disappointments, annoying pop tart bimbos, whining emo millionaires, and self-congratulatory loudmouths who couldn't hold a candle to the rappers of old school days, there were some great songs this year hiding in the middle, bottom and below the music charts.

Here are the best 30 songs that happened to pound my eardrums in 2008.

#30 Slipknot - Dead Memories
HARD ROCK, METAL
It's a bit of a ballad for Slipknot, but it's still heavy enough to not disappoint. Lead Singer Corey Taylor said of this song, "Without naming names, it's the story of my last 10 years. I've been holding onto these things for the last 10 years. I've decided it's just time to let them go." He can try and be as vague as he wants, but the lyric "Traded my emotions for a contract to commit" screams 'divorce' loud and clear to me.
Official Video: Click Here

#29 Offspring - Hammerhead
PUNK, ROCK
Posing at first as a song about being a soldier on the battlefront, "...it's actually about a school shooting," Offspring's Lead Singer Dexter Holland told BLUNT. "It happens anywhere. It's a scary thing. People need to chill the fuck out." "Hammerhead" however is a furious alt-pop punk rock song that has nothing to do with making people chill. The song's driving beat and punchy guitars should get any thrasher stomping in the pit. If the blatant ripoff of the Kinks "All Day And All Of The Night" at the end of this track doesn't turn you off, it's a song worth adding to your playlist and rocking out to. Black and white patches are optional.
Official Video: Click Here

#28 Kate Nash - Merry Happy
AC, POP
Every once in a while, a goofy song with corny lyrics and cheesy music catches your ear and inexplicably tickles your funny bone. You know you shouldn't like it, but you just can't help it. Call it a guilty pleasure, but Kate Nash's "Merry Happy" is this year's charming little ditty that roped me in. The song reads like a letter from an ex-girlfriend who has come to terms with being dumped, complete with silly memories like, "Don't tell me that you didn't try and check out my bum 'cause I know that you did, 'cause your friend told me that you liked it."
Unofficial Video: Click Here

#27 Band Of Horses - Is There A Ghost
ALTERNATIVE, ROCK
One of the internet radio stations that has my band's music in regular rotation is Sonic Sedition. I've discovered a lot of great bands listening to this station and Band of Horses is one of them. Even though the single was released in 2007, it didn't chart on Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Tracks until 2008. The only lyrics in the song are "I could sleep when I lived alone. Is there a ghost in my house?" But it works. The music has a cool "noisy college band" feel similar to old Radiohead songs like "How Do You," "Ripcord," and "Prove Yourself."
Official Video: Click Here

#26 Avenged Sevenfold - Scream
HARD ROCK, METAL
Avenged Sevenfold's "Scream" is a heavy track with strong inspiration from the axe-wielding metal masters of yesteryear. The song's lyrics are about being a slave to primal instincts and coercing your victim to enjoy being ravaged in a twisted kind of way. "With your arms by your side, there's no struggling... We've all had a time where we've lost control... Scream from the pleasure." While I can't endorse the message, the song is definitely a rocker that plays well loud.
Unofficial Video: Click Here

#25 Cure - The Perfect Boy
ALTERNATIVE, POP, ROCK
A solid pop-rock song about a girl who falls for each boy who comes along and says he'll love her forever. Of course she ends up being just another notch on the bedpost. Although the often depressing Cure is generally known for unhappy endings, this song takes a different turn. "Her heart may be broken a hundred times" but eventually "the 'happy ever after girl' one day finds the perfect boy." Musically, this song is in line with earlier Cure numbers like "A Letter to Elise" and "alt.end."
Official Video: Click Here

#24 Big Blue Ball - Whole Thing
AC, POP, WORLD
Whenever I hear Peter Gabriel's voice, it feels like I'm listening to a reassuring uncle or grandfather who always knows what to say in hard times. Nobody can inspire hope after tragedy better. "The whole thing will still go on without you. Something will still be there to move me because my own thing is always to inspire you." The music has an early 90's ‘Real World' feel because, well, it was actually recorded in the early 90's at Real World Studios.
Unofficial Video: Click Here

#23 Atmosphere - Shoulda Known
ALTERNATIVE, DANCE, RAP
Atmosphere's "Shoulda Known" is a slick jam with plenty of bottom end. It pumps a righteous bass groove that rolls a bit like Digital Underground's "The Humpty Dance", but lyrically, this party's all about the bad times. This guy's done messing around with a girl who's messed up on drugs. "All of a sudden she got silent. Pupils like marbles hide behind the eyelids... Swallow my words. No more judgment. It's through 'cause you look like what I feel like when I'm with you."
Official Video: Click Here

#22 Motorhead - Runaround Man
HARD ROCK, PUNK, METAL
Lemmy. Kneel before him. "Going too fast, never gonna stop. Know how to roll and we know how to rock. Chase my tail. Do the best you can. You can't mess with the Runaround Man." It's Motorhead. ‘Nuff said.
Unofficial Video: Click Here

#21 Nine Inch Nails - Discipline
DANCE, ROCK
In true Nine Inch Nails style, Trent delivers his trademark self-abasing disco rock. This time, he is submitting to someone who keeps him out of trouble. "Am I still tough enough? Feels like I'm wearing down. Is my viciousness losing ground? ... I see you left a mark up and down my skin… I need your discipline." Go ahead. Whip me like an animal.
Official? Video: Click Here

#20 Counting Crows - Come Around
AC, POP, ROCK
Lead Singer Adam Duritz continues to prove he is one of this era's best poets. "If you wait for what's coming and you listen to her lies, then she'll say the things you need to hear and the only one who'll disappear is you." And as always, musically, Counting Crows delivers perfectly crafted pop rock.
Audio Stream: Click Here

#19 Rehab - Bartender Song (Sittin' At A Bar)
COMEDY, COUNTRY, POP
This song is the true definition of a sleeper hit – it was originally released in 2000 but didn't chart until 2008. Rehab bandleader Danny Boone told Knox News, "We're not selling to hipsters in New York and California... It's for people who go to Wal-Mart and eat hot dogs... We just want to sit in our garage with a beer. That's the equivalent of going to the Hamptons for us!" This attitude definitely comes through in the band's music. Even though it's a pure trailer-trash anthem, it's impossible to not have fun while singing along to "She broke my heart in the trailer park so I jacked the keys to her fuckin' car, crashed that piece of shit, and then stepped away."
Official Video: Click Here

#18 Cavalera Conspiracy - Inflikted
METAL
Honestly, I have no idea what Cavalera Conspiracy's "Inflikted" is about – and I don't care. There's probably some deep meaning buried in the song's lyrics but I've been playing it too loud to notice. This song is angry, it's metal and it kicks major ass Sepultura style. Max and Igor have buried the hatchet and life is good. "Inflikted, show no mercy, motherfucking wicked." Pure. Metal.
Unofficial Video: Click Here

#17 Cure - Freakshow
ALTERNATIVE, ROCK
In this song, a crazy girl takes us for a frantic ride. "She turns the sound down, says, 'I am heaving. This is a freakshow.' And I am screaming." Frontman Robert Smith crams a lot of words into a hurried two-and-a-half minutes, making "Freakshow" delirious and wild like earlier playful Cure songs "Hot Hot Hot!!!" and "The Love Cats."
Audio Stream: Click Here

#16 Black Stone Cherry - Blind Man
HARD ROCK
"Blind Man," is a balls-to-the-walls rocker that brings good ol' riff-driven southern hard rock back to the forefront. If you thrive on the sheer power of hard rock from legends like Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin, Black Stone Cherry's "Blind Man" is a modern classic that is not to be missed. Read my full review here.
Official Video: Click Here

Next week, the top 15.

Expect more from Atmosphere, Cure and Slipknot.

Plus, two diamonds in the rough, a chart-pwning ukulele, a self-fulfilling prophecy, another haunting Canadian hit, a triumphant comeback, and a bunch more.