Pop music often gets a bad rap for being disposable or vapid, and in many cases that's true. (Katy Perry, Danity Kane and the Pussycat Dolls, step right up!) But every year, a few irresistible bits of innovative ear candy rocket up the charts and seep into our subconscious. The following ten singles saturated the Top 40--or what passes for hit-oriented radio in this topsy-turvy musical climate--while proving that accessibility doesn't necessarily preclude creativity.
Lil Wayne, T-Pain, Keyshia ColeAmerican Airlines CenterDecember 19, 2008
Better Than: Listening to a whole bunch of records in which T-Pain and Lil Wayne are just the featured acts.
Check out our photos from the show here.As if, at any point over the course of this past year, there was still doubt: Lil Wayne proved last night at the American Airlines Center that he is, indeed, a rock star--and maybe the biggest rockstar on the planet.
After the elaborate LED screens behind the stage fired up,
Speaking of Erykah Badu: Much like we're doing in this upcoming week's paper, Stereogum today asked some of its favorite artists of '08 to name some of their favorite artists, albums, songs, etc. of 2008, and right at the top of the list, Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes names New Amerykah Pt. 1 as one of his tops in the year that was. Yep, that's yet another namedrop for Badu, who's having herself a fine end-of-year when it comes to being on lists and whatnot. But down in the comments of that
T.I.Nokia TheatreMarch 11, 2009
Better than: Watching T.I.'s Road To Redemption on MTV, which is no Rock of Love, that's for sure.
During one of his (too) many monologues to a crowded--but not nearly sold out--Nokia Theatre last night, T.I. thanked God for allowing him to reach the heights he has as a rapper. But, really, at this performance, the soon-to-be-incarcerated (on weapons charges) superstar should've thanked Big Chief.
Because, were it not for the budding Dalla
