Happy New Year!

End of year lists are fun. This is better than that. No it’s not. Etc.

We shared almost 200 songs in 2017. Most of those are really good or else we wouldn’t have posted them, right? But these are the 21 that we keep going back to and can’t get enough of.

Why 21? It’s a good amount of music. Less than 80 minutes, which is about how much you could cram onto a CD-R or a little less than what you could fit onto 90 minute tape. It’s digestible.

Our list might not be as diverse and worldly as some you might come across, but these songs all share our point of view. We love guitars, smart lyrics, and bad attitudes. Rock and roll.

These aren’t ranked in order but instead they’re sequenced for listenability. We had to kick it off with the Breeders (good morning!), but after that it pretty much goes from mellow to banging. Of course, feel free to shuffle it up if that’s how you roll. Go nuts. Enjoy.

We hope you like it and we plan on sharing even more songs next year. 5 x 52 = 260, right? That’s the plan anyway.

21 Best Songs of 2017 on Spotify

21 Best Songs of 2017 on Apple Music

Here’s the list in text form in case any of the content owners decide to pull their songs from streaming services. (It happens more often than you realize.)

1. The Breeders – “Wait in the Car” (October 10)
2. Aimee Mann – “Goose Snow Cone” (March 27)
3. Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile – “Continental Breakfast” (September 29)
4. Kyle Craft – “The Rager” (December 15)
5. Tristen – “Glass Jar” (June 29)
6. The Parson Red Heads – “Coming Down” (April 28)
7. Coco Hames – “I Don’t Wanna Go” (May 30)
8. Last Leaves – “The Hinterland” (October 13)
9. Waxahatchee – “Silver” (May 9)
10. Liam Gallagher – “Wall of Glass” (June 2)
11. Sloan Peterson – “Rats” (July 19)
12. The Coathangers – “Captain’s Dead” (May 16)
13. Culture Abuse – “So Busted” (August 28)
14. Sharon Jones – “Matter of Time” (October 12)
15. Torres – “Three Futures” (July 26)
16. The Regrettes – “Seashore” (June 13)
17. Noel Gallagher – “Holy Mountain” (October 20)
18. Spoon – “Can I Sit Next to You” (February 23)
19. St. Vincent – “Los Ageless” (October 5)
20. Danger Mouse – “Chase Me” (ft. Run the Jewels and Big Boi) (July 4)
21. Beck – “Up All Night” (September 15)