Year in Rock 2011: Top 25 Songs

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Choosing this list wasn't easy.  Not only did I have to ask myself what songs I liked the most this year, but I also had to ask myself why.  For me, 2011 will be a year that defines my musical tastes going forward; it's a year when so many genres and styles gave us songs that truly are great, it's very difficult to pick a winner without categorizing and sub-categorizing, and sorting into five columns within each sub... you get the idea.

In the end, I had to turn off my head, and let my heart and soul put these jigsaw pieces into order.  And, before we get into the assigning of numbers to songs, let me say I'm well aware that taste is subjective.  I don't expect this list to match anyone else's, and I don't expect that I'd ever want it to.  I present it to you as a means by which to give some of my favourites the old fist bump and a mechanism by which I hope you check them out, especially if you haven't already.  Alright, enough stalling, let's find out who takes 2011's Song of the Year!

25. BUTCH WALKER - Summer of '89
24. KAREN O, TRENT REZNOR & ATTICUS ROSS - Immigrant Song
23. THE SHEEPDOGS - I Don't Know
22. CHEVELLE - Face to the Floor
21. PUSCIFER - Telling Ghosts
20. THE HORRIBLE CROWES - Mary Ann
19. HEY ROSETTA! - Welcome
18. PRIMUS - Jilly's On Smack
17. RED FANG - Wires
16. THE SILENT COMEDY - Gasoline
15. THE JOY FORMIDABLE - Whirring
14. AGAINST ME! - Occult Enemies
13. MARIACHI EL BRONX - 48 Roses
12. KASABIAN - Man of Simple Pleasures
11. ARCTIC MONKEYS - Reckless Serenade
10. THRICE - Yellow Belly
9. FOO FIGHTERS - White Limo
8. THE DECEMBERISTS - Down By the Water
7. DROPKICK MURPHYS - Going Out in Style
6. MASTODON - Curl of the Burl
5. TOM WAITS - Hell Broke Luce
4. FUCKED UP - The Other Shoe
3. MACHINE HEAD - Darkness Within
2. THE BLACK KEYS - Little Black Submarines
1. MANCHESTER ORCHESTRA - Virgin

Congratulations to Manchester Orchestra on taking home 2011's Song of the Year honours!  It's the second award I've handed them, the first being 2009's Album of the Year for Mean Everything to Nothing.  Can they do it again in 2011, and pull off the sweep in the process?  Find out on Boxing Day.

Oh, yeah, one more thing.  Click here for a SoundCloud playlist of the top 25 (sorry, due to availability issues, alternate selections are included from Machine Head, Dropkick Murphys, Kasabian and Against Me!)

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