Yeah Right

Yeah Right Best of 2017 Picks

Album of the Year: So, so many great albums this year. How great? LCD Soundsystem put out a stellar album this year. It doesn’t even crack my top 10. I could say the same about a lot of other great bands. For me the top spot comes down to two albums – The Secret Sisters’ You Don’t Own Me Anymore and Brand New’s Science Fiction. While Science Fiction is a perfect swan song for a band that I’ve loved and seen evolve quite a bit since college (it is easily their best album) The Secret Sisters finally captured the joy of their stellar live show on an album. This is their moment to shine. It’s a genre that won’t make them superstars, but it is the year’s best album nonetheless. FWIW the rest of my top 10 (in no particular order) is: The Orwells – Terrible Human Beings, Lorde – Melodrama, Dan Auerbach – Waiting on a Song, Waxahatchee – Out in the Storm, Downtown Boys – Cost of Living, Queens of the Stone Age – Villains, Bully – Losing, and Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile – Lotta Sea Lice.

Music Video of the Year: I loved Wavves’ clip for “Million Enemies”:

 2017 Playlist:

The Secret Sisters – “Little Again”

Queens of the Stone Age – “Head Like a Haunted House”

St. Vincent – “Young Lover”

Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile – “Over Everything”

Downtown Boys – “A Wall”

Dan Auerbach – “King of a One Horse Town”

Lorde – “Green Light”

Bleached – “Can You Deal?”

Arcade Fire – “Creature Comfort”

Priests – “JJ”

Cover of the Year: As if this JT song couldn’t be sexier, the XX elevate it:

Song That Got Played To Death But I Still Love: I loved the return of Kesha. Her album as a whole was overrated, but “Praying” is her best song yet.

Concert of the Year: Finally seeing LCD Soundsystem live was a dream come true. I have to give them the top spot. But the rest of my top five put up quite a fight: 2) Queens of the Stone Age at the Anthem, 3) Foo Fighters at the Anthem, 4) New Pornographers at 9:30 Club, 5) Roger Waters at Capitol One Arena.

Festival of the Year: I finally made it to SXSW this year. It was exhilarating, exhausting, and (most importantly) full of amazing artists.

Book of the Year: I finally read Dreamland and it was amazing, but that came out a few years ago. In typical fashion, Chuck Klosterman put out a book (X) and it was my favorite of the year. Honorable mention to John Pfaff’s Locked In.

Meme of the Year: It probably started last year, but I didn’t notice it until 2017. Trump Draws was my favorite thing on Twitter this year.

Sports Moment of the Year: Chelsea won the league again, but nothing compared to the joy of seeing Roger Federer win two majors in 2017. Especially satisfying was his stint at Wimbledon, which was dominating in the fashion that you have expected ten years ago, not today.

Celebrity Moment of the Year: I love a good Halloween costume, and it’s pretty hard to beat Gwyneth Paltrow’s costume this year.

Best TV of the Year: The Fatwa sex episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm was the single best episode of TV this year (and probably the best episode of anything since the last season of Curb). But the mini-series Big Little Lies was enthralling (I hadn’t read the book). Easily Reese Witherspoon’s best role to date and the rest of the cast was amazing as well. I’m annoyed that they are trying to do a season two (let good things be!) but we’ll always have the original.

Movie of the Year: I could not have enjoyed The Disaster Artist more. What a fitting tribute to the best worst movie ever made, The Room. James Franco probably won’t get an Oscar, but he deserves one.

2018 Pop Culture Moments That I’m Most Looking Forward To: I’d say the World Cup, but the USMNT screwed the pooch on that one. So sports wise I’m placing all of my hopes on an entertaining Winter Olympics, music wise I’m stoked for Lucy Dacus’ new album due out in March, and TV wise get ready for season two of Westworld!

Yeah Right Best of 2016 Picks

Album of the Year: My favorite band (Weezer) released a very, very good album this year (The White Album) and it isn’t my favorite of 2016. That’s how competitive the top spot was. Other close contenders were the new albums from Bleached and Margaret Glaspy. The next tier down would be the very solid albums from Lady Gaga, Tegan and Sara, Twin Peaks, Sunflower Bean, and Lucius. So, what beat that group of impressive musicians out? Puberty 2 from Mitski. It is outstanding on every margin – excellent songwriting, crunching guitars, emotional depth, good vocals. Her live show might have been a disappointment, but that album is f-ing perfect.

Music Video of the Year: I’m tempted to pick this re-make of a Weezer classic, but…laser cats:

Cover Song of the Year: This one is easy. Glen Hansard delivered an epic cover of David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes” during All Songs Considered’s 16^th Birthday Party at the 9:30 Club. NPR video of his set here.

2016 Playlist:

Mitski – “Happy”

Bleached – “Wednesday Night Melody”

Margaret Glaspy – “You and I”

Weezer – “King of the World”

Tegan and Sara – “Stop Desire”

Lucius – “Dusty Trails”

Caveman – “Never Going Back”

Lady Gaga – “Million Reasons”

La Sera – “High Notes”

Mo – “Final Song”

Song That Got Played to Death But I Still Loved: “Cheap Thrills” by Sia. All. Day. Long.

Concert of the Year: The weirdest show I saw this year was clearly Mac Sabbath. I crossed a lot of bands off my bucket list and they were all pretty good (Dolly Parton, Brian Wilson, Paul McCartney, The Stone Roses, The Cure, Dresden Dolls, Kathleen Hanna, Buzzcocks). I saw a farewell show (Those Darlins) and album release show (Weezer) from two of my favorite bands. But the BEST of the year? That comes down to two contenders. Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins’ Rabbit Fur Coat Anniversary Tour was epic. Even better, I got to see the show at the Mother Church (aka the Ryman Auditorium) from the front row. But I’ll give the slight edge to a band that I’ve been obsessed with since high school and thought I would never see live: At the Drive-In. Thank God that I went to the first night of their two-night stand at the 9:30 Club, as they canceled the tour the next day.

Book of the Year: Abby Wambach’s book is the best sports memoir since Andre Agassi’s. But Chuck Klosterman’s book, But What If We’re Wrong?, was my favorite on the year. It’s humorous, smart, and provocative – like all of Klosterman’s books are. If you never learned how to read, check out Klosterman’s appearance on my favorite podcast here.

Festival of the Year: I only made it to one festival this year (Boston Calling), so good thing I liked it (Robyn’s set aside). Best festival set (probably best any set, really) was from Sia (it’s hard to beat the combination of her voice with the dancing from the crazy good kid dancer). Best festival set from a band that I was previously unfamiliar with was Christine and the Queens.

Internet Meme of the Year: Harambe, obviously. R.I.P.

Sports Moment of the Year: The Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl. That is my best ANYTHING moment of the year. Cue Von Miller sack dance. Best Olympic moment was Katie Ledecky’s win in the 800 free. I’m a big swimming fan and I’ve never seen an ass kicking like that. That was the swimming equivalent of the Broncos winning the Super Bowl 200 to 7. But I still pick the Broncos. Sorry not sorry, Katie.

Celebrity Moment of the Year: There was so much to enjoy in the ridiculousness that was the Hillary email leaks. My favorite part is that Tom DeLonge from Blink-182 emailed John Podesta about UFOs.

Person I’m Most Sad That Died in 2016: We lost so many legends this year. Sharon Jones hits home the most for me. She was the most joyous performer that I’ve ever seen. By a very, very wide margin.

Movie of the Year: My travel schedule the past few months has been brutal, so I’m woefully behind on seeing movies during Good Movie season. My favorite movie from Vapid Movie season was Deadpool. The most interesting film I saw was The Lobster. The best movie I saw on a plan during said outrageous travel schedule was Sing Street. And the best documentary I saw was Weiner.

TV Show of the Year: Several of my favorite shows had very good seasons in 2016, including Silicon Valley, Girls, Ballers, Game of Thrones, and Veep. But new shows hooked me in like nothing has in several years. So, as a winner I’ll pick Westworld with honorable mention to the outstanding mini-series O.J.: Made in America and the outstanding tele-play The Night Of.

2017 Pop Culture Moment That I’m Most Looking Forward to: Curb Your Enthusiasm is coming back in 2017. CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM IS COMING BACK IN 2017!!!

Top Picks

My annual picks for 2016 will be posted tomorrow evening. If you want a preview of what you are in store for, check out last year's selections here.

Yeah Right Best of 2015 Picks

Album of the Year: Many good albums this year. But none was better than FIDLAR’s Too. Viva garage punk.

Music Video of the Year: Shia LaBeouf, the awesome kid dancer lady, and last year’s best song. Of course this is my pick for video of the year:

Cover of the Year: Seth Avett and Jessica Lea Mayfield’s album of Elliott Smith covers was fabulous. My favorite track is “Between the Bars.”

2015 Playlist:

Weezer – “Do You Want to Get High?”

Courtney Barnett – “Pedestrian at Best”

Public Access TV – “In Love and Alone”

FIDLAR – “40oz on Repeat”

Alabama Shakes – “Gimme All  Your Love”

Palma Violets – “Girl, You Couldn’t Do Much Better at the Beach”

Brandi Carlile – “The Eye”

Blur – “Lonesome Street”

Django Django – “Reflections”

Hop Along – “Horseshoe Crabs”

Song That Got Played to Death But I Still Love: The answer to this questions is usually Adele. And this year was no different. Runner up: The Weeknd.

Concert of the Year: Such a good year for concerts! Blur at MSG was bucket list material, so that has to get the top prize. But rounding out my top five for the year are the Replacements at Echostage, Sleater-Kinney at the 9:30 Club, FIDLAR at the Black Cat, Courtney Barnett at the 9:30 Club.

Book of the Year: Twas the year of amazing musical memoirs. In 3^rd place I’ll go with a tie between Your Band Sucks by Jon Fine and M Train by Patti Smith. In 2^nd place I’ll go with Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon. And in 1^st place I’ll go with Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein. All are fantastic reads.

Festival of the Year: The Foo Fighter’s 4^th of July blowout at RFK Stadium was a fabulous mini festival and I hope that they’ll make it an annual tradition. But I’ll give this honor to Burgerama IV because I had such a great time in California and caught dozens of outstanding sets.

Guilty Pleasure of the Year: Well, I did travel to another state to see a Miley Cyrus concert this year (review up next week), so it’s hard not to pick that.

Internet Meme of the Year: Werner Herzog motivational posters. Runner up: Guy Fieri Renaissance paintings.

Sports Moment of the Year: Much as I appreciated Left Shark, this was a solid soccer year for me. My beloved Chelsea FC won the premier league title, but since they are currently in shambles after firing the best manager in world football, I’ll pick the USWNT winning the World Cup. I wish I would have been there for the final instead of the group stage, but I’m still thankful that I got to see it in person. 

Celebrity Moment of the Year: Much as I enjoyed X-tina’s impression of B-Spears, and no one can beat the awesomeness of Carrie Fisher and her crazy interviews this year.

Movie of the Year: I doubt I enjoyed a movie more this year than A Deadly Adoption. So ridiculous.

Best TV of the Year: South Park crushed it this year and I love love loved the Wet Hot American Summer prequel on Netflix. But nothing can beat this Game of Thrones musical.

2016 Pop Culture Moment that I’m Most Looking Forward to: The possibility of an LCD Soundsystem reunion is becoming more and more real, folks. They seem set to headline Coachella. Let’s just hope there are plenty of east coast opportunities to see them too. Preferably not at huge music festivals.

Yeah Right Best of 2014 Picks

Album of the Year: If you told me year ago that Jack White, La Roux, Jenny Lewis, Lykke Li, and Ozma would release albums in 2014 that were good but they still wouldn’t come close to making my top 10 list for the year, I would have told you that you were cray cray. That’s how many awesome albums came out this year. It was really hard to pick a winner. At the end of the day, my favorite band but out their best album since Pinkerton so I can’t no pick Everything Will Be Alright in the End by Weezer. My top five is rounded out by St. Vincent, Ex Hex, the Rentals, and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Sleeper Agent, Fanfarlo, and the Orwells were all in the running as well.

Music Video of the Year: There were lots of awesome 90s throwback videos this year. I can’t bring myself to give the award to the excellent Clueless video for “Fancy” because I hate the song, so I’ll go with a The Adventures of Pete and Pete inspired gem from Diarrhea Planet:

Cover of the Year: I’m digging She and Him’s new covers album, especially Dusty Springfield’s “Stay Awhile.”

2014 Playlist:

Sia – “Elastic Heart”

Sleeper Agent – “Be Brave”

The Rentals – “Stardust”

Eagulls – “Possessed”

Lykke Li – “Love Me Like I’m Not Made of Stone”

The Orwells – “The Righteous One”

Weezer – “Lonely Girl”

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings – “Stranger to My Happiness”

Fanfarlo – “Life in the Sky”

Ex Hex – “Everywhere”

Conor Oberst – “Ziggzagging Toward the Light”

St. Vincent – “Digital Witness”

Bleachers – “Rollercoaster”

Sleater-Kinney – “Bury Our Friends”

Alvvays – “Archie, Marry Me”

Song That Got Played to Death But I Still Love: Somehow I managed to be blissfully unaware of most pop music in 2014. I had no idea who Ariana Grande was until she was all over the VMAs. I didn’t even hear that stupid “all about the bass” song until a wedding in late October. That Sam Smith song that everyone seemed to like seemed legitimately good. So that’s the best I’ve got for this category this year.

Concert of the Year: Much as I loved Weezer’s EWBAITE show in Philly, I have to go with the Rentals at Irving Plaza in NYC. The best show in DC this year was Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings at Lincoln Theatre with Grouplove at 9:30 Club being a close runner up. Great year of live music. I hope 2015 stacks up.

Festival of the Year: ACL Fest was awesome (especially St. Vincent’s set) but there is no way the 2nd Weezer Cruise doesn’t win this category. Ozma, Ash, Bleached, the Orwells, DIIV, Palma Violets and many, many more made it a magical floating musical festival.

Guilty Pleasure of the Year: I saw Mates of State do their Miley cover live twice this year. I love it. And that makes me die a little on the inside.

Internet Meme of the Year: The Kanye self-esteem generator is awesome, but the mash up of his wife with Kierkegaard quotes is my favorite thing on Twitter.

Sports Moment of the Year: Well it obviously wasn’t the f-ing Super Bowl. Chelsea made a run at the Premier League title. With a few games left it became clear that we weren’t going to win. Liverpool was in first place. I hate Liverpool. We played them, in Liverpool, and ruined their chances for the title by beating them with one game left. Even better? Their criminally overrated captain, Stevie G, slipped to give Chelsea the winning goal. I will never get tired of seeing that replay. Never.

Celebrity Moment of the Year: Could anything beat Samuel L. Jackson doing slam poetry about Boy Meets World? I don’t think so. Though I did enjoy Jeff Bridges’ Lebowski-style first pitch.

Movie of the Year: I didn’t see as many movies this year as I would have liked. My favorite was Neighbors. I also enjoyed The Grand Budapest Hotel, Guardians of the Galaxy, and The Wolf of Wall Street.

Best TV of the Year: I’m tempted to pick Gilmore Girls being on Netflix now. But that seems unfair to shows currently on TV. I thoroughly enjoyed Sonic Highways. So I’ll go with that.

2015 Pop Culture Moment that I’m Most Looking Forward to: Definitely the Sleater-Kinney reunion tour and new album. Runner up: Kim Gordon’s memoir due out in the spring.

Top Picks Eve

Tomorrow I'll post the Best of 2014 Yeah Right picks. In the meantime, take a walk down memory lane with picks from years past:

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

Yeah Right Best of 2013 Picks

Album of the Year: This was a fabulous year for music. Honorable mention to the great albums from FIDLAR, HAIM, Jake Bugg, Palma Violets, MS MR, Surfer Blood, Sanglorians, and Arcade Fire. Third place to Ripley Pine from Lady Lamb the Beekeeper. Second place to Yeezus from Kanye (by far his best yet). And first place to my favorite lo-fi punks Wavves with the fabulous Afraid of Heights.

Music Video of the Year: Much as I love me some prancercising, I love the stop-motion animation in Shugo Tokumaru’s “Katachi” more:

Cover of the Year: If I made a list of the top 20 covers of 2013 all 20 would be by the Chapin Sisters. Their album of Everly Brothers covers was one of my favorites of the year. My favorite track is “Crying in the Rain.”

2013 Playlist:
Arcade Fire - "Afterlife"
Surfer Blood - "Say Yes to Me"
Sanglorians - "Seventh Avenue"
Lady Lamb the Beekeeper - "The Nothing Part II"
The So So Glos - "Son of an American"
MS MR - "Bones"
Wavves - "Sail to the Sun"
FIDLAR - "No Waves"
Field Mouse - "Tomorrow is Yesterday"
Vampire Weekend - "Finger Back"
Kanye West - "Blood on the Leaves"
Diarrhea Planet - "Separations"
HAIM - "The Wire"
Tegan and Sara - "Closer"
Jake Bugg - "Two Fingers"
Phoenix - "SOS in Bel Air"
Palma Violets - "Best of Friends"

Song That Got Played to Death But I Still Love: Who’s glad to have JT making music? This girl. “Mirrors” is a fabulous enough song that I don’t even care that it was overplayed.

Concert of the Year: Well it certainly wasn’t the Knocks at the 9:30 Club. A lot of truly outstanding contenders including the Texas is the Reason reunion tour at the Black Cat, Chris Cornell acoustic at Lincoln Theatre, Of Monsters and Men at Merriweather, New Order at Merriweather, Neutral Milk Hotel at the National, Avett Brothers at Red Rocks, Laura Stevenson’s album release party at Bowery Ballroom, Sweetlife Festival, Diarrhea Planet at DC9, and many others. But the clear standout had to be the Postal Service at Merriweather. I’ve been obsessed with Give Up for ten years and I never thought I would get to see them live. They did not disappoint.

Guilty Pleasure of the Year: I caught myself singing “Wrecking Ball” yesterday. Make of that what you will.

Internet Meme of the Year: I’ll go with Downton Pawnee.

Sports Event of the Year: I’m a Broncos fan. This fall has been amazing. Even though I’m thrilled for The Special One to be back at Stamford Bridge, I couldn’t possibly pick anything else.

Celebrity Moment of the Year: Runner up goes to the bizarre and hilarious Kanye-Kimmel feud, but the clear top spot is James Franco and Seth Rogan doing a shot-for-shot remake of Bound 2:

Movie of the Year: Nothing is jumping to mind as truly outstanding this year. I still haven’t seen Anchorman 2. I guess my favorite was This is the End. But 2013 was a fabulous year for fake movies, my favorites being this and this.

Best TV of the Year: I’m thrilled that SNL is funny again and I loved the return of Arrested Development. The Red Wedding episode of Game of Thrones left me speechless, jaw agape on my couch for a good ten minutes. But the best TV in 2013 was Orange is the New Black by a long shot. I can’t wait for season 2. Everything about this show, including the theme song, is top notch.

2014 Pop Culture Moment that I'm Most Looking Forward to: The Weezer Cruise returns in February and I’ll be back on the boat. The lineup is great and the first cruise was pretty much the best thing ever. I’m also headed to Austin City Limits for the first time in October and will be seeing Lady Gaga twice this spring, including her residency at the Roseland Ballroom in NYC. So 2014 is looking on the up and up.

Yeah Right Best of 2012 Picks

Album of the Year: What a year for music. This award, as well as Concert of the Year, were very hard to pick since there was so much good material to choose from. After thorough consideration, six albums stand out to me as top notch this year: Alabama Shakes' Boys and Girls, Santigold's Master of My Make-Believe, Brandi Carlisle's Bear Creek, Gotye's Making Mirrors, Of Monsters and Men's My Head Is An Animal, and Django Django's self-titled album. I'm tempted to give the award to Alabama Shakes, but their songs are exponentially better live. So I'll pick Santigold for putting together a splendid studio album. In any other year the following albums would easily be in consideration for a top spot, but the competition in 2012 was too tight: Jack White's Blunderbuss, Best Coast's The Only Place, The Corin Tucker Band's Kill My Blues, Metric's Synthetica, Passion Pit's Gossamer, Titus Andronicus' Local Business, Sleigh Bells' Reign of Terror, and Beach House's Bloom.

Music Video of the Year: The clear winner for me this year is the band/art mash-up that Django Django put together for their fab song "Default":

Cover of the Year: The best cover that I saw in person was Ozma taking on The Rental's "Friends of P" during the last show on the Weezer Cruise. As for stuff I didn't see live, I enjoyed The Polyphonic Sprees's take on Neil Young and Trampled by Turtles take on Arcade Fire. But the best cover of the year has to be Grouplove's brilliant take on Andrew W.K.'s "Party Hard."

Cover Album of the Year: It seems unfair to make it compete with the songs above, because some ambitious Weezer fans re-created the infamous lost album Songs from the Black Hole in it's entirety (aka the rock opera that would later get scrapped with some parts making it onto Pinkerton or becoming popular b-sides like "Devotion").

2012 Playlist: 

Alabama Shakes - "Hold On"

Of Monsters and Men - "Little Talks"

Santigold - "The Riot's Gone"

Linkin Park - "Burn It Down"

Brandi Carlisle - "Raise Hell"

The Corin Tucker Band - "No Bad News Tonight"

Best Coast - "The Only Place"

Django Django - "Default"

Jack White - "Love Interruption"

Sleigh Bells - "End of the Line"

Titus Andronicus - "Ecce Homo"

Passion Pit - "Carried Away"

Song That Got Played to Death But Was Truly Spectacular: Sure, you heard Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" a ba-gillion times this year, but it's an amazing song. The whole album is fab and he puts on a great live show. So I won't hold the over-exposure against him (though if we are going to complain for a second -- the context of the use of the song on Glee was criminal).

Concert of the Year: This was even harder to pick that Album of the Year. I finally got to see Garbage and Jeff Mangum live and they didn't disappoint. Gotye's highly technical and stylized album translated surprisingly well to a live show. Alabama Shakes killed their set at Virgin Mobile Free Fest. Corin Tucker and Those Darlins put on high energy shows at small venues. Laura Stevenson and the Cans and their opener The Wild made me instant fans with their show at the Black Cat. Santigold had awesome dancers, as always, but also a dancing horse. But my favorite concert of the year was Ben Gibbard's solo show at 6th and I. His new solo songs sounded much better stripped down to just guitar or piano, he did a ridiculously good (and unexpected cover) of Minor Threat, and jammed through his long and impressive repertoire. It was something very special.

Best Thing Ever: I can't fairly compare the Weezer Cruise to anything else. It was the best. Great concerts. Great people. Great activities and contests. And I got to go snorkeling with Rivers Cuomo. So, forget best whatever of the year...the Weezer Cruise was the Best Thing Ever.

Guilty Pleasure of the Year: This year I loved me some "Call Me Maybe" and Honey Boo Boo. Though I’m not too guilty about either.

Internet Meme of the Year: Ecce Homo and McKela Isn't Impressed made me chuckle, but Lucille and Mitt made me cry from laughing so hard.

Sports Event of the Year: While I appreciated the humor of a badminton scandal at the Olympics and the arrival of Peyton Manning to my Denver Broncos. But duh, my Chelsea FC won the Champions League in dramatic fashion and that was one of the best sports moments of my life, let alone the year.

Celebrity Moment of the Year: While I love the fact that Flava Flav thought Miley Cyrus was Gwen Stefani, I have to give the award to Tom Hanks for his epic Full House slam poetry:

Movie of the Year: I didn't see a ton of movies this year, but Safety Not Guaranteed was probably my favorite. Moonrise Kingdom was also good.

Best TV of the Year: For my money, Parks and Rec remains the funniest show on TV. As for new shows, I got sucked into Girls and Veep.

2013 Pop Culture Moment that I'm Most Looking Forward to: Could it be anything other than the return of Arrested Development? Of course not. COME ON!

Get Excited

YR’s Best of 2012 picks are coming on Monday. For a sneak preview of what you are in store for, check our last year’s picks here.

Best of 2011

Album of the Year: 2011 was a great year for music. Bon Iver, Foo Fighters, Yuck, The Drums, The Strokes, Florence + the Machine, Dum Dum Girls, Mates of State and Lykke Li all put out solid albums. But three albums stood out from the pack this year. In third place, the Jay-z/Kanye collaboration The Throne was everything I expected it to be and more. I limited myself to just putting one of the WTT songs in my top ten list below, but I easily could have included a few more like "No Church in the Wild." First and second place was an extremely close race between the Civil Wars's Barton Hollow and Wild Flag's self-titled debut. As you'll see below, the same bands duked it out for Concert of the Year honors as well. I ended up giving Wild Flag the nod for best concert and the Civil Wars the nod for best album. The Wild Flag songs are a little better live, while the Civil Wars' tracks stand up recorded a bit better. But it was a very close race. So you should check out both albums if you haven't already.

Music Video of the Year: Gaga had a lot of videos this year, of which "Judas" was my favorite. I also appreciated Wild Flag's "Electric Band" and Laura Stevenson and the Cans' "Master of Art." But it was hard to top the celebrity-filled short film that the Beastie Boys put out for "Make Some Noise":

Best Cover: I really like the covers that Lissie busts out live, the best of which is clearly "Pursuit of Happiness" by Kid Cudi. But I have to give this one to Wild Flag's rendition of Patti Smith's "Ask the Angels" during their encore at the Black Cat in March. It nearly melted my face off.

Songs of the Year:

Wild Flag - "Future Crimes"

The Throne - "N****s in Paris"

Typhoon - "The Honest Truth"

Dum Dum Girls - "Wasted Away"

Yuck - "Operation"

The Strokes - "Machu Picchu"

Meredith Bragg - "Next Time"

Beastie Boys - "Lee Majors Come Again"

The Drums - "Book of Revelations"

The Civil Wars - "20 Years"

Commercially Successful Song that Deserved Every Bit of Praise It Got: Adele all the way.

Concert of the Year: Lots of great concerts in D.C. this year. The Civil Wars played an intimate show out at Jammin' Java before they blew up. The Go! Team, Yeasayer, and Lykke Li all rocked the 9:30 Club. The Drums were great at the Black Cat and Typhoon had a great show with Lady Lamb the Beekeeper at 6th and I. I was also pleased to finally see Soundgarden at the Patriot Center on my birthday this summer. But great as all those shows were, there can only be one winner, and that was clearly Wild Flag's first D.C. show at the Black Cat in March. They didn't even have an album out yet but the energy of the sold out crowd was through the roof and Carrie, Mary, Rebecca and Janet put on a blistering performance including the aforementioned best cover of the year. Their return show to the Black Cat in the fall was a bit of a letdown, mostly because it would be near impossible to top their performance in March.

Guilty Pleasure of the Year: I love me some "Gucci Gucci" by Kreayshawn.

Internet Meme of the Year: I greatly enjoyed Hipster Little Mermaid and Feminist Ryan Gosling. But I own two honey badger t-shirts, a stuffed animal honey badger, and named my pub trivia team 'Honey Badgers', so obviously this is my favorite meme that caught fire this year:

Sports Event of the Year: Let's just say that I'm enjoying Tebow Time. A lot.

Celebrity Moment of the Year: Hint: he has one speed and he does a drug called 'Charlie Sheen'.

Movie of the Year: I didn't see as many movies this year as I normally do. And I've been especially bad about making it out to the films that have gotten rave reviews. Of the stuff I did see, I enjoyed Crazy. Stupid. Love. Probably more than I should have. But as for movie parodies, I do have a clear favorite -- Wes Anderson's Scream:

Best TV of the Year: For my money, Parks and Rec remains the funniest show on TV. As for new shows, I got sucked into Game of Thrones. I can't wait til it returns in April. Winter is coming...

2012 Pop Culture Moment that I'm Most Looking Forward to: The pending return of Garbage and the Stone Roses!

2011 Pop Culture Moment that Made Me Super Sad: Rilo Kiley broke up.