A LIST OF 15 RADIO HITS FROM THE LAST 15 YEARS THAT DEFY ANY SERIOUS CRITICISM

Jamie loves—you know something? Screw this pretentious third person opening.  If you don't personally know me, I'm sure all of you were able to ascertain that jamiedoesmusic.com is a blog written by one person and his name is Jamie.  

Ahem.

I love artsy songs and hit songs.  Today, I'd like to talk about a special class of hit songs that are so good that, in my opinion, any serious criticism directed towards them reflects poorly on the "criticizer's" ability to judge music.  Wow, if I didn't want to sound to pretentious before, I'm clearly not giving a fuck now.  But, I do stand by this list.  These are songs that will make a songwriter pull on the side of the road to take it all in and marvel on how mankind can come up with things this infectious, this moving or this original.  These songs are not hits simply because of a right place, right time sort of thing.  Rather, they're just really good.  

Some of these songs I listen to all the time and some I never listen to.  I'm not suggesting that you have to love everything I list—I'm not that much of a self-absorbed dickhead—but hating them just doesn't make sense to me.  And if such haters actually exist, I don't think they are being intellectually honest.  Rather, I think they are likely attaching the celebrity's outside behavior, how they appear in the media and how often they are heard on the radio to unfairly judge one of their songs.  

A Hypothetical Conversation Between "You" and Me

You: Why do you think these radio hits deserve to be radio hits?

Me: Oh no—I don't think.  I KNOW!
 

You: Well, dickhead, I'm not sure it's possible for you to know something that is subjective, but why? 

Me:  It's simple. Let's say I'm chilling out on the balcony of my apartment complex and I hear one of my songwriter neighbors—let's say his name is Kid Rock—playing and singing one of these songs that they happened to write.  I'll probably call up friends and my parents and be like, "wow, someone I kinda know is really talented." I suggest you do the "chilling on your balcony" test whenever you hear a song on the radio and consider how you would react if you were one of the first people to witness a hit.

You: Oh yeah? I suggest you go directly to hell.
 

Me: K.

A List Of 15 Radio Hits From The Last 15 Years That Defy Any Serious Criticism (In No Order):

15. "Closing Time" by Semisonic

13.  "A Thousand Miles" By Vanessa Carlton

12. "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback—controversial!

11. "Smooth" Feat. Rob Thomas by Santana 

10. "Bright Lights" by Matchbox 20 

9. "Game Of Love" Feat. Michelle Branch by Santana 

8.  You Get What You Give by New Radicals

7. "In The End" By Linkin Park

6. "The Way" By Fastball

5. "Love Song" By Sara Bareilles 

4. "Breathe (2 AM)" By Anna Nalick

3. "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys

2. "Roses" By Outkast 

1. "Somewhere Only We Know" By Keane 

Hey you? That's right, you! I wanna know what's on your list.  After all, I've done too much of the talking.  Share your list in the comment section or let me know if you have problems with the songs I picked. We can duke it out and maybe share a cyber beer.