Blog Posts by Robert of the Radish

WARNING: This post has male chauvinist pig leanings!

Is there a nag in your life? Is it driving you crazy? If so, this playlist will help. It'll make you realize that you're not alone. You're just one of millions who are nagged by the woman they love.

I don't like to give into stereotypes, but let's face it, some women just can't stand to see their significant other enjoying pastimes like watching football, reading the newspaper, or playing video games. Unfortunately for us, many wives and girlfriends have no qualms about letting us know that we should be doing something better with our time. And they usually do so in the most high-pitched, chill-inducing voice humanly possible.

"Did you take out the trash? Walk the dog! Yakety Yakety Yakety Blah Blah Blah! Get off the couch, you gonna sleep all day? Get up and go change the air in the tires!" etc...

And the icing on the cake is the inevitable, "if you cared about me, you would do these things without me having to ask."

Argghhh...

On August 4th, 1958 the song "Poor Little Fool" by Rick Nelson became the first #1 song on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

The Hot 100 was designed to track the popularity of individual songs by looking at both the amount of airplay a song is getting as well as sales numbers. This gives good insight into what is popular at a given moment in time. Billboard has changed the weighting between airplay and sales many times over the decades.

In 2003 they started including digital downloads in the equation, and just this year they began including subscription music service streams. So when you click the little "Play" buttons in this post you'll be contributing to each song's numbers!

With 2007 now behind us I thought it a good time to look back at the small number of songs lucky enough to make it to the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

This year there were 18 songs that made it to the top, and every one of them is available for streaming.

The #1 hits of 2007 in chronological

It seems as though my best 100 albums of 2007 list really got under the skin of the prepubescent masses. When a list can garner hundreds of comments that say things like "tha list is gay big time. i listen to all sorts of music n never heard one of these idiots!",  "if its not hip-hop or r&b it sucks period, this list sucks donkey ballz" and "WHO EVER ROTE DIZ LIST IS A [profane] DAT DON`T LISTEN 2 MUSIC" I get that warm and fuzzy feeling only a job well done can provide.

So to continue stirring the hornets nest I offer this collection of the ten most worthless albums of 2007.

10.   Zeitgeist by Smashing Pumpkins
It's sad to see a legendary band who has created timeless and important albums call it quits, only to return with such a half-hearted effort. Billy just could not get it done with Zwan or as a solo artist, so he's pathetically grasping for his past on Zeitgeist. I'm afraid the spark that made the Pumpkins a great band fizzled out long ago. The political angst of old

Yea, yea, I hear ya. End of year "bestof" lists are like fruitcakes. There are way too many of them lying aroundunnoticed at the end of the year. They've become "I'm a crediblecritic" lists more than anything, with popular indie blogs shunninganything commercial and adding in some hip-hop, world music, or jazzto increase their hip-factor.

Sowhen I went through the process of creating my top 100 of 2007 list whydid 70% of it turn out like most every other hipster blog out there? Well, itall boils down to the fact that even in this new musical landscape, we fall inlove to the stuff we listen to. And we only listen to the stuff we are awareof. And I can't resist listening to what is getting buzz. But from time totime I do find an under-the-radar gem.

Soyes, some of the albums you will see in my list will be completely new to you,many more will appear on other year end lists, and the reason is simple.They're great albums.

Theonly measure I used when selecting my top 100 was whether I

We continue with the ninth installment of our top 100 albums of 2007 year end list.

20.   The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter by Josh Ritter
The songwriting on The Historical Conquests... has the same strength of purpose that makes Ritter such an irresistible new artist, but here the songs are brittle and delivered with brio. The production is a roughhewn endeavour that provides ballast for a myriad of brilliant arrangements and melodic ideas. Sensible acoustic guitar and keyboard interludes mix with loose and lofty horns, pianos, strings and guitars; frailty gives way to unshakable solidity, and the lyrics paint images that never become burdensome or trite.

19.   Cross by Justice
Cross by Justice is the party album of the year. Its contagious grooves jump from the speakers so forcefully that you will be physically moved to dance. It's peppered with new wave and pop flavors, but it's synthesized foundation packs the kind of punch that has been traditionally reserved for only the

Wecontinue with the eighth installment of our top 100 albums of 2007 yearend list.

30.  Hvarf/Heim bySigur Rós
You know your band is good whenyou can put out a compilation of unreleased songs and acousticremakes, and it's still lauded as one of the best albums of the year. And 2007was no slouch year. Sigur Rós is a band that defies description and can meltyour heart with just a brush of their hand. I cannot live without this band.

29.  Asa Breed byMatthew Dear
Imagine for a minute that instead of killing himself in 1980, Ian Curtis of JoyDivision decided to go into hiding for 27 years. Now imagine that while he wasin complete seclusion, surviving only on Pop Tarts and heroin, that he bought aMac and learned how to use it. If you can imagine this, you're close tounderstanding what Asa Breed sounds like at it's very core.

28. The Stage Names by Okkervil River
I enjoyed Okkervil River's 2005 album BlackSheep Boy, but 2007's The Stage Names finds the band taking theirsound to the next

The seventh installment of our top 100 albums of 2007 year end list. Number 21 through 30.

40.  Good Arrows by Tunng
Tunng produces artsy folk music with the perfect amount of electronic highlights and British-accented vocals. The band's latest effort on Thrill Jockey Records is titled Good Arrows, and it's much like having a warm cup of hot chocolate, naked in the mist, after sex.

39.  Magic by Bruce Springsteen
Rolling Stone Magazine critic David Fricke has given Bruce Springsteen's new album Magic a 5-star review. And although Rolling Stone lost most of it's credibility decades ago, I must agree with them on this one. The Boss comes through big, and like Bob Dylan, continues to show the world what "legend" really means.

38.  Chrome Dreams II by Neil Young
Neil Young has recorded more albums than most people own. And being a legendary songwriting machine with the maturity of experience behind him, you can usually count on something good to exceptional from him. Chrome Dreams II falls

The sixthinstallment of our top 100 albums of 2007 year end list.

50.  White Chalk byPJ Harvey
PJ Harvey can belt out avocal without much trouble when she feels the need. But here on White Chalk,she takes on a more delicate air that works to convey despair without eversounding contrived, or having you wishing for something to happen. To thecontrary, I am completely happy and tuned in every time I hear it. An artistictriumph.

49.  The Good,The Bad & The Queen by The Good, The Bad & The Queen 
The Good, The Bad & The Queen is an album bya supergroup consisting of members of Blur, The Clash, The Verve and FelaKuti, and produced by Danger Mouse. Obviously, with that frame of reference inmind, there was a good deal of hype around this release. But lucky for us, thealbum lives up to it, and the group sounds as if they've been creating musictogether for decades.

48. Comicopera by OfRobert Wyatt
At 62, Robert Wyatt has created one of the year's best albums. Comicoperais political and