In a few years we may recall 2006 as the end of an era. It marked the final days of a decades-old ritual familiar to all but the youngest music heads: pissing away the afternoon at your favorite record shop. We realized recently it had been six months since we last stopped in a music store -- and then realized our regular store had closed down at some point during those six months. No wonder the chains have abandoned CDs in favor of DVDs, video games and merchandise. Say what you want about the sound quality of MP3s, but the electronic distribution of music is a fait accompli. A lit major may try to suggest that the amorphous, technological nature of our new computer-based music consumption has led to a reactionary return to primitivist rock and roll. We just say, "Hell yeah." Good old-fashioned geetars screeched out across dorm rooms and clubs as they hadn't for years. And as if a memo had gone out after Mariah Carey resurrected her career last year, a slew of other divas also tried to creep back into the limelight: Madonna, Janet Jackson, Jessica Simpson, Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera -- even Justin Timberlake came out of retirement. They were joined by a squad of would-be next-generation starlets, led by team captains Rihanna, Ciara and Cassie. But of the luscious ladies making noise this year, we enjoyed Nelly Furtado the most. There's something compelling about her grown-up version of the good-girl-gone-bad story line. And promiscuous is one of our favorite words when uttered by a hot brunette. As James Blunt would say, Nelly, "You're beautiful." But forget us. Let's talk about you. This is your chance to vote in our annual music poll and tell the world where the industry can stuff those last few CDs. Vote early and vote often. Rock and roll!

   
  Stadium Arcadium,
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Click to listen to "Dani California"
    Destroy Rock & Roll,
Mylo
Click to listen to "Musclecars"
      Youth,
Matisyahu
Click to listen to "King Without a Crown"
 
  Sam’s Town,
The Killers
Click to listen to "Sam's Town"
    The Eraser,
Thom Yorke
Click to listen to "The Clock"
      My Name is Gyptian,
Gyptian
Click to listen to "Serious Times"
 
  Still the Same,
Rod Stewart
Click to listen to "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?"
    Paper Tigers,
Luomo
Click to listen to "Good to be With"
      Universo Ao Meu Redor,
Marisa Montes
Click to listen to "O Bonde Do Dom"
 
  The Black Parade,
My Chemical Romance
Click to listen to "Welcome to The Black Parade"
    The Warning,
Hot Chip
Click to listen to "And I Was a Boy From School"
      Lamp Fall,
Cheikh Lo
Click to listen to "Senegal-Bresil"
 
  10,000 Days,
Tool
Click to listen to "Vicarious"
    Sexor,
Tiga
Click to listen to "Pleasure from the Base"
      JMT,
Vybz Kartel
Click to listen to "Guns like These"
 
    Write-In Vote:         Write-In Vote:           Write-In Vote:    
                         
   
  Fishscale,
Ghostface Killah
Click to listen to "The Champ"
    Precious Memories,
Alan Jackson
Click to listen to "In the Garden"
      Out Louder,
Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood
Click to listen to "In Case the World Changes Its Mind"
 
  My Ghetto Report Card,
E-40
Click to listen to "Sick Wid It II featuring Turf Talk"
    Taking the Long Way,
Dixie Chicks
Click to listen to "Not Ready to Make Nice"
      Sound Grammar,
Ornette Coleman
Click to listen to "Matador"
 
  The Big Bang,
Busta Rhymes
Click to listen to "Touch It"
    Live Those Songs Again,
Kenny Chesney
Click to listen to "Beer in Mexico"
      Braggtown,
Branford Marsalis
Click to listen to "Hope"
 
  Game Theory,
The Roots
Click to listen to "Don't Feel Right"
    Real Fine Place,
Sara Evans
Click to listen to "Cheatin'"
      House on Hill,
Brad Mehldau
Click to listen to "Boomer"
 
  King,
T.I.
Click to listen to "Ride Wit Me"
    Black Cadillac,
Rosanne Cash
Click to listen to "Black Cadillac"
      Time Lines,
Andrew Hill
Click to listen to "Malachi"
 
    Write-In Vote:         Write-In Vote:           Write-In Vote:    
                         
   
  Idlewild
Click to listen to "Idlewild Blues" by André 3000
    “You’re Beautiful,”
James Blunt
      George Strait    
  American Hardcore
Click to listen to "Pay to Cum" by Bad Brains
    “Promiscuous,”
Nelly Furtado
      Rascal Flatts    
  Curious George
Click to listen to "People Watching" by Jack Johnson
    “Crazy,”
Gnarls Barkley
      Nickelback    
  The Last Kiss
Click to listen to "Hold You In My Arms" by Ray LaMontagne
    “Sexyback,”
Justin Timberlake
      Fall Out Boy    
  Stick It
Click to listen to "We Run This" by Missy Elliot
    “Gold Digger,”
Kanye West
      Pearl Jam    
    Write-In Vote:         Write-In Vote:           Write-In Vote:    
                         

   
  Panic! At the Disco
Click to listen to "I Write Sins Not Tragedies"
    Merle Haggard Series
Click to listen to "I Ain't Got Nobody"
   
  Arctic Monkeys
Click to listen to "I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor"
    Pet Sounds 40th,
The Beach Boys
Click to listen to "God Only Knows"
   
  Editors
Click to listen to "Blood"
    Ice Cream for Crow,
Captain Beefheart
Click to listen to "Hey Garland, I Dig Your Tweed Coat"
   
  Gnarls Barkley
Click to listen to "Smiley Faces"
    Pinkflag (America),
Wire
Click to listen to "Pink Flag"
   
  Lupe Fiasco
Click to listen to "Kick, Push"
    Psychocandy,
The Jesus and Mary Chain
Click to listen to "Just Like Honey"
   
    Write-In Vote:         Write-In Vote:      
                 
More than 25 years on, R.E.M. is issuing a major retrospective of the first part of its career, to remind us why it ruled the indie scene in the 1980s: The jangling guitars and Michael Stipe’s murmured vocals and brooding lyrics about, say, Cleveland’s burning Cuyahoga River, still impress. And original member Bill Berry rejoined the band for its induction into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in September. This band should have been a one-hit blip-pop wonder, the answer to a 1980s trivia question. Instead it has embarked on one of the most adventurous musical careers of all time, constantly mastering new technology, writing dozens of stirring songs and charming millions of fans all over the world. This year DM toured an amazing new album and put out its first-ever best-of compilation.
While R.E.M. looked back to bring music forward in the 1980s, Sonic Youth looked to outer space, harnessing detuned guitars and white noise to make a sound both thrillingly unfamiliar and really loud. The band threw open the floodgates of alt-rock creativity, prefiguring grunge, shoegazing and the psych-out strangeness of acts like the Flaming Lips. And this year the combo put out another noisy, cool album. It's baffling that she's not always mentioned in the same breath as Iggy Pop and the Sex Pistols, because Joan Jett is that punk. And unlike those more revered artists, she has managed commercial success, as well. Talk about good taste: This year's album features a cover of "Androgynous," originally by the Replacements! We know she loves rock and roll. If you do too, go see her live immediately.
Write-In Vote:
He is the sun and the air. He is human and he needs to be loved. The Manchester warbler transcends the mopey genre he helped create through the maudlin songs he wrote with the most important British band of the 1980s, the Smiths. His self-pitying lyrics gave birth to Kurt Cobain’s bathos, emo and whole swaths of today’s music. (But don’t blame him for that.) And with this year’s solo LP, the second great one in a row, Moz shows he’s still as good as ever.

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