Song of the Year: A Cracked 64 Ripoff

The beginning of the year is the time to look back on what has just passed us by - through Top of the Year lists.  While many will be publishing their lists of the best of 2012, I'm more interested in what happens over at Cracked; they try to identify what typified the year that was.  This is, to me, far more interesting, and so, I will be offering my take on the same 8 categories that Cracked's columnists wrote on.

Movie

Tweet

Person

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Song of the Year: Want it Back - Amanda Palmer & the Grand Theft Orchestra

My actual selection is "Insert Any Song From the Theatre is Evil Album", but Want it Back gets the nod since it was the first song off this album that I heard.  I'm new to Amanda Palmer's work; I began listening to her music the day after she had played in Vancouver (great timing...), and this album is just fantastic.  Yes, I know that the premise of this list is to identify what typified 2012 rather than what my favourite song was, but in this instance, they are one in the same.

There are a lot of ways that Theatre is Evil is different than the songs that occupied the airwaves in 2012.  It didn't receive mainstream airplay, and was released independently (Palmer had had a previous falling out with her former record label, but that's a story for another time).  Its genre is not immediately obvious, containing elements of pop, alternative rock, indie rock, and Amanda Palmer (I'm giving her her own genre). It is neither dubstep nor k-pop.

Or the two combined.

So, how does a song that received no mainstream play typify 2012?  Because it was made in the way that music should (and I think will) be made available to the public.  Palmer funded the production for the album on Kickstarter.  If you've never heard of it, it's a crowd-funding platform that allows artists to connect more personally with their audience, and for the audience to fund the projects that they wish to aid.  What I said about Twitter tearing down a wall in the media applies here to; it is this that I believe to be the defining trend of 2012.  Amanda Palmer is of the same mind in regards to music, and puts it far more catchily than me (I have to make up words like 'catchily'):

Her Kickstarter video, asking fans to help her fund the album received nearly 25,000 donations totalling very nearly $1.2 million, the largest amount pledged to any one music campaign in the site's history.  Palmer drew a lot of criticism for the incident; I for one, think it's brilliant.  Record labels receive too much power for being, frankly, mostly unnecessary middlemen in the music industry.  If fans want to invest their money to an artistic endeavour, then they should be encouraged to do so.  Everyone who donated received the album, and depending on the amount donated, various other merchandise.

Amanda Palmer drew criticism again for asking for volunteers to play with her and the band in the various cities they were touring.  Again, I see nothing wrong with this, but to each their own.  While the album is available in record stores, it's also available online in a pay-what-you-want format.  You should give it a go; I guarantee you it's worth at least a dollar to you.

Well said, Amanda.  Well said.

Runner Up: Psy - Gangnam Style

When you're the most viewed video in the history of YouTube, and it was accomplished in just 6 months, you're in the conversation for Top Song of the Year, regardless of what measurement is being used to determine "Top".