In times of hardship, we hit play on the stereo… and man, did 2016 deliver on music to fill it with. This year might’ve sucked, but its albums, songs, collaborations, and music videos brought us a little bit of optimism (and a whole lot of pop punk revival).
We’ve compiled the idobi staff’s favorite releases this year, so you can check out anything you might’ve missed, or join us in screaming along to “Closer”, because let’s face it, who didn’t love that song? And if you’re looking for memories from 2016 that didn’t have to do with music, we asked our staff to give us the moment that made it all better, too—although, admittedly, a lot of those still have to do with music.
Best Album:
Hardwired… to Self-Destruct – Metallica
Best Song:
“Heathens” – Twenty One Pilots
Best Music Video:
“The One Moment” – Ok Go
Favorite Collaboration:
AC/DC and Axl Rose
Moment that Made it Better:
When Alec Baldwin portrayed Trump on SNL for the first time.
Best Album:
Lemonade – Beyonce or Death of a Bachelor – Panic! At The Disco, because I listened to them all the way through a bunch of times and didn’t get tired of them. There weren’t many albums that did that for me this year.
Best Song:
“Same Drugs” – Chance the Rapper
Best Music Video:
Lazarus – David Bowie, because that was his way of telling us he’s not going anywhere but beyond the stars.
Favorite Collaboration:
“Starboy” – The Weeknd + Daft Punk or “Walking Through the Night” – Hotei + Iggy Pop
Moment that Made it Better:
Sting and A Tribe Called Quest each dropped new albums the same week that Dave Chapelle fried our fragile little minds with a truth injection as a guest host on Saturday Night Live. If people keep telling the truth and keep fighting for democracy that’ll truly make it better.
Best Album:
The Depression Sessions – The Acacia Strain/Thy Art Is Murder/Fit For An Autopsy. I don’t normally count EPs into my top album lists because it’s unfair to compare a 12 song album with only 6 in an EP. In this case, each of the three bands on The Depression Sessions only contributed one original track. Regardless, this is a solid release.
Best Song:
“Flatlining” – Fit For An Autopsy. Fit For An Autopsy has always been satisfyingly heavy but this is their crowning achievement.
Best Music Video:
“All Hail Science” – Allegaeon. I admit personal bias on three counts:
1. Allegaeon is from Colorado.
2. This video was shot at Black Sky Brewery, one of my favorite spots.
3. If you look closely, you can see an idobi Howl banner.
Favorite Collaboration:
“It Remembers” – Every Time I Die ft. Brendon Urie”. This is a default pick for me. Great collaborations are extremely rare. I am not a huge Panic! At the Disco fan but this track is the best of any song in 2016 with the term “feat.” in the song title.
Moment that Made it Better:
Lagwagon at Riot Fest Denver and after show. My favorite “music moments” for the past three years happened at Riot Fest and 2016 is no exception. The first Lagwagon album I heard was Hoss, which they played beginning to end at a Riot Fest after show. My CU Buffs were also good in football this year, which is nice.
Best Album:
Holy Ghost – Modern Baseball / Stories For Monday – The Summer Set/ Coloring Book – Chance the Rapper
Best Song:
“The Sound” – The 1975
Best Music Video:
“The One Moment” – Ok Go
Favorite Collaboration:
“Closer” – The Chainsmokers ft. Halsey (OBVIOUSLY)
Moment that Made it Better:
The Presidential election finally being over.
Best Album:
Better Weather – With Confidence
Best Song:
“Closer” – Chainsmokers ft. Halsey
Best Music Video:
“Something New” – Set It Off
Favorite Collaboration:
“Love Like We Used To” – Captain Cuts and Nateur
Moment that Made It All Better:
The new idobi office opening up
Best Album:
Fit For A King – Deathgrip. It was VERY difficult to pick just one album with this year being absolutely stacked for Metal music, but FFAK put out the record of their careers (thus far) and killed it.
Best Song:
“The Price Is Wrong” – Periphery. Just like last year, where I gave the best song to August Burns Red for the Grammy nominated song “Identity”, I’m doing the same this year for Periphery and their Grammy song, “The Price Is Wrong”. This song is a ripper from the first note to the last.
Best Music Video(s):
Metallica – Hardwired….To Self Destruct (all of them). Metallica released a new music video for every track off their new album….all within a two hour span from one music video to the next. A band releasing a music video for each track on their album? Having them all be interesting? Metallica takes the cake on this one.
Favorite Collaboration:
“This Light I Hold” – Memphis May Fire ft. Jacoby Shaddix. What started out as (what we all thought) just a guest collaboration as a live performance at the APMAs ended up turning into one hell of a cool collaboration on the new Memphis May Fire album. A guest spot that took Jacoby less than 2 hours to write & record his part in studio, while being back at the airport all within a 2 hour span. Many times this year it felt like many guest spots/collaborations were more of “look how big this artist is we got on our track!” versus “This guest spot compliments the band and the song perfectly from a sound standpoint”, “This Light I Hold” is 1000% the latter.
Moment that Made it Better:
A Day To Remember winning their $4M lawsuit after years worth of legal battling. Enough said. Also Set Your Goals coming back. I love you dudes and missed you a loooooooooot!
Best Album:
Much Love – Microwave
Best Song:
“Vomit” – Microwave
Best Music Video:
“Indica” – Foxing
Favourite Collaboration:
“It Remembers” – Every Time I Die ft. Brendon Urie
Moment that Made it Better:
The long-awaited return of Thursday
Best Album:
Youth Authority – Good Charlotte
Best Song:
“Fire Escape” – Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness
Best Music Video:
“The Sound” – The 1975 / “Starboy” – The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk
Favorite Collaboration:
“Closer” – Chainsmokers ft. Halsey
Moment that Made it Better:
Getting to see my favorite band Good Charlotte live for the first time in five years.
Best Album:
California – blink 182
Best Song:
“The Good, The Bad And The Dirty” – Panic! At The Disco
Best Music Video:
“She’s Out Of Her Mind” – Blink 182
Favorite collaboration:
“Side to Side” – Ariana Grande ft. Nicki Minaj
Moment that Made it Better:
My favorite show, my safe place, and my most practiced religion came back for one last hoorah this year, brought all of my favorite people with it, and ended the flawless series exactly how I thought they would—making it one of the few redeeming qualities 2016 had.
Best Album:
Nobody Likes A Quitter – All Get Out
Best Song:
“I Was Alive Back Then” – Kevin Devine
Best Music Video:
“You’re My Fear, My Dear” – Alternative Medicine. Directed by Brendan Walter (Scantron Films)
Favorite Collaboration:
Split EP – Lite / Mouse On The Keys
Best Album:
Blush – Moose Blood
Best Song:
“Crazy=Genius” – Panic! at the Disco
Best Music Video:
“Missing You” – All Time Low
Favorite Collaboration:
“Cold Water (Cover)” – Our Last Night x The Color Morale x Hands Like Houses
Moment that Made it Better:
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (because happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light).
Best Album:
I Like It When You Sleep For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It – The 1975
Best Song:
“Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time” – Panic! At The Disco
Best Music Video:
“Losing Myself” – State Champs
Favorite Collaboration:
“I Feel It Coming” – The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk
Moment that Made it Better:
The Biden/Obama memes showing us all true bromance goals
Best Album:
California – Blink 182
Best Song:
“All My Friends” – The Summer Set
Best Music Video:
“Upside Down & Inside Out” – Ok Go
Best Collaboration:
“Starboy” – The Weeknd ft. Daft Punk
Moment that Made it Better:
The release of the fantastic new Disney movie, Moana!
Best Album:
My favorite album of 2016 was definitely Pierce the Veil’s Misadventures. It made for a fantastic summer soundtrack with all the tracks I couldn’t stop putting on repeat.
Best Song:
I loved Blink 182’s “She’s Out Of Her Mind” It was so much fun and made me really excited about the addition of Skiba’s vocals on California.
Best Music Video:
The “LA Devotee” from Panic! at the Disco was really creatively shot and I loved the surprise visit from Noah Schnapp.
Favorite Collaboration:
The collaboration of Kesha and Zedd on “True Colors” was both an unforgetable song and one of the strongest messages I’ve heard on track in a long time.
Moment that Made it Better:
A moment that made things better for me this year was when Laura Jane Grace of Against Me! burned her birth certificate in protest of bathroom bills. It sent a really powerful message of resilience for me.
Best Album:
Cardinal – Pinegrove
Best Song:
“My Lucky #3” – Mat Kerekes (of the band Citizen)
Best Music Video:
“Vomit” – Microwave (dir. Kyle Thrash)
Best Collaboration:
“Ultralight Beam” – Kanye West and Chance the Rapper
Moment that Made it Better:
Chance the Rapper’s 7 Grammy nominations after the overturned rule of not-for-sale music not being able to be nominated
Best Album:
Much Love – Microwave
Best Song:
“Circles” – Pierce The Veil
Best Music Video:
“Somebody Else” – The 1975
Favorite Collaboration:
“December (Again)” – Neck Deep ft. Mark Hoppus
Moment that Made it Better:
Brand New playing The Devil and God in full for the 10 year anniversary
Best Album:
American Football LP2 – American Football. American Football has been one of my favorite bands for years and I was beyond excited when LP2 was announced. Thankfully, the album didn’t disappoint at all. The Kinsella brothers and crew picked right up where they left off seventeen years ago and the world is a better place because of it
Best Song:
“Conrad Tokyo” – A Tribe Called Quest. It was hard to not give We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service as the best album of the year. A Tribe Called Quest brought the house down with the whole album by constantly building tension throughout the whole thing but “Conrad Tokyo” is the pinnacle of that tension. It was also amazing to hear the torch passed from the late Phife Dawg to Kendrick Lamar.
Best Music Video:
“Lazarus” – David Bowie. The world lost one of the greatest musicians of all time in David Bowie earlier this year. However, he did leave us with one of his best albums in Blackstar and the song “Lazarus” is haunting. Pair that with the video where we see Bowie with his eyes bandaged while lying on a deathbed. The video became my favorite of the year after we all got to see that although David was taken from us, he wanted to leave us with something he was proud of.
Best Collaboration:
“Really Doe” – Danny Brown ft. Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul, and Earl Sweatshirt. “Really Doe” is the standout track from Danny Brown’s newest album Atrocity Exhibition, in part to the firepower he enlisted to contribute to it. Each time someone new has a chance on the microphone, we hear a unique spin over Black Milk’s stellar production that make this track stand above the rest.
Moment that Made it Better:
The influx of “nerd” culture. The thing that made this year tolerable for me after losing so many influential people and events of the world was the fact that society as a whole seems to be embracing “nerd” culture more than ever. Growing up, the fact that I played D&D and worshiped Star Wars and Batman resulted in some less than stellar situations. That culture changed when we were given multiple comic book based TV shows and movies, along with a new Star Wars to close the year out. Bringing something that I’ve loved for so long to the masses so more people can enjoy it as well has done a lot to salvage the dumpster fire that was 2016.
Best Album:
131 – Emarosa
Best Song:
“Figure Me Out” – The Summer Set
Best Music Video:
“Something New” – Set it Off
Favorite Collaboration:
“Closer” – Chainsmokers ft. Halsey
Moment that Made it Better:
Realizing it’s almost 2017 and that means all the 2007 10 year anniversary tours are coming. (Lookin at you, All Time Low…And Paramore… And FOB…)