My other favorite song from the Fall Out Boy album is making me feel guilty for not choosing it so here's a double whopper for ya.

Was gonna wait till after the Browns to start today, but this game is such an epic beatdown that I might as well go a little early. Joe Flacco is the best christmas present ever!

Hellos, goodbyes, a thousand midnights, ost in sleepless lullabies



35. Ghosts Again by Depeche Mode

-I was a little wary of this album since it was the first one they had released since the death of Andy Fletcher in May 2022. I definitely should not have been though. These dudes have been channeling their sadness into beautiful art for most of their 40ish year career and this was no different. Ghosts Again sums this up so very well, and though it wasn't my fav on first listen it eventually climbed its way up. Seeing them perform it live also helped alot. What a great show that was!

And the world is likе a head of hair, some are waiting for thеir share, some are bald, and one's a billionaire



34. Countdown To Shutdown by The Hives

It's crazy that this is the first album from The Hives in eleven years! Just feels like they're always around in some way or another. They still sound like it they've been around all the time time. They are still a bunch of punks who like to laugh. And really we have plenty of angry punks in any era. We need some clown punks to lighten the mood while still delivering the message.

Seeing acts live really seals it for Flava.

Nothing special so far, with Depeche Mode and "Pretty In Possible" being the highlights.

I do see a lot of shows. Weekend festivals are especially one of my very favorite things to do, even though my legs really really hurt afterwards now lol (damn you aging body!). Could probably make a whole ass flava'd fifty just from the live sets I've seen in 2023 ... and I just might! Don't tempt me!

All the songs are special, but the most special are still to come!

This future's fucked before it got started



33. People Are Vomit by The Used

-Another blast from the past as The Used (member The Taste of Ink?) rise from irrelevance back into the mainstream, co-headling a huge ampitheater tour with Pierce The Veil (and yes I saw that one too :-p) They are not thrilled with the world they see now though. Instead of just themselves, or an ex-girlfriend (or boyfriend?) it's all people that they find disgusting. It's a scorching take on the old and the young that only an angry millenial could make. However, things seemed to work alright for them at end. Maybe they wouldn't think people were vomit if they knew how many would pay lots of money to see them play.

People suck dick to climb a pyramid, it makes me sick, but they just thinkin' for themselves




32. Selfish by Slowthai

-Slowthai is a rapper, but he is british so he gets labeled as alternative on apple music. Must be the accent. Or lack of trap beats. Hip-hop really needs more subgenres like rock has, sticking everything you don't understand into alternative is just lazy. Anyway, I had thought slowthai was a new find for me this year (thanks to anydecentmusic.com), but my one friend insists they had told me about him many times before. I don't remember that and therefore it must not have happened.

Love From the Other Side is solid with apocalypse being a cool word to use in a song. People Are Vomit is the other one on that stands out.

And the wolf's on the creep with the sheep on the merry-go-round



31. What The Peephole Say by Queens of the Stone Age

-After the solid, but very produced album Villains, Queens of the Stone Age wanted to get back to just letting loose. The raw power of rock n roll baby. I think they achieved it in the sound, but also in the writing. You can tell just by the puns in the song titles how much fun they are having writing this stuff. Other examples include: "Paper Machete" , "Canavoyeur" and "Emotion Sickness." The guitar riff helps this one stand out amongst all the others on the album. I just can't get it out of my head!

Pat rhyming apocalypse with "dagger in the hips" is both cool and hilarious.

Merries of Christmas to everyone too!

Paper power pussy, 10k just to book me



30. It's In Me by The Musalini, John Dutch, Staten Stacks and Silent Snipers

-Now this is some real deep dive indie hip-hop shit right here. We have a new record low for youtube views - 501 (well 502 now I suppose.) It doesn't even have any lyrics on genius lol. I'm not even sure if what I posted at the top is accurate! A true first. But damn is this song smooth as fuck. Something that only the coolest people would listen to. Just listening to it makes me feel like Tom Cruise walking into the party in Eyes Wide Shut. Except its the beats that are doing the fucking.

I blew the dust off the cover of the tales of this colossal failure



29. Library of Broken Bindings by Sincere Engineer

-Sincere Engineer are best known for creating the corn dog circle pit, but they are also terrific song writers! I really love how hard this song comes in with the lyrics above. Though I will say the combining of library and nautical metaphors is a bit confusing ... unless you were a gentlewoman pirate! Which is much more fun to think about than just burying your feelings with medication and alcohol. Though I suppose you could do both at once?

Feeding on the wrath of man



28. 72 Seasons by Metallica

-Yes Metallica is still around and yes they are still making good music! Well, if you were already a 'Tallica fan that is. I don't imagine 72 Seasons (song or album) will be changing anyones mind. This is a band who found a formula their fans enjoy and have stuck with it. Though it is strange to think about all the kids who found them while watching Stranger Things having 72 Seaons as their first new release, and those new fans will one day have deep feelings about this era and say things like "You know what Metallica album is actually Very Underrated?!?" That's basically how my Metallica fandom blossomed, except from Guitar Hero instead of Stranger Things (obviously I knew about them, but the Saint Anger era didn't exactly make any lifelong fans.)

Bonus Metallica



-This one is a bit more lyrically complex as it directly deals with James' alcoholism. It also starts with an awesome "Temptation!" chant. Was my favorite on first listen, but after live show in November (yeah yeah, I know) my fav switched to the title track 72 Seasons just cause all the boys were having so much fun playing it. Lars definitely was not singing along to this one while pounding the drums lol.

I don't remember getting old but somehow I'm here, falling for the same tropes as my mother dear



27. Jaws by Dizzy

-For clarification sakes, Dizzy is the name of the band, lead by singer Katie Munshaw. And they are from Canada, so there's no reason to confuse them with english rapper Dizzy Rascal. If the guitar riff at the beginning sounds familiar then I'm pretty sure that it was in a Radiohead song, probably either on Kid A or In Rainbows. The lyric content of the song is very interesting. Our biological purpose is to replace our parents, but when we're young we all think we will be smart and strong enough to avoid the mistakes they made and become better people. Yet, more often than not, we just wind up in the same place as them nonetheless. And its around that time we also realize that it isn't such a bad thing. The song switches between her point of view, and her mothers, or maybe she just becomes the mother talking to her future daughter who is going through the same thing?

Probably grab another hun' though, industry cutthroat, watch how I construct though



26. TSK by Nas

-Nas, also known as Nasty Nas or Nastradamus, turned 50 this year. Yet within the span of 12 months he put out Magic 2, Magic 3 and last year's #7 album King's Disease 3. It's crazy to say, but this might very well be the very best stretch of his very long and illustrious career ... OK maybe not better than Illmatic and It Was Written back-to-back, but still, this is pretty unprecendented for someone of his age in the rap game. He kinda blew by his longtime friend/rival Jay-Z who hasn't put out a great album in over ten years (to put things in perspective.) No accolades, no chart performances, no grammy nominations (this is the real crime.) Nas is just cranking away at the top of his game with only a select few noticing.

I wasn't aware that QOTSA had released a new album, so thank you for bringing that to my attention. I love music but don't keep up with it, even for acts that I love. I find it so hard to keep up with everything that I enjoy. I have to limit my indulgences, and unfortunately music is the one that has been cut off.

Yeah I get that it can be hard to keep up. I'd suggest just pairing music with other activities in your life. That's what I do most of the time.

Recap of first half:

26. TSK - Nas
27. Jaws - Dizzy
28. 72 Seasons - Metallica
29. Library of Broken Bindings - Sincere Engineer
30. Its In Me - The Musalini
31. What The Peephole Say - Queens Of The Stone Age
32. Selfish - Slowthai
33. People Are Vomit - The Used
34. Countdown To Shutdown - The Hives
35. Ghosts Again - Depeche Mode
36. Love From The Other Side - Fall Out Boy
37. A Few Tomorrows - Meet Me At The Altar
38. Take My Nirvana - Pvris
39. I Think I Might Be Weird - Fucked Up
40. Knockoff - Poppy
41. Pretty Impossible - Caroline Polachek
42. Classy - Bia
43. Parasite - Grade 2
44. Shiner In The Dark - Royal Blood
45. Going Through Some Shit - Juicy J
46. Everything Is Fine! - Periphery
47. Arsenal - Mike Dimes
48. Little Dogs - Mudhoney
49. Just Pretend - Bad Omens
50. Shy Boy - Carly Rae Jepsen

Don't be sad for me, I'm a cartoon G



25. Skinny Ape by Gorillaz

-For what I think is the first time ever, Damon released new albums both of his biggest bands - Gorillaz and Blur. I've always had a preference for the cartoon gs though, and 2023 was no different. This song is (I think) about adjusting to new technology, from the point of view of the apes on the fictional cracker island which the album is named after. Funny coming from someone in an animated band, but the G has always had some humor attached. You kind of have to to make it work.

Get mad at me or use me to get what you want, check off none of the above



24. You're On by Kicksie

-When I first heard Kicksie earlier in the year I thought "oh hey, Beach Bunny is already inspiring people." Definitely the same vibe as BB, who have placed in the top five the past three years (though nothing this year since they didn't release any new music.) However, it turns out Kicksie has been going since around the same time. Kicksie is from Toronto, Beach Bunny is from Chicago - its like seeing two different species of foxes on different sides of the atlantic due to the splitting of Pangea ... except this time its just a lake or two. This song definitely has more attitude though, taking down some chump who thinks they are just the hottest shit.

Obvious that you want me, but I said I would want myself



23. Greedy by Tate McRae

-Hey its the first song on the 2023 Flava'd Fifty that actually made the top 50 on billboard. "Took ya long enough, Jerk Store!" Anyways, Greedy is Tate's 'Don't Stop Now' moment, where she'd been around but is finally catching the eyes and ears of the nation (that is directly south of her homeland) with a more fun sound than on her debut album. Not sure that her album really hit the highs of Future Nostalgia, but it has some good stuff along with Greedy (I like Exes alot.) But really, this song is all about the irresistable beat that Tate just so happened to have been gifted. Still though, lesser singers have wasted potentially classic beats. Tate owned hers and has been rewarded for it.

Good pick! I like the I'm so crazy I'm gonna fuck up your life theme. Hope she's not a spiritual one hit wonder (she had a TikTok driven top 20 when she was like 14).

I think she will be fine if she keeps making catchy dance songs. If she goes down the Billie Eilish path of only-ballads then she might be in trouble.

Have less time today than I thought I would. Will try to post a couple before I have to leave though.