Throwback Thursday: August 23, 2014 Countdown

Hey, everyone! I figured I'd do something different. With a certain user having reviewed a past Weekend Countdown, I thought I may as well try to do the same, what with me being so late into this community. On one of my posts from when the summer was kicking off, I reviewed a countdown that was from a year ago. I considered doing the same thing next week, but thought it would be redundant to look at most of the same songs, most of which one, my opinions probably wouldn't change on that quickly, and two, most of you probably only still care about, at most, a quarter of them. But I do like revisiting the music from days of the past, which is why I include the "Songs That Debuted This Week One Year Ago" section to include the songs that first made their entrance then. I would still sometimes hear bits and pieces of different countdowns back in 2014 and 2015 (except while I was living in college). So I was never a complete stranger to it.

So since it's Throwback Thursday, I thought, why not see what I've missed? I pulled out a random number generator, put in from 1 to 52, and I got...34. So that means I'm reviewing the 34th week of 2014, which was August 23.

2014 was a year that, for most music critics on YouTube as well as music bloggers, was seen as a pretty bad year all-around, while 2015 had things getting a lot better. But in countdown land, it was the opposite - as the summer in 2014 came to its end, they declared that the countdown was in the Golden Ages, where things were going quite good for them. 2015, on the other hand, while it looked to be promising with certain songs, they were quickly getting overplayed. People were fearing that the worst was yet to come, and the spring was the calm before the storm - in the summer, they declared that they were in the dark ages of the countdown. Why? Because in addition to big songs from earlier refusing to leave (Thinking Out Loud, Uptown Funk, Want To Want Me, Centuries, the Taylor Swift rampage), Shut Up and Dance by Walk The Moon became the bane of everyone as it would hog the #1 spot more times than one. Now, I'm not gonna say that otherwise excellent songs were the cause of the dark ages because of overplay, but it's safe to say that they were desperate for change and it didn't happen quickly enough. I mean, I wish I could say the same about Closer hogging #1 on everything right now, yet most here are giving that song a pass in comparison. Then again, this community tends to be younger than most YouTubers (more on that later), and the latter aren't endlessly subjected to the radio, so it does kind of make sense why the opinions may differ.

But enough about that. Time for the throwback. And as always, color code: shit, least favorite song, bad, meh, decent, good, great, favorite song. That's how I'll do this. And yes, I did listen to every single song here, most of them I knew from well before; so I didn't have to re-listen to many of them, but a few I did. So, enough about that. Let's talk about it!

Exits:
Pompeii by Bastille (#40)

45. Summer by Calvin Harris
44. Sleeping With A Friend by Neon Trees
43. Wasted by Tiësto featuring Matthew Koma
42. Be Okay by Oh Honey
41. Rude by MAGIC!
40. Counting Stars by OneRepublic
39. Shake It Off by Taylor Swift (debut)
38. Alone Together by Fall Out Boy
37. Sing by Ed Sheeran
36. All Of Me by John Legend featuring Tiësto
35. Jungle by X Ambassadors featuring Jamie N Commons
34. Am I Wrong by Nico and Vinz
33. She Looks So Perfect by 5 Seconds of Summer
32. All I Wanna Do by T. Mills
31. Me And My Broken Heart by Rixton
30. Chandelier by Sia
29. Not A Bad Thing by Justin Timberlake
28. Latch by Disclosure featuring Sam Smith
27. We Are Done by The Madden Brothers
26. Love Robbery by Kalin and Myles
25. Cool Kids by Echosmith
24. Bailando by Enrique Iglesias featuring Sean Paul
23. Amnesia by 5 Seconds of Summer
22. Undressed by Kim Cesarion
21. I Wanna Get Better by Bleachers
20. Rather Be by Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne
19. Don't by Ed Sheeran
18. Fireball by Pitbull featuring John Ryan
17. Lightning In A Bottle by The Summer Set
16. Break Free by Ariana Grande featuring Zedd
15. A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay
14. This Is How We Do by Katy Perry
13. On Top Of The World by Imagine Dragons
12. Boom Clap by Charli XCX
11. Really Don't Care by Demi Lovato featuring Cher Lloyd
10. Girls Chase Boys by Ingrid Michaelson
9. I Will Never Let You Down by Rita Ora
8. Young Volcanoes by Fall Out Boy
7. All About That Bass by Meghan Meghans
6. Come With Me Now by Kongos
5. Stay With Me by Sam Smith
4. Problem by Ariana Grande featuring The Ghost of Iggy Azalea
3. Love Runs Out by OneRepublic
2. Fancy by Iggy Azalea featuring Charli XCX
1. Maps by Maroon 5 (second of four weeks at #1)

Blurb It Off, Blurb It Off
- Wasted by Tiësto featuring Matthew Koma is pretty darn weird, not something I'm on board with. I came close to putting it in red, but decided turquoise would be enough. And what the heck is with those girls in the music video?

- This week is well known for the beginning of one particular song: Shake It Off by Taylor Swift, which was the first song to reach that epic record of 12 weeks at #1, as well as the first song from Taylor Swift's 1989 album, and began a tenure for that album that has lasted over two years on the countdown, and with New Romantics still on the countdown at this time, continuing.

- While I enjoyed Renegades, Jungle by X Ambassadors featuring Jamie N Commons was not the most pleasant listen for me, as that one felt pretty compressed and the lead singer's voice was no help.

- All I Wanna Do by T Mills sounds like it'd fall into the mold of rap songs that tend to fare badly on Hits 1. But the music video does make the song look pretty summer-y.

- I remember liking Cool Kids by Echosmith quite a bit when it was newer, but it was one of the more hated songs by YouTubers and music bloggers. It's definitely dulled on me since that summer, but I can see the appeal on why this was successful.

- Am I the only living being here who doesn't mind Amnesia by 5 Seconds of Summer? Sure, I can see why it's frowned upon, but it just leaves me feeling sad myself more than anything.

- I'm sure I already mentioned elsewhere, but Rather Be by Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne was my #1 favorite hit song of that year, and it's also a big fan favorite of many others. So, it should be no surprise that I have it in purple. Many have said that it rivals a certain other song for the best song from that Year-End Hot 100...

- That song being Don't by Ed Sheeran. Sing I also consider pretty good as well, that song has been widely compared to Justin Timberlake.

- So I gave Lightning In A Bottle by The Summer Set a listen for this, and yeah, I can see why this was more enjoyed than the two songs this band had this year.

- Two years later, I still enjoy both Fireball by Pitbull featuring John Ryan and A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay. The former was always a fun jam for me, while the latter was actually an interesting turn to EDM for the band.

- Hopefully I'm not breaking too many hearts here when I say that I wasn't exactly a fan of Really Don't Care by Demi Lovato featuring Cher Lloyd. The song is too loud and feels like a pretty condescending kiss-off, not in the way that I would want to listen to one. Good thing Demi had two far better singles in 2015.

- I hear Girls Chase Boys by Ingrid Michaelson a lot at work. This does not sound like a song that I would hear on public Top 40 radio.

- If I had been doing this in 2014, Come With Me Now by Kongos I would've had in green for its entire tenure. The instrumentation and vocal performances in that song blend well into one hardcore rock banger. Spectrum Pulse had it as his #1 song from Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 for that year, and for good reason.

- As you may be able to see, I am not as big a fan of Maroon 5 as Adrian is. But yeah, Maps is not a fun listen, for both Adam Levine's vocals and the creepy premise. So yeah, sorry. Not happy with this #1. :/ But if it's anything, I consider Animals even worse.

- Also... "Y u have so few songs in green compared to (insert user here) who gives a lot of green?" Well, for one, remember, as one in his 20's, I don't just automatically love everything unlike most people who do this. Secondly, the songs in blue I don't have the same way as most others in just "decent/okay".

Bottom 5:
1. Me And My Broken Heart by Rixton
2. Maps by Maroon 5
3. She Looks So Perfect by 5 Seconds of Summer
4. This Is How We Do by Katy Perry
5. Really Don't Care by Demi Lovato featuring Cher Lloyd

Top 5:
1. Rather Be by Clean Bandit featuring Jess Glynne
2. Chandelier by Sia
3. Come With Me Now by Kongos
4. Don't by Ed Sheeran
5. I Wanna Get Better by Bleachers (juggled between this and Fireball, but decided this)

So...that was a throwback post for you. Thanks for reading!