Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010 (#1)

1. Cee-Lo Green -- Fuck You

There's no way it could have been anything else. No other song in 2010 -- or really any year in recent memory -- was this audacious, this clever, this hysterically brilliant and instantly iconic as Cee-Lo's funky and fun verbal thrashing of a villainous, gold-digging ex and her new man. The best part about the song? Sure it aims for a go-for-the-jugular kind of catharsis, but Cee-Lo brings such a sense of playful giddiness to the notion of not holding back that it almost seems to sanitize the song's potential offensiveness; despite its title and lyrics -- which self-proclaimed cultural watchdog and insufferable dingbat Brent Bozell decried as obscene almost immediately -- there's something oddly sweet about this musical rant. It's both exhilarating and liberating. And it's far and away the best song of the year.



Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 2. Foster the People -- Pumped Up Kicks, 3. A Silent Film -- You Will Leave a Mark, 4. Mumford & Sons -- Little Lion Man

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 5. The Black Keys -- Tighten Up, 6. Vampire Weekend -- Giving Up the Gun, 7. Gorillaz -- Stylo

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 8. Arcade Fire -- Ready To Start, 9. The Heavy -- How You Like Me Now, 10. Tame Impala -- Lucidity

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 11. Ben Folds & Nick Hornby -- From Above, 12. Kanye West (Featuring Bon Iver and Gil Scott-Heron) -- Lost in the World, 13. M.I.A. -- Born Free

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 14. Sia -- My Love, 15. Middle Class Rut -- New Low, 16. The xx -- Islands

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 17. John Legend and the Roots -- I Can't Write Left-Handed, 18. Blonde Redhead -- Not Getting There, 19. The National -- Bloodbuzz Ohio

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 20. Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti -- Round and Round, 21. P!nk -- Raise Your Glass, 22. Drive-By Truckers -- This Fucking Job

Listening Post: The 25 Best Singles of 2010: 23. Best Coast -- Boyfriend, 24. Anberlin -- Impossible, 25. Fences -- Girls with Accents

Listening Post

I hadn't really been paying attention, but at some point over the last couple of weeks Cee-Lo released the official video for this song.

And any excuse at all to play this again makes me do the Snoopy dance around my living room. Plus, as expected, the video just rules.

Here's Fuck You.

Quote of the Day

"The entire song is obscene."

-- Noted music connoissieur Brent Bozell on Cee-Lo's new single, Fuck You

The proper way to respond to Bozell -- who's an uptight, self-righteous pencil-dick on a good day -- is just way too obvious in this case, so I won't even bother.

Listening Post

No fewer than five people have sent me this video via e-mail in the past 48 hours. (Geez, I just can't imagine why.) Needless to say, it had me laughing my ass off and giddily dancing around my bedroom when I finally got around to listening to it this morning.

God bless Cee-Lo Green.

Here's Fuck You.

Listening Post

A gloriously audacious cover of a song that was spectacular to begin with, and a video that's easily one of the best of the year so far.

From his upcoming solo album, this is Cee Lo Green doing Band of Horses' No One's Gonna Love You.