So this may be a rather cheap way of catching up on my blog posting, but bear with me, please. Alright, I don’t like top (pick a number) lists (or lists in general) as much as the next person, so the thought of creating my own list was somewhat repulsive to me. However, I do love music and truth be told, was looking for something to give a little extra oomph to 2011. Therefore, I could think of no better way for myself than to make a playlist. The original playlist was about 80 songs long, so I was not running low on choices, however I’m terrible at objectively paring down lists because of sentimental ties to the various elements. Well, after listening all day at work yesterday, in the car and at the gym, I finally have it. So, without further ado, here is my “‘11 Torches” (in no particular order):

1) “Light Up the Sky” — The Afters

2) “Savior” — Andrew Ripp

3) “Hello Hurricane” — Switchfoot

4) “See the Light” — Green Day

5) “The Cave” — Mumford and Sons

6) “Our Voice Is a Weapon” — Andrew Zipf

7) “Show Goes On” — Lupe Fiasco

8) “I Want Something to Live For” — The Rocket Summer

9) “Blink” — Revive

10) “All of the Lights” — Kanye West

11) “Monster Monster” — The Almost

12) “Ain’t Killed Me Yet” — Eric Church

13) “Closer to the Edge” — 30 Seconds to Mars

14) “On and On” — Chasen

15) “Won’t Turn Back” — Needtobreathe

16) “Fed Up” — AM Taxi

17) “Let It Go” — Zac Brown Band

18) “Ready to Start” — Arcade Fire

19) “Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)” — My Chemical Romance

20) “Lot of Leavin’ Left to Do” — Dierks Bentley

Bonus:

21) “Light Up the Darkness” — The Bridge Band

22) “Wake Us Up” — REILLY

I know, this list has a notable case of ADD, but it’s only as good as its creator. If there are a couple artists you don’t recognize, don’t worry, I may not have either up until a couple days ago. So, the bonus was my caving in to the fact that I could not get rid of certain songs because of the tie I have to them, so my list of 20 has 2 “bonus tracks”. Please note, there are several great releases of 2010 that I was forced to leave off this list not because of quality, but because they didn’t fit my theme. Also, if you have any recommendations, please don’t hesitate to post a reply. On that note, happy listening!