Tim Casteel

Thoughts on Leadership and College Ministry

Music

Top 200 Songs of the 2010’s

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An annual tradition on my blog – My Top 100 Songs of the Year.

But this year as we wrap up a decade of music I ranked my top 200 favorite songs of the 2010’s.

To further explore amazing music, here are my (946 favorite!) Best Songs from the 2010’s (click “Follow” at the top of Spotify if you want to add any of the playlists to your sidebar of playlists)

Here’s my top 100 from 2019 on Spotify.

Click to play all 200 on Spotify, but here are the top 20 of the decade:

20 Holocene by Bon Iver

19 Get Real Get Right by Sufjan Stevens

18 Retrograde by James Blake

17 The Boulder by Geographer

16 Nancy From Now On by Father John Misty

15 O.N.E. by Yeasayer

14 Hometown by Twenty One Pilots

13 Two Weeks by Grizzly Bear

12 The Gold by Manchester Orchestra

11 Ready to Start by Arcade Fire

10 Beige by Yoke Lore

9 Fountain by iamamiwhoami

8 Obsessions by MARINA

7 Myth by Beach House

6 Wanderlust by Wild Beasts

5 Civilian by Wye Oak

4 Bats In The Attic by King Creosote & Jon Hopkins

3 Conversation 16 by The National

2 Half Gate by Grizzly Bear

1 Madder Red by Yeasayer

Good Clean Fun Music Playlist

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If you’ve ever tried to make a playlist for a College Ministry meeting, you’ve found that it’s not easy to find fun songs that are clean and that appeal to an ethnically (and spiritually) diverse college student audience.

Notice any pattern in the Top 50 songs?

According to Newsweek’s article How Songs with Explicit Lyrics Came to Dominate the Charts, more than 2/3 of the Top 100 songs in 2017 featured explicit lyrics (interestingly, Spotify is to blame – previously songs were made for radio broadcast and had to be somewhat appropriate). Even among the “non-explicit” songs, it is reported that 92% of the Top 100 songs were sexual in nature.

As I’ve said before: while cool, upbeat music may be #27 on the list of important things about a Christian meeting, it’s important nonetheless.

What’s the first thing students encounter when they come to your meeting? The music that you’re playing before the meeting.

 

So here’s a playlist I call Good Clean Fun.

Within Spotify, click “Follow” to add it to your sidebar of playlists.

Full of upbeat, fun songs that are clean and that appeal to an ethnically diverse college student audience – it’s a mix of Christian rap, dance, popular music, indie rock, and a handful of songs in Spanish. I looked up lyrics for all of them (even the Spanish songs!) and there’s no sexual stuff, cussing, no taking the Lord’s name in vain (i.e. – “oh my g__d”; I’m looking at you Taylor Swift – Shake it Off), etc.

We use this playlist at our Cru (Fort Worth) Winter Conference, Cookouts, and Weekly Meetings.

Play them in order, just hit shuffle, or drag songs over to new playlists you are making.

Would love to hear if you have upbeat, clean songs that you like that didn’t make the list!

Good Clean Fun 2018

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What’s the first thing students encounter when they come to your event? The music that you’re playing. The problem – finding good music that’s not explicit.

So here’s a Good Clean Fun Spotify playlist.

Full of upbeat, fun songs that are clean and that appeal to an ethnically diverse college student audience.

It’s a mix of Christian rap, dance, popular music, indie rock, and a handful of songs in Spanish. I double checked lyrics for all of them (even the Spanish songs!) and there’s no sexual stuff, cussing (there are some songs labeled explicit, but I assure you they are clean; sometimes whole albums are labeled explicit while individual songs are fine), no taking the Lord’s name in vain (i.e. — “oh my g__d”; I’m looking at you Taylor Swift — Shake it Off), etc.

We use this playlist at our Cru (Fort Worth) Winter Conference, Cookouts, and Weekly Meetings.

Play them in order, just hit shuffle, or drag songs over to new playlists you are making.

Within Spotify, click “Follow” to add it to your sidebar of playlists.

Would love to hear if you have upbeat, clean songs that you like that didn’t make the list!

Top Songs of 2017

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An annual tradition on my blog – My Top 100 Songs of the Year.

To further explore amazing music, here are my Top Songs from the 2010’s (click “Follow” at the top of Spotify if you want to add any of the playlists to your sidebar of playlists)

 

If you follow indie music at all, you’ll find that most “Top Songs of The Year” are trying really hard to be cool and prove their hipster-ness. My Top Songs list is Indie Music for the Masses — Indie Music that’s actually enjoyable to listen to.

 

My 3 Top Albums of 2017:

Grizzly Bear – Painted Ruins (click to play on Spotify) – beautiful, complex music. So many good songs on this album. Mandy and I had the opportunity to see them in concert this fall which was amazing.

The National – Sleep Well Beast – another great album from probably my favorite band of all time. Brooding and quiet, but moving. The lead singer co-wrote many of the songs with his wife which adds vulnerability as they wrestle with their marriage.

 

Hamilton – Original Broadway Cast Recording (OK, I know this didn’t come out in 2017, but my family fell in love with this 2 and a 1/2 hour “album” in 2017). Pretty much all we listened to all fall, culminating with a trip to Chicago to see the play this past December! This play is brilliant songwriting.

 

 

Here are my 100 favorite songs of 2017  (click to play the full list in Spotify): 

100 The Silence by Manchester Orchestra

99 Stroll On by Mutemath

98 Deflect the Light by Vessels, The Flaming Lips

97 Starlight (Goldroom Remix) by Jai Wolf, Goldroom

96 Goodbye Soleil by Phoenix

95 Cruel World by Active Child

94 Hold Me Down by Yoke Lore

93 Good Luck by The Undercover Dream Lovers

92 The Castle by The Flaming Lips

91 The Passenger by Hunter As a Horse

90 Silence by Marshmello, Khalid

89 Stars Last Me A Lifetime by Cut Copy

88 Oslo by Anna Of The North

87 This Song by RAC, Rostam

86 No Promises by San Fermin

85 Good Love by Zola Blood

84 Darling by Real Estate

83 Fleur de Lys by Phoenix

82 Only You by Yoke Lore

81 Ran by Future Islands

80 Anymore by Goldfrapp

79 Light Outside by Absofacto

78 Whiteout Conditions by The New Pornographers

77 Your Love by HAERTS

76 Cave by Future Islands

75 I Saw You Close Your Eyes by Local Natives

74 Only You by Selena Gomez

73 Change My Mind by JR JR

72 Into Waves by A Little Nothing

71 Work It on out by Haiva ru

70 Jupiter by James McAlister, Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner

69 Signal by SOHN

68 Strange or Be Forgotten by Temples

67 Hot Thoughts by Spoon

66 Proof by SOHN

65 Utopia by Austra

64 Love by Lana Del Rey

63 Die Young by Sylvan Esso

62 No One’s Here To Sleep by Naughty Boy, Bastille

61 The Only Thing by Zola Blood

60 Right Words by Cults

59 The Only Heirs by Local Natives

58 Thunder by Imagine Dragons

57 Of The Night by Bastille

56 Black Out Days – Future Islands Remix by Phantogram, Future Islands

55 Punk Drunk & Trembling by Wild Beasts

54 The Driver by Bastille

53 Sum by Loney Dear

52 I’ll Still Destroy You by The National

51 oh baby by LCD Soundsystem

50 Believer by Imagine Dragons

49 Electric Blue by Arcade Fire

48 I Don’t Know Why by Imagine Dragons

47 Fallss by Bayonne

46 I Took Your Picture by Cults

45 Goodpain by Yoke Lore

44 Cut-Out by Grizzly Bear

43 Mercury by James McAlister, Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner

42 Guilty Party by The National

41 Third of May / ÅŒdaigahara – Edit by Fleet Foxes

40 Feel It Still by Portugal. The Man

39 Nobody Else Will Be There by The National

38 Hard Liquor by SOHN

37 Spiral by Wye Oak

36 We a Famly by The Flaming Lips

35 Wasted Acres by Grizzly Bear

34 Venus by James McAlister, Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner

33 Role Model by Phoenix

32 Four Cypresses by Grizzly Bear

31 Visions of Gideon by Sufjan Stevens

30 Now & Then by Sjowgren

29 On Our Way Home by Empire of the Sun

28 Everything Now by Arcade Fire

27 Aquarian by Grizzly Bear

26 Asido by Purity Ring

25 The Moth by Manchester Orchestra

24 Day I Die by The National

23 Easy Tiger by Portugal. The Man

22 Read My Mind by Geographer

21 Deadcrush by alt-J

20 Hit Parade by Mutemath

19 Saturn by James McAlister, Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner

18 Wave Is Not the Water by Wye Oak

17 Mourning Sound by Grizzly Bear

16 Born to Beg by The National

15 Offering by Cults

14 Slip Away by Perfume Genius

13 Number One (feat. Richie Havens & Son Little) by Portugal. The Man, Richie Havens, Son Little

12 Tell Me Why by Nine Pound Shadow

11 The Gold by Manchester Orchestra

10 Abandon by Charles Fauna

9 The Alien by Manchester Orchestra

8 Neighbors by Grizzly Bear

7 Cassius, – by Fleet Foxes

6 The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness by The National

5 Rennen by SOHN

4 Losing All Sense by Grizzly Bear

3 Empire Line by The National

2 Three Rings by Grizzly Bear

1 Beige by Yoke Lore

Would love to hear – What were your favorite songs from 2017??

Winter Conference Music Playlist

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Bookmark this and save it for your next conference (or weekly meeting). It’s not easy to find good, upbeat, CLEAN music. Look at the top songs of 2016 – 1 out of the top 10 could be played at a weekly meeting. The rest are explicit.

I put together the playlists we play before and after meeting at our 2017 Cru Winter Conference.
And I thought it might save you all a lot of time to share those on here.
A couple notes:
  • We aim for 10 minutes of music while students come in (at night, we do 9 minutes followed by 1 minute of an epic “sit down song” – for the last couple of years we’ve used “Waking Up” off of the Oblivion soundtrack)
  • 5-6 minutes of music while students walk out
  • For the after meeting playlists, make sure to have a song that starts strong. It’s the signal for students to get up and leave, so you want it to start loud, not ease into it.
  • Pre-meeting night meetings, we aim for upbeat, danceable songs (hip hop and pop-py sing-along songs that people know)
  • Pre-meeting morning meetings, same thing, just a little more chill – Ride by Twenty One Pilots is a perfect morning pre-meeting song. Everyone knows it. Kind of upbeat. But not too obnoxiously upbeat.
Here’s all the songs we used in one playlist:

Here they are:
Here’s a slew of songs to use during a refection times:
And a bunch of possible songs you could use for competition games during the meeting (like, we do a mattress surfing competition, etc). I can’t vouch for all these being clean/appropriate (like Bangarang is great til he drops an F-bomb at the end):
And here’s some other good songs that we didn’t use but are appropriately clean and upbeat: