2011 Musical Year In Review

I've been slacking with bringing the year end list that I never quite managed to put on paper, so let's do a stream of consciousness type run down of the music that had me dancing, crying and lip-synching... for my life!

I was into some pretty mainstream shizz this year, including Billboard's number album of the year 21 by powerhouse British soultress Adele. You couldn't escape "Rolling In The Deep" or "Someone Like You" and the latest single "Set Fire To The Rain" is probably my favorite track. Rolling Stone named called the plus-size stunner a Heartbreak Superstar but upbeat songs like "Rumour Has It" also allows that voice to expand over a slinky Soul Train beat.

Speaking of that voice, Kelly Clarkson's 2011 album Stronger had some great songs on it as well. The title track is the closest thing to dance pop Miss Independent has done, while "You Love Me" has a Tina Turner vibe that fits Kelly to a tee. Other standouts are "Honestly" and "Dark Side" - both firmly in the love-is-hard power ballad genre that Clarkson has reigned over for the last ten years.

Britney Spears also had a good year, "Hold It Against Me" was a total jam. As was Beyonce's "Countdown" - the one B jam I remember from her lackluster LP 4.

But 2011 was also the year for Disney pop tartlets to take the charts by storm. Selena Gomez & The Scene went new-wave with the dance chart smash "Love You Like A Love Song" after rocking a more subtle inspirational teen pop sound with "Who Says." Meanwhile Selena's one-time BFF Demi Levato bounced back from a battle with bipolar and eating disorders with a heartbreaking ballad recorded before a stint in rehab. "Skyscraper" sounds every bit like the cry for help it turned into, simply gorgeous with a string and piano backing a vocal that is raw and sorrowful. It is my first nominee for Song Of 2011. But not all was tears, the funky collabo with Missy Elliot and Timbaland "All Night Long" is ripe for dancefloors.

Speaking of dancefloors, Ellie Goulding lit them up with the shimmery title track of the album on every Anglophile's lips this year, Lights. Ellie is sure to follow in the footsteps of Robyn and Annie in the foreign-lass-that-has-gay-boys-dancing subgenre of pop. Another great dance track is Beth Ditto's solo single "I Wrote The Book" - replete with a video that doubles as a tribute to Madonna's "Justify My Love." Super producer David Guetta released another bloated pop-star-studded disc this year, but even among the generic pop sounds of Usher and Flo Rida comes a great dance track "Titanium" featuring the lovely Sia. It's a wall-to-wall dance track with a chorus that gets the blood pumping. But the dance song that gets my vote for Song of 2011 is Rihanna's 90s retro club banger featuring British producer Calvin Harris "We Found Love." That line in the chorus, "We found love in a hopeless place," is one of the most breathtaking moments in pop this year.

Meanwhile, saxophones took over the dancefloor and the pop charts. Dev's "In The Dark" utilized the sexy brass as a beat sample, as did Alexandra Stan's "Mr Saxobeat" - both great stripper music. More sex and more Sax can be found in Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" but skip the Missy Elliot remix. Also saxing it up was Lady Gaga's "Edge of Glory" - the best eighties power ballad since the decade ended.

I always wondering the fact I'm being pandered to should prevent me from enjoying the queer-bait music that always seem to come across my screen. But when it's silly, harmless and catchy fluff like X-Factor reject Simone Battles' "He Like Boys" I don't mind. The cutesy tale of a girl realizing her boyfriend likes boys the same way she does is fun and catchy and a little dumb, kind of like Rebecca Black's awful/awesome sandwich "Friday." Hey, don't judge. I also like Drag Racer Pandora Boxx's "Cooter" which is ten time worse, and also ten time more awesome.

Two slightly more serious gay-friendly singles also had a sway over me. Punk band Rise Against's "Make It Stop (September's Children)" is the first mainstream rock effort I know of to reference the 2010 suicides of LGBT youth. The lyrics seriously make me cry every time I hear them, especially over the bridge where lead singer Tim McIlrath recites the names and ages of the most well known bullying victims. It's unexpected and an important moment in rock music.

Lady Gaga has never been afraid to spread the word on love and acceptance of LGBT people. "Born This Way" also gets a nod for Song of 2011. It's simple, obvious message holds the power: "I'm on the right track, baby, I was born this way." Yes, she jacked the melody from "Waterfalls" and "Express Yourself." But who else has the balls (and rumored dick) to say things like "no matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgendered life" and take it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. It's a legendary move. She may not have been the first queer-friendly pop star but, by golly, she is the most visible person on the planet and she uses her fame for good. Born This Way is probably my favorite album of the year as well, I still love "Bloody Mary," "Government Hooker," "Sheisse" and "Highway Unicorn."

I also got scads of enjoyment out of Florence + The Machine's "Shake It Out", Rye Rye feat Robyn's "Never Will Be Mine" and Grace Jones' "Corporate Cannibal" which finally saw it's US release this year. From the Breaking Dawn soundtrack came the lovely ballad "A Thousand Years" by Christina "Jar Of Hearts" Perri. "Pumped Up Kicks" came out of nowhere, but the whistle-happy rock single by Foster People got me singing along about people running "faster than my bullet." Gangsta. Glee didn't inspire me to download as much this year as the past two, although Lea Michele and Diana Agron's mash up of "Unpretty" and "I Feel Pretty" was inspired, and like every gay boy I swooned over Darren Criss and The Warbler's a capella take on "Teenage Dream."

Country sounds that I was digging included the legendary Dolly Parton's single "Together You And I" and genre-hopper Kristin Chenoweth's "I Want Somebody (Bitch About)." But it was the sweet, sad sounds of romantic duets that had me putting a tear in my beer. (Yeah right, as if I'd ever drink beer. Make it a Smirnoff Green Apple.) Lady Antebellum followed up "Need You Now" with the misty eyed "Just A Kiss" - an ode to a chaste peck at the end of a date. Jason Aldean and my girl Kelly Clarkson considered a slightly more carnal end to the night with "Don't You Wanna Stay" - another contender for Song of 2011. But Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley explore what happens when sexual fireworks end and humdrum marital life replaces it in the steamy "Remind Me."

On the hip-hop tip, despite Nicki Minaj blowing me away with the bubblegum sounds of the surprise hit "Super Bass" (the final selection to battle for Song Of 2011) and Kelly Rowland sexing the place up with "Motivation" I wasn't really that excited by any rap/hip-hop jams this year.

So, what will be my pick for Song of 2011? Find out Tuesday!