The Melodic Monkey Awards: Our Top Music of 2010

Posted by: Paul Little  •  February 14, 2011 @ 12:24am

Filed under: SBM Awards

Tonight, the music industry descended on Los Angeles to hand out Grammy Awards to some of the most popular music acts of the last year. But we know what you all look forward to every Grammy weekend -- who ShowbizMonkeys.com thinks put out the best albums and songs of 2010! You won't find Bieber, Eminem, or GaGa on our lists. We may embrace some of what would be considered "popular music", but if you've followed our picks the past few years, you know that we have some different tastes here. We're not quite anti-pop like Pitchfork, but hopefully we can showcase some albums and artists that may not get their due from popular media.

So once again, we give you the Melodic Monkey Alternative Music Awards, our picks for the best music of 2010. We keep things simple, here, with only 6 categories: Single of the Year, Rock Album of the Year, Pop/Folk Album of the Year, Hip-Hop/R&B Album of the Year, Comedy Album of the Year, and of course, Overall Album of the Year. Our staff, which stretches across North America, submitted their choices for their favourites, and these are the final results. Be sure to tell us what you think of our choices in the comments below!

Album of the Year

The Finalists:

• Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
• The Black Keys – Brothers
• Hawksley Workman – Meat
• The Hold Steady – Heaven Whenever
• Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
• OK Go – Of the Blue Color of the Sky
• The Roots – How I Got Over
• Sarah Bareilles – Kaleidoscope Heart
• Sarah Slean – Beauty Lives (B Sides)
• Vampire Weekend – Contra

The Winner:

• Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

Single of the Year

The Finalists:

• B.o.B ft. Hayley Williams – "Airplanes"
• The Black Keys – "Everlasting Light"
• Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers – "Prairie Dog Town"
• Hawksley Workman – "Devastating"
• Ingrid Michaelson – "Parachute"
• John Legend & The Roots – "Shine"
• Kanye West – "Runaway"
• Snoop Dogg & Katy Perry – "California Gurls"

The Winner:

• Ingrid Michaelson – "Parachute"

Rock/Alternative Album of the Year

The Finalists:

• Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
• The Black Keys – Brothers
• The Decemberists – The King is Dead
• Hawksley Workman – Meat
• The Hold Steady – Heaven Whenever
• Iron Maiden – The Final Frontier
• Kings of Leon – Come Around Sundown
• Vampire Weekend – Contra

The Winner:

• Arcade Fire – The Suburbs

Pop/Folk Album of the Year

The Finalists:

• Joshua Radin – The Rock and the Tide
• Kate Nash – My Best Friend is You
• Katy Perry – Teenage Dream
• Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More
• Robyn – Body Talk
• Royal Wood – The Waiting
• Sara Bareilles – Kaleidoscope Heart
• Sarah Slean – Beauty Lives (B Sides)

The Winner:

• Sara Bareilles – Kaleidoscope Heart

Hip-Hop/R&B Album of the Year

The Finalists:

• B.o.B – B.o.B Presents: The Adventures of Bobby Ray
• Cee-Lo Green – The Lady Killer
• Janelle Monae – The ArchAndroid
• John Legend & The Roots – Wake Up!
• Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
• The Roots – How I Got Over
• Shad – TSOL
• Usher – Raymond vs. Raymond

The Winner:

• The Roots – How I Got Over

Comedy Album of the Year

The Finalists:

• Anthony Jeselnik – Shakespeare
• Aziz Ansari – Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening
• Hannibal Buress – My Name is Hannibal
• Myq Kaplan – Vegan Mind Meld
• Shane Mauss – Jokes to Make My Parents Proud

The Winner:

• Myq Kaplan – Vegan Mind Meld

Tags: Arcade Fire, Ingrid Michaelson, The Roots, Sara Bareilles, Myq Kaplan, Kanye West, Sarah Slean, Hawksley Workman, lists, awards

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Paul Little is the founder and Managing Editor of ShowbizMonkeys.com. When not interviewing his favourite musicians and comedians, he can also be found putting on and promoting music and comedy events with The Purple Room in Winnipeg, or co-producing the live comedy game shows Pants on Fire and The Great Patio Showdown. (@comedygeek)

Original Comments Posted (1)

Hutch says...

not enough Electric Six!!!

Feb 14, 2011 4:11am

Comments Posted ()