Well everyone, we did it. Somehow someway we all survived yet another 365 gloriously trying days on this place we call earth. In about two more weeks, we will officially begin a brand new decade with hopes of starting something beautiful and life-changing for the human race. Until then, we’d like to take a second to look back on some of the finer things that came out of 2019 – you know, like the best album, best song, best movie, etc.
Like we’ve done in years past, we’ve completely turned our year-end best-of list over to the artists we cover on a daily basis because let’s face it, their opinions are the ones we all really care about, right?
Right.
To check out what bands like The Used, Counterparts, Periphery, Killswitch Engage, Fit For A King, Grayscale, Atreyu, Wage War, Boston Manor and more have all been obsessing over for the past year or so, be sure to see below. We hope you enjoy this final list as much as we do and wish you all the most peaceful and positive holiday season ever.
Enjoy!
Jeph Howard and Dan Whitesides - The Used
JEPH HOWARD
Best Album of 2019: Sampa the Great - The Return And Knocked Loose - A Different Shade Of Blue
Best Song of 2019: “Blow Me” - from The Used and yes I’m biased.
Best Music Video of 2019: Wendall - “The Power of Wings”
Most Underrated Album of 2019: Sampa the Great - The Return. Her vibe reminds me of my favorite era of hip hop.
Best Movie of 2019: Dr. Sleep, great book too. Must have been tough rewriting the story just enough to mix both the book The Shining and the film adaptation Kubrick made and then making a movie based on both origins.
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: The OA season 3. So unfair that never happened.
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): Epstein was an inside job and also the cat playing the cell phone ring tone 😂
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: HodgePodge Superfest 2019 Indonesia, mostly because I got to hang with a couple family friends I haven’t seen in years.
2020 New Year’s Resolution: For 2020 I want to worry less about things I have no control over.
DAN WHITESIDES
Best Album: The Knocked Loose album A Different Shade Of Blue is great and so fuckin heavy! On the other side of things, the Billie Eilish album is really good front to back. Saw her live in Salt Lake and it was pretty sick.
Best Song: Honestly, it’s “Blow Me” by my band The Used. I’m not just saying that because it’s my band. It’s a great fucking song and it has all of my favorite elements in it.
Best Music Video: Blink 182’s “Darkside.” Love the stick tricks and the dancing kids.
Most Underrated Album: All the albums I liked in 2019, I rated them pretty high.
Best Movie: Dumb and Dumber has been the best movie every year since it came out. All the kids movies that came out in 2019 were good. I see them all. I didn’t really like The Addams Family though.
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: Atypical and Fuller House and I’m not fucking with you. I laugh out loud at Fernando every time!
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): When the deaf baby hears for the first time. I almost cried but I couldn’t because I’m a man and men don’t cry. Just playin! I did tear up a weeee bit.
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: Saw Rob Zombie and damn he puts on a great show. Back To The Beach was my favorite show I played in 2019. We did a cover of Linkin Park’s “Shadow Of The Day” at that show and it started raining. People were crying. It was nuts!
2020 New Year’s Resolution: I don’t really do resolutions but I wish people could just get along despite their beliefs. Life is too short.
Misha Mansoor - Periphery
Best Album of 2019: Mordial by Carbomb
Best Song of 2019: “F it Up” by Louis Cole
Best Music Video of 2019: “Genesis” by Devin Townsend
Most Underrated Album of 2019: Forever, A Fast Life by Infinity Shred
Best Movie of 2019: Jojo Rabbit
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: Barry
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): Gamer Girl Bath Water
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019:
Attended - Deadmau5 Cube V3.
Played - Sold Out London headliner at O2 Kentish Town
2020 New Year’s Resolution: Drive more cars
Brendan Murphy - Counterparts
Best Album of 2019: Better Off - Reap What You Sow. Luke is probably the best songwriter I know personally. The album is an absolute fucking hit. I literally begged him to send me the masters before the album came out and I’ve listened to it non-stop since. Was hard to keep that album a secret.
Best Song of 2019: Gotta go with what my Spotify wrapped tells me and aside from the 1975’s discography, my most listened to song of 2019 was “Slingshot” by Better Off. The song is amazing, the lyrics rock, chorus is fucking huge. Like I said, Luke can’t write a bad song.
Best Music Video of 2019: I’ll be honest, it’s rare for me to watch any music video that doesn’t have the 1975 in it so I’m gonna go ahead and pick their video for “Frail State of Mind” because… I mean look at him, he’s so cool. If we could get away with making videos like that I might actually not dread shooting them haha.
Most Underrated Album of 2019: BETTER OFF, YET AGAIN. ARE YOU SURPRISED? I don’t understand how they aren’t the biggest band on earth.
Best Movie of 2019: Midsommar. I’m a total A24/Ari Aster fanboy and I love movies about freaky cults and this movie ticks all the boxes. It’s not as much of a “deep dive” as Hereditary, very surface level, but I mean it’s creepy and it’s shot beautifully and there’s flowers everywhere and in case you forgot I sing for Counterparts so it’s right up my fuckin alley haha.
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: Barry without question. Blake made me watch an episode when we were recording NLTL and I binged watched the show so hard I’d be up all night watching when I was supposed to be writing lyrics. Last time I was physically unable to stop watching a show was Lost, so that should say something.
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): My own twitter hun xox 😘
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: I mean it’s hard to remember our shows because not only are they all fun, I’ve usually had a few chardonnays by the time we go on stage BUT one that stands out is the last day of Private Room 2.0 in Worcester… simply because for all of “Love Me” I didn’t have to say a fucking word, the crowd did the whole damn thing. I think there’s a video where I get so stoked I start screaming “YOU’RE GOD DAMN RIGHT” and jumping. It’s fun and honestly, it’s 10 fucking words don’t make me do it by myself.
2020 New Year’s Resolution: Stop accidentally calling my teacher “mom.”
Mike D'Antonio - Killswitch Engage
Best Album of 2019: He Is Legend - White Bat
Best Song of 2019: He Is Legend - “Resister Resist Her”
Best Music Video of 2019: Death Ray Vision “Just Let It Die”
Most Underrated Album of 2019: He Is Legend - White Bat
Best Movie of 2019: Joker
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: The Mandalorian
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): Yoda/Toyota meme
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: Field Day played in Connecticut a few months back.
2020 New Year’s Resolution: Refuse the new world order
Porter McKnight - Atreyu
Best Album of 2019: Angel Du$t - Pretty Buff
Best Song of 2019: “The Dead Don’t Die” - Sturgill Simpson
Best Music Video of 2019: Rammstein - “Deutschland”
Most Underrated Album of 2019: The Act - The Devil Wears Prada
Best Movie of 2019: Midsommar
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: Watchmen
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): Paul Rudd “Look at us” on Hot Ones
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019:
Attended - Nothing More - New Orleans March 2019
Played - Mr’s Smalls Theatre - Millvale, PA
2020 New Year’s Resolution: Establish a consistent physical art practice
Ryan Kirby - Fit For A King
Best Album of 2019: Just for the purpose of nostalgia, I am going to go with Shaped by Fire by As I Lay Dying. It doesn’t re-invent the wheel but it’s just some good ole metalcore that brings me back.
Best Song of 2019: I absolutely cannot stop listening to “Masochist” by Polaris. This band is going to be huge!
Best Music Video of 2019: I feel like I have to say our own video for “When Everything Means Nothing” is the best strictly because we all almost died of hypothermia while getting sprayed by a fire hose.
Most Underrated Album of 2019: I think The Valley by Whitechapel doesn’t get talked about near as much as it should. Phil’s cleans are fantastic and they keep bringing the heavy.
Best Movie of 2019: I feel like this will be a lot of people’s favorite movie but The Joker was an absolute masterpiece.
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: This one is EASILY The Boys. It might be the most well-done superhero show OR movie ever made. Once you watch the first episode, you are sucked in.
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): This one is really tough because at this point, I don’t even know which meme is from what year. I guess I’ll go with Baby Yoda since I know that’s 2019 but with a disclaimer: There are a lot of NOT funny Baby Yoda memes out there.
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: The show in Cologne, Germany with As I Lay Dying was the biggest club show we had ever played, and at the same time, probably one of the best live performances I’ve ever seen. Amazing night.
2020 New Year’s Resolution: I want to be able to run a half marathon with my dad. It’s pretty simple but he is out here running full marathons all the time and is double my age. I feel like I need to step it up.
Valentino Arteaga - Of Mice & Men
Best Album of 2019: Gideon - Out Of Control
Best Song of 2019: Kublai Khan TX - “Self Destruct”
Best Music Video of 2019: Ghostemane - “Bonesaw”
Most Underrated Album of 2019: Ithaca - The Language of Injury
Best Movie of 2019: Yesterday
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: Cold Case Files
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): Spotify Wrapped 2019
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: Wacken Open Air Festival
2020 New Year’s Resolution: Eat less meat & make more music
Matty Mullins - Memphis May Fire
Best Album of 2019: Dermot Kennedy - Without Fear
Best Song of 2019: Papa Roach - “Feel Like Home”
Best Music Video of 2019: Asking Alexandria - “The Violence”
Most Underrated Album of 2019: He Is Legend - White Bat
Best Movie of 2019: Yesterday
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: This Is Us
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.):
@catatonicyouths IG
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: Warped Tour in Atlantic City was LEGENDARY!
2020 New Year’s Resolution: Write the best MMF record of our career
Nick Ventimiglia - Grayscale
Best Album of 2019: tryhard by The Band Camino and Fear Inoculum by Tool
Best Song of 2019: “No Age” by Rich People
Best Music Video of 2019: “Mantra” by Bring Me the Horizon was pretty wild
Most Underrated Album of 2019: Third Eye Blind - Screamer
Best Movie of 2019: Big fans of Us and The Irishman
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: Peaky Blinders and Mindhunter
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): Big fan of the Kawhi Leonard “Hey, hey, hey” memes. Really anything but that lady yelling at that fucking cat.
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: Our headliner in Philly this past October at The TLA.
2020 New Year’s Resolution: Rock harder than we did in 2019.
Cody Quistad - Wage War
Best Album of 2019: tryhard by The Band Camino
Best Song of 2019: “See Through” by The Band Camino
Best Music Video of 2019: “Resentment” by A Day To Remember
Most Underrated Album of 2019: In Darkness by Varials
Best Movie of 2019: Peanut Butter Falcon
The Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: The Office, duh
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019: The Epstein memes kill me
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: Can’t Say I Ain’t Country Tour: Florida Georgia Line, Dan + Shay, Morgan Wallen
2020 New Year’s Resolution: Write the best songs I’ve ever written, love on more people, and be healthier
Boston Manor
Best Album of 2019: Death Is A Warm Blanket by Microwave. This record is the best guitar music to come out in years. As our contemporaries, Microwave is constantly challenging and inspiring us to make better art.
Best Song of 2019: “The Brakeman Has Resigned” by Microwave. This song could not be more relevant to us, both instrumentally and lyrically. It’s just fuckin’ perfect.
Best Music Video of 2019: “DIAWB” by Microwave. You get the point.
Most Underrated Album of 2019: Foreign Language EP by Can’t Swim. Always love to see friends changing up their riff game.
Best Movie of 2019: The Irishmen. I’ve watched it like three times in the van now and can’t choose which Tony is my favourite.
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: Rick and Morty. You son of a bitch, I’m in.
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): Eric Egan from Heart Attack Man.
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: Best concert we played would have to be Download Madrid. Right off the heels of ADTR in America, the airline lost our gear so we had to cobble together a backline and ended up playing after Tool to an insane amount of people.
2020 New Year’s Resolution: Continue our world domination.
Mike Foley - Varials
Best Album of 2019: Feels Like You by Whirr
Best Song of 2019: “Nothing Left To Love” by Counterparts
Best Music Video of 2019: Tie between “Lips Like Lemonade” by Nick Prosper & “Mistakes Like Fractures” by Knocked Loose.
Most Underrated Album of 2019: Deceiver by Diiv
Best Movie of 2019: Joker
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: I Think You Should Leave
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): Kombucha girl
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: The best show I attended was definitely the Balance & Composure farewell show in NYC. RIP. Best played was definitely the Atlantic City Warped Tour date. Also RIP.
2020 New Year’s Resolution: Tour more internationally / spend as much time traveling as possible. Really hoping we make it to 3 different continents this year.
Kory Gregory - Prince Daddy & The Hyena
Best Album of 2019: Remembering The Rockets - Strange Ranger
Best Song of 2019: “Mono No Aware” - Great Grandpa
Best Music Video of 2019: “Must Be Wrong” - White Reaper
Most Underrated Album of 2019: Super Enthusiast - Macseal
Best Movie of 2019: Parasite
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: Been really enjoying Mandalorian
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): Baby Yoda forever and always. No questions asked.
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: Our record release show in NYC was really special! That’s my favorite one I played. As far as the ones I attended, this Culture Abuse/Tony Molina show I went to in Boston was pretty legendary.
2020 New Year’s Resolution: I just wanna keep writing songs that are better than the last!
Yvette Young - Covet
Best Album of 2019: The Japanese House - Good At Falling
Best Song of 2019: “Shrugging Match” - Bobbing
Best Music Video of 2019: Don Broco - “Action”
Most Underrated Album of 2019: Town Portal - Of Violence
Best Movie of 2019: Midsommar
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: I Think You Should Leave
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): Discovering bandmemes666, Chibson, catatonicyouths and allgasnobrakes on IG
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: Orlando summer headliner show at The Soundbar
2020 New Year’s Resolution: Make a dope full-length album
Carter Hardin - Chapel
Best Album of 2019: Album of the year for me is KIN by Electric Guest. Every song is a bop and the production is so clean.
Best Song of 2019: I would have to say “Friends” by CHAPEL. The band is pretty cool and the song is a slapper.
Best Music Video of 2019: “Panini” by Lil Nas X is mine. It’s the most memorable one I’ve seen this year.
Most Underrated Album of 2019: Pep Talks - Judah & The Lion. Not enough people are talking about that record.
Best Movie of 2019: MARRIAGE STORY. This movie broke me & I can’t stop thinking about it.
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: Fleabag is amazing. you need to watch it.
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): Baby Yoda memes are the best memes in the world.
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: I saw Cherub recently and they always put on the best show. This recent one was super inspiring.
2020 New Year’s Resolution: Release more music
Alex Biro - Selfish Things
Best Album: The Act by The Devil Wears Prada. Genre-defying and innovative, this was one of my favourite albums of the last decade. I’ve been a TDWP fan since Zombie EP but the growth they’ve shown on their latest release while still staying true to their roots was sonically refreshing.
Best Song: “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X. This speaks for itself. I’ve never been one to shy away from popular music, but it’s Lil Nas X’s “love everyone but fuck everyone” attitude that kind of impresses me most? He’s punk as hell. He breaks stereotypes. He pissed off 90% of the country music industry. I hope he continues to succeed.
Best Music Video: “bury a friend” by Billie Eilish. I mean, it’s been Billie’s year. We all know that. But the whole “monster under your bed” motif coupled with her wanting to not shy away from the dark side of things in a genre filled to the brim with bubblegum songs and visuals speaks to her innovation as a creative and an artist.
Most Underrated Album of 2019: Everyone I’ve Ever Loved by Valleyheart.
This came out a week and a half before 2019 but I’m including it here. “Agnosia” is one of the best songs I’ve heard in years. This band is fucking amazing. Don’t sleep on them. They deserve better than they’ve been given.
Best Movie of 2019: Peanut Butter Falcon. Shia LaBeouf is a true artist, and he’s at the peak of his game here. If you’re a fan of Garden State, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Rocket Science or any other emotionally devastating indie films, this is a movie for you.
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: The Simpsons. God bless you Disney+. I can’t even put into words how nice it is to watch all of my old favourites with my daughter. Treehouse of Horror forever.
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): Colton jumping the fence during The Bachelor. We admittedly got snowed in during the “snow cyclone” in Wyoming and binged this whole season. I’ve never been more disappointed. Still impressed by his agility, though.
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: Atlanta, GA w/ Microwave, Boston Manor and Heart Attack Man. We’ve never had that many kids over the barricade. It was one of those “wow, maybe our band isn’t totally shit” moments. We all got off stage and knew it was one to remember. I’ll never forget it.
2020 New Year’s Resolution: Learn to be happy with who I am without letting the toxicity of social media cloud my self-perception.
Ryan Donovan - Red City Radio
Best Album of 2019: Mannequin Pussy - Patience. “Who You Are” & “Drunk II” are some standout tracks on that record for me! It’s just filled with melodic anthems that have killer soft harmonies and is kind of a technically ambitious record compared to their older stuff, which I also love!
Best Song of 2019: The Menzingers - “America (You’re Freaking Me Out).” They fucking NAILED it with this track and our current climate in the US, socially/politically/economically etc. They seamlessly always write some killer tunes!
Best Music Video of 2019: PUP - “Free At Last.” No one had heard the song yet. They posted the lyrics and chord chart to the song and took all submissions of everyone’s interpretation of the song and edited that down. You just gotta watch it for yourself, IT FUCKING RULES.
Most Underrated Album of 2019: Decent Criminal - BLISS. I love this band and their tunes/sound. Small indy label release and I hope they take some more strides forward and keep growing. They rip.
Best Movie of 2019: Favorite movie I have personally seen so far this year is Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. I heard it was a lot of either “love it” or “hated it” kind of reviews but I personally thought it was a killer film.
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: Ah man, with so much time on the road touring this year for RCR binge-watching older shows was a lot of my downtime when I got back home so here are some favs: Admittedly I had never seen Breaking Bad, that has now been binged and completed. Game Of Thrones (hadn’t seen it until this Summer, I know, I know whatever). Animal Kingdom, Succession, Punisher, Jessica Jones and I Think You Should Leave.
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): I LOVE THIS MEME and I do love pizza.
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: Probably the last show of our short tour with Hot Water Music over in Cologne, Germany. It was the largest capacity venue show we have ever played as a band - that wasn’t a festival - at 4k humans, sold out! It was also extra special because Rockpalast had a 10+ human camera crew on hand and filmed the whole thing with live edits as it was streamed for anyone to tune in and watch. The edits and camera/audio/streaming quality was A+!!!
2020 New Year’s Resolution: Better self-care.
Brett Boland - Astronoid
Best
Album of 2019: HEALTH - VOL. 4 :: SLAVES OF FEAR
Best
Song of 2019: Dinosaur Pile-Up - Thrash Metal Cassette
Best Music Video of 2019: Billie Eilish - “bury a friend”
Most
Underrated Album of 2019: Nightmare Scenario - Beyond What is Real
Best
Movie of 2019: Midsommar
Most
Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: Succession
Favorite
Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): Sonic The Hedgehog Movie debacle.
Best
Concert You Attended: Final Slayer show in MA
Best Concert You Played in 2019: Exit 111
2020
New Year’s Resolution: PUT OUT MORE MUSIC
Conversation
Best Album of 2019: Copeland - Blushing. I’ve been a huge fan of this band for years and years and years; to say that they shaped my songwriting is an understatement. I was lucky enough to catch Copeland for the first time on this tour and it was a truly tectonic moment for me. Blushing was a perfect step for this band in terms of tone, emotional maturity and instrumental creativity. I was just so happy to hear every single song.
Best Song of 2019: “Make It Better” by Anderson Paak. This track just puts you in a good mood!!
Best Music Video of 2019: Our music video for “You’ve Made Yourself Perfectly Clear” where we accurately and tastefully re-created the opening scene of Wayne’s World to perfection. I know it seems like a bit of a brag to say you had the best video of the year, but truth be told, nothing else even came close.
Best Movie of 2019: Joker - I’m sure this will be a pretty common response but IT WAS INCREDIBLE!!
Most Binge-Worthy Show of 2019: Letterkenny - A hilarious show about small-town Canada. If you don’t know, now you know.
Favorite Internet Moment of 2019 (Viral Video, GIF, Meme, etc.): Jonathan Frakes Asking Questions.
Best Concert You Attended/Played in 2019: A close tie between Arkells at Scotiabank Arena and Barr Brothers at Mod Club
2020 New Year’s Resolution: To tour all of the USA and Europe for our new record. We are all so excited for the new music that we’re about to put out into the world and our undying dream is to show our live show to the entire world. SO THAT’S WHAT WE’RE DOING!!!
