Second album, second trip to the top

The year 2004 brought a lot of really good music and a lot of really bad music. But that’s OK;… The year 2004 brought a lot of really good music and a lot of really bad music. But that’s OK; it happens every year. That’s why people make top five lists and talk for months on end about what was good and what was bad about the year that has ended.

The list that follows are the albums that I feel stood out, at least in what I listened to in 2004, which, by the way, was a lot of music. You may disagree. Go ahead. That’s another reason people make lists, so that there can be similar and opposite views expressed in discussion. If we all liked the same things we wouldn’t be different, and bubble-gum pop would reign supreme. Thank god we all think differently.

5. Hawthorne Heights — The Silence in Black and White

Hawthorne Heights is one of those lesser-known screamo bands. They mix harmonies and multiple guitars and a little bit of screaming here and there to make beautiful music. Yes, I said beautiful music. What makes it so is that the lyrics are poignant and powerful, something you don’t see from many bands like this.

4. Gwen Stefani — Love. Angel. Music. Baby.

Her first attempt at a solo album, and what do you know, it was really good. During recording, Stefani faced the idea of failure — she ran into a bad case of writer’s block and felt the pressures of needing to succeed weighing down on her. She looked to Harajuku girls of Japan to be her muses. I need muses like that.

3. Ray Lamontagne — Trouble

This is the rustic singer/songwriter at its very best. Lamontagne is the backwoods version of Van Morrison. Trouble is filled with powerful songs that rest heavy on the heart and set the toe in a tapping motion. Trouble is a breath of fresh air from everything that MTV rammed down our throats in 2004.

2. Green Day — American Idiot

This is the punk-rock opera of 2004. No wait, of the past 20 years. The members of Green Day may be all grown up and have kids of their own, but that doesn’t stop them from rocking. No, it just made them more conscious of politics, violence and the way things happen to be in this messed-up world that we live in. They lay it all down for you in American Idiot, opening with the title track that slaps the Bush administration in the face. Idiot is the best they’ve done since Dookie, and may be better than what they did when they were youngsters, which is a good thing.

1. Breaking Benjamin — We Are Not Alone

The boys from Wilkes-Barre, Pa., have done it again. We Are Not Alone is their sophomore album. With no jinx in sight, they rocked record sales, and they now rock video game soundtracks like it’s their job. With a song on “Halo 2” and the new WWE wrestling game, Breaking Benjamin has gone from a baby band that no one ever heard of to a bit of a cash cow in the music scene. Two years ago, they released their debut album, Saturate. Two years ago, they topped my list of top five albums. Look where they are now.