Our 16 Most 2016 Stories of 2016

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

So yeah, 2016 was really something, eh?

I know most people are ready for this year to end, what with all the celebrity deaths, political vitriol and whatnot, but there were some good things to come out of 2016!

The Cubs won the World Series and the Cavs won the NBA Finals, remember? I member.

Also, SuiteSports.com enjoyed its greatest year ever, though admittedly that came partly because ESPN Boston stopped covering high school sports, which was bad news for pretty much everybody involved with our site, and local high school sports.

Yep, 2016 was a mixed bag, so I'm not gonna give you a best/worst list of stories, I'm just going to give you the 16 stories we did that were quintessentially 2016.

Carrie Fisher Taught us To Never Apologize for Being Ourselves

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

There is no way around it: 2016 was a kick in the gut for American pop culture.

Still, despite the passing of numerous legends of sport, film and music, none hit home harder with me than yesterday's news of Carrie Fisher's death of a heart attack at the age of 60.

Like most, I was introduced to Fisher as the iconic Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, and I don't think there's any question that Fisher's portrayal of the galaxy's most beloved princess changed American cinema and pop culture forever.

With a blaster at her side and no time to waste, Fisher turned the clichéd "damsel in distress" trope on its head, refusing to be captured without a fight, mouthing off to the most feared baddies in the galaxy, and seizing control of the situation when her would-be rescuers ran out of ideas.

Of course, Fisher was much more than just Princess Leia. She was an ally for those dealing with mental health issues, as she openly discussed her battle with bipolar disorder, and urged people dealing with mental illness to seek help, rather than live in shame and self-medicate.

She did much of the same for those dealing with addiction, as she was never one to shy away from discussing her battles with drugs and alcohol. Above all, Fisher was unapologetically herself, and encouraged us to be the same.

The Over Thought Podcast: Breaking Down The 100 Greatest Songs of the Modern Era

The gang returns from hiatus to discuss SuiteSports.com's list of The 100 Greatest Songs of the Modern Era.

Contributor Andy Dougherty, who compiled the list, joined editors Joe Parello and Jeremy Conlin, along with their buddy Joe Blake, to break down the list, and discuss the future of music in general.

To see the complete list, click here, and check out the podcast below.

Ed. Note and Fact Check: At 22:25 of the podcast, Joe Parello asserts that "Jock Rock" came out before "Jock Jams," and Joe Blake claimed he was mistaken. Well the joke's on you, Joe Blake, because "Jock Rock" came out in 1994 and "Jock Jams" came out in 1995.

Oh, and we chose "Hotel California" as the image for this article solely because Jeremy hates it. Enjoy!

10 Other Speeches Melania Trump Should Have Plagiarized

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

Last night, Melania Trump brazenly plagiarized may have stolen some lines from Michelle Obama's 2008 Democratic National Convention speech, but why stop there?

Check out our video of 10 other speeches Melania should have plagiarized below.

The 100 Greatest Songs of the Modern Era: The Top-20

By Andy Dougherty (@AndyDougherty10)

Ed. Note- We continue our look at the 100 Greatest Songs of the Modern Era with the final installment of our five-part series.

For Part One and Andy's methodology, click here.

For Part Two, click here.

For Part Three, click here.

For Part Four, click here.

20. London Calling by The Clash, 1979

“Without warning, the drums and guitars hit in unison, opening the song and the album with a heavy hammering groove. It’s like an inverted reggae song -- downbeat chords instead of upstrokes -- though Simonon’s spare bass boom gives it a slight dub feel. From there, it’s all Armageddon prophesying and unwillingness to lay down and die,” said Billboard. Pitchfork described the song as “the record’s cosmic lynchpin: Horrifyingly apocalyptic, ‘London Calling’ is riddled with weird werewolf howls and big, prophetic hollers, Mick Jones’ punchy guitar bursts tapping little nails into our skulls, pushing hard for total lunacy. Empowered and unafraid, [Joe] Strummer reveals self-skewering prophecies, panting hard about nuclear errors and impending ice ages.

He also spitefully lodges some of the most unpleasantly convincing calls to arms ever committed to tape.” PopMatters said, “No time before or since has Joe Strummer been more pointed lyrically, or more vocally persuasive, more rebellious in his individualism, howling as it were because he really meant it; a sincerity that makes his shout, “forget it brother, and go it alone," sound like the easiest solution to being let down and left out by the masses…topping it would be impossible.”

The 100 Greatest Songs of the Modern Era: 40-21

By Andy Dougherty (@AndyDougherty10)

Ed. Note- We continue our look at the 100 Greatest Songs of the Modern Era with Part Four of our five-part series.

For Part One and Andy's methodology, click here.

For Part Two, click here.

For Part Three, click here.

Continue reading for Part Four.

The 100 Greatest Songs of the Modern Era: 60-41

By Andy Dougherty (@AndyDougherty10)

Ed. Note- We continue our look at the 100 Greatest Songs of the Modern Era with Part Three of our five-part series.

For Part One and Andy's methodology, click here.

For Part Two, click here.

The 100 Greatest Songs of the Modern Era: 100-81

 By Andy Dougherty (@AndyDougherty10)

Ed. Note: This is the first in a series of pieces by correspondent Andy Dougherty, who has compiled numerous critical lists and rankings with the hope of creating a definitive list of the Top-100 songs of the modern era. Think of this as the Rotten Tomatoes of music, and check back each day this week as the countdown continues.

Over the past few years, I have taken opinions from countless sources and aggregated 60 lists of the greatest songs of all-time, with the purpose of arriving as close as I could to one definitive list of outstanding, important, classic songs.

I have always been a huge fan of rock and pop music with a broad range of tastes. Plenty of websites have great music recommendations, but each of them is biased in its own way. Some insist that all of today’s music is garbage while others are completely ignorant of the past. Some are too US-centric; others are too UK-centric. Many show expertise in one or two genres while overlooking everything else.

I studied music in college, and most of my classmates focused on classical or avant-garde music. But I wanted to study rock and pop music seriously. To help with that goal, I wanted to find a source that factored in as many of these biases and differences in opinions as possible to create a diverse list of fantastic songs to recommend.

I found many sites that tried (besteveralbums.com, vinylsurrender.com, acclaimedmusic.net, to name a few). Acclaimed Music is the most comprehensive music website I have come across. I love the site, and it has helped me discover thousands of great songs, but I found some of its rankings hard to accept: ‘Yesterday’ outside the top 100? ‘Piano Man’ outside the top 1000? ‘See Emily Play’ as the only Pink Floyd song in the top 300 at No. 194?

Unsatisfied with what the Internet had to offer, I decided to try to emulate Acclaimed Music’s mission with my own methodology.

The Oscar Should Go To

Just because they take home an Oscar doesn't mean they deserved it.

By Jeremy Conlin (@jeremy_conlin)

I watch a lot of movies. Too many, probably. In the Academy Award categories that anybody cares about (i.e. excluding documentaries, short films, and foreign language films), there are a total of 30 different nominated films. I've seen 28 of them. I feel like this makes me qualified to discuss the merits of these films. And considering the average age of the Academy voters is 62 (no, I'm serious, that's a real thing - 86% of the Academy is over the age of 50), I feel like I can offer a different perspective. Here are my thoughts on each of the relevant categories.

Forgot About that $#!+ Friday: VH1 Reality Shows

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

Way back in 2004, VH1 picked up a borderline unwatchable reality show that would change television for the next half-decade.

The Surreal Life was a celebrity infused rip off of The Real World and Big Brother, and featured minor celebrities like Flavor Flav, Brigitte Nelson, Ron Jeremy, Vanilla Ice and Da Brat. While the first two seasons aired on the WB, the show really picked up steam when it moved to VH1 for season three.

That season would spawn 14 spinoffs. While My Fair Brady, a show about TV's Peter Brady (Christopher Knight) dating some model, was terrible, Strange Love, starring Flav and Nelson, launched a cash cow that didn't go dry until a murder-suicide in 2009: Celebreality.

Forgot About that $#!+ Friday: Throwin' Bows Like Johnny Cage

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

Crime Mob's instant classic "Knuck if You Buck" may be the most misunderstood rap song of all time.

Well, at least it was to me, until I decided to look it up on Urban Dictionary.

You see, I've had this song all wrong since my friends and I made a 3 am trip to Steak 'n Shake when I was a junior in high school. We were talking about the song and asking just what the hell it meant. Our waiter came up and explained:

Forgot About that $#!+ Friday: Fab at His Best

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

I've always thought that Fabolous was one of the more underrated rappers of my high school days, and YouTube user Thevaughn21 agrees with me.

In a comment underneath my favorite Fabolous song, and Fruitvale Station commercial jam, "Breathe," Thevaughn21 writes simply that "this n***a gets way less credit than he deserves."

Tru dat.

Forgot About that $#!+ Friday: Madden Goes Gangsta

Not pictured: Virtual TO planting the ball on the star in the middle of the virtual field.

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

The Madden Football franchise from EA Sports had been trying to successfully incorporate this new "hip hop" thing all the kids were listening to for a few years by the time 2001 rolled around. EA had shelled out money on the hottest rappers of the moment to come up with the perfect Madden Rap.

Madden 2000 (released in 1999) featured a pretty terrible Ludacris track, while Madden 2001 (released in 2000) featured a marginally better effort from Xzibit.

Forgot About that $#!+ Friday: Every Other Juvenile Song

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

Everybody remembers Juvenile's breakthrough hit "Back that Azz Up."

The ode to ass shaking reached No. 15 on the Billboard 100, practically started the "twerk song" movement, introduced the mainstream to Lil Wayne, helped his album 400 Degreez reach 4x Platinum, and paved the way for The Big Tymers to become stars.

But what most people don't remember is that Juvenile had several other hits, including a No. 1 single back in 2003. The reason you don't remember them: They were pretty much all terrible.

So, let's take a look back at some of Juve The Great's other hits.

Forgot About that $#!+ Friday: A Milf Anthem

She's got it goin' on...

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

The Milf phenomenon sure has come a long way since American Pie brought the term to the mainstream back in 1999.

For those of you that don't know, Milf is an acronym for "mother I would like to... make the sexy time with." Oddly enough, the term Dilf hasn't really taken off for father's. It's weird, and almost as though the thought of a man being attractive after he turns 30 is somehow not considered crazy in our culture.

Forgot About that $#!+ Friday: Feeling Stupid

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

This Friday I would like to remind you that we all feel stupid sometimes.

That was basically the premise of Matchbox 20's hit single "Mad Season," off the album of the same name back in 2000. We've all been there, from your first days in high school, to freshman year of college to your first job… You just feel like such a dumbass and you need someone to help you figure things out.

Forgot About that $#!+ Friday: A Subtle Suicide Note

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

Back in 1999, there were plenty of reasons to want to kill yourself.

There was the Y2K scare, Columbine High School shooting, Monica Lewinsky's cringe-worthy sit-down with Barbara Walters, Wild Wild West (Both the movie and song), Cher's "Believe" topping the charts,  and Bret Hart getting his brains kicked out by Goldberg.

Yeezus, How Did We Get Here?!?!

Credit: RapGenius.com                                                                                        

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

I recently wrote a review of Fast and Furious 6 where I wondered just how on the Earth the franchise had advanced from the first film about cars and the racing subculture of LA, all the way to the international heist/anti-terrorism summer blockbuster the latest installment was.

Yeezus, the latest album from polarizing artist, lyrical genius voice of a generation, and gay fish Kanye West has the same feel. If you listen to his first studio album The College Dropout, a masterpiece from early 2004, then turn Yeezus on, you'd be hard pressed to find many similarities.

Forgot About that $#!+ Friday: That Song You Don't Remember Partying To

His other singles include such classics as "I Like That" and "Pop That Booty."

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

Welcome to our first edition of"Forgot About that $#!+ Friday," a new weekly segment on Suite Sports that will remind you about something awesome you've probably long since forgotten.

The Fastest and the Furious-est

Not pictured: The 10-inch footstool Vin Diesel is standing on.

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

The original Fast and the Furious changed my life when it came out in 2001.

Ok, that may be overstating the impact of the under-the-radar hit that made tuning cars mainstream, but it was easily one of the most influential movies of my high school life. All my friends wanted to add "skirts" and "neons" to our cars (We were losers), and, of course, each of us "lived our life a quarter-mile at a time."

Though I know my fiancee and I should choose a fuel-efficient family car for our next vehicle, I would still give up a big toe to own Bryan O'Conner's orange twin-turbo Toyota Supra or Dom Torreto's red RX-7. That was the beauty of the first F&F movie, it was simple. Bad-ass cars racing each other, and a few minor heist scenes you didn't really have to care about. They were stealing stereos and running from Johnny Tran's gang, but the focus was on the cars.