Me recording the guitar solo for "Kimberly Glide," the third track on my NaSoAlMo album, The Futurist. One take. I was in the zone.

Forget what I said about "I'm Not OK (I Promise)" being the best pop-punk hit of the year. It's still got drive, jokes and a great chorus but the verse lyrics are chock full of adolescent hate-you-girl-for-what-you-made-me-do-to-myself bullshit. Oversensitive AND quick to scream "Jezebel"? Like Shatner, I can't get behind that. Shout out to Sara Sherr, Caryn Ganz and Jessica Hopper for the smackdown they gave emo manchildren in Pazz'n'Jop last year (scroll 2/3rds of the way down). Christgau's Angels!

So what is my favorite pop-punk hit of the year? Yellowcard's "Ocean Avenue" places (good ol' fashioned sap, inexplicable violin coda), but "1985" by Bowling For Soup so gets the nod. Blink-182 with something to say about adults. Fountains Of Wayne without audible quotation marks. As long as ILX and the rest of the world keep providing me with examples of people who blow their adolescent pleasures out of proportion and can't find new ones (tip from a smug kiddie, folks: they're probably not on a station owned by Viacom), this song will be treasured.