This is a playlist I created on Spotify.
Not in any specific order of importance, all of these tunes are extraordinarily important to me. The reasons vary; some I won’t share on a public blog, and some that make for lovely conversations are parties.
Scar Tissue by Red Hot Chili Peppers is one of the most important songs to me. “Soft spoken with a broken jaw, step outside, but not to brawl. Autumn’s sweet, we call it fall. I’ll make it to the moon if I have to crawl. With the birds I’ll share this lonely view…” The bridge and chorus to this song are relatable on a multitude of levels- in my brain, at least. Loneliness, the value of speech, the view of the birds perched on a wire, autumn is a magical time of growth and death.. I love this song.
Constant Headache by Joyce Manor is an unsuspecting addition to this playlist. Joyce Manor is a contemporary punk band who I love. “It made me think maybe human’s not such a bad thing to be…” This reminds me of episodes in my life, and feelings that I could only properly convey through sounds and another person’s words, if that makes any sort of sense.
Dayglow Vista Road by Minus the Bear is the third song on my playlist. The title of the song alone is an appropriate introduction to any person who has never listened to the grandeur that is Minus the Bear. “Everybody’s got a high on/ Down by the old path coast” and “What’s a little bit of rain?” offer insite into my own mentality at times. At the happiest moments in my life, I would like to encapsulate my feelings into a Minus the Bear song, which are most often about alcohol, not understanding where you are at the moment, and sex.
Landslide by The Smashing Pumpkins is obviously a cover by the Pumpkins of Fleetwood Mac’s 1975 hit. Stevie Nicks of the Smashing Pumpkins has always been one of my mother’s favorite artists, and will always remind me of my mom. “Oh mirror in the sky, what is love? Can the child within my heart rise above?” These are lovely questions. I would call myself a person who likes to ask questions.
Ignorant Piece of Shit by Carissa’s Wierd – The misspelling of ‘weird’ is intentional. This song has an air of such sadness that resonates with me. I would say something I deal with on a daily basis is ignorance — ignoring it, challenging it, embracing it as a means of entertainment, excusing it, understanding it… there are a lot of things I do not know, and in fear of sounding ignorant, I am trying to learn as much as I can on a daily basis about the world I live in. “I like the way you roll your eyes right before you fall down”
Chinatown by the Reivers is one of the first songs I took an extreme liking to. The Reivers is a small band from Austin, TX.
Dreams by the Cranberries, appropriately named, for it is what I think a dream would sound like, describes a state of mind that I would like to be in at all times: nostalgic. I love the Cranberries and I love Dolores O’Riorden.
Logan to Government Center (2000 Throwaway Demo) by Brand New is special in every sense of the word. Brand New is a band from Long Island, my home. I am not particularly fond of Long Island, but I am proud to say it is also the home of the beloved band. This is a song I listened to a lot this summer.
Brick by Ben Folds Five was on a CD that my dad burned when I was very young. Do you remember “burning” CD’s? I do. I love Ben Folds, and I love Ben Folds Five. I do not especially relate to this song, because it is indeed about an abortion that his high school girlfriend experienced. As devastating as this song is, the tone is more hopeful than not. I would like to say that I am hopeful, I am sad, I am greatly looking forward to the future, and I love the words to this song – “She’s a brick and I’m drowning slowly/ Off the coast and I’m heading nowhere…”
Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers .. quite a song. Anthony Kiedis is the epitome of many things to me. These things I do not really wish to share on a public blog. I suppose one of those things is a man, at least from afar. He should probably be dead, and I believe he knows that, and I love the details he divulges in his autobiography, Scar Tissue.