Get ready for a weird but largely heavy ride of fourteen songs as metal definitely won out above all but I still manage to squeeze in the greatest of all time with The Beatles, a childhood melodic treat in the Wilson sisters and a deep crush that I had from the nineties. Yes, this might be one of the odder mosh pits of track groupings but I was obviously in need of some energy here.
Track #1: Miike Snow – Genghis Khan – iii (2016)
Trying to start off this playlist with something mellow and maybe a little bit boppy and this song from this Stolkholm, Sweden indie pop band. Known largely for their bigger hit Animal, I found myself digging into their discography after getting into the Klaxxons, Bloc Party and We Are Scientist and this group really had so many great track to add to my liked songs. Plus, any song that has a singable piece with no real lyrics is a winner to me.
“I know there’s no form
And no labels to put on
To this thing we keep
And dip into when we need
And I don’t have the right
To ask where you go at night
But the waves hit my head
To think someone’s in your bed”
Track #2: Anthrax – I’m Alive – Worship Music (2011)
Anthrax is an interesting band to me as I’ve seen them so many times in concert, always killing it live, but they aren’t one of my regularly listened-to bands day to day. That said, anytime they come on I’m never skipping it and when this song popped up, I knew I wanted to add it to the list. Hammered into my brain by playing NHL ‘12 for hours on end, this song is a great crunchy metal song with a solo from Scott Ian that just flies on the wings of a metal god. Yeah, it’s a damn cool song.
“I’m alive to be the demon
I’m alive to be the one
Yeah-eah-eah-eah
Hell, it lives in everyone”
Track #3: Arcade Fire – Ready To Start – The Suburbs (2010)
The Suburbs was the real beginning of my love for Arcade Fire but this was the kick-off to their superstardom I think, much to the chagrin of the fans who had already been listening to Funeral and Neon Bible religiously. Thanks to this album and, firstly this song, I was able to go back and fall in love with those records too. There is a triumphant shaking off of the shackles to this song that I really like and the kind of themes that reoccur in Arcade Fire’s work.
“Now I’m ready to start
I would rather be wrong
Than live in the shadows of your song
My mind is open wide
And now I’m ready to start
And now I’m ready to start
My mind is open wide
And now I’m ready to start
Not sure you’ll open the door
To step out into the dark
Now I’m ready”
Track #4: Mastodon – Steambreather – Emperor Of Sand (2017)
I’ve been a big Mastodon guy ever since I saw the video for March Of The Fire Ants on MuchMusic’s Loud. I had a cherished hoodie from their Crack The Skye merch and every record brought new greatness. Another concept-guided journey, this album might be one of my favorites as it is pretty much a record with no skippable tracks on it. With the grinding fade into a dark guitar-driven opening, this song gets into your bones before melting the world away with a killer solo. The music video for this kicks ass as well and is totally metal to the core.
“I wonder who I am
Reflections offer nothing
I wonder where I stand
I’m afraid of myself”
Track #5: The Beatles – You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away – Help! (1965)
The Beatles are an unreachable and unattainable level of regard to me and my family, so much so that it’s hard to pick which of their songs that I wanted to share first but there’s something about this John and Paul written song that gets me. I loved Eddie Vedder’s cover of it simply because the composition of it is so good that it is really transitional to artists and their versions are just as great. I also really love that essentially this is a Bob Dylan song, written by the greatest band of all time.
“Here I stand head in hand
Turn my face to the wall
If she’s gone, I can’t go on
Feeling two-foot small
Everywhere people stare
Each and every day
I can see them laugh at me
And I hear them say
Hey, you’ve got to hide your love away
Hey, you’ve got to hide your love away”
Track #6: Default – Live A Lie – The Fallout (2001)
Another Canadian band arrives on the playlist but this time the band is from my home province, British Columbia. I’ve loved this Vancouver four-piece since their weeks during the Fox Seeds competition put on by the city rock station 99.3 The Fox, a band that is entwined in the memories of a certain time in my life. This is also my favorite song off of this record and you can tell how well Dallas Smith would eventually fit into the country genre within his first lyrics.
“I can’t seem to find out what I feel
Burned out dreams of others which I can’t steal
Take or leave this way I seem to you, it eats right through you
Ripped up parts of things I should do
I’ll run around and tell you screaming”
Track #7: Serj Tankian – Empty Walls – Elect The Dead (2007)
System Of A Down is an all-time favorite of mine so it was a given that I would love the side projects of both Serj Tankian and Daron Malkian but Serj is the one that has felt most like a direct extension of that same message. Serj’s lyrics are always powerful and it’s songs like this debut single of his debut solo record that stand the test of time. His messages are always pointed and he never pulls any punches and this song sets up that continued truth as well as a fantastic record.
“Don’t you see their bodies burning
Desolate and full of yearning
Dying of anticipation
Choking from intoxication?
Don’t you see their bodies burning
Desolate and full of yearning
Dying of anticipation
Choking from intoxication?”
Track #8: No Doubt – Happy Now? – Tragic Kingdom (1995)
Tragic Kingdom was a huge part of the soundtrack of the mid-nineties for me and I swear it didn’t just stem from my massive crush on Gwen Stefani. The reality is that together as, at the time, a five-piece, each of them is so individually talented and tight as musicians and this track showcases that. Side note, Gwen’s vocals are so fantastic on this album, especially this song, so one of a kind.
“The contemplator all those years
Now you must adhere to your new career
Of liberation, you’ve been cast
All by yourself, you’re free at last”
Track #9: Heart – Crazy On You – Dreamboat Annie (1975)
This classic track brings me back to a young Steve, probably five six years old, listening to the tapes in his mom’s car. These incredible songbirds with crashing guitar sounds hooked me at a young age and sent me on my path of loving rock and roll. This song is a perfect mid-seventies rock staple, starting with the incredible into. Brilliant and a piece of Vancouver’s influence on music history as well.
“Wild man’s world is crying in pain
What you gonna do when everybody’s insane?
So afraid of one who’s so afraid of you
What you gonna do?”
Track #10: Chimaira – Pure Hatred – The Impossibility Of Reason (2003)
This is probably the biggest adrenaline boost I have put on any of the playlists and it probably seems jarring but just know that I think this song does exactly what it is intended to do, jack you the hell up! Andols Herrick is on the list of my favorite metal drummers of all time and this song has a brilliant lead in him a good building riff and then we fly into the song with a searing scream from Mark Hunter. This track brings me back to seeing them live at the Commodore (I think), a great early 2000s concert memory.
“I have told you things need to change
You never listened or came to my aid
The vicious cycle has not changed
My time’s spent rearranged”
Track #11: Soilwork – Mercury Shadow – Natural Born Chaos (2002)
Natural Born Chaos is an album that brings me back to the days of burnt CDs and hastily scrawled labels.Best believe that this was an album I listened to until it skipped as I was hooked by the Helsingborg, Sweden band’s raspy to melodic to operatic vocal drive and fiery guitars. This, along with In Flames, got me into the Scandanavian sound in metal and this song is relevant recently as they released the Swedish language version of it in December.
“When there comes a time
With a feast on what used to be mine
Sent from the front to the back
All in numbers and hellish black
When there comes a time
With a feast on what used to be mine
Sent from the front to the back
All in numbers and hellish black”
Track #12: I Prevail – Visceral – True Power (2022)
Damn, this playlist is heavy! And it features the Beatles, whaaa? Yes, after two blistering metal tracks lets shift to the subgenre of post hardcore, which I brought on the last list with Bring Me The Horizon. This Southfield, Michigan really got onto my radar with their record Trauma but this track, that wasn’t chosen among the six singles that were released. Sitting as the penultimate song on the album, it might be my favorite.
“Are you afraid of the dark?
It’s coming straight for your heart
Do you know if you exist or it’s all in your mind?
If you wanna find out, look death in the eye
So take it back (Take it back) to the start
Are you afraid (Are you afraid) of who you are?
Do you know if you exist or you’re barely alive?
If you wanna find out, look death in the eyes
And say, “I am visceral””
Track #13: The Heavy – How You Like Me Now – The House That Dirt Built (2009)
If it wasn’t for me getting really into the Cinemax series Strike Back when the first season hit in 2010 I wouldn’t know of this Bath, Somerset rock band. They have a sound that is immediately contagious with big moments and a bad ass style that struts it’s stuff with this track in particular. This is a definite shift in pace here but it’s still just as bad ass.
“Now there was a time
When you loved me so
I couldn’t do wrong
Now you need to know
See, I been a bad, bad, bad, bad man
And I’m in deep
Yeah
I found a brand new love for this man
And can’t wait ’til you see
I can’t wait”
Track #14: Silverchair – Madman – Frogstomp (1995)
Closing this playlist out with something heavy as that seems to be the theme in the back end here but this is also a first as it is the only instrumental track I’ve brought up so far. A killer three piece from Newcastle, Australia, Daniel Johns and his crew were a huge obsession of mine when their debut album came out in 1995 and I listened to that disc until it was hot. I remember thrashing around to this song so much, a precursor to my moshpit years. This was my beginning grounds here.
“Madman”
Steve Stebbing 