I had a really great thing going on here, great vibes and nothing to displace the mood. Sure, we got a little rocky occasionally, but it was all heading in the right direction. That is until I had a hell of a day and the mood got dark. Really dark. So dark that Lamb Of God had to come out and dispel that aura with its pure driven metal from Virginia. Yes, I put a big cleaver in the who nice times feeling but I still have some great off-the-path acts like The KVB and Editors, legends in their own respects, like Pink Floyd and Robyn and proven hit makers in Rise Against and Cage The Elephant. So, come on, kick off your shoes and enjoy that chillness until the guillotine.
Track #1: The KVB – Always Then – Always Then (2012)
Do you know those goth kids on South Park who have those dance breaks where they just kind of sway back and forth with their bangs hanging in their faces? Well, that’s kind of what I’m starting the playlist off with this time but in the best possible way. An audio-visual driven post-punk duo originally formed in London, England, their lean into the electro sound with this song really nabbed me and it really has to stem from my love for She Wants Revenge, an American goth rock band that I think really sounds British, kind of like how The Bravery does too. I’m still new to their discography but I now really want to see them live if their music is more based around a visual story as well. Sadly, I can’t see that they’ve ever toured North America before.
“Well you ran against the grain
And there’s only you to blame
And this life takes its toll
When you’re a face that no one knows”
Track #2: Rise Against – Satellite – Endgame (2011)
Rise Against has been a favorite of mine for a really long time and will always have a place in my heart for being the first concert I brought my oldest daughter Chloe to. Hailing from Chicago, Illinois, this punk rock band has always given themes of fighting back against oppression and championing what’s right and that comes down to the conviction of lead singer and guitarist Tim McIlrath’s always poignant and powerful lyrics. This song raises the album’s message high, released as the third single, and is all about inspiring the next generation to stand up and take action against an oppressive and unjust government. Given their political views, I would say this song works as an anthem against the MAGA movement as well.
“You can’t feel the heat until you hold your hand over the flame
You have to cross the line just to remember where it lays
You won’t know your worth now, son, until you take a hit
And you won’t find the beat until you lose yourself in it”
Track #3: Robyn – Show Me Love – Robyn Is Here (1995)
Sadly, Robyn is an artist that I arrived to fandom woefully late on but my catch-up with her entire incredible discography was a quick read. Given the time of the release of this single, one of the four released off of her debut record, I definitely wasn’t listening to international pop music but thanks to my wife giving me more of an appreciation of the genre in retrospect, I have found her to be a favorite. By way of Stockholm, Sweden, Robyn is an artist who will continually show up on his list and the fact that this record was produced by mega music god Max Martin makes this connection even more fascinating.
“Show me love (Yeah, yeah), show me life (Alright)
Baby, show me what it’s all about (Me what it’s all about)
You’re the one that I ever needed (Show me love)
Show me love and what it’s all about, alright (Hey, hey, oh)
Show me love, show me life (Alright)
Baby, show me what it’s all about
You’re the one that I ever needed
Show me love and what it’s all about, alright”
Track #4: Billie Eilish – my strange addiction – WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? (2019)
You have to have a love for a song that starts out with a classic quote from The Office and this is how we knew that Billie was a mega fan of the long-running series. It’s been so endearing to see her use her stardom to have moments with each of the cast members and even guest on the Office Ladies podcast with Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer. I’ve allowed that to derail this entire section about this being a great song on the playlist but the track is pretty self-explanatory in how fantastic it is. Billie’s voice is incredible and the beats that Finneas lay underneath it is impeccable as always. There’s a real palpable reason why they left with an armload of Grammys for this record.
“Deadly fever, please don’t ever break
Be my reliever ’cause I don’t self medicate
And it burns like a gin and I like it
Put your lips on my skin and you might ignite it
Hurts, but I know how to hide it, kinda like it (Teh)”
Track #5: Editors – Papillon – In This Light And On This Evening (2009)
I feel like this song would’ve fit better on the last playlist with the inclusion of the classic Bigmouth by The Smiths but with The KVB kicking off this one, this Moseley, Birmingham, England indie rock band still very much fits the mould. The leading single off of their third record, the track feels like the definition of the term “darkwave music” as it has that “bangs swinging in your face” feel that I was talking about with Always Then but with a bigger more well-rounded sound of the four-piece band. Editors were a late development with me but they are definitely here to stay now. Expect more of their tracks to appear here.
“Darling
Just don’t put down your guns yet
If there really was a God here
He’d have raised a hand by now
Now darling
You’re born, get old and die here
Well that’s quite enough for me
We’ll find our own way home somehow”
Track #6: Tate McRae – grave – THINK LATER (2023)
Calgary’s own brand new pop star, I got hooked on this album really quickly due to Spotify suggesting it and have it playing pretty regularly now. Since the release of the record, there is definitely some Tate hate on the net that I can’t get behind, people hating on her live show. I haven’t seen it personally but she had some great performances on Jimmy Kimmel as well as an appearance at this year’s NHL All-Star game. Anyways, to go on about this banger off the record, the song is about trying to change a person to salvage a relationship and then coming to terms with the ending of it. Tate’s vocals are beautiful in it as always.
“I could never make you want me like I wanted to be wanted
I could never really change you like I thought that I could
I was tryna make us somethin’ out of nothin’, we were nothin’ at all
You can only dig the grave so deep
You can only try to save somethin’ that’s not already gone”
Track #7: Weezer – Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Weezer (Teal Album) (2019)
I don’t bring the cover songs all that often but some squeak through that are undeniable and Rivers and the gang covering a track from one of the greatest new wave acts to come out of the eighties is kind of perfect. The Teal Album is a fantastic collection of all cover songs that really show the legendary alt-rockers’ sources of inspiration and the coolest thing is they all sound really close to the original songs which shows how chameleon-like Weezer could be without us even really thinking about it. Tears For Fears is a favorite of mine so expect them to show up on the list eventually but this is a really neat conduit to present them I think.
“Welcome to your life
There’s no turning back
Even while we sleep
We will find you”
Track #8: Pink Floyd – Have A Cigar – Wish You Were Here (1975)
Time to get classic and by classic I mean a real classic with this track off of one of the greatest records of all time, made by one of the greatest bands of all time. Floyd is a band that has meant something to me since a really young age, with this record, Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wall being on the record player often as I was growing up, so I had a deep love for each track for a long time. This one, in particular, is one I absolutely love because it is essentially about selling out to the record companies, ones who only see you as dollar signs and don’t even really know your name. It is a self-proclaimed assault on the greasy side of music production and I love its swanky guitar sound. Roger Waters was really cooking with this one.
“Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar
You’re gonna go far
You’re gonna fly high
You’re never gonna die
You’re gonna make it if you try
They’re gonna love you
Well, I’ve always had a deep respect and I mean that most sincerely
The band is just fantastic
That is really what I think
Oh, by the way, which one’s Pink?”
Track #9: The Offspring – Gone Away – Ixnay On The Hombre (1997)
I find it really interesting that the first two Offspring songs on the playlist are songs that mean the most to me out of their large discography. Gotta Get Away is special for the energy and time when it came out and this track was the defining piece of this landmark release of theirs, the fourth album from the legendary Garden Grove, California punk rock band. Dexter Holland wrote the song after a near-death experience in which he was in a diner and got shot up during a gang fight. I never would have guessed that by listening to the track.
“And it feels, and it feels like
Heaven is so far away
And it feels, yeah, it feels like
The world has grown cold
Now that you’ve gone away”
Track #10: Lamb Of God – Again We Rise – Sacrament (2006)
I know, I know, I’m killing the vibe of this playlist just after midway through with some screaming thrash metal but you have to understand that I was having a bad day and really needed a pick me up. There is no better way to do that than to have Randy Blythe growl “RISE” after that singular guitar riff intro. Believe me, it is so deliciously soothing to a group of raw nerves and it brings me back to the many times I have seen them live. What a metal assault this song is, another awesome track in an arsenal of many, plus, this is another of their pointed political songs, from the era of the second Bush administration, a time that feels so long ago now.
“Blood and fire used to fill the night
Burned and drowned by our very lives
You missed a sinking boat by years
Dollar signs, crocodile tears
It’s over now and long has been
Those days are gone, won’t come again
Another name crossed off the list
The real thing would kill you quick”
Track #11: Temple Of The Dog – Say Hello 2 Heaven – Temple Of The Dog (1990)
The emotions hit very hard just moments into this song with those first chords in this tribute song to Mother Love Bone’s Andrew Wood. Now, we live in a world without the singer of this track, Chris Cornell, a hole left in rock music that is felt every day. The second single off the supergroup’s self-titled record after the massive success of Hunger Strike, this is my favorite song off the album and if the moment hits me right, I can feel the tears building which I think shows how special this song is. Music is timeless and sometimes, just for a special space in imaginative time, it can resurrect legends.
“New like a baby, and lost like a prayer
The sky was your playground, but the cold ground was your bed
Ooh, I said, poor Stargazer, she’s got no tears in her eyes
But fool like a whisper, she knows that love heals all wounds with time
Now it seem like too much love is never enough
Yeah, you better seek out another road, ’cause this one has ended abrupt, oh!”
Track #12: Marshmello and Khalid – Numb – Numb (2022)
Sometimes you just need a boppy single to get back on track mentally and Numb is one that I generally wouldn’t gravitate to but it really is so damn catchy. The second collaboration between the producer and R&B singer, it marks nearly a five-year stretch since their first hit together, “Silence”, a track that leads into Khalid’s sensibilities more, I think Numb’s style made it more destined to be a chart-topper. I also contend that any song with a whistle in its main chorus will always catch on with a mainstream audience. It’s almost scientific at this point to increase your serotonin when hearing it.
“I, I wanna get numb
And forget where I’m from
‘Cause lookin’ in your eyes
Like lookin’ at the sun
I feel like you’re the moon
I feel like I’m the one
I wanna get numb, numb, numb, numb
I, I wanna get numb
And forget where I’m from
‘Cause lookin’ in your eyes
Like lookin’ at the sun
I feel like you’re the moon
I feel like I’m the one
I wanna get numb, numb, numb, numb”
Track #13: The Black Keys – Shine A Little Light – “Let’s Rock” (2019)
When you’re looking for an old-school sounding rock band in the modern age, you really can’t go wrong with the duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, together known as Akron, Ohio’s own The Black Keys. Taking the first track off of their ninth studio album, this song sets a tone for the rest of the record and with that crunchy opening, it is the perfect sound for getting shit done, rolling on a road trip or just playing some serious air guitar. The song is about reaching out to the spirits of those who have left us to ease our times for the living. All this is done in the style that the Keys have really made their own.
“No one really knows
Where it goes from here
But we all decompose
And slowly disappear”
Track #14: Cage The Elephant – Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked – Cage The Elephant (2008)
There’s something about an outlaw-sounding storytelling song that really ropes me in and this Bowling Green, Kentucky alt-rock band has a sound that they’ve cultivated beautifully for themselves. I was shocked to discover that this was the third single released off of the record, which surprises me as this and Back Against The Wall, the fourth single released, are my favorite tracks off the album. This song was also used in the opening cutscene to the video game Borderlands which is relevant with the terrible film adaptation now playing in theaters.
“Not even fifteen minutes later I’m still walking down the street
When I saw the shadow of a man creep out out of sight
And then he swept up from behind, he put a gun up to my head
He made it clear he wasn’t looking for a fight
He said, “Give me all you’ve got, I want your money, not your life
But if you try to make a move, I won’t think twice”
I told him, “You can have my cash, but first you know I gotta ask
What made you want to live this kind of life?””
Steve Stebbing 