Tumblr is full of Q&A posts and quite often I am asked for my top 5 or 10 songs… so I decided to post a list here that I could share across platforms and find again later.
Here are some of the tracks I would like to have on my bomb-shelter mix tape/mp3 player/subdermal implant; these are all songs that I can listen to on repeat (and have) and most of them I sing along to as well. I didn’t really delve into the dance party tracks; I focused more on songs that tell a story.
It shouldn’t be a surprise to those who know me that the theme here is dark & twisted with a side of destruction…
1. Somebody by Depeche Mode. “… though things like this make me sick, in a case like this I’ll get away with it…” I love this one so much that I sang it a capella and posted it on YouTube.
2. Criminal Mind by Gowan “… ask one who knows me, if I’m really so bad…. I AM.” Another one from my youth that I listened to endlessly. Larry Gowan has been touring with Styx the past few years but he is an amazing pianist and performer in his own right.
3. Sympathy for the Devil by the Rolling Stones “I shouted out /Who killed the Kennedys?
/When after all / It was you and me” Is it the history references? Or the fact that it is a happy song about the Devli? I dunno but I love this song.
4. Tangled up in Blue by Bob Dylan “Then she opened up a book of poems/And handed it to me/Written by an Italian poet/From the thirteenth century/And every one of them words rang true/And glowed like burning coal/Pouring off of every page/Like it was written in my soul from me to you/Tangled up in blue” As difficult as it is to choose a favourite Dylan song, this is probably it. I come back to it all the time because of that stanza.
5. It’s All Over by Insane Clown Posse “….me, I climb the roof of my house, spread my arms out, and sing/ It’s all over, here we go, here we go… ” Honestly, I love so many ICP songs but this one appeals to my dark apocalyptic side — I always used to say that if there was a nuclear war, I’d wanna stand outside, arms spread and welcome it (I wanted no part in the aftermath) — so what better song to have on a bomb-shelter mix?
6. Experiment IV by Kate Bush “They told us all they wanted/Was a sound that could kill someone from a distance…” this song gives me goosebumps every time (and if you’ve never seen the video, please do yourself a favour — it is from the golden age of video in the 80s where everything was a mini movie).
As creepy as this song is, it is not the saddest song I know. That would be Slow Car Crash by Headphones which makes me cry every time I listen so it is NOT going on the bomb-shelter mix.
7. An Open Letter to NYC by the Beastie Boys “Dear New York I hope you’re doing well/I know a lot’s happened and you’ve been through hell” this song might not be one of their chart-toppers but it is incredibly authentic and heartfelt. It is a love letter to their city, written after 9/11, and it radiates resilience and hope.
8. Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie “Ashes to ashes, funk to funky, we know Major Tom’s a junkie/strung out in heaven’s high, hitting an all time low.” I love Space Oddity (and for that matter, Major Tom by Peter Schilling) but I appreciate this panic-attack-in-space peek-behind-the-curtain perspective.
9 The Rake’s Song by The Decemberists “What can one do when one is widower/Shamefully saddled with three little pests/All that I wanted was the freedom of a new life/So my burden I began to divest” — honestly this song is so damned dark, I adore it. The Mariner’s Revenge is what made me fall in love with the creepy-assed storytelling of this twee band but The Rake’s Song gets a lot of airplay when I need to blow off steam.
10. All These Things That I’ve Done by the Killers “I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier” — honestly I loved this song from the first I heard it but then it showed up in a drug-trip sequence lip synched by Justin Timberlake in Southland Tales (one of my favourite movies) and that is the scene that comes to mind whenever I hear it now.
Nearly made the list — the next 10:
- Under Pressure by Queen with Bowie ( I also love the Annie Lennox/Bowie version.)
- Last Friday Night (TGIF) by Katy Perry (trust me, it fits with the destruction theme)
- It’s a Sin by Pet Shop Boys (self explanatory I should think)
- Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (this is my Cold War childhood… )
- Tentacles by Rah Rah (there are trolls everywhere… )
- Woman in the Wall by the Beautiful South (creepy song is creepy)
- Spidermother by Baterz (it’s worse than I feared, it’s gone way beyond weird…)
- Blow me (one last kiss) by P!nk (I’ve had a shit day, you’ve had a shit day… )
- Enter Sandman by Metallica (Sleep with one eye open/Gripping your pillow tight)
- 99 Problems/Points of Authority by JayZ and LinkinPark (love this mashup)
I know there are many, many more that I missed but these are some of the songs that are nearly always close by (on CD, YouTube or uploaded in my phone).