# 12
namkcuR
50 points
Highest placement - 4th (Joey788)
Lowest placement - 12th
LN7 Advanced Stats™:
Acousticness average - 7th
Artist popularity average - 2nd
Countries: 7
Danceability average - 11th
Energy average - 7th
Happiness average - 7th
Loudness average - 8th
Song popularity average - 3rd
Entry:
The Great Escape
It is a truism that people turn to the warm haze of nostalgia in difficult times. We are living through a difficult time now as this pandemic has forced much of society to shut down, and so it is no surprise that people are craving nostalgia. That is what my playlist(s) is about. It is divided into two parts, intentionally, and extremely, disparate in tone and duration. Part II should feel like an emotional relief after Part I.
Part I: Spring, 2020
This is the (much) shorter of the two parts. Clocking in at 50 minutes, this list is a dark, moody piece that seeks to evoke the fear, anxiety, and uncertainty associated with what is going on. The emotional spectrum here runs from the melancholic(Floyd) to the mournful(Sigur Ros) to the brooding(Ryan Adams, Tomasz Stanko) to the existentially soul-crushing(Nick Cave). With the exception of the Floyd track, all the tracks here are from 2009 and later.
I'm proud of the cohesion of mood here - it's pretty relentlessly bleak.
A couple of notes on some individual tracks...
I've never been good at making lists that offer a large amount of stuff that a lot of people would be hearing for the first time, but I do try to always have at least a few things that could be 'new' discoveries. I think the two tracks that's most likely to be true of here are the Frusciante and Stanko tracks.
Frusciante is a legend - there's a reason it was such big news in the music world when it was announced that he was rejoining RHCP. His solo work, however, is eclectic, often far removed from what he's done with RHCP, and largely unknown to a lot of people(most people, probably). This is a track called "Cinch", and the whole thing is basically a guitar solo with a synthesizer/drum machine backdrop. It is captivating, evocative, beautifully melancholic imo. He's done several tracks like this, but this was the one that fit best in terms of mood and length.
I admittedly don't know much at all about Tomasz Stanko, but this jazz piece, "Terminal 7", was used as one of the themes of the U.S. TV series "Homeland" in its earlier seasons. I liked it so much watching the show that I looked it up to find out what it was. It's stuck with me for years, and it fit this list like a glove. It's just this great, brooding, ominous jazz number.
You're probably familiar with the rest, but briefly:
Everyday Life is imo the best album Coldplay have put out, maybe since Rush Of Blood. "When I Need A Friend" closes the first part of the album, but I felt it was a fitting opener here. "Holy, holy, god defend/shield me, show me/when I need a friend". Also, I loved the segue with the wave sounds at the end going into the wave sounds at the beginning of...
Marooned is one of the highlights of the last Gilmour-led era of Pink Floyd. This is just Gilmour being Gilmour, and it's so good.
From the first time I heard it, I always thought "Varuo" was one of the most beautiful Sigur Ros tracks.
I'm bummed about what happened with Ryan Adams, but I hope we can separate art from artists. "I Just Might" is my favorite track of his. It has this stop-start, almost manic, kinetic energy to it that just builds and builds. It kind of reminds me of U2's "Exit" in the way. There aren't all that many lyrics in this list, but here they seem fitting: "Everything is broken in my mind/ain't no place to run/ain't no place to hide/don't wanna lose control/baby I just might".
I've only recently finally gotten into Nick Cave, but the whole time I was making this list, I felt like "Hollywood" would be a perfect way to end. Absolutely devastating in its atmosphere and delivery, and the lyrics are apt: "It's a long way to find/peace of mind/peace of mind"; "And I'm just waiting now, for my time to come"; "Everybody's losing someone".
1. Coldplay - "When I Need A Friend" - Everyday Life - 2019 (2:35)
2. Pink Floyd - "Marooned" - The Division Bell - 1994 (5:30)
3. John Frusciante - "Cinch" - Enclosure - 2014 (6:26)
4. Royksopp - "Coup De Grace" - The Inevitable End - 2014 (3:20)
5. Sigur Ros - "Varuo" - Valtari - 2012 (6:37)
6. Thom Yorke - "Open Again" - Suspiria(Music for the Luca Guadagnino Film) - 2018 (2:50)
7. Ryan Adams - "I Just Might" - Ryan Adams - 2014 (3:29)
8. Tomasz Stanko Quintet - "Terminal 7" - Dark Eyes - 2009 (5:30)
9. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - "Hollywood" - Ghosteen - 2019 (14:12)
Total: 50:29
Part II: Summer, The Good Old Days
So, after the heaviness of part I, we make the great escape into nostalgia.
But nostalgia can mean different things to different people, so I must define what nostalgia meant to me as I put this list together. It might simply look like a 90s list, but it's not just that. I had a very specific idea in mind. The 90s are often remembered as a peaceful, happy time, at least in the U.S. and the west. We talk about the "Clinton era optimism", the booming post-Cold War economy as the world wide web was born, the freshness of the alternative rock and other music scenes, the excitement of the big technological advances that were being made at breakneck speed, etc. It is remembered as a time of optimism, prosperity, and peace.
Now, of course the 90s weren't a perfect utopia of positivity. Of course bad stuff happened. There's no decade where bad shit didn't happen. This is the nature of nostalgia, to romanticize the good and forget about the bad.
So I've attempted to create a list that captures the spirit of that happy, optimistic, fresh, peaceful period of time that a lot of us grew up in - as its nostalgically remembered - between the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and 9/11 in 2001(with an extra year added on either side because I wanted to use certain songs) - that romanticizes said period of time, but that is also self-aware about what it is. I've bookended it with two tracks that basically spell it out.
Fastball was one of the better of all the pop-rock acts that made it big in the mid-late 90s, having big success with the singles "The Way" and "Outta My Head". This list starts with a deeper cut from the same album - "G.O.D. (Good Old Days)". The very first lyric of the song, and therefore the list, is "I've been thinking 'bout the good old days/decorated in a candy glaze", which is essentially implying memories viewed through rose-colored glasses.
On the other end, the list closes with "The Sunscreen Song", a surprise spoken-word hit from the late 90s that ends, and thus ends the list, by indirectly describing nostalgia as "a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts, and recycling it for more than it's worth".
Using these two tracks as a sort of prologue and epilogue works, I think, to place this "Part II" in the context of the larger two-part work.
In between prologue and epilogue, the edict I gave myself was that all of the songs must be musically upbeat, 'bright', warm, breezy - in order to reflect the happy, optimistic 90s of nostalgia - and with only a few exceptions, I think I did a good job adhering to that. Lyrically, some songs fit the theme, but it was more important to me that they all fit with the theme, and together, musically.
I hadn't intended it from the start, but I ended up loosely structuring this trip through this time period as one sunny day, divided into several sections as denoted by dotted lines on the tracklisting below.
Picture a warm, sunny summer day in one of the last years of this time period, sometime between 1999 and 2001. A group of, say, 21-22 year olds who are about to graduate college. They go out to spend the day together at the beach. They don't know it, but they're nearing the end of an era. Columbine happened in 1999, introducing the notion of public mass shootings into the American psyche. The dot-com bubble will soon burst. Y2K panic is rising. And on a sunny Tuesday in September 2001, an unimaginable horror will befall the country. But for now, they're just having a good time and enjoying their youth in a time of prosperity.
The first section - tracks 2-10 - represents driving down the highway to the beach on this beautiful day. You can imagine singing along to these tracks with the windows rolled down.
This is probably the most lyrically relevant section to the theme of nostalgia.
I started with "The Bends" because it's a big, warm, feel-good way to start, and yes, because "I wish it was the 60s" loosely fits.
In "In My Tree", Eddie Vedder blissfully says "Up here in my tree/newspapers meant enough to me/no more crowbars to my head/I'm trading stories with the leaves instead", drawing a picture of a temporary escape from reality, which jives here. Later, he states "Had my eyes peeled both wide open/and I got a glimpse/of my innocence". Isn't that often what we're searching for in nostalgia?
Petty's "Into The Great Wide Open" is directly about looking back on a time when "the future was wide open".
When it comes to Barenaked Ladies, I've always been partial to Steven Page fare - "Brian Wilson", "It's All Been Done", and this track "The Old Apartment", among them. Here Page belts out "Only memories/fading memories/blending into dull tableaux/I want them back(this is where we used to live)".
Next are a couple of, what you might term one-hit-wonders. Del Amitri's "Roll To Me" is a breezy earworm, and Tal Bachman's "She's So High" is belter.
Few songs sound more like a highway drive than "Learn To Fly".
I know most of you probably aren't psyched to see Lit here. Give it a chance. I haven't included any of the singles they had back then - "My Own Worst Enemy", "Ziplock", "Miserable" - but rather a deep cut from the same album called "Lovely Day". It's a sunny song with sweet harmonies in the chorus. I'm sure this wasn't the intention of the lyric, but I feel like "It's another world/but it's something more than ordinary/such a lovely day/and it's nothing more than ordinary" fits very well here, as it could easily describe the duality of nostalgia.
The section concludes with "Torn". This is one track I need to explain the inclusion of in depth. Natalie Imbruglia's version was obviously one of the biggest pop singles of the 90s, but I feel like a lot of people don't know that it was a cover. As the story goes, the LA-based band Edna Swap, led by singer-songwriter Anne Previn, wrote the song in 1993. The lyrics are Previn's, presumably based on her own experiences. They first gave the song to the Danish singer Lis Sorenson, who recorded it that year in her own language. You can find it on YT.
Edna Swap recorded it themselves for their debut self-titled album in 1995. Evidently this album didn't get a 'wide' release, as Wiki states that their follow-up album in 1997, "Wacko Magento" was their first wide-release. They re-recorded the song for that album, and that is what is included on this list. Around the same time, they had given the song to Imbruglia, apparently never thinking it would become what it became. "Torn" was supposed to be the second single from "Wacko Magento", but before that could happen, Imbruglia's version had been released and become huge, so they aborted that plan.
Like I said in part one, I've never been good at making lists with lots of new discoveries for people, but I'm hopeful this might be new for some of you. It's a very different performance from Imbruglia's. Imbruglia's version is a polished, pretty pop song with a timeless sound. This version is a pained, raw, rock song that sounds unmistakably 90s. There is something poignant, imo, about hearing it sung by the woman who wrote it, whose name hardly anyone knows. To be honest, lyrically it has nothing to do with the theme, and musically, it's not bright, but it helps the first section flow into the second section better, and I wanted to include it.
The second section - tracks 11-17 - represents arriving at the beach, swimming, surfing, kicking a ball around, whatever, just being active and having fun.
It is also, in a micro sense, an attempt to capture the energy of the alternative rock thing when it was first becoming huge, between 1988 and 1994, when it was still alternative but becoming mainstream, before the saturation started in the mid-90s. It's a bit harder-edged than the first section.
Lyrically, these tracks have little to nothing to do with any of the themes of the list - though "I love you/swim through me/good feelings/come to me" from then RHCP deep cut "The Greeting Song" does a good job of capturing the vibe I'm going for - but musically they all fit.
I didn't want to use any of the many ubiquitous Nirvana tracks, so I went with "About A Girl". Not nearly as overexposed as many of the Nevermind and In Utero tracks, but imo it's one of the best songs Cobain ever wrote, imo
I'm afraid I resorted to a bunch of obvious choices in the rest of the section though. "Cherub Rock" is an obvious SP choice, and one that others have used before, but it was too good a fit to ignore. "Kenneth" is also a perhaps too-obvious R.E.M. choice, but it fit the bill. Same for "She Don't Use Jelly", though I'm personally getting into it for the first time(Soft Bulletin/Yoshimi-era FL fan here). And same for Cannonball.
The Pixies track is from 1988, so before the Berlin Wall fell, but they were ahead of their time anyway. This functions as a good bridge into the next section.
The third section - tracks 18-23 - represents chilling later in the afternoon, sunbathing, having a drink, making conversation, enjoying the scenery, etc.
Accordingly, these tracks are mellower in nature, in some cases mildly psychedelic.
It starts with Blind Melon's musically neo-hippy-flavored "No Rain" - this sunny musical disposition overrides the fact that it is lyrically about depression - and Neutral Milk Hotel's buoyant and poetic title track of their 1998 opus. "But for now we are young/let us lay in the sun/and count every beautiful thing we can see" captures the spirit of this list as well as any lyric in it.
"Island In The Sun" is the only track here that I've used before. That was in a mini-DI though - the Best Of 2000s - so this is the first time I'm using it in a full DI. Also, it's one of two tracks here released post-90s. It was recorded in late 2000 and released in the Spring of 2001.
Sheryl Crow's "Soak Up The Sun" is even later than that, released post 9/11 in Spring 2002, but Wiki says the album was recorded in 2001-2002, so I'm willing to bet the song was at least written before 9/11. At least that's what I'm telling myself to justify its inclusion.
I admittedly don't have a very deep knowledge of Stone Temple Pilots' catalogue, but I've always thought that "Sour Girl" was one of those perfect pop songs; beautiful harmonies, warm, psychedelic, simple, catchy.
Jennifer Paige's "Crush" was her only hit. It was all over the place in 1998, but if you weren't old enough or in the right place then, it's possible you may have missed it. I always liked her sultry vocal.
The final section - tracks 24-27 - represents the early evening, and they're just partying now, dancing and drinking on the beach as the sun starts going down on this day.
I'm not a huge Madonna fan, but I've always liked "Beautiful Stranger" a lot. Its 60s pastiche makes it feel right at home on a list about nostalgia.
"Then The Morning Comes" continues the 60s pastiche theme. I know Smashmouth gets made fun of, but I think they had a small handful of genuinely fun singles. I at least only went with their third most well-known single instead of either of the two big ones that you've heard too many times. Lyrically it fits; "the end is near" because the end of the list is literally near; "then the morning comes" because this nostalgia trip is coming to an end and the "morning" of real life is coming.
"Steal My Sunshine" was 100% not in my head when I started making this list - I had not listened to it or even thought about it for probably 20 years, but I was trying to think of all the 'sunny' 90s songs I could, and it popped in my head like a long-forgotten memory. As a one-hit wonder that embodies so much of what this list is about, I couldn't resist it.
"Loaded" is an absolute classic, and I loved the idea of it being the big finale, like the soundtrack of these kids just dancing the night away. "We're gonna have a good time/we're gonna have a party".
As I said before, closing with "Everybody's Free(To Wear Sunscreen)" as an epilogue seemed apt. There's some good life advice there, the closing stanza about nostalgia ties the whole thing together nicely, and the bit about how the real problems in life are apt to be the kind that "blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday" struck a chord, because covid has blindsided all of us. The track is like a bridge back to the reality that part I of my list represented.
I have written far too much here, but I really wanted to explain myself, because I know this Part II of my list isn't going to be for everybody. Some of you are probably seeing Lit and Smashmouth and Len and rolling your eyes. I'm more concerned about the list working as a whole as opposed to everyone loving every single track.
I hope at least some of you get something from it.
1. Fastball - "G.O.D. (Good Old Days)" - All The Pain Money Can Buy - 1998 (3:31)
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2. Radiohead - "The Bends" - The Bends - 1995 (4:06)
3. Pearl Jam - "In My Tree" - No Code - 1996 (3:59)
4. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "Into The Great Wide Open" - Into The Great Wide Open - 1991 (3:43)
5. Barenaked Ladies - "The Old Apartment(Radio Remix)" - The Old Apartment Single - 1997 (3:34)
6. Del Amitri - "Roll To Me" - Twisted - 1995 (2:12)
7. Tal Bachman - "She's So High" - Tal Bachman - 1999 (3:45)
8. Foo Fighters - "Learn To Fly" - There Is Nothing Left To Lose - 1999 (3:55)
9. Lit - "Lovely Day" - A Place In The Sun - 1999 (4:07)
10. Edna Swap - "Torn" - Wacko Magneto - 1997 (3:59)
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11. Nirvana - "About A Girl" - Bleach - 1989 (2:48)
12. R.E.M. - "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" - Monster - 1994 (4:00)
13. Smashing Pumpkins - "Cherub Rock" - Siamese Dream - 1993 (4:58)
14. Flaming Lips - "She Don't Use Jelly" - Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 - 2018(originally 1993) (3:20)
15. Red Hot Chili Peppers - "The Greeting Song" - Blood Sugar Sex Magik - 1991 (3:14)
16. Breeders - "Cannonball" - Last Splash - 1993 (3:34)
17. Pixies - "Where Is My Mind" - Surfer Rosa - 1988 (3:57)
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18. Blind Melon - "No Rain" - Blind Melon - 1992 (3:37)
19. Neutral Milk Hotel - "In The Aeroplane Under The Sea" - In The Aeroplane Under The Sea - 1998 (3:22)
20. Sheryl Crow - "Soak Up The Sun" - C'Mon C'Mon - 2002 (4:52)
21. Weezer - "Island In The Sun" - The Green Album - 2001 (3:20)
22. Stone Temple Pilots - "Sour Girl" - No. 4 - 1999 (4:16)
23. Jennifer Paige - "Crush" - Jennifer Paige - 1998 (3:20)
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24. Madonna - "Beautiful Stranger" - Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me: Music from the Motion Picture - 1999 (4:22)
25. Smashmouth - "Then The Morning Comes" - Astro Lounge - 1999 (3:02)
26. L.E.N. - "Steal My Sunshine" - L.E.N. - 1999 (4:26)
27. Primal Scream - "Loaded" - Screamadelica - 1991 (7:03)
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28. Baz Luhrmann(feat. Lee Perry delivering the speech) - "Everybody's Free(To Wear Sunscreen)" AKA "The Sunscreen Song" - Everybody's Free(To Wear Sunscreen) - 1997 (5:09)
Total:1:49:31 / 109:31
Grand Total: 160:00
