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Social Graffiti: Songs that will change your life
By Charles Young
George Washington High School
Music becomes a part of you; it affects you and changes your perceptions. Whether it’s an old Motown song playing on vinyl or a bubble gum pop song you heard on the radio, music is transcendent. It can fill you with the most indescribable joy, fuel rage and aggression, inspire revolutions, heal a broken heart or just plain make you want to dance.
This month, I have compiled a list of 43 of my favorite songs. Some are songs that I have loved since I was a little boy, others are new favorites. But all mean a great deal to me and have helped make me the person I am today.
1. “The Weight,” The Band
When I was growing up, my father played this record constantly. It was one of my very first exposures to real music.
2. “God Only Knows,” The Beach Boys
In my opinion, this is one of the only true love songs ever recorded. It’s so blatantly honest and open. Brian Wilson comes right out and says, “I can't always stand you, but I really need you in my life.”
3. “Strawberry Fields Forever,” The Beatles
This is John Lennon at his best. Under a swirling psychedelic landscape lies Lennon's burning angst and torment. Although his lyrics may seem cryptic, he’s bluntly honest and confessing.
4. “A Day in the Life,” The Beatles
This is my favorite song of all time. “Sgt. Pepper” was the first album that I ever bought and is still among my favorites. Lennon’s words are crystal clear and deeply meaningful.
5. “Where It's At,” Beck
Beck is the true spokesmen for our generation, a 21st century artist. He blends rock, hip-hop, techno, country and many other genres into one extremely hooky, brilliant undefinable sound.
6. “Me and the Major,” Belle and Sebastian
Belle and Sebastian represent the new wave of British indie rock. They make beautiful seminal pop music, and they make it on their own terms.
7. “Jungleland,” Bruce Springsteen
Springsteen has an uncanny knack for writing articulate, moving youth anthems. In this masterpiece off "Born to Run" he does just that, making a song that still speaks to teens 30 years later.
8. “Garageland,” The Clash
The Clash was a groundbreaking punk band, proving that punk was more then just piercings and loud guitars. The band showed that it could be intelligent and could pose a solution, as opposed to just bitching about a problem.
9. “Devil Town,” Daniel Johnston
Mentally ill singer-songwriter Daniel Johnston invites you into his naively innocent world with this low-fi, cult-rock classic.
10. “Always Crashing the Same Car,” David Bowie
This chill-out classic was made when Bowie moved to Berlin with Iggy Pop in an attempt to kick his coke habit and ended up making some of the most interesting music of his career.
11. “We Laugh Indoors,” Death Cab for Cutie
This is Ben Gibbard's teenage hipster manifesto. The fresh-faced poet, who speaks for every one under the age of 30, shows his generation’s renewal of faith in love and the joy in life.
12. “We Looked Like Giants,” Death Cab For Cutie
On “Transatlanticism,” Gibbard wears his suburban heartache on his sleeve and crafts picturesque songs of love and loss.
13. “Five to One,” The Doors
The pounding stomp of the militant 60s youth movements comes through on this song, named for the ratio of young people to old in 1968.
14. “Levon,” Elton John
This is one of my father’s favorite songs. Every time I hear it, I think of him and all the wonderful music he has introduced me to.
15. “White America,” Eminem
This is Eminem’s sneering retort to all of his critics. He raises some very interesting questions about censorship, the limits of free speech and the acceptance of rap now that it has crossed the color lines. This is Marshall Mathers having a rare mature moment, where he stops making stupid jokes just for shock value and creates a catchy caricature of the American people.
16. “Tart Tart,” The Happy Mondays
The Happy Mondays are the shinning jewel of the late 80s Manchester, England rave scene. They might not be the most talented musicians or the most skilled songwriters, but they make appealing, boisterous dance music.
17. “God,” John Lennon
In his first post-Beatles effort, Lennon lays down everything that he stands for. He says things that will offend and confront most people’s values and but does so in a melodic and harmonious manner.
18. “River,” Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell opens up her tormented soul and turns her heartbreak into a tear-jerking soulful ballad.
19. “Losing My Edge,” LCD Soundsystem
LCD Soundsystem is the brainchild of Death From Above Records founder and underground New York DJ James Murphy. Here, he namedrops everyone from Suicide and Can to the Modern Lovers and Daft Punk. He puts a brief history of alternative rock to a Brooklyn hipster dance beat and makes the most relevant thing in indie rock in 10 years.
20. “Heartbreaker,” Led Zeppelin
The 1970s powerhouse Led Zeppelin is one of the greatest bands of all time. Its fusing of bluesy 60s pop stylings and hard rock paved the road for things to come and helped plant the roots of metal, punk and alt-rock.
21. “The Boy Looked at Johnny,” The Libertines
Although his crack smoking, Kate Moss dating, photographer bashing, Babyshambles starting antics have overshadowed his musical talents lately, Pete Droughty really is an extremely talented musician. This song takes elements of punk, cabaret and noise rock and makes a hybrid bad-boy blend of old-fashioned guitar-smashing rock n’ roll.
22. “F*** and Run,” Liz Phair
With her low-fi buzz and crackle, Liz Phair makes an anthem for single girls everywhere. It’s the story of a woman who is tired of waking up in strange beds and getting her hopes up every-time she finds a guy who might be "the one." She wants to return the days of nice boyfriends and love, but she fears that this can never be achieved and that she'll spend her life alone.
23. “Satellite of Love,” Lou Reed
Lou Reed, formerly of The Velvet Underground, makes the greatest avant-garde love song of all time. His distinct vocals and songwriting dexterity create dark, charming images of love and loss.
24. “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights,” Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf's grandiose, over-the-top theatrics mixed with clever songwriting make a dead-on parody of teenage love in true rock opera style.
25. “Straight Edge,” Minor Threat
Although short lived, hardcore D.C. punk band Minor Threat's blitzkrieg song tactics influenced every punk band that would follow it. Minor Threat helped shape the Warped generation and inspired one of the most counter-intuitive punk movements ever.
26. “Roadrunner,” The Modern Lovers
The Modern Lovers are one the most underrated pre-punk bands ever. Heavily influenced by The Velvet Underground, The Modern Lovers sound is a cross between 60s bubblegum pop, The Stooges and love of the 1950s American dream. Although they themselves may not have had Top 40 success, the Modern Lovers’ influence can be heard in everyone from Gang of Four to Pavement.
27. “3rd Planet,” Modest Mouse
Despite signing to Sony Records, Modest Mouse has chiefly stuck to its indie rock roots. The band makes joyous, ponderous, layered alt-rock that takes conventional songwriting methods to new heights.
28. “All Apologies (Live),” Nirvana
I was technically born about 10 years too late to be able to say that Nirvana represents me. But its alienated, disunited songs speak to teenagers everywhere. In this stripped down, acoustic version of "All Apologies" from the "MTV Unplugged In New York" album, the band turns down the distortion and feedback and allow Kurt's beautiful songwriting to be punctuated with light string arrangements.
29. “Gloria,” Patti Smith
Patti Smith is the true poet laureate of punk rock. She creates a sensual blend of original verse and classic garage rock songs. The line "Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine" still rings true for the disenfranchised youth of America.
30. “Summer Babe (Winter Version),” Pavement
Pavement is the quintessential indie rock band. It makes music its own way, completely disregarding audience expectations. The fact that the music they want to make is completely brilliant is just a plus.
31. “Monkey Gone to Heaven,” The Pixies
Following in the footsteps of Sonic Youth, The Pixies have made a long and glorious career out of burning, longing headphone masterpieces. Their music is multi-genre, spanning from punk to pop to just unclassifiable. Out of the dark mind of Frank Black comes the defining sound of the late 80s college scene.
32. “Clark Gable,” The Postal Service
The Postal Service is Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard's side project, so named for the postal service's ability to transfer words and ideas between people (that’s how he and collaborator Jimmy Tamborello created the album). The project lets Gibbard branch out into electro pop and layers his boy-next-door voice over toe-tapping techo beats.
33. “Fight the Power,” Public Enemy
When he was looking for music for the soundtrack of his 1989 movie "Do the Right Thing," director Spike Lee came to Public Enemy and asked the band to write a song. The result was "Fight the Power" the militant, revolutionary anthem of not just African Americans but oppressed people everywhere.
34. “The Great Beyond,” R.E.M.
When I was about 10 years old, my mother bought my "The Best of R.E.M." by mistake. She thought she was buying my "The Best of R.E.O. Speedwagon," a band that she had loved when she was in high school. It was the best mistake she ever made because I instantly feel in love with R.E.M.’s warm, rich alt-pop sound and began devouring the band’s entire catalog.
35. “My Brain is Hanging Upside Down (Bonzo Goes to Bitburg),” The Ramones
On this cut from 1986's otherwise forgettable "Animal Boy," The Ramones break down their wall of sound and get harmonious with a haunting political jam.
36. “I Can't Give You Anything,” The Ramones
You probably haven't heard this song unless you're a hardcore Ramones fan; it was a B-side single buried deep in the second half of their 1977 punk classic "Rocket to Russia." But this garage rock classic is worth the digging – it takes classic 60s pop songwriting and speeds it up.
37. “So Says I,” The Shins
The Shins pull out the stops on the first single off of their second album "So Says I." James Mercer offers his thoughts on marking the world through politics, force, communism, love and riots and references Sir Thomas Moore all in the course of two and a half minutes.
38. “You've Got Everything Now,” The Smiths
The Smiths are the ultimate 80s mope rockers, blending self-searching lyrics with catchy almost danceable grooves. The Smiths speak to desperate kids everywhere.
39. “Teenage Riot,” Sonic Youth
Sonic Youth makes superb art punk. It focuses less on the screaming, tattooed, disobedient side of punk and strives to make experimental noise rock that stands the test of time.
40. “Peace Attack,” Sonic Youth
In this mellow, six-minute protest song, Sonic Youth manages to tell this Bush administration what it told the last one with "Youth against Fascism." But this time, the band turned down the reverb and found more mature ways of expressing its disgust.
41. “Black Market Baby,” Tom Waits
Tom Waits, the nightclub singer, madman and cabaret star, makes this sexy, seething, vintage-sounding song ooze sex appeal.
42. “Surf Wax America,” Weezer
Weezer makes near perfect youthful pop music. It combines Beach Boys-esque themes of girls, surf boards and cars with unique, catchy songwriting. Add in thrashing guitars and falsetto vocals and the foundation for the emo movement is laid.
43. “President,” Wyclef John
Wyclef's "President" is a scathing reggae protest jam about the changes that he would make if he were the man in charge. With screams of "Tell the children the truth -- Christopher Columbus didn't discover America" and "The radio won't play this; they call it rebel music," Wyclef writes out his mission statement about the state of the world.
44. “Sex and Dying in High Society,” X
X is definition of the late 70 punk scene in L.A.. In this song, the band ridicules the vapid, shallow world of Los Angeles, a world where people live among idiot movie stars and the idle rich who don't deserve the money that was just handed to them and feel that it gives them license to act in any manner that they see fit.
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