Because no good story ever started with ‘I was having a glass of milk…’, featuring artists like: Oasis, Bessie Smith, G. Love And Special Sauce, The Blasters, Monty Python, Inxs, Chumbawumba, Kendrick Lamar
Tracks that touch the darkness so you don’t have to – featuring artists like Slipknot • Eels • Rose Gray • Basement Jaxx • Crystal Castles • Eric Whiteacre • Opeth • Frightened Rabbit • Pearl Jam • Chris Cornell
Hate Country music? Of course you do. You’ve come to the right place – featuring artists like Paul Cauthen • Lyle Lovett • Willie Nelson • Sturgill Simpson • Hank Williams Jr. • Johnny Cash • Jesse Dayton • Merle Haggard
I’m all too familiar with the effects of becoming dependent upon drugs and alcohol – I don’t wish that on anyone – let alone myself – but in the immortal words of Irvine Welsh:
“People think it’s all about misery and desperation and death and all that shite, which is not to be ignored, but what they forget is the pleasure of it…
God I love the story tellers.
The lyricists who construct a reality you can step into, to experience it as if you were there – as if you knew the characters – who do it so seamlessly that – even if it is by proxy – you get to feel the emotions for real.
That’s the point of this list – it’s designed to make you feel – to connect with the emotions that we’re oh so good at keeping hidden, buried under guilt and social conditioning. Because when we don’t deal with those emotions – well – that’s when the bad shit happens…
Who’s up for an alcohol induced ascent above the madness? And I’m not talking about some upbeat energetic overview where you’re in a balloon or an airplane and you’re feeling great about it all – no – I’m talking about a loose edged experience, laid back and fuzzy, where ‘cos you can’t see the ground, you don’t have to worry about it…
Ever found yourself singing along to a lyric that in retrospect makes no sense at all – but at the time – couldn’t have been any more perfect? And I don’t mean just singing – I mean throwing your head back and wailing like a drunken banshee as you attempt to expel the pit of grief from your stomach…
Yes! I thought you might have – me too – if so – you’ll probably dig this track…
Time ticks by, the world changes, people change, culture changes and yet – somethings don’t.
The ebb and flow of joy and grief – both experienced in contrast to the other – is a constant that the human condition will never escape. Right now joy’s in short supply and grief seems to be dominating the planet – but if history tells us anything – it’s that this too shall pass…