April 16, 2021
Yes. I’m super late on this. This is the type of article that usually comes out in January. Or should anyway. Most peeps tend to jump the gun and put these articles out as early as November of the year they’re ranking songs from. And it’s like, “Did you even have time to really absorb the music? What about the stuff that came out in late December. But, yeah, even given that, April is ridiculous. Still, it has allowed me to consider what songs of 2020 have at least a few months of stay power. So here are my own personal Top 5.
No. 5. “What Are We Standing For?” by Bad Religion
Yeah, Bad Religion is a bunch of old white dudes. And yes, they’ve been doing the punk rock thing since 1979, long after most people should have “grown out of it.” But, they’ve been consistently doing it. For decades they’ve established themselves as “the thinking man’s punk band,” with highly intelligent lyrics that are equally deep in both the political and philosophical departments. Punk rockers have a certain stereotype of being angry, aggressive, and not-to-bright. However, the guitar player is a savvy businessman who has been running a successful independent record label since the 1980s and the singer has a PhD in evolutionary biology from Cornell.
“What Are We Standing For?” was technically recorded last year as part of 2019’s Age of Unreason album. However, this song was an out-take and left off the album, only releasing in October of 2020. Like the album whose cutting room floor it was left on, “What Are We Standing For?” is very much about current US politics. Basically, they don’t like Trump or the culture that allowed him to get elected. The song’s lyrics perfectly describe Secular Humanist philosophy and ask the listener to understand and support those who are struggling, because this life might be all we have. The song even ends with a reference to Colin Kaepernick taking a knee.
The song sounds very much like an older, classic Bad Religion song. It’s heavy, it’s fast, and the vocals are raspy and deep and use a lot of big words to express big ideas.
Best lyrics:
Find some understanding for
Those who can't hope for more
Know just what they're standing for,
Be someone who's standing for
Take a knee on the floor
Know just what you're standing for
No. 4 “Rue” by girl in red
My wife put me on to girl in red. She threw on one of her EPs when we were on a road trip. Her brand of indie-bedroom-pop reminded me almost immediately of Metric. Her soft vocal delivery reminded me of Emily Haynes. Which, far as I’m concerned, is a big compliment. It’s soft and comforting and manages to be both haunting and haunted.
girl in red, whose real name is Marie Ulven, hails from Oslo, Norway. She’s also only 22 and has been writing and producing some killer songs since she was a teenager. The instrumentation often mixes acoustic guitars and electronic music. “Rue” is a single for her upcoming album If I Could Make it Go Quiet (April 2021). It’s a good example of how a lot of her music feels musically and thematically. Also, the way the song pauses with a fake-out end before hitting hard once more at minute three is pretty damn impactful. Especially when coupled with the music video.
Lyrically a lot of her songs are about homosexuality and depression because, well, she’s a lesbian who lives with depression. “Rue” also explores a lot of these themes. Especially the depression. I would say that the general interpretation of the song is that it’s about how someone helping her through her depression is giving her the resolve to continue living after a failed suicide attempt. The suicide attempt being called to mind by the opening lines “You found me when I thought I was dying.” The resolve to get better comes from the chorus, which repeats the line, “Don’t want to make it worse/I’m gonna make it work.” However, throughout the song, there is an underlying sense of doubt. Which is always true of depression. But the fact that the outro of the song is “I tried”...tried...as in past tense? A number of other lines in the song are in the past tense. “I could never be saved.” Think about that a second. Past tense. That hits, man. That hits.
Best lyric:
I hate the way my brain is wired
Can't trust my mind, it's such a liar
Believe me when I say
I can't carry the weight
No. 3 “Ain’t Nice” by Viagra Boys
“Sweden” isn’t typically the first country that comes to mind when one thinks of punk bands. Most would probably conjure up England. I’d even argue with that. However, it’s the same country that gave us the Hives. And in the last half-decade, the famously neutral country has also bequeathed to us Viagra Boys.
Although, they have little in common with their garage-influenced fellow countrymen. Viagra Boys call to mind late-80s/early-90s post-punk bands like Jesus Lizard. A lot of that comes from the scuzzy vibes and dark humor of the lyrics. “Ain’t Nice” exemplifies everything that makes this band what it is. Vocalist Sebastian Murphy’s vocals range from deadpan to unhinged. And the bass walks along like a drunk stumbling down the street. Which is probably why that’s what most of the music video is. It’s definitely scumbag strutting music. And the sax-solo towards the end is slightly out of key in the best possible way as it jerks and squeaks through the bridge. It’s fun, it’s funny and it’s worth cranking as you do a funny little walk down the street with a bit too much swagger in your saunter. “Ain’t Nice” was released in late 2020 as a single for the 2021 album Welfare Jazz.
Best lyrics:
You ain't that nice, but you got a nice face
Hope I can fit all my shit at your place
Got a collection of vintage calculators
If you don't like it, well babe, I'll see you later
Ain't nice
It ain't nice
No 2. “Aries” by Gorillaz (ft. Peter Hook and Georgia)
I’ve always been a fan of bands that do whatever they feel like. If they feel like doing a punk song, they do a punk song. If they feel like rapping, they rap. When they want to do synth-pop, they’ll do that too. Gorlliaz has been keeping this up for twenty years. Of course, they’re cartoon characters, so it’s easy to do. Especially when a large number of your tracks are collaborations with other artists. Artists include de La Soul, Lou Reed, Snoop Dog, Elton John, and Peter Hook, just to name a few.
“Aries” features Peter Hook from Joy Division and New Order, both highly influential bands. Across his projects and collaborations, Peter Hook has developed a very unique style of playing bass guitar. It’s so unique that when you hear a Peter Hook bass line, you know it’s a Peter Hook bass line.
Hook joins Gorillaz’s frontman, “2-D” (who is actually Damon Albarn of Blur), for a song that’s melancholy in tone. Hook’s dreamlike bass work mixes well with 2-D’s sorrowful vocals. During the pandemic, Gorlliaz had been releasing a song and video roughly once per month. So, it makes sense that the song itself has a tone of loneliness, isolation, and uncertainty about the future. This is exactly what all of us were feeling when the track dropped back in April.
Best lyrics:
I'm standing on a beach in the distance
And even though you're far away, can you see my red light?
It's waiting to turn green
'Cause I feel so isolated without you
I can't play a happy tune on my own, so stay by my side
High or low tide
No. 1 : “We Live Here” by Bob Vylan
My number one song of the year is “We Live Here” by Bob Vylan. The song, like a lot of Bobby Vylan’s work, is a mix of rap and punk. He’s as much influenced by Dead Kennedys as he is by DMX. “We Live Here” leans more to the punk side of things musically but has a rap-esc rhythmic speaking when it comes to the vocals.
It’s a straight banger, with lyrics that are both deeply personal and highly political as Bobby addresses the racism that he faced growing up as well as referencing the murder of Stephen Lawernce, a hate crime that turned the UK on its head. He uses the n-word a lot in this track. But each time it’s in the context of being called one. Bobby Vylan, himself, is mixed race. His mother is white, while he is light-skinned but visibly black. Because of his appearance, he has been told to “go back to his own country” despite the fact he was born and raised in England. We didn’t appear out of thin air, he screams with rage during the chorus, we live here!
While Bob Vylan is based in England, and the song is about his experiences there, it feels equally relevant in the US. Especially with the protests for racial equality that happened in the wake of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of a cop. So, it is really appropriate that the video dropped in March of 2020, with the album following in June.
Best lyrics:
Neighbors call me n****
Told me ‘go back to my own country’
Said ‘since we arrived, things have so ugly’
But this my f****ing country
And it’s never been f***ing lovely