#i mean TECHNICALLY it is one of the bob playlists so it goes in the mm shit tag

[theartistknownaslymond]

And if you’d like any more (no pressure) maybe young-Philippa folk playlist?

LOVED making this, in fact I kind of made two playlists again, whoops, one for when you just want about an hour of folky bops, one for when you have more like 100 minutes to spare...

Every Cell Charged with Stark Common Sense

A playlist for growing up wild in Northumbria and being ready to absolutely wreck any mercenary rock stars who show up to threaten your parents

Steeleye Span - False Knight on the Road

Ivor Cutler Trio - Good Morning! How Are You? Shut Up!

Kathryn Tickell - Ronell's Reel/Bob Thompson's

Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick - Byker Hill

Jean-François Dutertre - Le tueur de femmes

Steeleye Span - Twa Corbies

Lal & Norma Waterson - The Pretty Drummer Boy

Fairport Convention - Come All Ye

Anne Briggs - Living by the Water

Kathryn Tickell - Da Slickit Light

Vin Garbutt - The Legend of Roseberry

Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick - Sovay

Nic Jones - Billy Don't You Weep for Me

Steeleye Span - The Blackleg Miner

Spriguns of Tolgus - The Lambton Worm

Kate Bush - Violin

Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Shipbuilding

Kathryn Tickell - Johnny Cope/Tipsy Sailor

Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen

FCs are Ellie Kendrick and Lucy Farrell. Title is from DK, helpfully sourced by @erinaceina <3

I’m afraid you may gain the impression through my commentary that I don’t think common sense is quite the only guiding principle of small Somervilles...

The principles of a Pippa playlist: 1) she is a Weird Little Girl 2) she is a feral country child raised by folkies. Inevitably this means she is a fan of certain grim folk songs, but she's not really into murder ballads per se, though she objects to the latter aspect (ballad) more than the former (murder). If these silly maidens weren't so interested in falling in love with men they wouldn't get murdered, would they?!

So: 1) False Knight on the Road It may be a boy in the song, but I can well imagine Pippa playing at telling the Devil to go stuff himself by means of riddling answers and a mean fiddle riff. 2) Ivor Cutler One of her parents' records that small Pippa gloms onto, to their slight bemusement. An eccentric Scotsman singing eccentric songs and telling eccentric stories while playing harmonium - Pippa has a brief obsession with the harmonium because of it and insists on being told the story of 'Mary's Drawer' at bedtime (see Pippa's extended EP, below) 3) Lots of Kathryn Tickell on this!! The album is early '80s but it's A Sign that she released anything that early and can therefore be on the Pippa playlist - she's an accomplished fiddle player and Northumbrian pipes player and definitely an icon for Philippa. 4) Byker Hill Also loads of these boys on the playlist as a duo and with Steeleye Span/Fairport. Dave Swarbrick was one of the best and most well-known folk fiddlers of the revival and Marty Carty is folk royalty. This being a local song, of course Pippa loves it. 5) Le tueur de femmes She picks this up from one of the records Gideon brings back from his travels (technically this album seems to be from the '90s but I'm using Folk License for this, plus the LP might have been released earlier in France. The arrangement will certainly have been used by French musicians in the '70s). She doesn't understand the lyrics for a long time but knows there's a strange sinister quality to it, and probably at some point clicks that it's the same song as The Outlandish Knight on her parents' Nic Jones record. So it's the Bluebeard story where the 'final girl' drowns the serial killer and goes home to tell her pet parrot not to snitch on her for running off with, almost being killed by, and then herself killing a strange foreign knight. A Pippa vibe. 6) Twa Corbies More morbid folk! Ravens discussing the dead body of the knight they're about to feast on. With added Dave Swarbrick on the fiddle. 7) Lal & Norma Waterson More folk royalty! A happily G-rated take on the young girl sneaking off to join the armed forces - she doesn't end up having to marry anyone at the end, or being discovered because she gets pregnant by her captain. It's just that a lady falls in love with her and then she gets outed and sent home. But she did have fun playing the drum and travelling before that! 8) Fairport Convention - Come All Ye There are probably times in Contrary Teenage Philippa's life when she claims to be 'over' folk rock and to have 'outgrown' it. But put this track on and she won't be able to resist singing along. 9) This is what she claims to have outgrown folk rock for, so fair play to her - Anne Briggs is a gem of the folk revival, and probably reminds Pippa of her mum, though Kate's voice isn't as high. An early indication for Philippa that folk heroes *can* write their own songs and those can be just as good as the trad stuff! 10) More Kathryn Tickell on the pipes :) 11) Vin Garbutt A local folkie singing in local dialect! It's a bit further south than Pippa's country technically, but another miserable story turned into quite a bop. For anyone struggling with the words, it's about Oswald of Northumbria's baby son and the prophecy that he would die by drowning - his mother took him to the top of the hill Roseberry Topping in Teeside to prevent this, but baby Oswy went toddling off and tripped and drowned in a spring at the summit while she slept. She died of grief and was buried nearby, which is the folk etymology for the village name 'Osmotherly' (< Oswy's mother). 12) Pippa can't resist the fiddle part on this, though she thinks it's silly that Sovay gives the gold and watch back to her useless boyfriend, she'd have shot him and taken the ring too :P 13) Billy Don’t You Weep for Me So, I first heard this song when Jim Moray played it live and in his intro he said he remembered hearing it as a child and coming to the conclusion that he must Never Ever sit on a soldier's lap or else he'd end up dying a miserable death. I can see baby Pippa drawing similar conclusions and again getting quite into the song's savagery, but also spending hours practicing her fiddle because whatever he's *doing* with the guitar there she wants to be able to do with the fiddle. (This version is from a record released in the 2000s, but it was recorded live before Nic's accident and I'd bet there was a version on one of his early Topic albums. N.b. I want you to know that Nic Jones on Pippa playlists has an extra layer of ouch because he was badly injured in a road accident in the '80s and couldn't play afterwards, having been one of the most astonishingly brilliant folk musicians of the century. He is slowly, slowly returning to live shows now with his son playing the more complex parts while he does the chords he's able to, and he's an absolute sweetheart who's just happy to play for people again. But in the AU that's Christian's fate - Gideon isn't so lucky). 14) Blackleg MIner Speaking of savage, local songs, you don't get much more savage than this classic anti-scab song from County Durham. Pippa's certainly heard mum and dad sing this one, and in the '80s it has a new resonance. 15) The Lambton Worm An underappreciated part of the folk rock scene but certainly part of Kate and Gideon's record collection! And this is another local song, from Sunderland this time, about a dragon and a knight - I bet Gideon played this loads to baby Pippa and she adored it, but probably sympathised with the dragon despite Gideon warning her that it ate unwary children who stayed up late listening to mum and dad's jam sessions with friends when they were meant to be asleep! 16) Kate Bush - Violin ...do I need to explain this? Is it possible to explain this? The stirrings of baby Pippa's pop sensibilities. She can't be sniffy about Kate Bush because she's just so damned *weird* and earnest with it, and somehow gets to number one in the charts anyway!! 17) Shipbuilding This is one that isn't released until '82 and I think Philippa really latches onto it in the wake of Gideon's death (exact timeline still a bit up in the air). It feels like a song he'd really have appreciated, and with it she starts thinking politically about music in a new way as well. It's about working class communities and how the news of the Falklands War was bound to the promise of new work and economic revival, although at the cost of human lives, many of which would come from the same communities. Not sure Pippa ever feels strong enough to sing it or cover it herself until her work with activists in TRC-era (~1985) but it's a really important song for her. 18) Kathryn Tickell on the fiddle this time :) 19) Come on Eileen Sampling folk, adding in a three-person strings section, and releasing this unavoidable hit, Pippa can't really help but love Dexys, though she's drawn to the song very reluctantly and despairs every time it gets stuck in her head until she learns to just enjoy it.

There's an extended version of the Pippa playlist, on which you'll also find:

*Pentangle - Light Flight Another band from the folk rock revival, pop this in the same category as Fairport Convention - Come All Ye, above. *Billy Williams - When Father Papered the Parlour I was going to put Flanders & Swann on here, thinking Gideon and Kate would have been fans, but their Wikipedia page ended up annoying me too much (private school boys being smarmy ho ho ho) so I turned to music hall songs I remembered hearing on a cassette of 'children's favourite's from the 1950s' that I inexplicably had when growing up. I like to think Pippa would enjoy this too, but on the shorter playlist Ivor Cutler fills that eccentric role, and it took enough self-restraint not to just add a billion of his songs anyway. *Shirley Collins - Space Girl Just because it's fun!! Maybe something Kate sings and Pippa's like 'nooooo mum you're being embarrassing!' but she likes it really. The Imagined Village do an *excellent* modern version. *Arlo Guthrie - Motorcycle Song Also fun! Also a record Gideon has brought back from his travels. Gideon also rides a motorbike. And yes, Pippa knows all the words to Alice's Restaurant by the age of ten. *Johnny Cash - I Walk the Line (live at Folsom) Gideon did lots of charity work with prisoners and particularly had contacts in the US he worked with, so this is a favourite album in Flaw Valleys. *Planxty - Smeceno Horo The playlist needed some Planxty. Big boys of Irish folk(/rock) with really wide-ranging interests. I saw this Bulgarian tune and had to put it on the Pippa album because it's a really cheerful load of noise and I think Gideon is in the habit of travelling for his tunes a lot, so brings stuff like this back and listens to Planxty to check what they've found, too. It gives Pippa a really good basis for jamming with people at St Mary's, Adam will certainly have some similar influences. *Tom Lehrer - The Elements Another from Gideon's travels. Pippa is a bit of a swot at school, but no one else can understand how learning the lyrics to this song is easier than just learning what they're meant to learn for class. She doesn't care, she thinks it's a bop (though she's a bit suspicious of him for the whole 'poisoning pigeons' thing). *Ivor Cutler Trio - Mary's Drawer A Somerville vibe to this whole thing, really. *Ian Campbell Folk Group - Poor Old Horse A sea shanty about debt in coastal communities and the 'dead horse tradition'. *Fairport Convention - Si Tu Dois Partir File under: folk rock Pippa can't help but love. A lovely fiddle part, plus a good way to practice her schoolgirl French. *Lindisfarne - Fog on the Tyne THE local bop, if you will.

[moonchild-prod]

noir.

ch.3 : “bambi”

abstract: After getting into an argument about relationships with Noir’s leader, Chanmi, Eunbin goes to a wedding as Baekhyun’s date. All does not go swimmingly.  

main characters: hong eunbin, byun baekhyun

word count: 3.4k

genre: i meant to write something purely angst but there’s a tiny bit of fluff in there because i just can’t help myself

warnings: a single word that may be considered not sfw. otherwise you’re good to go

a/n: PLEASE listen to baek’s bambi ep while reading i BEG you. also there is a prologue for this so make sure you read first it to get the full experience!

The afternoon sun broke through the clouds in Seoul city just enough to begin melting the layer of snow coating the streetlights and sidewalks, warming the cheeks of passersby. Slush splashed under tires as cars drove by every few seconds; pedestrians crowded the sidewalks and gathered near crosswalks. The city was in constant motion; a stark contrast to Eunbin, who was standing outside of her apartment building, frozen in place. Her head darted from car to car, then to her phone, then back to the street once again. She was waiting for an “I’m here!” text from Baekhyun, who was her wedding date. Well, it wasn’t a date - Baekhyun was just bringing her to the wedding. As his friend.

I technically am his date to this, aren’t I… Eunbin thought to herself. But we aren’t going on a date. Friends do this kind of thing all the time.

She looked down at her phone again - no new messages.

“Ugh, where is he?” Eunbin groaned out loud. The tips of her ears and nose were starting to sting from the cold. She shoved her hands into her coat pockets, wishing she’d worn a sweater and jeans instead of a dress and heels (even though that wouldn’t have been socially acceptable at a black tie event).

Just then, Eunbin felt a tap on her shoulder, and she turned around to find the man she’d been searching for suddenly standing in front of her as if she’d summoned him by complaining. Baekhyun had a bright smile on his face, giving him a cute look that starkly contrasted his outfit of the day - a black suit with a white collared shirt and a black wool overcoat. 

“You rang?” 

“Finally,” Eunbin said, letting out a sigh. “Where’s your car? I’m freezing.”

“You know,” Baekhyun started, taking Eunbin’s arm in his. “When I said to wait for me to come get you, I didn’t mean outside.”

Eunbin looked away as they began to walk together. “Yeah, well… I didn’t want to be inside anymore.”

“Wanna talk about it?” Baekhyun asked, his head tilting to the side like a puppy.

“Not really, no.” 

Baekhyun frowned. “Well, whatever it is, I think you should forget about it. And you should smile; it would compliment your dress.”

Eunbin looked up at Baekhyun with a furrowed brow. “I’m wearing a coat. You haven’t even seen my dress.”

Baekhyun’s eyes widened. “Are you questioning my fashion sense?”

Eunbin smiled involuntarily and removed her arm from Baekhyun’s so she could whack him with it. He laughed and grabbed his arm where Eunbin hit him.

“It’s been less than 5 minutes and you’re already getting violent? Tonight should be interesting.”

Eunbin shook her platinum blonde bob as the duo finally reached Baekhyun’s car. Baekhyun opened the door for Eunbin and gestured for her to get in the passenger seat. She climbed in, making sure to straighten her coat under her before she fully sat down. Baekhyun sat in the driver’s seat and turned on the car.

“You pick what we listen to,” he stated, pulling out his phone to give Eunbin the aux. Eunbin took the phone and started looking through Baekhyun’s playlists, shuffling one that looked like mostly R&B. 

“Ooh, this is the perfect weather for that kind of music,” Baekhyun grinned. “Cold, but not freezing.”

Eunbin gave Baekhyun a confused look. “I didn’t know music was better or worse depending on the weather.” 

“It’s true! Pop music is better in the summer, too,” Baekhyun explained, flipping his turn signal at the stoplight.

Eunbin rolled her eyes and looked out the window at the skyscrapers and streetlights, unintentionally catching a glimpse of her own reflection. She noticed the makeup on her face and the fancy earrings decorating her ears and all of a sudden it hit her that she was doing the exact opposite of what Chanmi said she should do earlier that day - “be careful”. She was upset when Chanmi tried to talk to her about being public with her friendship with Baekhyun, but Eunbin realized at that moment that Chanmi might’ve had a good point. All of a sudden, Eunbin felt regret for the way she acted earlier that day and was nervous about going to the wedding. 

“You’re being quiet,” Baekhyun commented. 

Eunbin looked over at Baekhyun then down at her hands. “I was just thinking.”

“What about?”

“Well,” she hesitated. “I was thinking about being out in public, where anyone could take pictures of us, anyone could post something online…” 

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Baekhyun declared. “Donghyun knows we’re coming and is asking everyone not to take pictures to respect our privacy. The only person that can take pictures during the whole wedding is the photographer.”

“Do you think people will listen, though?”

“If I didn’t, I probably wouldn’t be going.”

Eunbin nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness.”

The rest of the car ride was business as usual: Baekhyun cracking jokes, Eunbin telling Baekhyun to stop making her laugh or else she’d mess up her makeup, and the both of them singing along with every other song that played.

After a while, they arrived at the venue. From the outside, it was an unassuming boxy little brick building in the most random part of town; but upon closer look, Eunbin could see chandeliers through the windows and guests inside dressed to the nines. The interior of the building made Eunbin even more confused when she compared it to the exterior. The ceilings were decorated with complicated wooden structures that created an illusion of a vaulted ceiling, arched windows lined the walls, and flowers capped each seat nearest to the aisle, which lead to a beautiful arch at the altar made of a variety of flowers. As she and Baekhyun located seats reserved for them in the back row, Eunbin found herself wondering what her own wedding would be like - if she would ever get to have one, that is. 

Eunbin took off her long, black coat and hung it on the back of her chair, revealing a floor-length dark green wrap dress that plunged a bit in the front and revealed part of her leg through a ruffled slit. She noticed that Baekhyun was watching her as she sat down next to him.

“What?” She asked.

Baekhyun smirked. “I was right. A smile would look good with your dress.”

Eunbin grinned and shook her head. “You’re impossible.”

A few minutes later, the wedding ceremony began. The bride was glowing, as all brides do, and Baekhyun’s friend looked ecstatic. Eunbin watched everything unfold, half paying attention and half planning her future wedding in her head. She decided to actually pay attention for the vows; she wanted to get some ideas for her own in the future. The groom went first, and then it was the bride’s turn. 

“Donghyun,” she started. “When we first met, I couldn’t stand you. Obviously, I changed my mind.” 

The crowd laughed, and Baekhyun nudged Eunbin’s arm. “That kinda sounds like you and me.”

“Yeah, it does,” Eunbin responded instinctively. She continued to listen to the bride speak for a few moments before realizing what she just said. 

Wait a minute, she thought, why does a soon-to-be-married couple sound like me and Baekhyun?

Eunbin looked at the man in question, squinting as if she could find answers in his face. 

Do I have feelings for Baekhyun? There’s no way…

Baekhyun stayed facing forward but moved his eyes to the side to meet Eunbin’s. 

“You’re staring at me,” he pouted. 

Eunbin hardened her gaze and scrunched her nose. “I know…” 

Baekhyun’s eyes widened as he dramatically moved his focus back to the altar. “Weirdo.”

“You too,” Eunbin scoffed, turning to look at the bride. She tried to listen to the rest of the ceremony, but the thoughts in her head and the butterflies in her stomach overruled her. As the groom kissed the bride, Eunbin found her eyes drawn back to Baekhyun. She watched as he smiled radiantly for the newly married couple, clapping softly with the rest of the crowd. A smile crept its way onto Eunbin’s face before she even knew what was going on.

Oh, thought Eunbin. I am so screwed. 

No time was wasted getting the reception started in the neighboring room. Eunbin noted that the chandeliers she could see from outside the building were actually from this side room and not from the main hall. Though she didn’t know what the space was supposed to be called, Eunbin liked to think of it as a ballroom - it was the closest thing to a real one she’d ever seen. Wood floors coated the area and were dotted with circular tables for guests to sit at. Right in the center of the room was a large open area accompanied by an inconspicuous DJ booth - possibly a dangerous place to be if one had consumed two or more drinks. Eunbin and Baekhyun had a private table reserved for them near enough to the bride and groom that they could almost speak to each other from their seats. Eunbin placed her coat on the back of yet another chair as Baekhyun struck up conversation with the groom. She wasn’t paying too much attention as she was still distracted by everything going on in her head. 

“Eunbin! It sure is good to see you after all this time! Aren’t you gonna come say hi?” 

She turned toward the groom, Donghyun, the surprise of his voice slightly startling her. “Of course! It’s been a long time.”

“It sure has. It’s too bad your brother is in the army, I would’ve loved to have him here today.”

Eunbin smiled softly. “I’m sure he would’ve enjoyed being here, too.”

Donghyun turned his attention to Baekhyun. “You know, it’s great to see you guys together after you used to fight as kids. It’s almost like fate, considering Baek-”

“It was great to catch up, Donghyun!” Baekhyun interjected, quickly cutting off his old friend’s sentence. “I don’t want to keep you two from talking to everyone else. It was really great to see you!” He put his hand on Eunbin’s back to guide her away from the conversation and toward their table. “I’m gonna go get drinks, you want anything?”

Eunbin sat cautiously in the chair Baekhyun pulled out for her. “Uh, sure, I’ll have a soju or something.” 

Baekhyun gave her a thumbs up and darted in the direction of the bar. 

What on earth was that about? Eunbin pondered, looking over at Baekhyun and her brother’s old friend. Soon, Baekhyun was back with drinks for the two of them. 

“They only had champagne,” he said, placing two skinny glasses on the table.

“That’s okay,” Eunbin said, taking a flute in her hand and considering downing the thing in one go. She swirled the alcohol around in the glass and watched it go in circles, wondering whether or not she should ask Baekhyun about what just happened. She opted for a simple sip of champagne and decided that she had enough problems of her own to worry about - she didn’t need to add whatever that was to the mix.

A moment later, it was announced that the bride and groom would do their first dance together, and afterward, the dance floor would be open to everyone. Eunbin and Baekhyun sat at their table, each drinking their glasses of champagne while watching the newlyweds dance. Baekhyun broke the silence between them near the end of the dance.

“Hey,” he tapped Eunbin’s forearm. “When this is over, do you wanna go dance?”

Eunbin thought for a second, then replied. “Okay.”

Baekhyun leaned back in his chair. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah,” Eunbin shrugged, looking at her near-empty glass of champagne. “Blame it on the alcohol I guess.” She smiled up at Baekhyun, knowing full well that that little glass of champagne wasn’t affecting her decision making abilities at all. 

As soon as the first dance was over, there was a brief pause for a change of music. 

“Let’s go up right now to get a good spot,” Baekhyun suggested, standing up from his chair and reaching out his hand to Eunbin.

“Okay,” Eunbin giggled as she took Baekhyun’s hand and the two of them ran onto the dance floor. 

Eunbin looked around and noticed something was off. “Baekhyun, I don’t think we thought this through. There’s no one else here.”

“Someone has to get the party started,” he said. “Might as well be us.”

Just then, the emcee came back to make an announcement: it was time for the couple’s slow dance, and all couples, dating or married, were encouraged to make their way to the dance floor. 

Eunbin and Baekhyun both looked at each other with wide eyes as the DJ started to play “Beautiful” by Crush. 

“What do we do now? We’re not dating or married!” Eunbin asked in a panic.

Baekhyun looked around as couples of all ages began to surround them. “We can’t leave now; we were the first ones here!” He looked at Eunbin and took a step forward, gently placing one hand behind her back and placing his other hand in hers. 

“What are you doing??” Eunbin exclaimed, her face uncomfortably close to Baekhyun’s.

“We’re blending in,” Baekhyun smirked. He tightened his grip around her waist, pulling her close enough for their bodies to ever so slightly touch. “Don’t worry about it.”

Don’t worry about it?? Eunbin thought to herself. How am I supposed to stay calm like this?!

Eunbin turned her head away from Baekhyun’s in an effort to lower her heart rate. She looked around at all the other couples as she and Baekhyun danced. 

Everyone else is either looking at their partner or practically hugging them, Eunbin noticed. If we’re really just trying to blend in…

Against her better judgement, Eunbin decided to meet Baekhyun’s gaze directly. The song reached its first chorus as Eunbin looked right into Baekhyun’s eyes, surprising the both of them. They swayed to the tempo and stared at each other, each taking in the details of the other’s face, not speaking a word. Eunbin found herself getting more comfortable in Baekhyun’s arms as time went on. She also discovered that her eyes kept making their way to his lips. She suddenly decided to ask a question that had been bothering her all day.

“Baekhyun, are we friends?”

His eyes moved up to meet hers. “What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Eunbin paused. “Are we friends?”

Baekhyun laughed confusedly. “I wouldn’t have wanted to bring you here with me if we weren’t friends.”

Something inside of Eunbin broke upon hearing that, and she hated that she felt that way. “Oh… I guess that’s true, yeah…” 

Baekhyun studied Eunbin’s face as she turned her head away. Either at the perfect or worst time imaginable, the song came to an end, and the DJ awkwardly shifted the energy to “Fantastic Baby” by BIGBANG. Eunbin abruptly stepped away from Baekhyun as wedding guests started to fill in the gaps on the dance floor.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” she said, still stepping backward. “I’ll be right back.”

Eunbin navigated her way through the newly forming crowd, grabbing her purse and coat from the table before making her way toward the door. She scrambled to get her coat on as she went outside. After pushing her back against the door, she was greeted by a gust of wind and some scattered flurries to the face. It was dark out by this time in the winter, but the snow seemed to make the scene a bit brighter than normal. Eunbin looked up at the streetlights lining the parking lot and noticed that the snow appeared to be getting heavier. She took a few steps away from the door so as to get out of anyone’s way and reached in her purse for her phone, dialing a number soon after.

“Hello?”

“Hey, are you busy right now?”

The voice on the other end hesitated. “Aren’t you busy right now?”

“Bomi, please,” Eunbin sighed. “Can you come get me?”

“Me and Chunhei just left for the studio to work on one of our new choreographies, but I think Chanmi went to pick up dinner. She can probably come get you.” 

Eunbin folded one of her arms around her waist. “Okay, I’ll call her.”

“Alright, bye.”

“Bye.” Eunbin hung up the phone. “Well, shit.”

She stared down at the contact in her phone that read “Lee Chanmi” and debated whether or not to call and whether or not there would be an answer. She still hadn’t apologized for earlier that day, and she thought it might be extremely awkward to suddenly call.

Well, I can’t stay here, Eunbin thought, deciding to suck it up and call her unnie. It rung for a moment, then there was an answer.

“Hey…?”

“What are you doing right now?” Eunbin skipped straight to the point.

“I was on my way to pick up some tteokbokki. Why, is everything okay?”

“Could you come pick me up?”

“Where are you?” 

Eunbin’s stress levels started to decline as she told Chanmi the address.

“Oh, I’m already in the area! I can be there in like 5 minutes probably.”

“That sounds great,” Eunbin stated, hearing the door open and close behind her. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

Eunbin’s heart skipped a beat as she hung up and put her phone back in her purse, knowing who was waiting patiently behind her.

“I didn’t know girls went outside to pee,” Baekhyun joked, walking up to Eunbin’s side and stuffing his hands in his coat pockets. “What are you doing out here?”

“Sorry,” Eunbin explained, fiddling with her purse to avoid eye contact. “I just was getting claustrophobic and wanted to leave.”

“Who was on the phone?”

“That was Chanmi. She’s… coming to get me.”

Baekhyun frowned. “You know I have a car,” he pointed toward the parking lot. “It’s right over there. You were in it earlier.”

“Baekhyun, please stop asking me questions,” Eunbin pleaded, looking in the direction of the road she was hoping Chanmi would appear from any second.

“I will if you look at me,” he countered. 

Eunbin continued to look away, so Baekhyun stepped right in front of where she was looking. She could see Baekhyun making funny faces at her in the corner of her eye, and somehow that made her feel even worse.

“Please stop,” Eunbin requested, finally making eye contact with Baekhyun. She was trying to stop tears from forming in her eyes, but seeing her own sadness reflect in Baekhyun’s face didn’t help at all. 

Baekhyun just looked at her, not knowing what to say or do.

“Is this about what you said when we were dancing?”

Eunbin swiftly looked away from Baekhyun once more. “I don’t know… maybe… does it matter?”

“It matters to me,” Baekhyun said, reaching his hand underneath Eunbin’s chin. Eunbin stepped back before he could touch her face.

“Okay, yes, it’s about that,” she declared, folding her arms in front of her chest. “I just don’t know what to think anymore.” Eunbin began to pace as she continued on. “We say that we’re just friends, but then we go do things together that most people would call dates and we slow dance and you look at me and… I’m just confused.”

Baekhyun opened his mouth to say something, but Eunbin kept talking, her voice increasing in volume. “And this morning I got in a fight with Chanmi about this, and I told her ‘Oh, we’re just friends, you’re overreacting, I won’t cause a scandal,’ but you’re turning me into a liar!”

Just then, Eunbin’s phone rang and she answered immediately.

“Chanmi!”

“Hey, I’m here.”

Eunbin hastily searched the parking lot for Chanmi. “I see you.” She hung up and told Baekhyun she had to go, keeping her back turned away all the while. 

Chanmi watched in confusion as Eunbin practically ran to her car; she noted the troubled expression on Baekhyun’s face. 

Eunbin hopped in and slammed the door. “Thanks for coming to get me.”

Chanmi pretended not to see Eunbin silently wipe a tear from her cheek out of the corner of her eye.

“Anytime. By the way, I wanna apologize for earlier today.”

“I’m the one who should be apologizing,” Eunbin interjected, looking out the window and spotting Baekhyun’s shadowy figure in the side mirror. “You were right anyway.”

[gendryw4ters-blog]

aight fuck it. here’s young speirs.

i was gonna wait before doing this but!! i am feeling speirs a lot tonight and so here is this thing i hope you enjoy it and that it makes sense somehow too 

you can listen to the list here

a tracklist as well as some type of analysis of both the tunes and my interpretation of him in relation to them beneath the cut <3

bad reputation - joan jett (courtesy of @kuurihn!! thank you for the idea omg <3)

oh my god - ida maria

stockholm syndrome - blink 182

lithium - nirvana

basket case - green day

smells like teen spirit - patti smith

man - yeah yeah yeahs

i just dont know what to do with myself - the white stripes

creep - radiohead

i miss you - blink 182

At first glance, young Speirs seems like a stereotype. Typical teen angst. Pop punk, grunge- he’s evidently trying too hard. You can picture him; skinny jeans and band tees and maybe a piercing or two. You knew him in highschool, I knew him in highschool- he’s a trope as old as time.

And in many ways, he is that stereotype. Misunderstood. Angry. Messy hair. It all points in the same direction; but there’s this other level to him too- why he’s come to embody this stereotype in the first place.

I’m not gonna equate myself to Speirs in a big way because we’re pretty different, but if there’s one thing we both struggle with; it’s identity. I grew up on dad’s music, I thought it was the coolest thing ever- I used to think I was a goth (turns out! I meant punk but didn’t understand at the time) and loved Blink 182 and Green Day and bands like that because I was desperate to be somebody. The music was cool (still is, Blink 182 are a band that I know are gonna be with me for my entire life), and I wanted to be cool too- I wanted to be interesting, wanted to be liked.

Ron Speirs is the youngest of five kids. Imagine that- four older siblings, each with their own personalities, their own vibes, and you- the youngest, still finding your feet. Each of his family members already has a reputation, especially if the age gap is kinda big. There’s a kid in my year with who has an older sister that went through our school years before him, but she was incredible and all he got for years was “how’s your sister doing? She was so smart!” and she’s hyper-successful and now he does drugs. I don’t know if those two points are related but I feel like they might be a little bit. I don’t think Ron would get into drugs, not until he was older. Ron just entering highschool? He has to separate himself from them and he has to do it fast. He’s been building up a steady music collection over time as it is (being the youngest of five? Id imagine your parents being a little bored by then, and that he’d be kinda lonely. Not to mention the amount of fights there’d be in such a busy household, he’d probably want to drown them out as often as he could). It seems the kids are liking pop punk these days. He wants to branch out from his family but he wants to fit in with the kids- a puzzle, because how does one become an individual but still remain in with their peers?

Pop punk, strangely, turns out to be the answer. Sure, the kids like it, but not TOO many of them do. It’s in, but it’s not quite mainstream. And as it turns out, he quite likes the music. It’s loud, loud enough to drown out the fighting at home, and it speaks to him (he inwardly cringes at the thought). He can’t even explain why it speaks to him in the first place, it just does- summarises a lot of his insecurities and makes him feel a little less lonely, cause god- god he is lonely. He’s tried on so many different personas that he’s not even sure which one is the real him anymore, and even though he’s got friends it’s like there’s this glass wall in between him and them- they don’t understand. He hates that, hates how pretentious it sounds, but it’s true. He doesn’t even understand, so how on earth could they?

It’s around the same time as this, aged 16ish, that he realises that he’s gay. It comes to him (quite literally, as crude as that is to say) one night when he’s home alone and daydreaming about this boy- this boy who’s cool and edgy and a little dark and he’s grungy. He’s grungy and Speirs wants to impress him and so he becomes grungy too- finds he doesn’t even mind it that much, Nirvana and Radiohead? They’re good bands. He can dig it. Starts wearing flannel over his band tees. Gets talking to this boy. They end up dating, and it’s nice at first- until it’s not. It starts with the boy devaluing pop-punk, making Speirs feel stupid for liking it (even though he does, it still holds a place in his heart because it is his heart), then devaluing Speirs’ image (he calls him out for trying too hard, makes fun of his clothes and plays it off as a joke), and then devaluing Speirs himself. It ends, difficulty and painfully, and music once again becomes Speirs’ best friend. He didn’t mind the grunge so it sticks around, it’s little bittersweet since it reminds him of the boy, but hey, it’s music and he likes it. He goes back to his Green Day and his Blink 182 and his Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but gets a little darker.

He struggles, after what happened. Struggles to trust. There are other struggles too, but this one hits him the hardest. He hates that most of all. Hates that he’s going to be defined by what this boy did to him, vows that won’t be the case but doubts he’ll ever be able to escape it. The doubts begin to manifest, he isolates himself for his own protection. He knows who he is now. He’s Ron Speirs, he’s heartless- ruthless. Doesn’t need anybody but himself. His music grows with him. Retains his origins, but matures too- Nirvana becomes Patti Smith covers of Nirvana, The White Stripes really get him with their Dusty Springfield cover. Ida Maria gets it- he’s not in control, he never has been. But he can convince people that he is, and that’s got to get him somewhere.

This all then continues to grow and mature, until he reaches current Ron. He doesn’t fear the reaper. He’s ruthless, dark, and unapproachable, and he wants to keep it that damn way too. He might start to let some people in, might start to mellow out with PJ and Nick, but it’s still there. Still in his heart. The doubt, the mistrust. He won’t be burned again.

[welllpthisishappening]

Hey, love, if you'd still like some prompts may I order - Friends with benefits and both people catching feelings + “Good morning, handsome”

I am absolutely still accepting prompts and this is a very good one because, here’s a fun fact, I have never written friends with benefits before. I know, right? That’s like...some prime tropes for me. So you have hit the prompt jackpot. That gif is almost relevant! This got long again! Here we go:

----

She’s commandeered his Spotify. 

He’s not sure when it started –– maybe around the first time she did, actually, spend the night, but there is now, almost always, music in his apartment. It’s never the same playlist on back to back days. They switch from 80s hair bands to 60s Motown to songs that make her blush slightly, the tip of her tongue pressed to the corner of her mouth because these are kind of lame, I know, but those ones may actually be Killian’s favorite and they always seem to make Emma’s hips sway just a bit more. 

And he does, after all, have a habit of staring a bit at Emma’s hips. 

And all of her, really. That’s part and parcel of the deal, he supposes. The deal, of course, is this, whatever it is they’re doing. There’s not a technical term for it, really, mostly because he’s not all together sure how they did, actually, start. 

He’s not sure of a lot of things at this point. 

All he remembers is the way her lips parted and the soft way she’d sigh against his ear as soon as his mouth trailed along her neck and something inside of him seemed to snap at that point because Killian wasn’t altogether sure what he would do if he didn’t hear that sound again. 

So, there’s no name. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. It just is. They send texts and appear at each other’s door and duck into dark corners when their friends go out. They chase moments and opportunities and they don’t talk about it. 

They talk about other things. They talk about his day at school or the latest skip she’s trying to catch. They talk about what they’re going to watch on Netflix and what to order that night and there’s something oddly normal about it, as normal as those first, few heady kisses were and--

“Oh fuck,” Killian breathes, a shaky step forward, halfway between his living room and kitchen. There’s music playing. 

He snaps his head up, mouth suddenly going dry and whatever is happening in the pit of his stomach isn’t entirely unexpected or uncomfortable. It might be a goddamn disaster, but it’s not those other things. 

It’s--he lets her use his Spotify. 

Emma’s standing in the kitchen, the refrigerator door open, a soft hum that’s definitely coming from her and not the slightly antiquated appliance. Whatever is happening to his stomach starts happening in double time. 

Like it’s matching the rhythm of the music. 

“Nothing,” she mutters, but there’s no frustration there and he can feel his eyes widen when she spins around. She’s wearing his shirt. And no pants. The music may be getting louder. “Good morning, handsome,” Emma quips, kicking the door closed behind her and it would probably freak her out if his eyes fell out of his face. 

There’s no appropriate soundtrack for that. 

Emma moves into his space, head still bobbing in time with the music and her fingers are warm when they curl around his forearms. “You ok?”

He nods. He doesn’t answer. There may be something wrong with his tongue.

“Yeah?” Emma presses. “Because, seriously, you don’t look ok. Did you not sleep or something?”

He slept fantastic. He always sleeps fantastic when she’s there, even when she steals some of the blankets and he wakes up goosebumps to find her cocooned in every piece of bedding he owns. That’s been happening often. 

They only made out on the couch last night. 

Like teenagers. Like people who--

Killian lets out a shaky breath, licking his lips like that will make it easier to ruin everything and Emma’s eyes narrow. “Do you want me to guess, or something? Because I’m not doing that until we eat and you have no food.”

“I have food.”

He’s annoyed those are the words he was able to get out.

“Nah, you don’t. There are like...two eggs in there and I’m not sharing two eggs with you and, seriously, when’s the last time you went to the grocery store?”

“It’s finals week, love.”

“Ok, that’s not an answer. I’m worried you’re going to starve to death and--”

Emma gasps when he moves, which...well, that’s fair. It’s all very jerky and sudden and he’s very interested in the sound she makes when his mouth lands on her, halfway between his living room and kitchen. There’s not much food in there, honestly. 

Her arms fly up, fingers curling into the hair at the nape of his neck. He has to shift his weight a bit, rocking back towards his heels when he tries to pull her up, but they don’t end up on the floor and that’s definitely some kind of victory. Killian swears the music is getting louder, but that may be the roaring in his ears and the pitch of emotion in the very center of his being and he may be the one who gasps when Emma nips at his lower lip. 

“If this is some kind of distraction to make me forget how hungry, I am,” she starts, “it’s not going to--”

“--No, no, it’s not that. It’s--”

“--Babe, seriously.”

He nearly drops her. He nearly falls over. His whole body goes limp, like he’s been doused in feelings and there weren’t many rules to this, but feelings were probably one of them and--“What are we doing?”

Emma blinks. Again. And wiggles back onto the floor, which is far too distracting to be fair. “Getting breakfast, I hope.”

“Swan.”

“No, c’mon, that’s...” Her jaw drops when she, presumably, realizes, eyebrows flying into her hairline. “Oh,” she mutters. “That’s---oh.”

Killian’s stomach falls to his feet. And, for a moment, there’s a pause in the music, songs switching, but it feels like an emptiness that wasn’t there a few moments before, stretching out in the rather minimal amount of space between him and Emma. 

She blinks again. 

“Right, right,” she nods. “Right. Ok. That’s. Ok.”

“Swan.”

“No, no, it’s...you know, we didn’t....I need pants.”

She spins –– the wrong direction, moving back towards the kitchen and that shouldn’t be nearly as endearing as it is, but Killian’s having several epiphanies at the same time and he refuses to be held accountable for his thought process. He jerks forward, all but yanking on her wrist in the process. 

Emma glares at him. 

“Please don’t put more clothes on.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No, I--” Killian grits his teeth, but he’s not sure Emma’s noticed. Her eyes fall to his thumb, brushing an almost rhythmic pattern against the back of her wrist. “I don’t want to fuck this up.”

He watches her swallow, eyes pulling up slowly to meet his and something else in him snaps when he notices how glossy her gaze has turned. “You cut my pizza in half two weeks ago.”

“What?”

“My pizza. We ordered from that place on Union and you said you didn’t want me to get up while we were watching the movie and you brought me one and a half slices of pizza because--”

“--You never actually eat two.”

“Yeah, exactly. And, I...I don’t know. I mean--” She shrugs, tears landing on her cheeks. Killian’s still a little worried about the state of his eyes. “This was supposed to be fun and no expectations, but--God, I...shit, this is why I didn’t say anything.”

His eyes, seriously. 

“Say what, love?”

“I’m going to punch you.”

“That may take away from the romance, really.”

She huffs, still lacking any real frustration, pushing up on her toes and, for a moment, it’s all lips and teeth and tongue and squished noses, trying to occupy the same few inches of space until they’re swaying against each other, falling into a melody they may have been dancing around from the very first song she played in his apartment. 

“I like you,” Emma says. “Like. I like you.”

“I like you too, Swan, quite a bit.”

“Yeah?”

Killian hums, nosing at her slightly damp cheek and kissing away the last tear. “That’s not something you have to confirm.”

“And you don’t have to worry about fucking it up.”

His stomach flies back into its appropriate place. And flips. In something akin to joy. They’re still moving, his hand falling to her waist and her arm slung over his shoulder, smiles and cautious wants and--

“What playlist is this?”

Emma startles at the question, and this third sound may be his favorite. “Early 2000s singers and songwriters.”

“Specific.”

“Good morning music. Calm. Optimistic. Some of that romance you were talking about.” The last few words aren’t more than a sigh, Killian’s mouth back on her neck and her back arches against the hand he’s moved there. “It’s, uh...it’s good music to start something to.”

“Yeah?”

“That’s not something you have to confirm.”

They do, eventually, put clothes on, mostly because he doesn’t have any food and there’s a pretty good diner two blocks away, but only after they spend, at least, twenty minutes making out on his couch. Like teenagers. Who are dating each other. 

[howaminotinthestrokesyet]

The Rolling Stones: A Reassessment

The Rolling Stones have continuously marketed themselves as the world’s greatest living rock ‘n’ roll band. Yet, they could possibly be billed as the world’s greatest marketing band. The other day, I started to watch some of their older music videos and began to discover something. Throughout their catalog, they have quite a few songs that could be most simply labeled as complete and utter filler. I remember reading this in a book by Stephen Davis, but never really thought too much of it. He wrote that Black and Blue in 1976 was their last great album. I am beginning to agree with such an assessment. This does not mean they did not make the occasional good song because examples of that persist including such tracks as “Love Is Strong” and “Mixed Emotions,” but those moments were few and far between. I was watching a playlist with all of their official promo videos and music videos throughout the years. I was at first excited because there were 55 videos available. Yet, more than half of the songs on this playlist emerged as average, ordinary, and gave me no compelling reason to ever listen to that song ever again. This is something that I did not realize, which is partially my fault because I spent too much time listening to their compilations. Younger fans probably make the same mistake as well. Hot Rocks anyone? The question now becomes to me as the critic why does everything suck so bad with the Rolling Stones after the mid-1970s.

First, this is nothing new because it happens with a lot of musicians. Other artists have had these issues. Much like Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, and many others, they experience a kind of golden era of songwriting. Everything that they release in a certain period of time is a great song. For the Stones, this was 1969-1975 when they did Exile on Main Street, Sticky Fingers, Let It Bleed, among others. This was the band at their most creative, but nothing can last forever. Noel Gallagher once said that no musician can create great music after age 30. Perhaps there is a bit of truth to that statement.

Second, Mick Taylor left the band in 1975. I think this fact is swept under the rug too often when discussing the Rolling Stones. People do not realize how much he contributed to Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street. He was a key to the songwriting success in those albums because Taylor brought a melodic quality that was previously missing in some of their other albums. Accompanying the fact that Taylor left the band is another factor in regards to Keith Richards. Taylor was such a good guitarist that his presence pushed Richards in creative and technical ways that nobody else did at the time. This eventually manifested itself within Richards as a kind of jealousy, which in turn brought out a meanness that is nothing new to anybody that has followed this band. Mick Taylor was replaced by Ron Wood, which I believe Richards personally selected him for the band. Wood was not quite the songwriter that Taylor was, while at the same time Richards could influence him more easily, than he did with Taylor. Wood really looked up to Keith, such a thing can be problematic when creating music. Perhaps Keith relaxed a little too much once Taylor had left the band as far as songwriting goes. He was no longer being pushed as much creatively, so he did not so work as hard at it.

Third, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger grew apart as friends and collaborators in the eighties. The success of the Rolling Stones beginning in 1969 can be mostly attributed to the fact that the songwriting team of Jager and Richards was a very good one. For some reason, the two of them began drifting apart eventually leading to what some referred to as World War III when they recorded Dirty Work in 1986. One possible factor was the presence of Ron Wood in the band because he and Keith essentially became besties/drinking buddies. Their drinking was one of the reasons that Jagger would stop touring with them in the 80s. They were much too drunk to play effectively on stage. Another issue affecting this collaboration was that Richards felt that Jager was not bringing his best ideas to the Rolling Stones songwriting table, instead keeping them for his solo project. The solo album is always a tricky thing with any band, but especially for this band. If the solo album in the 80’s that Mick Jagger released had been much more successful; I do not think that he returns to the Stones in the way that he did. Jager came back because he needed the band more than the band actually needed him at the time. His solo album had failed and he needed something successful to maintain himself as an icon in rock.

Fourth, the Rolling Stones at times forgot who they were as a band. At some point in the 80s, I think they forgot that they were a rhythm and blues band named after a Muddy Waters song. The number one example of this is when they did “Harlem Shuffle.” As the song “Miss You” was meant to adapt their sound to the disco era. They tried to do the same thing in the 80’s pop era, but this just did not work. I really believe that at times they did forget the classic rock ‘n’ roll part to the their makeup. The band did a remix with Will. iam, which seemed fairly pointless because it added absolutely nothing concrete to the song.

Finally, perhaps this band began to believe too much in their own hype as the worlds greatest living rock band. If you are currently billed as that around the world. Nobody tells you that you are not the world's greatest living rock band, then who is to say that anything you do or try is not that good. The enormous success of the touring arm of the band probably makes it impossible to stretch themselves in any new ways creatively, or even to ever go back to the drawing board. They really do not have anyone pushing them in any way, so everything that they create now is good enough because the world says that it is. One example would be with their most recent release after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. Upon its release, it seem like media everywhere in the entire world were applauding the release because it was the first one in almost 8 years. Yet, I I did not see anyone from various media outlets asking the question whether the song is any good. Within hours, Shazam had named it the song of the week, along with other outlets. As a critic, I do not wish to rush to judgment without objectively evaluating the content, no matter who it is. The question becomes do the Rolling Stones get a pass on a lot of things that they do creatively because of who they are. I would say yes, and I would also say that is probably a bad thing. Yet, that is a different article for a different day.

Now, I want to return to the Rolling Stones as the world’s greatest living rock and roll band. This only makes sense if you are speaking about longevity, quantity of material, and the only ones crazy enough to still be touring at age 80 or whatever age Keith Richards is in drug years. If you say in 1975, then they are the greatest band, but that has not been the case for many decades. I would say Bob Dylan has a much greater value in his artistic output from the 1980’s forward than the Rolling Stones.. More recently, I have heard both Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger sounding off on the question of who was the better band, the Beatles or The Rolling Stones. My one point about that question is if you look at the Beatles, they were only together for nine years. The Rolling Stones have been together for 50 years, so they have had a lot more opportunities to throw things at the wall to see what sticks. To put it in baseball terms, The Rolling Stones had 500 at bats, while the Beatles only really had 50. Such is only my opinion and this reassessment has not diminished my love for the band in any way. And so it goes.

[bobbystompy]

My Top 132 Songs Of 2016

Previously: 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

Haven’t started writing this yet, but after peaking at 73 songs in 2013, then dipping to 67 and 71 the last two years, it is unbelievable we hit 132 (blame Spotify’s easy ability to save music and create playlists).

I debated skipping around, but nahhh, let’s get it.

As always, the criteria/info:

This is a list of songs I personally like, not ones I’m saying are the “best” from the year; more subjective than objective

No artist is featured more than once

If it comes down to choosing between two songs for an artist, I try to give more weight to a single or featured track; it’s not the ultimate factor, but it typically makes sharing the music easier

Speaking of... each song on the list is linked in the title if you wanna check out some for yourself

BOBBY VS. THE SONGS, FID

132) Kendrick Lamar - “untitled 07 | levitate”

Yeah, not gonna do the thing everyone else is doing where we pretend Kendrick is making amazing music with 2016′s throwaway release. I had to trudge through so much weird-and-not-fun stuff on “Butterfly” last year; it’s time to be done with it. Kendrick is obviously a top flight MC and could end up as an all-time great, but, like, come on -- this is from an EP of b-sides, it’s (probably) the best song... and it’s still not that memorable. How this record is ended up on so many year end best of lists mystified me.

131) Young Thug - “Drippin'”

Thugger spazzin’ around.

130) 2 Chainz f/ Lil Wayne - “Gotta Lotta”

Eh, this song’s aight; beat good, kinda sticks with you sometimes. Funny it should be listed as “2 Chainz & Lil Wayne” -- peep the very creative album art -- yet ended up as a 2 Chainz solo feature (on technicality alone) due to Weezy’s ongoing label issues. These two play off each other well.

129) Real Friends - “Mokena”

This song is good, but it’s... a little too angst-y at points.

128) Iggy Pop - “American Valhalla”

The best compliment I can give this song is it sounds unlike anything I’ve ever heard. Not a fun listen every time, but if you consciously immerse, it can definitely work.

127) The Avett Brothers - “Ain't No Man”

Good mom song; feels like fun. passed the torch with this one.

126) Paul Simon - “Horace And Pete”

Louis C.K. got Simon to write a theme song for his dramedy “Horace and Pete”, and the diminutive one came through in spades. I sometimes like to shoehorn in the f-word when singing along to help break up some of the seriousness. But yeah, this feels like a ‘60s classic even though it’s essentially brand new.

125) Frank Ocean - “Nikes”

The A.V. Club summed up my opinion of the Frank Ocean record with one swift line: “On first listen, Blonde feels like a Cracker Jack box with no toy in it.”

Amen.

Don’t get it twisted: I love Frank, still believe in Frank, and of course consider “channel ORANGE” to (objectively) be one of the greatest albums of this generation, but “Blonde”? It didn’t connect. Somewhat reluctantly, I picked this song for the list because it was the first one I heard, and it stands as a symbol of the initial hope which faded over a few listens. But when Ocean breaks in after all the high pitched singing, it does feel like a moment.

Also, this line will always stick: “RIP Pimp C / RIP Trayvon, that n**** look just like me”.

124) DJ Khaled f/ Jay-Z & Future - “I Got The Keys”

DJ Khaled is a talentless jackass, annoyingly ad libbing his way into our brains. Unfortunately, my personal favorite artist chooses to make listenable songs with him. Alas, No. 124. Jay slaying with “My wife Beyoncé, I brag different”. Future... being Future.

123) Slim Thug - “King”

The always underrated Slim Thug, hangin’ out and tellin’ you about his life. Also lifting weights. Minus points for using the Pimp C sample Jigga used in “FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt” only three years ago.

122) American Football - “Give Me The Gun”

This band will never hit for me as much as it does with cool/laid back guitar people, but I enjoyed this tune. And I wish my friend Luke were here to listen with me.

121) Craig Finn - “Screenwriters School”

Craig Finn, as slow and chill as you’ll ever hear him.

120) Mikey Erg - “1001 Smashed Motel Rooms”

Solid verses, big chorus, and you can almost, like, tell he’s bald by the voice (not an insult).

119) Cassadee Pope - “Summer”

The former Hey Monday singer goes in on the strongest season.

118) The Cool Kids - “Connect 4″

It’s very difficult to write about The Cool Kids without using the word “cool”, but man, these guys have such a great interplay. It’s not two separate dudes taking turns; it’s a glorious intertwine with true chemistry.

117) Third Eye Blind - “Cop vs. Phone Girl"

This is our first song I’d call an imperative listen. I say this because you need you to hear Stephan Jenkins sing “Why's it so hard to say ‘Black Lives Matter’? / Doesn't mean that you're anti-white / Take it from me, I'm super fucking white”.

He remains bulletproof.

116) Wakrat - “Sober Addiction”

I was positive this song was a jam after one listen, but I’ve listened 3-4 times since, and it’s gotten progressively worse each time. If that’s not enough of a hook, the singer is the Rage Against The Machine bassist.

115) Owl Meet Rabbit - “This Side Of The Nut House”

A Christmas song with a “National Lampoon” reference.

114) YG f/ Drake & Kamaiyah - “Why You Always Hatin?”

Still a little unclear why Drake keeps agreeing to be in YG songs. His verse references sliding into DMs.

113) Yo Gotti f/ Nicki Minaj - “Down In The DM (Remix)”

...and we also have a track titled after it. My biggest memory with this song will be feeling sick in an Uber from Chicago to Forest Park on, like, a weekday morning but still mustering the nerve to laugh at the chorus, which is egregious enough before the “bridge” of “Snapchat me that pussy, if it’s cool”. Seriously. RIP, music.

112) The Dirty Nil - “Zombie Eyed”

This rips.

111) Microwave - “Homebody”

A good song that pulls you in further when the distortion gets bigger in the chorus.

110) AJJ - “Terrifyer”

Some days, you're a member of Queen Other days, you're a Kottonmouth King Some days, you're Emilio Estevez Other days, you're Charlie Sheen

109) Band of Horses - “Casual Party”

These guys are all smooth harmonies.

108) Fitz and the Tantrums - “HandClap”

This song is pretty unoffensive, but it’s catchy enough to work.

107) Nothing - “The Dead Are Dumb”

“The Dead Are Dumb” -or- if the “Twin Peaks” theme actually went somewhere.

106) Car Seat Headrest - “Unforgiving Girl (She's Not An)”

This band kinda reminds me of The Strokes; just a liiiiiitle less New York street and a tad more indie.

105) Vince Staples f/ Kilo Kish - “Loco”

Vince got into the news this year after defending the mom who had an extreme distaste for his lyrics in 2015′s “Norf Norf”. Let’s just say she also would not enjoy this one. His interplay with Kilo is on point.

104) GTA f/ Vince Staples - “Little Bit of This”

‘ey, it’s Vince again, and this one is stronger; somehow topping the high energy of “Loco” with another level of fire-spitting.

103) The Living End - “Monkey”

The Aussies broke a 13 year album hiatus with 2016′s “Shift”, and “Monkey”, one of the lead singles, did not disappoint. There will always be a place for songwriting like this.

102) Vic Mensa - “16 Shots”

This song is so raw and street and real. Sometimes you hear something, and it just cuts like a knife. I’m talking a “Straight Outta Compton” level here. Mensa has thoughts on police brutality in Chicago, and he ain’t holding back. He played this live on Kimmel, and his solemn-yet-wired energy could not be ignored.

101) Boyd & The Stahfools - “Summerly”

Some might say BATS sold out with this very commercial ode to Pollyanna’s raspberry wheat ale, but when you consume as much of it as those boys do, I say it’s legit art.

100) Macklemore & RL f/ J. Woods - “White Privelege II”

This is kinda like the Third Eye Blind message on Black Lives Matter, only the exact opposite. It’s... quite heavy handed, and while I like that from Macklemore, I realize a lot do not. All I can say in his defense is, like, man, it really seems like this dude is trying, and he certainly attempted to involve the right people. If that’s not good enough for you, I get it.

(Plus, he kinda digs on Iggy; throwing y’all a bone, just take it.)

99) Conor Oberst - “A Little Uncanny”

Oberst sounds a ton like Bob Dylan in this one, but he also sounds a ton like Oberst. It’s kinda like two massive folk tidal waves crashing into each other.

98) Cymbals Eat Guitars - “Have A Heart”

CEG -- despite a terrific name -- have always made music that felt obtuse, but this is the first song that felt ready-made to, like, give normal people a window to check out the band.

97) Green Day- “Bang Bang”

Everyone wants to over-analyze Green Day. But if you don’t do that, you’ll enjoy this as a fast and easy pop-punk song. It plays at my gym sometimes, and I always kinda assume people are annoyed by it. To quote Josh from “Heavyweights”, this pleases me.

96) James Vincent McMorrow - “Get Low”

Chill/cool.

95) The Flatliners - “Hang My Head”

This won’t end up in their all-time Top 5, but it’s a good song, and it was nice to hear from this band in 2016.

94) AFI - “Snow Cats”

This would sound right at home as a mid-tempo number on “Sing The Sorrow”.

93) Jay Electronica - “#TBE The Curse Of Mayweather”

Oof, what a shitty title. So, this is Jay Elect’s “blast back” at Kendrick Lamar after K-Dot slaughtered the rap game (and shit, maybe rap itself) in 2013′s “Control”. But here’s the thing... “Control” was “Control”. No one is topping “Control”. No one is successfully going at “Control”. That’s in its own stratosphere. Was it fun to see the enigmatic MC try? Sure. Did it make any type of impact? Eh, no. But I did enjoy the fake Kendrick voice.

92) The Dyes - “Loudmouth”

Out of every song so far, I’ve found this the toughest to write about. My favorite part is probably the way the guitar and bass play off each other, but my second favorite part has to be how sinister and swaggery it sounds.

91) Big Sean - “Get My Shit Together”

Maaaan, I missed Big Sean in 2016 after an extremely fruitful 2015. The few times he did surface -- on other people’s songs -- he stayed in form, so you’ll see more of him as this goes.

It feel like young Ray Allen with the white twins

90) Emeli Sandé f/ Jay Electronica & Áine Zion - “Garden”

Serene, with a fitting Jay Elect verse.

89) Yumi Zouma - “Haji Awali”

Chiller than a Coleman.

88) Jimmy Eat World - “Get Right”

We’ve talked about this before, but JEW typically have sunny day feel good songs, or nighttime darkness-type songs; this one’s the latter.

87) Into It. Over It. - “No EQ”

Sooooo good; melodic and percussive and soulful. It tugs at your heart just the right amount.

86) The Front Bottoms - “Joanie”

This really, really sounds like a Front Bottoms song, which I mostly mean as a compliment but also... am slightly worried about as it pertains to future material.

85) The Lumineers - “Ophelia”

Would I like to steal this song and give it to a girl and say I wrote it to mega impress her? Uh, duh. Piano for dayz.

84) Viola Beach - “Swings & Waterslides”

Kinda a lighter version of the Arctic Monkeys; mostly the singing... but in a big way.

83) The Game - “92 Bars”

It’s sposta be a Meek Mill diss, but it’s basically Game freestyling about a buncha stuff over a workable beat. Some real solid lines, too. My favorites:

- “I can kill you in four bars, that's a Kit Kat”

- “Let me tell you who suck, like banana Now and Laters” (haha)

- “Give me Left Eye back, take Fetty Wap and the Raiders”

- “Gum by them Yeezys, I'm the 6'5" Eazy” (MVP bar?)

- “This the Golden State and my shooters ain't on no hoop shit” (coooold)

82) OMI - “Hula Hoop”

I’mma give the write up here to my girl Alyssa Pawola, via her husband, Jeff Pawola (who watched the video after she was told the song reminded me of him):

She agreed with you!

She says it's because the singer dances similar to me and is a little goofy (compliment?), whereas all the girls around him are really good dancers (thus, her).

81) Joey Purp f/ Chance The Rapper - “Girls @”

If you’re not all-in on this song by the seven or eight second mark, then you can probably pass. HOWEVA, Chance and his 3 hat appear later on, so we call that incentive, young Bucky.

80) Vinnie Caruana - “I Don’t Believe You”

The feels like a last-song-on-the-record kinda track.

/looks up if it was the last song on the record

...8 of 10!

(Close enough.)

79) No Lenox - “Leave”

This song is heart and blood, with a rare use of “fucking” from Chris Trott.

78) JANK - “Versace Summer”

JANK is interesting. All of their artwork and motif make them seem like stoners (and maybe they are), but the music itself is so technical and synced. Like, you know they’re trying and very capable. So as weird as seeing “Versace” next to “JANK” might look, maybe it’s this high end brand that truly does fit their sound over, say, Faygo. But yeah, by the time this song is done, even though they’ve played the chorus a handful of times, you probably wouldn’t mind a handful more.

77) White Lung - “Dead Weight”

This band is just the coolest shit. They always go so, so hard, but this time, there’s a guitar playing mega bad ass leads to help even things out. I would believe you if you told me the guitar was also shooting lasers.

76) Descendents - “Without Love”

Like The Living End, the Descendents have also been out of the ‘releasing new records’ game for over a decade. And as jokey of a band as they’ve been in the past, this song has some of the same earnestness and vulnerability we heard on 2004′s “Cool To Be You”.

75) Andrew Bird - “Roma Fade”

For sure a candidate for coolest song title of 2016.

74) LVL UP - “Hidden Driver”

This is too indie for its own good.

73) A$AP Ferg f/ Big Sean - “World Is Mine”

Mostly included for Sean. Sorry, Ferg -- but you did give him the hook and a verse.

72) AM Taxi - “Enough To Feel Like Enough”

Like The Front Bottoms song from earlier, this AM Taxi song is very AM Taxi. But I ain’t ever worried about AM Taxi.

71) Rozwell Kid - “Baby’s First Sideburns”

Not sure I’ve ever heard a weak song by this band.

70) PARTYNEXTDOOR f/ Drake - “Come And See Me”

If you wanted to upset your love interest in 2016, hitting him or her with the “I hear you talkin' 'bout ‘we’ a lot, oh, you speak French now?” line was probably a good place to start.

69) Tancred - “Bed Case”

Kinda ‘90s, right? Nice.

68) Thrice - “Blood On The Sand”

Moderate take alert: I purport the Thrice singer sounds like Dave Grohl in this song, particularly during the chorus. Come at me with your agrees or disagrees.

67) MakeWar - “Ode”

The dude on this band’s album cover always reminds me of Rafa Nadal, which is weird, as I’d argue he looks -20% like Rafa Nadal. This song has a downcast energy. I think I wanna see these dudes live.

66) PKEW PKEW PKEW - “Asshole Pandemic”

Party punk, wooooo. You will not find a more circular 2016 lyric than “Why’s this fuckin’ dick gotta be such a cock?”

65) Adam Friedman f/ Mike Posner - “Lemonade”

blue eyes >>> brown eyes, Adam.

64) Matt and Kim - “Let’s Run Away”

As always-always-always, Matt and Kim are having more fun than we are.

63) Ariana Grande f/ Nicki Minaj - “Side To Side”

As recently as 40 days ago, I was emaling my friends about this track with the very loaded “I’m not sure this song is good at all”.

My buddy Brian’s response will probably jar you like it jarred me:

Gotta say, I have a soft spot for this song. I think the beat is pretty banging and the subject matter is a plus. Like, we do have to acknowledge that she's walking side to side because she's been having sex with dude all night and day and now her vagina is too sore to walk like a regular person. I can dig that.

Well then.

62) With You. f/ Vince Staples - “Ghost”

Weird music video, but definitely my favorite version of Vince that we got in 2016.

61) Fifth Harmony f/ Ty Dolla $ign - “Work From Home”

I was listening to this song with my girlfriend the other day, and I said something like “This song could really use a rap cameo”. Enter: the very forgettable Ty Dolla $ign. Still, a fun, sexty song. Also, I believe this is our first -- and only? -- song to have over one billion YouTube views (!!!).

60) Masked Intruder - “If Only”

This made it over other MI candidates due to the Winnie Cooper reference.

59) Fat Joe, Remy Ma, Jay-Z f/ French Montana & Infared - “All The Way Up (Remix)”

An easy chorus for sports teams to co-opt, as well as a “fuck off me” Jay verse. He bucks “Lemonade”, ups his products for the infinite time, and drops the mic after:

The OG's say, "Hov, how high is high enough?" I said "'till we eye and eye with the higher ups" Until we let 'em know, we ain't those n****s Until our baby's showered in gold, n**** Blue looking like Pac in the tub David LaChapelle levels of not giving a fuck Prince left his masters where they safe and sound We never gonna let the elevator take him down

Man.

Worry not, cockroach French is around to muck things up. It’s salvaged by a real dope Remy Ma verse, though.

58) Al Scorch - “Everybody Out”

The perfect soundtrack for escaping a busted speakeasy.

57) Tegan and Sara - “Dying To Know”

This song makes the list because the “Boyfriend” chorus was lazy as hell; it was like the “Closer” chorus, version 2.0. Conversely, “Dying To Know” has real emotion and a big, legit chorus.

56) Bloc Party - “The Good News”

A song I fear no one will like but me... but hey, my list.

55) New Lenox - “It’s Its Own Thing”

This is a song I wrote (and drummed on) about how winter sucks. It’s also about Chicago, being alone, finding someone, and using Banner Pilot to get through tough, frozen times. Shout out to Dave Rokos for singing the majority of the leads and Chris Trott for producing.

54) Julien Baker - “Photobooth”

I became enamored with the voice and talent of 21-year-old phenom Julien Baker throughout 2016, and though she released her debut album in 2015 (ALL TRACKS DISQUALIFIED, CHICA), she did drop this Death Cab cover for The A.V. Club this year, so I found a way to get her in the door. Now that we’re all here, I’ll give the floor to Deadspin’s Tom Ley:

What I did not expect was to like this version of the song so much that I now become visibly disgusted when I try to go back and listen to the original. Like all the good, thoughtful teens of my era, I spent a lot of time listening to Death Cab in my car, and I used to nod along pleasantly when “Photobooth” came on. But now I’m just angry I ever wasted any time listening to a lesser version of the song. In my opinion, Death Cab should just turn their entire catalog over to Julien Baker and be done with it.

Ironically, I will be seeing Baker open up for Death Cab singer Ben Gibbard later this January.

53) Desiigner - “Panda”

This is a bad song... but it’s incredibly listenable (for about 30 seconds, only it keeps going for a normal amount of time). It got upped on Kanye’s album, which likely sparked public interest in this mumble rap disaster. Literally the best thing you can say is it’s a Future rip off -- and he’s not all that great to begin with.

/sadly looks up YouTube view total

190 million; Fifth Harmony is like “pshhhh”.

Yet, “Panda” somehow endures. It feels fresh, saying “panda” repatedly never seems to tire, and it burned down the dance floor at Brian Pawola’s wedding this summer; old and young alike wanted to be pandas.

Now is also probably a good time to disclose my Halloween costume...

52) Cloud Nothings - “Modern Act”

Me, blogging about my excitement for the new Cloud Nothings album that drops in three weeks.

51) A Tribe Called Quest f/ André 3000 - “Kids” (no link)

Welcome back.

50) Run The Jewels - “Talk To Me”

Haven’t listened to RTJ3, but it’s only been out for, like, 10 days. Still, this song is as reliably dope as they’ve always been. I also felt compelled to include ATCQ and RTJ in these spots to ensure they were not above “Panda”.

Brave men didn't die face down in the Vietnam muck so I could not style on you

49) Kevin Devine - “No History”

My aforementioned buddy Dave Rokos likes this song because of its big chorus, and I’d also like to use it as a selling point.

48) Kings Of Leon - “Reverend”

For as big as Kings Of Leon are, I haven’t really heard this song anywhere.

47) Rae Sremmurd f/ Gucci Mane - “Black Beatles”

I always thought Rae Sremmurd were kinda meh (at best) and Gucci Mane was an idiot’s idiot (at absolute best), but this song’s a banger -- and this conclusion was reached prior to it going viral with the Mannequin Challenges. Speaking of... my 2016 Black Wednesday:

A video posted by Bobby L (@bobbystompy) on Nov 23, 2016 at 7:15pm PST

46) Grimes - “Kill V. Maim”

This song is straight out of a video game or action movie. Like, get ready to fight a boss or something.

45) Dave Hause - “With You”

Heartfelt ballad that feels sprawled out across a few genres.

44) Robin Thicke f/ Nas - “Deep”

What do we get when we combine a dude with no credibility and feature a dude with tons of credibility? A sneaky sizzling collab. And if you still got beef, remember: it ain’t that deep.

43) Against Me! - “Rebecca”

A lot of people have had this AM! song on their year end lists, and I wasn’t seeing it, but after a few extra spins, it became pretty clear this was thee highlight from the album. It’s got this kinetic energy, spinning out of control while somehow maintaining perfect balance.

42) Restorations - “See”

Restorations make spectrum songs; ones you listen to while the world moves in slow motion at an airport reunion, while time stops after a death, or stretches out on an overly contemplative Sunday evening. What I’m saying is, these dudes control the clocks.

41) Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties - “Green Like The G Train, Green Like Sea Foam”

Soupy from The Wonder Years’ solo project keeps -- PUN INTENDED -- chuggin’ along with this one. He’s singing in the same gear he always sings in, but the chorus and always trusty synced rhythms that break it in two definitely get me goin’. 

40) Titus Andronicus - “No Future”

Titus Andronicus covering Craig Finn, and they add just the right amount of anguish to the proceedings. There’s such an obvious-yet-still-clever element to the “February’s about as long as it is wide” line.

39) Rihanna - “Needed Me” (NSFW-ish video)

This song is good -- Mustard on the beat, natch -- but RiRi murdering a dude in the back of a strip club in the video might be better.

38) Jeff Rosenstock - “Festival Song”

The former Bomb the Music Industry! singer dipped his toe in a few genres throughout his 2016 album “Worry”, though I’m not sure how to describe this one; it’s kind of spastic punk with some synthy keyboards and a catchy outro, strong enough to throw two capable haymakers as the song enters its final minute. 

37) The Steve Adamyk Band f/ Colleen Green - “Carry On”

I hadn’t even heard of this band a month ago, but “Carry On” has quickly become a favorite; toe-tappin' rock.

36) The Naked And Famous - “Higher”

This band seems like they’d have -- there is no better word I’m so sorry -- epic concerts. Also, don’t miss out on the “In The Air Tonight”-sounding fills.

35) Phantogram - “You Don’t Get Me High Anymore”

Brilliant drum samples, drug stuff, and a pop sensibility; you seriously could not ask for more.

34) Child Bite - “Vermin Mentality”

This song is quite harsh, and I imagine if you had individual approval ratings for all 132 of these songs, it would very easily finish in the bottom five. That said, I think it rocks, and it reminds me of the Dead Kennedys’ best scenario.

33) Joyce Manor - “Last You’ve Heard Of Me”

Sure, I reacted like a mom when I saw Barry’s new neck tattoo in the video, but the song was the redeemer. Recommended if you like the Everclear “Santa Monica” intro, marijuana makes you tired, or you’ve found love in the parking lot outside a karaoke bar.

32) Cassino - “Alabama Song”

If you did happen to listen to “Vermin Mentality”, this’ll probably be the song to get that taste out of your mouth. I love its overall laid back vibe, even if what it’s about remains unclear after a good chunk of listens.

31) Direct Hit! - “Was It The Acid?”

This one lost several punk points after the singer revealed he did not use hard drugs. But still.

30) Bayside - “Pretty Vacant”

My buddy Brian Pawola doesn’t like this song because of the teenage-y “I can’t believe this is my life, I’m pretty vacant all the time” chorus, but that’s precisely why I do. Also, apparently the album it’s off of is called “Vacancy”, haha.

29) PUP - “Familiar Patterns”

Feels weird not picking a single, but this one was always my favorite; the same percussive power, shreddy singing, and unrelenting noise we got in their debut a few years ago. Also funny: they named their 2016 album “The Dream Is Over”, which is what the PUP singer’s doctor told him after diagnosing his vocal chord ailment.

28) Tokyo Police Club - “Not My Girl”

Sometimes, I wanna tell non-punk fans TPC is what all punk rock sounds like, because even though the band has more of a pop-indie element, they do seem like the genre’s best case scenario more often than not.

27) The Falcon - “If Dave Did It”

Feels like sacrilege picking a Dave Hause fronted track for my Falcon choice. After all, this is Brendan Kelly’s group, and after an EP and two full lengths, it’s Dave’s first ever time fronting a song in the band. But this song kept standing out. It also has a small drum solo, and even though basically all drum solos are bad, Neil Hennessy’s on the kit -- so you know you’re in good hands.

26) Chance The Rapper f/ 2 Chainz & Lil Wayne - “No Problem”

Chance’s “Coloring Book” was so positive and creative and multi-faceted that it feels a little wrong to pick a song that’s more traditional rap with typical guests, but it really is the best song, you know? For whatever reason, Lil Wayne’s nonchalant verse was my favorite, with his initial bars being the highlight:

I got problems bigger than these boys My deposits, they be on steroids Lord, free the Carter, n****s need the Carter Sacrificin' everything, I feel like Jesus Carter

But sure, we can also highlight funny 2 Chainz things:

- “Inside of the Maybach look like it came out of Ikea / Run shit like diarrhea” (oh my god)

- “Aye, aye, captain / I'm high, captain / I'm so high / Me and God dappin'” (haha)

Also, if you don’t raise-and-drop your arms for the “huh! huh!” part before the beat kicks in at the beginning after “lobby”, you’re a monster.

25) David Rokos - “Pacific Time”

Falling in lust with a California girl who has the keys to bomb ass hotel room overlooking the ocean? What self-deprecating heterosexual dude isn’t signing up for this?

24) NOFX - “Six Years On Dope”

Thrash punk, with Fat Mike and Eric Melvin divvying up the vocals after arguing to start the song. Here’s the July 2016 description I emailed to the gf:

So, the lead singer has kind of a flat, annoying voice, but then there's this guitarist who mostly does yell parts and not a lot of leads, but in this song, they both basically trade off yelling, and the guitar is blaring, and it just does not relent. They've released a million records at this point, but something about it feels so fresh. Like new blood has been infused into all of them.

You will like... 0% of this.

Her response: “Hahaha. I wouldn't say that I hate this...but it's pretty close.”

23) Beach Slang - “Future Mixtape For The Art Kids”

Of all the artists on this way-too-long list, I had the hardest time picking a Beach Slang song. This is probably because all of their songs sound the same. But as a writer earlier this year said, it’s still a good song. So true. I went with Track 1 from their album “A Loud Bash of Teenage Feelings” (this is the actual title) because it has the biggest chorus:

We're not lost, we are dying in style We're not fucked, we are fucking alive I hope I never die

Every Beach Slang song also has to include “die” or “alive” in the lyrics; this one gets both. Minor gripe: that vocal distortion you hear is an effect used on every other song on the 29 minute record.

22) Kid Cudi f/ André 3000 - “By Design” (no link)

When you think too much, you’re removing what’s moving

This song could literally be in a made up language, but the diction, beat, and Caribbean stylings from Cudi and 3 Stacks would still make you wile out. The full version appears to be nowhere on the free Internet, but I highly recommend finding it.

If you’re too lazy, peep Cudi’s “Goodbye” instead. It’s a pump up track that samples 2Pac and Pink Floyd -- what could go wrong?!

21) Anderson .Paak - “Come Down”

My buddy Ceebs used this as the entrance song at his wedding; he and his wife looked so cool.

20) The Weeknd - “False Alarm”

Listen, I wanted to include “Starboy”. But after shunning “The Hills” for “Can’t Feel My Face” in 2015, I wanted to pick the weird song over the poppier one this time, OK? This music video is so violent. I also really do wonder if this song has borderline punk elements.

19) Carly Rae Jepsen - “Higher”

Just a Carly Rae “Emotion” b-side cracking the Top 20, no big deal. Seeing CRJ in Milwaukee in March was my favorite concert of 2016; so much so that I saw her in Chicago the next day and even exchanged a shirt (...cutoffs) with the merch guy I’d met already.

18) Brian Fallon - “Red Lights”

We have The Gaslight Anthem singer’s solo project here. This could definitely be a TGA song. “I only stop to tell her that I love her at the red lights” = unstoppable swoon.

17) Jay-Z - “Spiritual”

I need a drink, shrink or something I need an angelic voice to sing something

A song that should’ve had a much bigger spotlight in an incredibly tumultuous year. I remember listening to this during the Dallas shootings, my heart absolutely breaking for the country. Here is the statement Hov released with the track:

16) Justin Timberlake - “CAN’T STOP THE FEELING!”

Our Song of the Summer, 2K16.

The one critique you could give is maybe it’s a little too easy, a little too low hanging fruit, but my counter would be: who said pop music has to be terribly difficult? And if you’re still folding arms during the “Can’t stop the fee-laaaaahn” falsetto part, having fun probably isn’t your bag.

15) Get Well Cards - “Is It Worth It?”

I think you’re trying to kill me, when you said you’d lick my wounds

I play drums on this jam, but it’s Dave Rokos’ songwriting that gives me all the feels. It always reminded me of a slightly more restrained “Good Things”. This song is about sleeplessness, deep contemplation, and a deteriorating relationship; you don’t know if you should do everything you can to hold on... or mercifully let it all go (”And they say time is all we have to give / And I think I’ve given you enough”... oof).

14) Resolutions - “Daily Train”

Blindly assumed this band was from Canada, but, upon further research, it looks like Germany. Hmm. The singer sounds like the Rise Against dude to me.

13) Mike Posner f/ Big Sean - “Buried In Detroit (Lucas Lowe Remix)”

Hunger > Strategy

The Mike Posner comeback was one of the more delightful storylines of 2016. Though I liked “Ibiza” quite a bit, I had a softer spot for the one with his fellow Michigander. This is my favorite Big Sean performance of the year, and Posner’s verses and choruses are straight anthemic.

12) blink-182 - “Rabbit Hole”

Though we can all agree “Built This Pool” is the best song of all-time (Travis’ “Is that really it?” = completely perfect), “Rabbit Hole” was a bit more well-rounded -- and it’s Matt Skiba getting in the mix in a blink-182 song (verse two); I can’t believe we’re here.

11) Kanye West f/ Kendrick Lamar - “No More Parties In L.A.”

In honor of its number on our dear list, my Top 11 favorite bars from this banging banger of a song...

11. Kanye: “And as far as ‘Real Friends’, tell all my cousins I love 'em / Even the one that stole the laptop, you dirty motherfucker” (he’s not over it)

10. Kanye: "My psychiatrist got kids that I inspired / First song they played for me was 'bout their friend that just died” (creepy, ominous)

9. Kanye: “Hey baby, you forgot your Ray Bans / And my sheets still orange from your spray tan” (very South Naperville)

8. Kendrick: “She said she came out here to find an A-list rapper / I said baby, spin that 'round and say the alphabet backwards” (the young MC will not be slighted)

7. Kanye: "Thinking back to how I got here in the first place / Second class bitches wouldn't let me on first base" (those days are probably over, Yeezy)

6. Kanye: “Got pussy from beats I did for n****s more famous / When did I become A list? I wasn't even on a list” (those days are also probably over, Yeezy)

5. Kendrick: “Well cutie, I like your bougie booty / Come Erykah Badu me" (that’s just good game)

4. Kanye: “Every agent I know, know I hate agents / I'm too black, I'm too vocal, I'm too flagrant” (empowering)

3. Kanye: “I was uninspired since Lauryn Hill retired / And 3 Stacks, man, you preach it to the choir” (golden)

2. Kanye: "Mulholland Drive, need to put up some god damn barricades / I be paranoid every time, the pressure / The problem ain't I be drivin' / The problem is I be textin'" (we’ve all been there)

1. Kanye: “I be worried 'bout my daughter, I be worried 'bout Kim / But Saint is baby 'Ye, I ain't worried 'bout him” (and we’ll end with my favorite rap lyric of 2016)

10) Daya - “Hide Away”

It took a few listens to realize how sublime this one is. The lyrics are solid, the beat is great, and they display some real patience with how the hi-hat notes are deployed, and it really helps control the flow of urgency (Posner uses this tactic in the “Buried In Detroit [Remix]” as well).

Also, don’t sleep on its grocery store banger potential with the happier sounding and cutesy “Tell me where the good boys go” bridge.

9) Beyoncé f/ Kendrick Lamar - “Freedom” (note: link is to the live performance)

This is big.

I remember when “Lemonade” dropped, I was txting with my friend Buffalo Grove Tina (she’d heard the album and I hadn’t yet), giving her selective feedback as I was progressing through the tracks. She then sent a message that stuck with me every listen since:

Hooooooly buckets, she nailed it. The Just Blaze beat should be sent to the CDC, Yoncé is breathing fire, and once you start to finally wrap your head around all of that, you get a K-Dot verse as icing on a cake that already had great cake and great icing. It’s run-through-walls time.

8) Drake - “One Dance” (note: link is to the live version)

Drake has been so consistent with his output this decade, turning every year into a "Should I pick the hip-hop song or the pop song?" debate when it comes to list-making. This time, the pop song wins (or dancehall, really).

"One Dance" is a good joint to drink, dance, or sway to. There's a reason it became his most streamed song of all-time.

7) The Hotelier - “Piano Player”

What a beautiful piece of music. The warmness I feel during the “I don’t know if I know love no more” is unmatched. Their album (”Goodness”) is one of the year’s best.

6) Culture Abuse - “Dream On”

This song is automatic pulverization. Like, about 80% of the way through, it tries to end but somehow can't. The chorus isn't ready to be done. Some have compared the singer's style to a robot, but I think it just sounds *cool*.

5) Japandroids - “Near To The Wild Heart Of Life”

She kissed me like a chorus

Skeptics might hate on this song for sounding like a retread of their sound from 2012's legendary album "Celebration Rock", and even non-skeptics may roll their eyes at the "I used to be good, but now I'm bad" line. But I shun these trigger happy notions. Enough time has passed since “CR”, and I was ready for this band to come back; beyond ready. This song gave me everything I was missing during the Japan-void.

/walks out of the room with an unflinchingly straight face

4) Pusha T f/ Jay-Z - “Drug Dealers Anonymous”

My pick for the best hip-hop track of the year. No choruses, no trade offs; it’s one long Pusha verse, then one long Jay verse -- the best rap verse of 2016, by my count. Pusha’s is galvanizing too, though. He paints pictures, conjures the Flint water crisis*, and sets up a bowling pin for the GOAT to roll one at...

/deep breath

Just, like, fuck, man.

JAY-Z IS SO GOOD AT RAPPING WORDS

Shawn Corey Carter doesn’t walk, he weaves. He doesn’t blast, he shoots silenced. I’d love to use the word “ether” to describe the verse but won’t out of respect. What doesn’t it have? I don’t know. Here’s what it does have: Tomi Lahren she gone, drug dealer stuff, rich guy stuff, historical and pop culture references (I’ll defend the “Damn, Daniel” line to the death), and this piece of divinity: “Y’all think Uber’s the future, our cars been autonomous”.

Sometimes all I can do is put my head down, bite my lip, and bob when this song comes on; lucky to be alive, like always.

(* - Pusha apparently donated water to the city but wanted it nameless, rationalizing it in the song with: “And I can’t even mention what I sent or what I spent / Cause my name in 18 wheelers is evidence”)

3) Modern Baseball - “Apple Cider, I Don’t Mind”

MoBo’s “Holy Ghost” was a little uneven as an album, but I’m just happy to have singer Brendan Lukens here with us after his bout with depression, substance abuse, and suicidal thoughts. By the time he got back to the studio after rehab, he was ready to give us at least a little insight into his psyche -- and it’s desperate, scary, and beautiful. My favorite overall musical moment of 2016 is the pleading “I can’t” he hits at the 1:15 mark of this one.

Clocking in at a tick under two minutes, this song almost feels incomplete in a way that 2014′s “Rock Bottom” (2:14 itself) didn’t. It’s like Lukens wants to sprint so hard he passes out, worrying not as much about finishing the race but instead focusing on giving the audience all of himself while in the booth.

2) Pinegrove - “New Friends”

Hit me, Spin:

Pinegrove are almost radically likable, soft-spoken in a year of grandiose statements, filling a void that only existed in retrospect.

Damn straight. I hadn’t even heard of these guys at the start of the year.

This goes from indie folk to a Weezer-y outro with only a short build up, but the songwriting and lyrics are in a style all their own, really. That’s it.

1) The Menzingers - “Lookers”

When this dropped, my buddy Chris Trott emailed me what he always emails me when a new song piques our interest: “Holy good god damn this is good. This is like 'I believe in music again' good.”

Shortly after, I remember leaving work for lunch and bumping the song for the first time in a parking lot. I wrote him back: “Was staring at this brick wall while listening and the first thought that popped into my head was something like 'It feels like they are taking my soul out of my body and splattering it on that wall' (in the best way, of course).”

Nostalgic verses, massive Jersey chorus, an “On The Road” reference, and the desire to want more of these songs even after you were just given everything in a single installment.

This god damn band.

[bigyack-com]

The Pandemic Work Diary of a Video-Streaming C.E.O.

Anjali Sud has never been busier. As the chief executive of Vimeo — a video-streaming platform with 175 million registered users — Ms. Sud is dealing with swelling traffic as the world, sheltering in place, looks for virtual connections.“We woke up a few weeks ago to unprecedented demand,” she said. “We’re seeing increased usage across our products of two times, five times, 10 times.”Ms. Sud, 36, a former investment banker and marketing director, became the platform’s chief in 2017 and changed the nature of the business — making it less of an entertainment streaming service that competed with the likes of Netflix, and more of a hub for content creators. Vimeo generated nearly $200 million in revenue last year, mostly from subscriber fees. It’s owned by IAC, which also operates Match, Tinder, Care.com and the Daily Beast.Ms. Sud said that churches, nonprofits and fitness instructors have all expanded their use of Vimeo’s tools, and that the platform has also seen a spike in content as varied as programs for children and the live-streaming of funerals.Though she is usually based in New York City, Ms. Sud is now staying with her parents in Michigan while caring for her infant son and managing the company’s more than 600 employees.“I live in a world of perpetual trade-offs,” she said. “I can no longer operate at 100 percent capacity like I’m used to as a C.E.O., as a mother, as a wife, as a daughter, as a colleague. I think what I’m learning is that every day, I have to pick the things to let go, and I have to know I’m going to drop some balls, and that’s OK.”

Monday

7:30 a.m. Wake up to cries on the baby monitor. My 18-month-old son, Saavan, is ready for a new day. We have our ritual of diaper change, oatmeal with blueberries and a Sesame Street dance-off. (I’m Abby, he’s Elmo.) I FaceTime with my little sister, who just had a baby in Singapore.8:30 a.m. Chai with my mom before she goes to work. I’m sheltering in Flint, Mich., my hometown. A silver lining of this crisis is getting to spend time with my parents, who both work in health care. My mom oversees a hospital internal medicine residency program, and her residents are on the front line. She tells me that they are both brave and afraid.9 a.m. Zoom call with our chief operating officer and head of human resources. We discuss our new “Vimeo Virtual” series to help employees stay connected through Slack challenges, lunch-and-learns, round tables and online games. This week’s challenge is #socialDISHtancing and everyone posts pics of what they’re eating. I learn we have an increasing number of employees who have lost family members to coronavirus. We decide to start a charitable donation program for anyone going through bereavement.11:55 a.m. Pass Saavan to my husband, Matt. He also works demanding hours, so we’ve been alternating coverage. It’s hectic but we’re also discovering hidden strengths — he makes a mean hot dog, and I’m not bad with brownies out of the box.12 p.m. Our chief marketing officer tells me about a grant program for Vimeo filmmakers to produce videos telling the human stories behind small businesses that have been affected by the pandemic. Everyone from award-winning animators to Oscar-nominated directors have made submissions on entrepreneurs that have inspired them, from an iconic comic book shop in Brooklyn to a flower shop in Budapest to an African contemporary dance company in Minnesota.2 p.m. Review our P&L and latest business outlook. Small businesses, churches, gyms, freelancers, conferences — everyone is using video to stay connected. We decide to increase investment in customer support and technical infrastructure. We also discuss how to weather the economic downturn, and steps we can take to protect employees and prevent layoffs, like slowing hiring and reducing marketing spend. 4 p.m. Weekly call with the chief executives of our parent company, IAC. We go around the virtual room and share how our people and businesses are doing. We talk about team morale and productivity, and what resumption could look like when the time comes — from increased remote work to office layouts and capacity.6 p.m. I take my daily walk around the neighborhood I grew up in. It’s a precious window of me time.9 p.m. I check our WFH Slack channel to see what’s trending, and find this welcome distraction: The Lonely Show. It’s cool to see my colleagues using their creativity to spark laughter in such tense times.

Tuesday

3:40 a.m. Saavan is wailing. Turns out he just dropped his pacifier and wants it back. Crisis averted.6 a.m. Coffee + Bob Dylan playlist + catch up on email. The sun rises and I spot a deer in our backyard. This time last year I was in Tel Aviv, about to acquire an Israeli video start-up. I miss jumping on planes, crowded bars and sushi delivery.10 a.m. Weekly executive meeting. Easter was our biggest live-streaming weekend ever, with 75 times the volume we typically see. Many of our teams are working around the clock to manage the scale, and I worry about burnout. We’ve bulked up our mental health programs with counseling services and workshops. I’m pleased to see employees taking advantage, but I know more people are struggling. I look at my own team on the screen and the little faces popping in and out. My reports are all working parents, and half don’t have child care right now. I decide to send them care packages.12 p.m. FaceTime my nanny, who is with her sister in Brooklyn. She’s worried we don’t have enough toys in Flint, and I add a Fisher Price vacuum cleaner to my Amazon cart.2 p.m. Quick catch-up with the team behind Vimeo Create, our new video-making app. We just launched 100 new social media templates to help businesses stay connected to their customers during the pandemic. Today we look at themes for remote work tips, contactless delivery, donations, at-home fitness and online learning.7 p.m. It’s taco night. Like many, I find myself drawn to comfort food and nostalgia. We drink gin, watch “Law & Order” reruns and play board games. I’m wearing my mom’s velour pajamas and feel like a teenager again. It’s kinda nice.

Wednesday

6:30 a.m. Chai with my dad. He’s a surgeon and entrepreneur, and the person who originally inspired me to get into business. He’s also an aspiring poet, and he reads me something he wrote to capture his feelings about the virus.11 a.m. Meeting with IAC to review funding for the rest of the year. We are growing quickly but are not yet profitable. We’re fortunate that our owners have strong cash reserves and a long-term investment horizon. We discuss a couple different scenarios for how things could play out. It strikes me that precision is impossible right now, and that as an organization our most important strength will be our agility.12 p.m. I tune in a few minutes late to our monthly “staff picks” screening. Over 70 percent of our filmmakers say that being recognized has helped them receive paid future work. Today was our first fully remote screening, and each filmmaker did an intro video from their home. My favorites were a sci-fi film about gender identity, an animated project about food, and a documentary about Betye Saar.3 p.m. Review engineering plan to scale our infrastructure. We’re already delivering over 2 terabits per second of streaming video — that’s more than 60 DVDs’ worth. But every hour more people are moving their businesses entirely online, so we’ve got to prepare for more.4 p.m. Check in on my girlfriends via text. We’ve been attempting the weekend virtual hangout with varying degrees of success. A few of my friends are working in critical response roles — one is on Boris Johnson’s Covid-19 response communication team in London, and another is at the Hospital for Special Surgery.6 p.m. Feed Saavan dinner, which ends with strawberry yogurt smeared all over his hair and mine. Bath time.

Thursday

9:30 a.m. Vimeo Global Town Hall. This is the most important part of my job right now: to be a visible, reassuring presence, and to be both optimistic and real. Today the message I open with is: Hang in there. We’ll get through this together. I update the company on what’s working and what isn’t, and we spend most of the time on anonymous Q. and A. Not surprisingly, the top questions are on mental health resources and office reopening.11 a.m. Matt tells me that Saavan has just said new words: “cookie” and “more.” The first I interpret as a sign of good taste.1 p.m. Virtual lunch with some new hires. Even as we’ve scaled, I like to get to know each person who joins us.2 p.m. I attend a closed-door C.E.O. round table with 14 leaders across the retail, tech, health and nonprofit sectors. It’s hosted by one of the top women in business, whom I’d never met before. She talks about her experience leading through crises over the decades, and it dawns on me that I’m in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’ve been so caught up in the day-to-day that it’s been easy to only look out as far as the next quarter or year. But in many ways, this experience will test and shape my instincts, character and values for the rest of my career.5 p.m. Weekly happy hour with the leadership team. It’s BYOB of course, from negronis to merlot. Governor Cuomo has just extended New York’s shutdown to May 15. The drinks are stronger than usual.8 p.m. I get sucked into the McMillion$ docuseries. Fascinating. Yet, I’m eager for the day when streaming shows isn’t the only thing to do on a Thursday night.Interviews are conducted by email, text and phone, then condensed and edited. Read the full article