Slow-motion apocalypse: a playlist

Maestro? Some songs for these trying times, please.

Yesterday I was talking to my sister about some of the differences between British and American TV… mainly how the British seem a lot more willing to fund weird, irreverent productions. “There also seem to be a lot of songs by British bands about the bomb.” I hadn’t really thought about it before, but she was right!

This lead to an idea as we approach the inauguration of Everyone’s Favorite Felon, now best buddies with the gods of Silicon Valley who are currently all lined up to suck his dick and become official officers of the Post-Truth Dream Team.

Ooooh boy, do we need some good music.

And for those of you that may find this too bleak, well…I’ll try to write about happier/more hopeful things next week! Maybe I’ll even make a “hopeful music” playlist, which would have a lot more women artists on it than this one does.

But sometimes, you need songs to match your mood rather than counter it. Who wants to listen to love songs when they’re heartbroken? Exactly.

So without further ado, here’s our list, complete with videos and the most apocalypsy lines. I’ll link the playlist on YouTube, as well!

Calamity Song (The Decemberists) my favorite on the list

Had a dream
You and me and the war at the end times
And I believe
California succumbed to the fault line
We heaved relief
As scores of innocents died

Hammer to Fall (Queen)

For we who grew up tall and proud
In the shadow of the mushroom cloud
Convinced our voices can't be heard
We just wanna scream it louder and louder louder

What the hell we fighting for?
Just surrender and it won't hurt at all
You just got time to say your prayers
While you’re waiting for the hammer to Hammer To Fall

We Didn’t Start the Fire (Billy Joel)

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning, since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it

Ask (The Smiths)

So ask me, ask me, ask me
Ask me, ask me, ask me
Because if it's not love
Then it's the bomb, the bomb, the bomb
The bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb
That will bring us together

Two Minutes to Midnight (Iron Maiden)

The body bags and little rags
Of children torn in two
And the jellied brains of those who remain
To put the finger right on you
As the madmen play on words
And make us all dance to their song
To the tune of starving millions
To make a better kind of gun

99 Red Balloons (Nena)

99 red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells it's red alert
There's something here from somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky Where 99 red balloons go by

Ape Man (the Kinks)

I think I'm so educated and I'm so civilized
'Cause I'm a strict vegetarian
But with the over-population and inflation and starvation
And the crazy politicians
I don't feel safe in this world no more
I don't want to die in a nuclear war
I want to sail away to a distant shore and make like an apeman

It’s the End of the World as We Know It (R.E.M.)

Six o'clock, T.V. hour, don't get caught in foreign tower
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn
Lock him in uniform, book burning, bloodletting
Every motive escalate, automotive incinerate
Light a candle, light a motive, step down, step down
Watch your heel crush, crush, uh oh
This means no fear, cavalier, renegade and steering clear
A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline

Bad Moon Rising (Creedence Clearwater Revival)

I hear hurricanes a-blowin'
I know the end is comin' soon
I fear rivers over flowin'
I hear the voice of rage and ruin

Real Situation (Bob Marley)

There ain't no use, no one can't stop them now
Everybody strugglin', ain't no use, ain't no use
Ain't no use you even try
Ain't no use got to say bye bye
Ain't no use, ain't no, ain't no use, no one can stop them now (no one can stop them now)
(No one can stop them now)

Eve of Destruction (Barry McGuire)

Don't you understand what I'm trying to say
Can't you feel the fears I'm feeling today?
If the button is pushed, there's no runnin' away
There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave
Take a look around you boy, it's bound to scare you, boy

Here’s the playlist on YouTube: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBzay7jV2HsvUXwBb95w1ygieZsnp9i12&si=GWWILpYydVIdVLu_