Punk Rock is a genre that’s always been associated with youth. When claimed by the young, it’s an act of defiance. This is our music, you old bastards. Nobody needs you anymore. When older folks consign punk to the young, it’s generally an act of dismissal. Sure thing, rebel kids…

From Pete Seeger, Stevie Wonder, and Sinéad O’Connor, to Muddy Waters, Roni Size, and Karen Dalton, this playlist covers an extraordinary range of musical artistry. — 365 days later, and myself, Michael Smith, and James David Patrick have completed our #365Songs project! Here is the list in its entirety (the link at the end of the post will take you directly to the playlist on Spotify): Pete Seeger — Go Tell Aunt Rhody Billy Bragg — Island…

This is the 2nd in a 3-post series featuring all 3 writers from the #365Songs project. For this concluding song recommendation, we have each written an essay about the same piece of music. — “Ode to Joy”—Ludwig van Beethoven Whether in the poems of Rilke or Rumi, the paintings of Van Gogh or Kahlo, the novels of Marquez or Morrison, there is a searching quality that is so unmistakably human in its desire to reach … something. The divine. The sublime. An answer of some kind—meaning, purpose, revelation.

These songs never had a chance of making the #365Songs playlist. Here’s why. — When approaching the task of choosing 365 different songs to recommend, the biggest challenge was not coming up with that many—the challenge was whittling down to that amount. Looking back now, I’m already kicking myself for all the songs I could have recommended. But at the end of the day…

Will O’ The Wisp—Miles Davis, arranged and conducted by Gil Evans It doesn’t require a year-end report from a streaming platform to tell me which songs, albums, and artists I’ve listened to most often in any given year. And no matter which year we’re talking about, I can pretty much guarantee you that Sketches of Spain is going to be near…

Top Floor, Bottom Buzzer—Morphine Mark Sandman is a genius for many reasons; not the least of which is this lyric: There’s a muchacha, teachin’ me to mambo There’s my buddy Pete eyein’ a bowl of Combos It’s from “Top Floor, Bottom Buzzer,” a song on The Night—an album that would turn out to be…

Where Eagles Dare—Misfits Looking back over the hundreds of essays I’ve written for the #365Songs project, I’m struck by how often I’ve written about punk rock. I certainly didn’t plan it that way, and I’m not sure I can tell you why it happened. What I CAN tell you, is that—despite punk’s reputation…

Private Idaho—The B-52s There is a v.1 to the career of the second most famous band from Athens, and there is a v.2. The dividing line makes for a tragic marker. Founding member Ricky Wilson—brother of singer Cindy Wilson—died of AIDS as the band was completing what would be released as Bouncing Off…

Blank Generation—Richard Hell and the Voidoids Richard Hell is almost impossibly influential. If he’d been in just one of those three seminal bands—Neon Boys, Television, and the Heartbreakers—his place in punk rock history would be secure. But, of course, he was in all three, and it was with Television that he played the first-ever show by…