No One’s Gonna Love You…
The cover art for Cease to Begin
No One’s Gonna Love You is a song by American rock group Band of Horses, from their second studio album, 2008’s Cease to Begin. The song is a ballad about the loss of a deeply passionate, loving relationship. The song sings of a dying relationship… “We're reeling through an endless fall. We are the ever-living ghost of what once was.” The songs chorus says “But no one is ever gonna love you more than I do.” The song’s impassioned lyrics have landed it in several TV shows, such as One Tree Hill, Numb3rs, and Chuck.
Why this song is important to me…
This song’s appearance in Season 1, Episode 10 of Chuck, is obviously why this song is a favorite of mine. As a moody, overly dramatic teenager, the song really spoke to me. In the fifteen plus years since those heady days, the song has changed from a teenager angst anthem, to a fond memory of a different time in my life. I love the song for it’s sound, since nobody makes songs like it anymore.
Smalltown Boy…
The album of Bronsi Beat’s debut album.
Smalltown Boy is a song by the English pop group Bronski Beat, from their debut 1984 album, The Age of Consent. The song itself is a famous gay anthem, about a young boy fleeing his home in rural England to places elsewhere to escape social and moral persecution from the people he’s grown up with. The song sings of the alienation and loneliness he’s experienced at home “Pushed around and kicked around, always a lonely boy.” The song’s lyrics also touch on the idea that he’ll never get the love and support he needs, at home, so he mustn’t cry. “The answers you seek will never be found at home” “You never cry to them, just to your soul.” Smalltown Boy was a seminal part of the early gay movement in Britain, considering all three members of Bronski Beat, Jimmy Somerville, Steve Bronski, and Larry Steinbachek were openly gay.
Why this song is important to me…
This song has been a regular listen for me for a very long time, if only because it was in the video game Grand Theft Auto V, on the Nonstop Pop FM radio station. I’ve spent thousands of hours in the game over the years and this song has been on the radio many, many times. The song’s origins as a gay anthem are of little concern or care to me. I just love the song as a brilliant song.
Desire…
The Icarus themes are clear and obvious in the cover art for the Desire EP.
Desire is a song by the Vancouver-based electronic duo known as Bob Moses, from their 2020 EP Desire. The song itself is a collaboration with electronic musician ZHU. Desire speaks of the poisoning effect social media has had on relationships. The song especially focuses on how social media makes people project the perfectly perfect image of themselves and only look for the shallow details of a person. According to Bob Moses members Jimmy Vallance and Tom Howie, the song was written as a “love tale of the digital age”, taking heavy influence from the Greek Tale of Icarus. The lyrics, such as “I don’t want your desire, I just want to be free” speak to the need to break free from the obsession with social acceptance and find one’s inner self. The song’s driving trance beat and deep house sensibilities mix well with its lyrics, giving the song an intense, seductive quality.
Why this song is important to me…
This song was my anthem during COVID-19, coming out during the pandemic. It’s one of my all-time favorite songs and was heavily influential on the writing I did during the shutdown. I actually rediscovered my love of writing during the shutdown, listening to Desire as I did so. In that way, Desire by Bob Moses can almost be considered the anthem for my literary reawakening. So, it goes without saying that I love the song and hold it near and dear to my heart.
Elephant…
An excellently psychedelic album cover!
Elephant is a song by Tame Impala, the psychedelic musical effort from Australian musician and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker. The song appears as the lead single on Tame Impala’s second album, 2012’s Lonerism. The song itself is an older composition from the group, written around the time of their self-titled EP. This means that the song has a bluesier sound than much of the rest of the album, setting it apart. Elephant is a satirical song about a pompous, arrogant, jerk. The pompous jerk is envisioned as an elephant, strutting around, “Shaking his big, grey trunk for the hell of it.” The song received critical acclaim in 2012, with many calling it the alt-rock hit of the year.
Why this song is important to me…
To be honest, there isn’t some deep story behind my love of this song. In point of fact, I just love it to pieces. I’ve listened to the song dozens, if not hundreds of times over the years. It’s been a regular listen of mine since I was in high school.
Freeze & Explode…
Part of the soundtrack of my life.
Freeze & Explode is a song by Cassettes Won’t Listen, the one-man independent project of producer Jason Drake. The song was included on the 2008 LP “Small-Time Machine.” The song speaks of a painful breakup and the heartbreaking realization that it’s best to just break up instead of slowly, prolonging the end of a long, intimate, loving relationship. The song speaks of the loss of said relationship and the mourning of the person you used to be when in that relationship. The song itself is most famous for appearing in Chuck Season 2 Episode 13 “Chuck Versus the Suburbs.”
Why this song is important to me…
It goes without saying that Chuck is my favorite TV show of all time. The episode this song came from is arguably one of the best episodes of the show, not to mention a favorite of mine. The show and the song both did much to shape my creative and narrative style. This song in particular has been a song I’ve played on repeat for over fifteen years at this point. The song has been on in the background many nights while I was up late, writing and honing my craft. In that regard, this song can be argued to be part of the soundtrack of my life.
Spectre…
Maybe the best Bond song never to be used.
Spectre was a song written and recorded by the English band Radiohead, intended for the 2015 film, Spectre. Ion Productions initially approached Radiohead about recording a song for the twenty-fourth installment in early 2015. Radiohead initially submitted their unreleased song “Man of War” to be the title track, which Director Sam Mendes loved, but Man of War was rejected because it wasn’t written for the movie and therefore wasn’t eligible for the academy awards. Radiolead lead singer Thom Yorke claims that Man of War was written in the 1990’s as a tribute to James Bond theme songs. Radiohead suspended work on their album, 2016’s “A Moon Shaped Pool” and recorded a brand-new song. The new song, “Spectre” was a very different, much darker song. The song itself speaks of isolation and dispossession, the feeling of being alienated from one’s own self, and mortality. In the end, Ion Productions decided not to use Spectre, instead opting for the much poppier Writing on the Wall, by Sam Smith. While officially, the song was rejected because it apparently came too late to make it into the movie, many believe it was rejected for being “too dark.” Radiohead released the song for free on SoundCloud on December 25th, 2015 and then as a B-Side for their single “Burn the Witch”.
Why this song is important to me…
I love this song and sincerely wish it had been used in the movie. The song is widely regarded as one of the best rejected Bond songs ever and I’d say it’s the very best. The song is brooding and slightly discordant in its melodies. There is a video on YouTube where somebody edited the opening credits for Spectre and put Radiohead’s song over it and… it’s so much better than Writing on the Wall. I love the song and hope you do as well!
Wicked Game…
My all-time favorite song!
Wicked Games is the fifth song on Chris Isaac’s third studio album, 1989’s Heart Shaped World. The track was written by Isaac himself in a matter of minutes and explores the intoxicating temptation of a relationship you know is bad for you. Apparently, Chris Isaac came up with the idea for the song after agreeing to see a woman he knew was bad for him, but saying yes, because of his attraction to her. The song itself is known for its brooding guitar riff and sensual tone, as well as Chris Isaac’s falsetto vocals. The song gained attention after being featured in David Lynch’s 1990 film, Wild at Heart, which led to its famous music video, featuring a topless Helena Christensen running in the surf with a shirtless Chris Isaac.
Why this song is important to me…
As I mentioned in this week’s episode, this song is arguably my all-time favorite song… ever. I first heard this song at an outdoor food court at a sunny San Diego mall in 2012 while on a family vacation. I Shazamed the song, bought it on iTunes, and have been listening to it ever since. Just on my laptop alone, the song has been played 458 times, not even counting the hundreds of times I’ve played the song on my phone over the years. The song has always been a muse for me whenever I need to write something angsty or heartbreaking from a relationship perspective. Over the years, the song has directly and indirectly inspired dozens of story ideas or scenes that I’ve used in my writing. I love the song’s extremely unique tone, and it’s subject matter. It’s not often that we get a ballad like Wicked Game.
A Comet Appears…
One of my all-time favorite songs.
A Comet Appears is the closing track on the Shins’ third studio album, Wincing the Night Away, from 2007. The track itself was written by James Mercer and explores residual guilt, emotional desperation, and destructive relationships. Mercer wrote the song while exploring his own “catholic guilt“ and the feeling of trapping people in impossible situations. The song is known for its melancholic tone and delicate sound. The album itself won a grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.
Why this song is important to me…
This song features in the closing moments of the pilot episode of the TV show “Chuck.” The show ran from 2007 to 2012 and was integral in shaping who I am as a person. Back in those days, I saw a lot of myself in Chuck Bartowski, the main character of the show. The song itself has been a favorite of mine for almost seventeen years. It was actually the canceling of the show that got me into writing, where I wrote Chuck fanfiction. So, in a way, without this show and this song, I never would have embarked on this literary journey that I’m on now.