Playlist (Organized Autobiographically)

In the book and movie High Fidelity, the main character organizes his records autobiographically, showing how what he has listened to throughout his life has defined him as a person throughout his life. Like the rest of the story, this moment makes fun of the selfish naval-gazing of pop-culture obsession, but also the inherent fun of it. So, at the risk of exposing the selfish naval-gazing of my pop-culture obsessions (and my bad music tastes, which have been described as music made exclusively by "soft spoken white guys who need five minutes to work up their confidence enough to shout something”*), here is my autobiographical music collection: my favorite band from each season since I started college and my favorite songs by each of them.

2016-17

Fall: The Format

• She Doesn’t Get It
• The Compromise
• If Work Permits

Winter: They Might Be Giants

• Damn Good Times
• I'm Impressed
• You're On Fire (It's a music video, so if you just want to hear it, you'll have to skip a few seconds ahead or listen to a bunch of random noises.)

Spring: The Shins

• New Slang
• Australia
• Phantom Limb

Summer: The White Stripes

• Fell in Love With a Girl (Watch the video for this one, by the way. You'll see why I love it immediately.)
• Denial Twist
• Blue Orchid

2017-18

Fall: Weird Al Yankovich**

• Why Does This Always Happen to Me
• Everything You Know is Wrong
• Hardware Store

Winter: Ben Folds

• From Above***
• You Can Do Anything
• Army

Spring: Sufijan Stevens

• Chicago
• John Wayne Gacy Jr.
• Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Stepmother!

Summer: Guster

• The Captain
• The New Underground
• One Man Wrecking Machine

2018-19

Fall: Rilo Kiley

• The Execution of All Things
• All the Good That Won’t Come Out
• A Better Son/Daughter

Winter: Nada Surf

• Treading Water
• Electrocution
• The Future

Spring: Bright Eyes

• Another Travelin’ Song
• Four Winds
• The Bottom of Everything (Skip a couple seconds ahead to get to the actual song, though in this case I think the pre-song is worth it.)

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* Which, incidentally, is also a fairly accurate description of me.
** Probably a bad sign that there have been two bands mostly known for their gags so far (They Might Be Giants and Weird Al). But, so long as I'm indulging myself by dedicating an entire post to my music tastes, I might as well be honest about it.
*** Fun fact: Nick Hornby, the author of High Fidelity, actually wrote the lyrics to this one.