Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library student manager Brianna (class of 2023) and features some music from albums with cool cover art.
Best Album Art
In keeping with my last playlist, here is a collection of my favorite songs from albums with some of my favorite album art, as well as some albums whose covers have become iconic! Enjoy.
Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library student assistant Marissa (class of 2025) songs celebrating the transition from summer to fall.
The Turn of the Seasons
This playlist starts out with that feeling of missing the warm weather and the ease of summer. As the songs go on, the listener feels more accepting of the new season, and is eventually overwhelmed by the excitement of leaves falling and sweater weather.
Editor’s note:Arachnophonia (“Arachno” = spider / “-phonia” = sound) is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library‘s collection.
Green Day is a band that many are fans of and many have heard of. I remember going to my local dentist and waiting to be attended to when their infamous song “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” begins to play. Without fail, every year I would step into this dentist and the song would start playing on the radio. As time went on, I discovered the name of the song and eventually got into listening to the band and have since fallen in love with many of their songs. And I wonder, was this song such a prominent part of other people’s lives just as it was to me, or was I just exposed to it too consistently in that dentist room?
While this music may not be to everyone’s taste, it is certainly a genre that can allow one to feel free and youthful. Green Day was known as a band that empowered the youth and was not scared to point out the faults of today’s society. They are the type of band one listens to when trying to de-stress and feel that sense of freedom many young adults crave.
Currently, the Pearsons Music Library has a copy of American Idiot and other notable albums such as 21st-Century Breakdown (2009) and Dookie, which are available for loans or to simply listen to in our study rooms. If at any moment in the semester you feel like decompressing with some pop-punk, try giving Green Day a listen!
Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist features a selection of music featuring songs that mention the color green in their titles curated by our Music Library Associate, Melanie.
It’s almost time for St. Patrick’s Day (March 17th) and the first day of Spring (March 20th), so I have had the color green on the brain of late. Herewith, a collection of songs that mention the color green in their titles. Enjoy!
Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today we’re featuring a collection of punk/rock music curated by Music Library student assistant Deisy (class of 2024).
Sometimes, you just want to lay on the ground and let all the emotions run through you. At that moment you put on some of your favorite punk/rock bands to drown in your feels! This playlist was made with the intention to scream, cry, laugh, and contemplate life.
Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by Music Library student worker, Duncan (class of 2018) and features American rock band Green Day’s 2004 album American Idiot. Thanks, Duncan!
In discussions of individuals’ favorite music, it is often noted how certain songs, albums, and artists have a significant amount of “staying power” with those individuals. These works have managed, at numerous stages of people’s lives, to maintain their resonance. For me, the album that has had this degree of prolonged impact is Green Day’s 2004 album, American Idiot.
I was raised on “oldies” music. Throughout my childhood, starting around the age of three or four, I would go to bed each night with the music of The Beatles, The Monkees, or Simon and Garfunkel (among others) quietly playing on the boom box which rested on my bedside table. I distinctly remember my parents burying their heads in their hands in embarrassment as I sang along to The Monkees’ Greatest Hits on a crowded flight. All of this is to say that, for as long as I can remember, I had been primed for an appreciation for rock & roll.
Then, when I was in fourth grade, I came across the song “Holiday” on YouTube, and I was immediately enamored. I am the son of a (progressive, it should be noted) North Carolina pastor, and had not yet been exposed to the bluntness, ruggedness, and vulgarity of punk music. While I certainly did not understand the political significance of the song at the time (the song is a criticism of the invasion of Iraq), I enjoyed the edginess of the track; it seemed charged with angst and sarcasm. One YouTube spiral later, I was begging my parents for the album for months. Eventually, my parents were worn down by my persistence, and bought me the album.
While I initially appreciated the album for its catchiness, it has established new levels of significance for me in the decade since I first listened. The album is what the band describes as a “punk rock opera,” following a character named the Jesus of Suburbia as he faces the trials of an unhealthy home life, disenfranchisement, drug abuse, and lost love. The album is particularly effective in that it personifies the resentment of American society at the time of its conception. If anything, the issues addressed in the album have gained greater significance as our political landscape has grown increasingly polarized.
While a large part of my appreciation of the album is rooted in in nostalgia, I think the album holds up both thematically and musically. I still find myself returning to it and experiencing new levels of appreciation. The album has been incredibly significant for me, and I hope others experience it similarly.
