Parsons Playlists: Graduation

Welcome back to Parsons Playlists! Today’s playlist is curated by Music Library student manager Eliana (class of 2024) and features some tunes for upcoming graduation festivities.

Graduation

Graduation

Graduation is here, along with the bittersweet emotions that come with it. Whether you’re thrilled, inconsolable or indifferent, here’s a playlist to remind you how far you’ve come and how much there is to look forward to.

Green Day – “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)”

Keane – “Somewhere Only We Know”

The Head and the Heart – “Rivers and Roads”

Macklemore – “Good Old Days”

Harry Styles – “Canyon Moon”

Hannah Montana – “I’ll Always Remember You”

Queen – “Don’t Stop Me Now”

ABBA – “Slipping Through My Fingers”

Taylor Swift – “You’re On Your Own, Kid”

Adele – “When We Were Young”

Phoebe Bridgers – “Scott Street”

Fleetwood Mac – “Landslide”

Noah Kahan – “You’re Gonna Go Far”

Here is a link to the whole playlist on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU94rco57ZexfNkMoIV2Ip91qkDJqyCij&si=R3y9TrYYMFbPthZW

Parsons Playlists: Best Album Art

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.

Tame Impala – “Borderline”

Palace – “Live Well”

blink-182 – “All The Small Things”

Harry Styles – “Late Night Talking”

My Chemical Romance – “Welcome To The Black Parade”

Green Day – “Basket Case”

Childish Gambino – “Redbone”

Weezer – “Say It Ain’t So”

Collective Soul – “Run”

Nirvana – “Come As You Are”

Gorillaz – “Feel Good Inc.”

Here is a link to the whole playlist on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU94rco57Zeybnb59dYL0axiA4iCUAB4B

Parsons Playlists: “The Turn of the Seasons”

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.

Taylor Swift – “august”

WILLIS – “I Think I Like When It Rains”

The Beatles – “Yesterday”

Taylor Swift – “right where you left me”

Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried – “Slipping Through My Fingers”

Ed Sheeran – “The A Team”

Harry Styles – “As It Was”

Wabie – “Love Me Tomorrow”

Green Day – “Wake Me Up When September Ends”

Post Malone – “Circles”

Ritt Momney – “Put Your Records On”

Coldplay – “Yellow”

Declan McKenna – “Brazil”

Earth Wind & Fire – “September”

Here is a link to the whole playlist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn_0zPAfyo8&list=PLEPpzeK8v3s2_m0TioXsHNJ_80uYGSfCl

Arachnophonia: Green Day “American Idiot”

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.

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

Today’s installment of Arachnophonia is by student manager Deisy (class of 2024) and features Green Day’s 2004 album American Idiot. Thanks, Deisy!

Green Day

American Idiot

Green Day - American Idiot

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?

The band’s official beginnings started in 1989 as a group of teenagers in Northern California came together to create Green Day. Their most successful and biggest hit album, American Idiot, shook the world when it came out in 2004. This album contains songs like “Boulevard of Broken Dreams“, “Holiday“, and “Wake Me Up When September Ends“.

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!

green-day-american-idiot-video

Parsons Playlists: Green Songs

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!

Color_icon_green

The Chieftains – “The Green Fields of America”

Booker T and the MGs – “Green Onions”

Kermit the Frog – “Bein’ Green” (aka “It’s Not Easy Being Green”)

The Lemon Pipers – “Green Tambourine”

Vince Guaraldi Trio – “Greensleeves”

Panic! at the Disco – “That Green Gentleman”

Green Day – “Green Day”

Kate Rusby – “Village Green Preservation Society”
(the original version by the Kinks is great as well!)

Simon & Garfunkel – “Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine”

Lorde – “Green Light”

Beyoncé – “Green Light”

George Baker Selection – “Little Green Bag”

Babyshambles – “Love You But You’re Green”

R.E.M. – “Green Grow The Rushes”

Here is a link to the whole playlist on YouTube:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU94rco57ZexqVXjCyoLdglo0D2Ik7ak7

And here is a version on Spotify:

Parsons Playlists: Punk/Rock

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.

December -  Neck Deep poster

“December” – Neck Deep

“I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” – My Chemical Romance

“Parachute” – Neck Deep

“Wish You Were Here” – Neck Deep

“Uprising” – Muse

“Supermassive Black Hole” – Muse

“Jingle Jangle” – Hot Hot Heat

“505” – Arctic Monkeys

Arctic Monkeys in concert

Alex Turner – lead singer of the Arctic Monkeys

“Lovers Rock” – TV Girl

“The Reason” – Hoobastank

“Dissolve” – Absofacto

“Take Me Out” – Franz Ferdinand

“When We’re High” – LP

“Wake Me Up When September Ends” – Green Day

“Cigarette Daydream” – Cage the Elephant

“Helena” – My Chemical Romance

“Racist, Sexist Boy” – The Linda Lindas

“Decode” – Paramore

“She’s A God” – Neck Deep

“rose” – ANNA inspi’ NANA

“Hash Pipe” – Weezer

“Island in the Sun” – Weezer

“Gold Steps” – Neck Deep

“She” – Harry Styles

“Through the Fire and Flames” – DragonForce

DragonForce (band)

And here’s a link to the full playlist on YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU94rco57ZexbDVo4qiKM2XXtgi_oByzl

Arachnophonia: Green Day “American Idiot”

Editor’s note: Arachnophonia is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about items in the Parsons Music Library‘s collection. All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question or to additional relevant information from around the web.

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!

Green Day

American Idiot

Green Day - American Idiot

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.

Green Day

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.