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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: 9/11

  • We Break Easy: Ten Songs I Was Listening to on September 11, 2001

    10 years ago – y’know, before iPods and stuff – it was my general practice to keep a mix CD of my current favorite songs in my car to listen to on my way to and from work. And then, every week or so, I’d make a new CD, replacing the songs I was tired of with fresh new ones. I was listening to one such CD Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001. On my way home from work that day, I was struck by how eerie some of the songs felt in light of the day’s events – the same way the absolutely perfect blue sky of that day took a sinister cast once its perfection had become so abruptly purified of the usual air traffic.

    In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, radio programmers were purging their playlists of songs that, however popular before, suddenly felt insensitive or inappropriate. The nu-metal act Drowning Pool had scored a breakout hit that summer with a song called “Bodies”, a tribute to the joyful violence of a moshpit. The song had been ubiquitous on rock radio and MTV2 all summer, and suddenly it was gone. Similarly, Jimmy Eat World’s then just-released third album Bleed American was pulled from the market, only to reappear a couple months later, euphemistically retitled as Jimmy Eat World. In the place of those “troubling” songs, came Five For Fighting’s “Superman” (at the time, a 6-month old single that had previously fizzled at radio, like it’s superior – and more troubling – predecessor “Easy Tonight”), and a new version of Enya’s “Only Time”, tricked out with 9/11 audio verite.

    In the meantime, I kept my little mix CD, and while I already loved most of the songs on it, the fact is, they’d taken on a whole new dimension for me (in the same way that Five for Fighting song did for so many others). Even now, hearing any one of these songs in any context has a sort of time travel effect, and I’m back on that beautiful, horrible Tuesday morning.

    Eventually Bleed American got its original title back. And “Bodies” would eventually be revived, not only as theme music for professional wrestling, but also as an instrument of torture at Guantanamo. And eventually, my little CD got a little beat-up – CD burning was still a relatively new thing at that point, and my home made mix CDs had pretty short playable lives. But I kept the tracklist, and here are ten highlights, presented with no further comment, in the order in which they appeared on my CD.

    1. “Crystal” by New Order

    2. “Working Girls (Sunlight Shines)” by The Pernice Brothers

    3. “Sometimes” by Ours

    4. “We Need a Resolution” by Aaliyah

    5. “Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box” by Radiohead

    6. “Hellbent” by Kenna


    Kenna – Hell Bent by Kenna

    7. “Blizzard of ’78” by Ida

    Ida's ''The Braille Night''
    [no video available]
    “Fixing an eye on the hopeful in a heartless room / you’ll be done soon /
    Snow is falling down and the whole damn town / is covered in white”

    8. “Broke” by The Beta Band

    9. “Getting Away With It (All Messed Up)” by James

    10. “I Want Love” by Elton John

  • Seven Years On: Back To Life, Back To Reality. But…

    Today is September 11th, and while I would not only like to refrain from making political statements in addition to not sharing too much of my personal life on this blog, I have written something in reference to the events on this date in every blog I’ve ever had. This should be no different.

    I always scratch my head when I speak to people or read the op-ed page in the newspaper (yes, I still read the paper) and hear or read people saying that people should forget the events that happened on this date. There are plenty of things in life I have no problem forgetting. You can forget songs, you can forget what you had for breakfast, you can forget your house keys, but there’s no way I can forget a day when my world and the lives of so many people changed for good.

    (more…)

  • Remembrance

    As much as I’d like today not to be about music for a minute, the fact of the matter is that 9/11/01 did fall on a release date (Tuesday). I was managing the music department of a store at that time, and I remember one eye being on the registers with another eye on the news. I remember closing the store early and finding the streets of NYC in absolute chaos. I remember taking the subways and watching the stunned looks on everyone’s faces. I remember getting back to my apartment, staring at a sky thick and black with smoke, with nothing else to do but listen to the music I’d just bought. There was no phone service in Manhattan, no internet…nothing to do except slap the headphones on my ears and try to make sense of the tragedy that had just occurred.

    Of course, music went on to become a healing balm for many after the events of 9/11: plenty of songs took on a special significance. Music has always provided the answers to my questions at times when nothing else could answer, so everything from POD’s “Youth of the Nation” to Five for Fighting’s “Superman” to…well, just about anything from U2’s “All That You Can’t Leave Behind”. Although I was 25 when the attacks happened, the suddenness of everything and the lack of reasoning behind what was going on almost turned me into a five-year old again. With no one to provide a rational explanation to what was happening and no one to offer a solution or even any kind of consolation, I (and many others I assume) took solace in music.

    And this is why, no matter how many businessmen say that the music BUSINESS will die, music itself remains as vital as ever. For many people, music is the one of the few things that makes sense in an uncertain world. You can celebrate, mourn, motivate and take solace in music in a way that no other media can really offer.

    But let’s forget about music for a second and take a second to mourn as well as show appreciation for the lives that were unnecessarily lost, the brave firemen, policemen (and women) and ordinary civilians who gave selflessly in a time of need. Let’s appreciate our servicemen and women fighting overseas. Whether you agree with the war or not, the men and women out there need our support. Let’s take a second and look in the mirror and realize that tomorrow’s not promised. Let’s try to do good things for and to people-not just today, but every day. Let’s show a little more tolerance, a little more appreciation, a little more love. So many of us just take for granted that life will continue as is, and we fail to appreciate the little things in life as they happen (hell, sometimes I do too).

    Kanye, 50 and Kenny Chesney can wait. I thought taking a second to remember was more important than discussing music that comes out today. I hope you agree.