Seven Song Spin: Play It Loud

I don't always play my music loud, but sometimes I just crave the decibels. Here are a handful of songs I've turned to over the years when I feel the need to pump it up until I can feel it.

This whole playlist can be found here.

You drifted away: I was somewhat mixed on Jim Sheridan's film In the Name of the Father, but I wore out the opening title song, by U2 and Gavin Friday. In addition to many other uses I put it to, I remember blasting it on my weekly errand to a photo processing place for a newspaper job in the mid-1990s—a drive that took almost exactly the length of the song. I had to look up the reference to Georgie Best, but I only just realized I have no idea what that horn-like instrument is that kicks in at 1:21; I'm assuming it's either an actual horn or a treated guitar? I welcome your ideas. Among many fave parts, I'm especially partial to the funk-adjacent breakdown around 3:35.

The gutters of our invisible shrine: I've written about my love for fellow Arizona natives the Meat Puppets before in this space, but my affinity is almost exclusively confined to the albums Meat Puppets II and Up on the Sun, with a steep decline in interest about much of the rest; I have a track or two I like on Mirage and Huevos and Forbidden Places. But among my favorites is "Scum," a guitar orgy from No Joke! that marries gritty distortion and soaring leads into a kind of controlled frenzy. I can't get enough of it; I love living inside this sound. (Also, maybe it's just me, but I hear a faint echo of the JC Superstar "39 lashes" theme around 2:21.)

Designed to fill your mind: The summer of 1989 was a vivid one for me—the first I spent in L.A., working odd film-related jobs, my first serious long-term relationship, and the release of Do the Right Thing, a film I saw repeatedly in the theatre. I was besotted both with Bill Lee's old-school score and with the songs from the film, and nothing tops the tall, wide, intense sound of this Public Enemy opener, "Fight the Power" (vastly preferable to the version later released on Fear of a Black Planet imo).

Did you get my card: The compilation/soundtrack from the 1987 documentary Athens, GA: Inside/Out had a decent collection of songs from the scene that launched R.E.M., but one track, Bar-B-Q Killers' "His and Hearse," leapt out and worked its warped magic on me. Hardcore punk hasn't ever been a big part of my musical diet, but I find the flaring energy and wit of this recording irresistible, and the performance clip from the film is a must-watch. (The lead singer here, Laura Carter, died in 2002.)      

Let grains abound in my bungalow: It's just occurring to me how many of the songs on this list are opening credit songs from films, and that hearing them first in the theatre may have had a lot do with their lasting impact on me. That's certainly the case with Sukhwinder Singh's "Kawa Kawa (Aaj Mera Jee Kardaa)," the brash, high-contrast opener of the great Monsoon Wedding.

Your rescue squad is too exhausted: It's also striking me that a fair number of these are album opening tracks. Nothing like starting on a high to grab attention! "Army of Me," from Björk's definitive Post, has to be one of the best record starts of all time. And no matter how high I turn it up I can't quite pin down the pitch of that swirling, distorted bass line.

Ticky ticky thought of a gun: Like punk, industrial and noise have only ever been on my radar in passing, but I guess reviews of Ministry's Psalm 69 convinced me to give it a try. I recall nothing else about the record but I did quite like "Jesus Built My Hotrod" for its relentless guitar chop and auctioneer-style vocals. It's honestly close to the limit of what I can take, but take it I do.