9/11/02 falls on a Wednesday, which is the day I do my 80s music radio show, “The Spandex Years.” I’m making a topic appropriate play list for the show and am open to suggestions (am willing to use songs from outside the 80s as well). Here’s what I’ve got so far…
“The Star Spangled Banner” - Jimi Hendrix
“Dear God” - XTC
“Moments of Pleasure” - The Goddess Herself Kate Bush
“What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding” - Elvis Costello
“Bombs Away” - The Police (mentions Afghan-US relations)
“Fragile” - Sting
“Armageddon Days are Here (Again)” - The The
“Panic” - The Smiths
“Rock the Kasbah” - The Clash
“Let’s All Make a Bomb” - Heaven 17
“Mad World” - Tears for Fears
“Who Was That Man” - Nick Lowe
“The Change” - Sad Loves and Giant
“So Much Trouble” - Bob Marley
“When Doves Cry” - Prince and the Revolution
“The Sky’s gone Out” - Bauhaus
End with Ofra Haza’s “Kaddish”
Songs I WON’T do:
“Killing an Arab” - The Cure
“Its the End of the World as We Know It (And I Fell Fine)” - REM
“Born in the USA” - Bruce Springsteen (too obvious)
I need 20 to 25 songs to fill a two-hour show, so feel free to throw suggestions my way. Thanks!
A local radio station played a live version of U2’s Pride (In the Name of Love) a few days after 9-11. I broke down in tears.
I usually don’t go in for that kind of stuff, but the lines:
still get me. It’s from the '80’s, isn’t it? I realize it’s not really about a 9-11 type of situation, but a “hymn dedicated to Martin Luther King” (as one website described it) is still pretty relevent on the anniversary of such acts of hatred, I’d think.
How 'bout “Cloudbusting” by Kate Bush? (Though that might not work considering it’s subject matter.)
“Only Time Will Tell” Asia
“Daylight” Asia
“Short and Sweet” David Gilmour
“Out of the Blue” David Gilmour
“Land of the Living” Don Henley
“Julia” Eurythmics
“Cherish the Day” Sade
“Ball of Confusion” Love & Rockets
These picks are purely for subjective reasons but you may want to include:
“Heroes” by David Bowie - I know it’s about the Berlin Wall but now, whenever I hear it I think of all the police and firefighters who gave all as well as Todd Beamer and the passengers aboard the airliner who prevented the plane from crashing into another building.
“Last Good Day of the Year” by Cousteau - This song has nothing to do with the events of 9/11 but the title and feel of it just put me in mind of how everything just suddenly changed that morning.
You won’t play that song, huh? That song is about killing arabs?
Perhaps it might occur to you that this the protagonist of this song is questioning the fallacy of the cultural hatred he had been taught and pondering his own fate.
i’m usually big on adding my two cents to music related threads, but as a) i am drunk a hell right now and b) i read your OP and was floored, i just wanted to chime in and say…
That is a fucking great selection. if i heard that show, you would be my favorite. DJ. ever
“Let Us Live in Peace” and “My Kind of Love,” both from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical ** The Beautiful Game **.
People need love, that’s what we live for.
Now is the time, it’s not too late.
We have to love, try to forgive more.
No child was ever born to hate.
I will fight for peace with all my might. That’s what’s right.
If you can find the CD with the trophy cup reflecting a child’s face, it’s the one with all the “naughty” words on it. The second US release, with the couple on it, was edited.
My OT is less than a day old and I’ve already have lots of great suggestions! Thanks, everyone! Keep 'em coming!
Some responses…
Tanaqui and red_dragon60: U2 and Sting/The Police are such good sources for this special I could ALMOST feature their songs exclusively. Right now, I’m wavering between “Sunday, Bloody Sunday” and “Pride (In the Name of Love).” I’ve decided not to play “Walk On” only because I’m sure the commercial stations will play it (and “Born in the USA”) to death on 9/11/02.
NDP - David Bowie actually played an acoustic version of “Heroes” at the start of a 9/11 benefit concert, so it’s more than appropriate. FYI - “Fragile” was chosen not just because of the appropriate lyrics, but also Sting performed it live from Italy on the day of the attacks (he was doing a web-cast concert that day anyhow).
Corbomite - My reason for not playing The Cure’s “Killing an Arab” aren’t what you think. I know its really about a scene from Albert Camus’ The Stranger (EXCELLENT novel! I once stayed up to 3:00 am to finish reading it) and it’s a commentary about what a shitty attitude the speaker has, BUT can you see why I wouldn’t want this played in the context of a 9/11 special? Imagine you’re channel surfing on the radio one morning, you’re not familiar with this tune and you hear the repeated line “killing an Arab” on the 9/11 anniversary. See the problem? I like this song as much as REM’s “It the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine),” but I feel they’d both be equally inappropriate in the context of this special. I have played both on other occasions.
Bad Hat - Thanks for the compliment! Actually, you CAN hear my show if you have a decent computer with speakers. All shows are archived for one week at http://www/wruw/org starting about two or three hours after the show ends. If you can’t access the show this way, e-mail me at p_marvel@yahoo.com and I’ll see about dubbing an air check for you!
KGS - Someone else recommended that Billy Joel song and I forgot to write it down. Thanks for reminding me.
FYI - I know the station has most of the songs listed in the OT, but I’ve yet to check on the rest. HOPEFULLY I can play the Nick Lowe and Sad Loves and Giant ones.
Again, thanks for your help! Keep the ideas flowing!
If you want to edge in on a technicality, The Offspring’s Tehran was released in '89 IIRC. An excellent song that I think I will be hearing a lot more of if and when we go into Iraq.
You really should try to find “Jesus etc.” by Wilco. This song is just eerie. It was written just before Sept 11, and was already available publically before the attack. But look at these lyrics:
Tall buildings shake
Voices escape singing sad sad songs
tuned to chords
Strung down your cheeks
Bitter melodies turning your orbit around
*
And later…
*
Voices whine
Skyscrapers are scraping together
Your voice is smoking
Last cigarettes are all you can get
Turning your orbit around
*
It’s also a beautiful song.
Bookend that with “Let’s Roll”, written about Flight 93, and “The Envoy”, a song written about Philip Habib who used to be U.S. Envoy to the middle east. The lyrics start off,
Nuclear arms in the middle east.
Israel’s attacking the Iraqis,
The Syrians are mad at the Lebanese,
And Baghdad does whatever it please…
*