Happy quarantine, everyone! With the world going mad around us, maybe it’s a good thing to take a step back and focus on our well being for a while. Despite frustrations about job and financial security, health, and social obligations, it’s important that we try to use this time constructively. What does constructivity look like in the time of pandemic? Well, catching up on that TV show, correspondence, and sleep are good ways to start. The way I look at it, now’s the time to do all the things that I complain about not ever having the time to do.

With all the down time, now is the perfect time to experience art, whether that is found through reading, watching, playing, or listening. I’ve put together a little quarantine playlist to keep you entertained as you clean the house or enjoy a bottle of wine. It’s important to remember that we should face this crisis with a little humor. I don’t intend to diminish the threat and struggle that this virus engenders to many people. But in the face of it, and in the face of the world seemingly shutting down for months, we’ve got to band together and try to have some fun. 

The playlist is linked at the end of the article. Hey, if you get a little stir crazy, a dance party is a great way to ride it out.

1. The Beginning of the End – Nine Inch Nails: It may seem a little doom and gloom to start things off, but that’s really how things felt with the threat of COVID-19 looming. With a strong drum pound and typically driving production, Trent Reznor provides us with an energetic start to our musical hour. Don’t worry, it’ll get better.
2. Corona – The Minutemen: Like I said, things will get better. I can’t believe that there was a song written 30 years ago that is so perfect for this exact moment in time. Besides providing what many people know as the Jackass theme song, one of the greatest ‘80s punk bands remind us that, in the face of everything bad going down, “the people will survive.”
3. It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine) – R.E.M.: The classic that you knew would show up, yet I couldn’t refuse. Michael Stipe and company may feel fine, but I’m not sure if we as a society are there yet. I’m tryin’ though.
4. Down with the Sickness – Disturbed: A perfect song to represent disease, both biological and psychological. David Draiman’s iconic, aggressive bark/coughs encapsulate not only everything about Disturbed, but the feeling of being aggressively sick. The anger in this song is a little over the top, but isn’t everything?
5. Fever – The Black Keys: A great palate cleanser after “Sickness’s” tirade, The Black Keys’ woozy song floats along with a certain nonchalance that’s pretty endearing. I haven’t been the biggest fan of Danger Mouse’s hazy production work with the band over the past several years, but it grows on me.
6. Stayin’ Alive – Bee Gees: Like I said, it’s important to have a sense of humor about things. A great way to strut down the grocery store aisles as you stock up on supplies; hopefully you don’t need to perform CPR any time soon.
7. You Sound Like You’re Sick – Ramones: The last thing you want to hear from anyone these days. But I’m always down to hear the Ramones. You could say that every song from the Queens punks sounds the same; that’s a good thing.
8. Desert Island Disk – Radiohead: A moment of quiet contemplation amidst the chaos. As we isolate ourselves withdrawn from human contact on our own private desert islands, it’s important to remember that reflection and self-centering is healthy. Especially now.
9. I’m So Sick – Flyleaf: This selection may get a couple laughs from a certain group of friends, but I don’t care. This song mirrors my frustration not with literally being sick, but with all of my major plans over the next few months being cancelled. Makes me mad, yo!
10. Stay Away – Nirvana: What we feel anytime we hear anyone cough or sniffle.
11. Touch of Grey – Grateful Dead: Even though this song is technically about aging gracefully, the upbeat rhythm and hopeful chorus goes down well amidst all the heaviness around us. Robert Hunter’s lyrics reflect an initial bewilderment about how time has gone by and he finds himself where he is in life. We may feel the same after being cooped up for days on end. But ultimately, “we will get by / we will survive.”
12. Isolation – Joy Division: The ironic thing about Joy Division is, of course, that there is really nothing joyful about their music or lyrical outlook. However, there is no song better suited to describing the cabin fever many of us feel. At least it is a little dance-y.
13. When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around – The Police: Pretty much what I was speaking to in the introduction to this list, Sting and the boys remind us to look at the bright side of life. (The Police slap too – at some point I’m going to write a piece about how they are one of the best acts of the ‘80s and potentially of all time.)
14.   The Kids Aren’t Alright – The Offspring: Okay, so we’re looking on the bright side. That doesn’t erase the many structural issues that contributed to the disaster our nation finds itself in. The political, economic, and healthcare systems are so intertwined, and the problems with each have been exacerbated by the coronavirus response. Many people of my generation and younger (and many older as well!) are fighting to improve conditions so that this may hopefully never happen on the same scale again.
15. Harder To Breathe – Maroon 5: This is me having fun despite everything. Not gonna lie, my high school garage band covered this song, and to this day it stands as one of the best Maroon 5 songs.
16. Spanish Castle Magic – The Jimi Hendrix Experience: The best fever dream you can have.
17. Sick Love – Red Hot Chili Peppers: Kind of on the nose, I suppose, but it’s a pretty groovy song. The Peppers’ recent work with newly departed guitarist Josh Klinghoffer is largely underrated, shifting into more atmospheric, textural material that contrasts with the stinging leads of prior (and recently returned) guitarist John Frusciante. Different doesn’t mean bad. Also, here’s to everyone who is trying to date or keep in touch with significant others in the time of social distancing.
18. I Just Don’t Know What to do With Myself – The White Stripes:A sentiment that I expect everyone to identify with more and more as the quarantine progresses. The Detroit two-piece do a great job of aurally representing pent-up frustration, bashing out a riff-rocker that builds to an explosive release.
19. Toxic – Britney Spears: By this point, we deserve some candy. A staple of my middle school years, heard at every dance, and still my favorite Britney song.
20. Push Th’ Little Daisies – Ween: The worst kind of fever dream. (But it’s still a little…catchy?)
21. In My Time of Dying – Led Zeppelin: I had to finish the playlist on a strong note, and nothing is stronger than Led Zep. This may seem a little morbid, but the band is in fine form here, with Robert Plant pondering his end backed by some epic Jimmy Page slide guitar and mammoth Bonzo drums. The best part is how they end with their tongue in their cheek, going out on a dying….*cough*