Summertime, 2009

ISSUE #16

I was feeling nostalgic, so I made a playlist for what I would listen to at a pool party in 2009. This first included all the embarrassing things I listened to back then, but then I thought I'd just focus on what still holds up. I wanted to re-evaluate it all, and see what still sticks.

That was a good summer for me, which is why I picked it. It was my first year as a lifeguard, and it was a good time for music, and one of only three years in the past ten where a movie that actually deserved it won Best Picture (we're talking Hurt Locker and 12 Years and Moonlight here, people).

I thought of this because I can't stop listening to "Dog Days are Over", which rules for me even more now than it did then. A song that weird hasn't been on the radio for a long time, with its I-ii-vi progression and its bizarre instrumentation and its lack of any discernible genre. Its a heart-fluttering banger. Sometimes I go dancing at Noni's, and the DJ will drop that after Cardi B or something, and its actually a perfect combo. It's one of my favorite things a DJ has ever done.

Dashboard's on here, I know, but you know what, they hold up better than most emo bands from the time. It might be their lighter touch and the lack of fuzz-boxes. Plus, have you ever seen the Vindicated music video? It was made for Spider-Man 2, and remains one of the greatest works of art of all time. They play in Doctor Octopus's lair! We don't make things like this anymore, and we're a poor society because of it. I beg someone to make a Mission: Impossible - Fallout music video. Lil Uzi Vert preferred.

My girlfriend just adopted a dog, and the vet says he's around eight years old, so you know what year that puts him near. The dog days are just beginning.