Sunday, March 4, 2012

Top 5 Break Up Songs.

About a week ago I was talking to my friend Adrie about music (as we frequently do) and we started to discuss break up songs. I want to say it was inspired by Gotye's Somebody That I Used to Know and the various covers of it, but it could have been anything really.

Anywho, during our conversation I compiled a quick list of 5 songs about break ups that I really enjoy. To say that these are my "top 5" might be pushing it, but these were the 5 that came to mind when I was thinking about it. Some of them aren't exactly break up songs in the traditional sense, but they still all still share the same sentiments of romantic loss and despair.

(A quick note: Adrie runs Because... Vagina, a feminist blog alongside some lovely ladies I have yet to meet. They cover funny things as well as serious issues. Highly recommended.)


5. Jawbreaker - "Sluttering (May 4th)"
What kind of list would this be if I didn't include Jawbreaker? I specifically chose Sluttering (May 4th) for the chanted part at the end. The line "this is a story you won't tell the kids we'll never have." is one of the most powerful and angry lines to me out of any Jawbreaker song. I've been there before, and I really get it.



4. The Ergs! - "Pray for Rain"
Okay, so this song is really more about how much easier it is to write break up songs than it is to write sunny, happy songs. I think it speaks a lot about the human condition and how we gravitate toward sadness and negativity more easily than happier feelings. It's also just a really good song.







3. Green Day - "Whatsername"
Unlike the other songs on this list, I like Whatsername for having a semi-positive tone to it. When relationships go sour, it's not uncommon to wish you had never met the person (see: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and carry an overall negative attitude about that person for a good, long while. Yet, the closing track off of American Idiot tells it a little more differently. Yes, it's still about the protagonist (in this case, Jesus of Suburbia) going on his own path and leaving Whatshername behind, but he'll still think about her from time-to-time. And it's not in a negative way, as he admits to still remembering the time they spent together- he's just forgotten her personality and traits, presumably the ones that drove him away from her. It's an ideal way to look at an ex and not necessarily the way that we can all take.



2. Catch 22 - "Kristina, She Don't Know I Exist"


This is another one that isn't really a break up song, but a song about an unrequited love. In my experience, I've learned that most, if not all, people deal with having a crush on someone (usually in high school) and being too nervous to approach them about it. Not everyone, however, has the luxury of realizing that said crush was merely just idealizing and isn't as perfect as the mind once thought. We all should be able to experience that. Either way, this song is really easy to relate to in terms of subject matter and I think it gives everyone hope that one day they too can see that their high school crush really isn't all that big of a deal.



1. Alkaline Trio - "Radio"
The chorus is just really fun to sing. Really, that's why this is number one. I know that's kind of lame, but that's how it is. 


What are some of your favorite break up songs?

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