"Film My Life" Soundtrack

Songs for every phase of a life.

Anyway, I found this FML Soundtrack piece I did for Punk Noir Magazine in 2021. The prompt was What songs are playing during these key scenes in the movie of your life and why? I’m sharing the updated list here including links where you can listen.

Childhood:

KISS “Shout It Out Loud”: My first favorite band was KISS. I saw them play live when I was 8. This is the first song I think of when I think of that time.

First Love:

The Cure “A Night Like This”: Like every entry on this list, this one could be its own list. With that said, there’s still something about “A Night Like This” that captures the potential of that first encounter like no other song.

Teens:

Minor Threat “Salad Days”: My teen mind was shaped by Ian MacKaye, Kevin Seconds, Robert Smith, Danny Elfman, Chuck D, Ice-T, and KRS-One.

I’ve already said too much.

Young Adult:

Superchunk “On the Mouth”: I spent the already tough young-adult years in a stilted and stifling relationship. Mac McCaughan’s tales of young love’s beginnings gave me hope for something better.

First Heartbreak:

…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead “Mistakes & Regrets”: I once listened to this song on repeat for 13 hours straight. I was distraught.

Working Montage:

Gang Starr “Work”: Premier’s bounce on this song is perfect for a getting-it-done montage. The lyrics about putting in work are just gravy.

Sex Scene:

TV on the Radio “Wear You Out”: This is one of the only songs ever written about sex that’s actually sexy.

Writing Montage: 

Van Halen “Unchained”: It gets no better than this. Turn it up.

Old age:

Abecedarians “They Said Tomorrow”: I think of old age as a period of summation. “They Said Tomorrow” is my favorite song ever. I first heard it in my teens, and it sums up a lot of things I felt then that still haven’t changed.

Death: 

His Name is Alive “I Can’t Live in This World Anymore / Home”: The perfect goodbye.

What would yours look like?

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More Soundtracks:

I made soundtracks for a few of my books as well. Check ‘em out:

Escape Philosophy: Journeys Beyond the Human Body

With healthy servings of Deafheaven, Wolves in the Throne Room, Celtic Frost, and of course the mighty Godflesh, my Escape Philosophy playlist is just the thing to accompany the book.

Dead Precedents: How Hip-Hop Defines the Future

Repeater Books posted this playlist on their YouTube channel for my book Dead Precedents when it came out. It includes artists I talk about in the book like Tricky, Public Enemy, Shabazz Palaces, New Flesh, Rammellzee, dälek, Moor Mother, and Mike Ladd. In addition, this archived version of “Dead Precedents: The Lost Tapes” from The Mantle includes songs by dälek, Antipop Consortium, Danny Brown, clipping., and Cannibal Ox.

“Fender the Fall”:

My time-travel love story, “Fender the Fall,” which is included in my new collection Different Waves, Different Depths, started out as a screenplay, so I had a soundtrack in mind as I was writing it. This playlist includes songs from both of the times in the story, 2002 (e.g., Sparta, The Notwist, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Rival Schools, et al.) and 1991 (e.g., School of Fish, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The The, Peter Murphy, et al.).

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Thanks for reading and listening,

-royc.

http://roychristopher.com