A RAINBOW IN MUSIC

In the process of making this playlist I decided very early on that what I found most vibrant about music was its range - we all have vastly different tastes in music that cover every genre. It can be intimidating to share music with people you don’t know as we are so protective over our music and scared that someone will not understand our personal taste. With this playlist, I wanted to show the joy of music in all its varied madness by putting together songs that don’t really go together, guided only by their album cover colour, to produce a rainbow (almost) of music.

Pink

Sweet Jane – The Velvet Underground

‘Sweet Jane’ is (surprisingly not about drugs but) about the relationship between generations and the idea we are all the same in a battle to survive in society, secretly supporting a message of unity. (Though this doesn’t change the fact that Lou Reed is still an awful person).

Bonus track: Femme Fatale

Red

Glory days – Bruce Springsteen

As a native New Jersey-ian, a playlist is incomplete without Springsteen. The focus on the nostalgic heat of the past reminds us to live in the moment, recognising that maybe the days we are living right now are our own glory days, and we should appreciate every moment of them.

Bonus track: Hungry Heart Orange

Sweet Life – Frank Ocean

You can’t pick an orange album without just fully committing to Channel Orange.

The album has turned ten this year and Ocean’s storytelling and honesty still holds up.

Bonus track: Godspeed Yellow Song 2 – Blur

I included this song as it sounds unlike anything Blur ever made and in fact anything from the Britpop era, proving that music can defy the categories we place on it.

Bonus track: The Universal

Green Formation – Beyoncé

Beyoncé always empowers others, but ‘Formation’ empowers herself and teaches us to take ownership over our personalities, family and heritage.

Bonus track: Alien Superstar

Blue Me Against the Music – Britney Spears

Britney as a figure of 2020 is the definition of rebirth, with the free Britney campaign and the re-establishing of control over her own life. Certainly a win for women in music, though the controversy of her body image comment shows she still has work to do.

Bonus track: I’m not a girl not yet a woman

Indigo Lover man – Jimi Hendrix

Purple is owned by the Hendrix (see ‘Purple Haze’) but ‘Lover Man’ had to be featured. I think the cautionary tale of catching feelings for the wrong person (or just of doing the walk of shame) should be shared across Exeter (but especially with some of my friends).

Bonus track: Along the Watchtower

Violet Cloudbusting – Kate Bush

Kate Bush has made a vibrant comeback, breaking records and re-emerging as a Gen-Z icon. But no track on this album is as unique in its storytelling power as ‘Cloudbusting’ in its outrageous imagination and often perceived ridiculousness. Bonus points for an amazing music video.

Bonus track: the man with the child in his eyes

Black Tears Dry On Their Own – Amy Winehouse

Again it is impossible to not pick ‘Back to Black’, but Winehouse’s melancholy is mixed with a more upbeat melody to contrast her heartbreak with her awareness of her own bad choices in this track.

Bonus track: F*** Me Pumps

White Land: Horses / Land of a Thousand Dances / La Mer(de) – Patti Smith

To finish on a track more than 9 minute long requires patience, but Patti Smith’s mix of spoken word and music explodes into a vibrant collage of her poetic skills and rhythmic genius.

Bonus track: Dancing Barefoot