For the most part, there isn’t anything too surprising, aside from the fact that I apparently listened to a lot of ScHoolboy Q in July. I really don’t understand that one. I would have expected to see some more of my weightlifting soundtrack — Gather, Time X Heist, Strife, and Earth Crisis — make an appearance, but I guess I haven’t succeeded at becoming a straight edge gym bro yet.

Also, as someone who works on the web, I was a bit disappointed by how Apple presents their Replay. It’s all JavaScript-based and they do things like disabling the copy function and not presenting the content inside the HTML, so it was a drag generating the list. I ended up having to take screenshots and using an AI tool to parse them for the lists. Not exactly user friendly!

Top Artists by Month

• January: Slowdive
• February: Liz Phair
• March: Guns N’ Roses
• April: Guns N’ Roses
• May: Conflict
• June: awakebutstillinbed
• July: ScHoolboy Q
• August: Yasunori Nishiki
• September: Boysetsfire
• October: Nirvana
• November: Camp Cope

Top Albums

1. Chaos Takes the Wheel and I Am a Passenger — awakebutstillinbed
2. Friends In Real Life — Friends In Real Life
3. Short n’ Sweet — Sabrina Carpenter
4. OCTOPATH TRAVELER II Original Soundtrack — Yasunori Nishiki
5. This Much Remains — Conflict
6. American Thighs — Veruca Salt
7. Persona 5 Royal Original Soundtrack — Lyn / ATLUS Sound Team
8. Lucky for You — Bully
9. Garbage (20th Anniversary Edition) — Garbage
10. After the Eulogy — Boysetsfire
11. Brave Faces Everyone — Spanish Love Songs
12. This Bitter Garden — For Your Health
13. Look! A Rainbow! — Kara’s Walk Home
14. Use Your Illusion II — Guns N’ Roses
15. Whip-Smart — Liz Phair

Top Artists

1. awakebutstillinbed
2. Guns N’ Roses
3. Nirvana
4. Metallica
5. Fifteen
6. Apes of the State
7. Sabrina Carpenter
8. Liz Phair
9. Friends In Real Life
10. Bad Religion
11. Boysetsfire
12. Mineral
13. Propagandhi
14. Everyone Asked About You
15. ATLUS Sound Team

Reflecting on that time, every once in a while, a memory will pop into my head and I’ll recall a band I had the privilege of seeing before they became huge. One such band was The Locust. I remember seeing them at Michigan Fest and it was one of my more memorable experiences in punk. There was a lot of hype around The Locust and the crowd went wild: people had placards, there were some costumes, and everything erupted. I remember the chandelier getting smashed by garbage (captured on video). It was one

I saw The Locust at least a couple more times in this era, but they weren’t a band I listened to or really sought out. Some years later I remember being surprised to learn from a friend outside of hardcore that The Locust was well-known. I’m sure at the time I probably had some pithy response about how they were better when I saw them. Now, I just cherish the memory.

Its obscurity has bred rumors. Some say Vangelis was embarrassed by it and rejected the ideas it contained; others point to a very limited release in France and Greece. In the current era of streaming, it isn’t available. I’ve never been able to track down a physical copy. I still listen to my old MP3s, but I’ve since found a better recording on archive.org.

But beyond its scarcity, what makes the record remarkable is how it blends art and politics into a single sonic experiment. Fais Que Ton Rêve Soit Plus Long Que La Nuit mixes Vangelis’ compositions with sounds he recorded on the barricades in May 1968. The record sleeve describes it as a “’Poème symphonique” or “symphonic poem” which is an accurate description. I’ve always found the album to be quite compelling. Musically, it is rather chaotic with a background of sounds of street battles (tear gas containers, sirens, shouting, etc) with fragments of spoken dialog alongside rather haunting lyrics chanting the slogans of the day. It captures the excitement of the era, the euphoria of believing that the protests have won, and then ends with the somber announcement that French President Charles DeGaulle is re-taking control of Paris and that the occupied university, the Sorbonne, at the heart of the rebellion had been retaken by government forces. The lyrics highlight the revolutionary ideas of the time, drawing heavily from the posters that lined the streets.

More than fifty years later, this strange “symphonic poem” still feels alive—half revolutionary echo, half forgotten artifact. It captures a moment of euphoria, defiance, and eventual disillusion, etched into sound. If you can track it down, even in a dusty corner of the Internet, it’s worth the listen.

I forget where I first encountered it, but there has been some recent studies that suggest our musical tastes later in life are heavily shaped by what one is exposed to in high school.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised then that when I contemplated this question, I was immediately taken back to the alternative rock that constituted my gateway into the broader underground scene. I don’t think these songs really need any introduction. They are three absolutely perfect alternative pop rock songs.

The Breeders – Cannonball

Liz Phair – Supernova

Nirvana – Jesus Don’t Want Me For A Sunbeam

I was about 33 years late, but this I year I learned that I really do like Metallica’s self-titled album. I wasn’t big on metal when I was younger (still not honestly), but I really do like the album. I missed them at the time and then largely held a grudge against them for their pursuit of Napster. In the spirit of letting go, I realized that 24 years was long enough to hold onto that.

As is often the case in these end of the year wrap-ups, there are a lot of staple artists that I’ve been listening to for decades now. Liz Phair, Nirvana, Bad Religion, Garbage, Jawbreaker, and Sonic Youth all would have been on a similar list when I was in high school. Maybe those studies that say your music tastes peak in high school are correct.