Playlist: Things and People Dead and Dying

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Progress leads to innovations in technology and even though this has many advantages, it comes with a price, the payment being obsolescence. As new methods of communication and transportation, etc. are discovered and mainstreamed, the olden ones are no longer used. This idea of media dying is the theme of our current issue and when I heard “Dead Medium,” the first song that came to my mind was “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Pearl Jam’s “Spin the Black Circle” refers to vinyl records, which some might argue are not properly dead yet, as they have seen a revival amongst the younger crowds. Nevertheless, they are a medium of the past and not so widely used today. I had made a joke about a dead fortuneteller (medium) when I first heard of the current theme, which is why I chose Red Hot Chili Pepper’s “Fortune Faded” as part of this playlist.

Out of the many people who died this year, three of them were musicians I had grown up listening to: Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, Aamir Zaki – perhaps the best blues/jazz guitarist Pakistan has ever produced, and Chester Bennington of Linkin Park. I decided to include from each a song whose titles I thought would fit in the playlist.

While thinking of some of these songs, perhaps the most interesting piece of music I came across was “The Typewriter,” where an orchestra uses an actual typewriter as part of the score. Who still uses paper to write? Not many of us today, I’m sure, which is why I found “(Blank Paper)” by The Folk Implosion to be the perfect song to end the playlist with.

Hope all of you enjoy this playlist as much as I enjoyed putting it together.