When you load up Spotify, a great big chunk of the time you can’t think what to play, right? You default back to your old favourites, those albums and songs you played on repeat when you first discovered you could make them yours.
This isn’t about guilty pleasures; it’s about those songs you’ll still be listening to when you’re old and in your rocking chair. So, enter Teenage Kicks – a playlist series that sees bands running through the music they listened to in their formative years.
Next up, Higher Power.
Rancid – Maxwell Murder
Jimmy Wizard: I remember when you went into places that sold CDs, and you could listen on the big headphones, I asked if I could listen to Rancid because I had seen the ‘Ruby Soho’ video on TV and thought they looked cool. I literally listened to the first 20 seconds of this song and was like, ok I will take this CD. That was the first time I heard music that fast, and I knew I needed this album.
Slipknot – Disasterpiece
Jimmy Wizard: I got kicked out of school in year 6 and listened to this album the whole ride home just angry at everything, especially this song with the sick blast beats.
The Clash – Death Or Glory
Louis Hardy: My mum introduced me to a lot of punk music when I was younger. I remember the first time I heard The Clash, and I was like, fucking hell this is sick. We would just sit and get super stoned and listen to old records and talk about life, this song sums up that for me.
Radiohead – Reckoner
Louis Hardy: I have huge difficulty crying, but for some reason, this song really helped me let it out from young. The guitar part is so melancholic. If you need an emotional purge slap this tune on and let the tears roll.
Enter Shikari – Sorry You’re Not A Winner
Ethan Wilkinson: So I personally had never heard music like this before and this song popped off! People would play it on phones at school, and we’d all do the clap, haha.
Jay Z x Linkin Park – Points of Authority/99 Problems
Ethan Wilkinson: This blew my tiny mind. Had no interest in rap at all at that age and then this came out of nowhere. I could not get enough of it and kinda still can’t.
Papa Roach – Blood Brothers
Max Harper: The first time hearing this song was on Tony Hawks 2, which obviously is a lot of kids soundtracks growing up. But it was also the first proper CD my dad got for me when I was 10 which I cherished/still have to this day. The song is also badass still.
Alkaline Trio – Stupid Kid
Max Harper: The video for this song is insane and was always on KERRANG/Scuzz/P Rock/MTV etc. They were dark and miserable but had hooks and harmonies that made me sing along every time as a kid, and they’ve stuck with me to this day as my favourite band.
Taken from the February issue of Upset. Higher Power’s album ’27 Miles Underwater’ is out now.
