Radio LBB: The Comfort of Angry Music

Up until very recently, I masked my music taste. Every Uni party playlist I ever made, or random background track played in the office comprised of a smorgasbord board of ABBA, Mr Brightside & every other party pleaser you’ve heard on every night out. After all the times of being told to, “put on whatever you want to listen to,” I realised that I’d normally get through a third of a song if I was lucky. Then somebody would pull a funny face and question, “what the f*** is this?” before hastily take back control and sliding in with the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme (admittedly… a massive banger, but that’s beside the point.) This is how the “Party Pleaser Playlists” began.

However, this is no more. This is a playlist of the music that grasped my attention. That got me and kept me interested in music and sound. As a kid (and still as an adult), who quite often found himself questioning the ways of the world, I found comfort in all this angry, hi-octane, trashy music. Originally, after catching earfuls blaring out of my older brothers’ room, I would spend countless nights steaming through YouTube. Video after video, finding band after band that I unquestionably just clicked with. I found myself listening to lyrics of people who I did not know but could easily relate to. Again, at gigs in rooms with tens to thousands of people that I’d never met but felt on the same wavelength with.