So, after a decade or so, they’ve increased my word count from 200 to 450! That’s over twice as many words! Watch how I use them efficiently on this, the approximate anniversary of the day formerly known as Tuesday – 9/11.
Wilco – “Ashes of American Flags”
The cover image of this classic Chicago album of classic Chicago albums, to my knowledge, has nothing to do with the twin towers, the former World Trade Centre buildings, 9/11, the war on terror, the Patriot Act, the Tea Party, birtherism; etc., etc., etc., but the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album barely even came out a week after the towers came down. “I would like to salute / The ashes of American flags / And all the fallen leaves / Filling up shopping bags.”
Killer Mike – “Reagan”
In order to understand the world that brought us to the tragic horror that marked the first set of years of the second set of years of the Prescott Bush trifecta of White House terms, one certainly has to understand the geo-political turmoil that was borne out of the fall of the Soviet Union and the proceeding neo-liberal takeover of D.C and the U.K. Enter Killer Mike, who plainly explains to us about “The end of the Reagan Era, I’m like ‘leven, twelve, or / Old enough to understand that shit’d changed forever,” espousing further, “Why did Reagan and Obama both go after Qaddafi? / We invaded sovereign soil, going after oil / Taking countries is a hobby paid for by the oil lobby / Same as in Iraq and Afghanistan / And Ahmadinejad say they coming for Iran.” And they have — somewhat simplistically. There are certainly other factors at play.
Nickelback – “How You Remind Me”
I think of this band, and this particular song, every year around this time. Not only because it was a Canadian classic, penned and performed by a goldilocks’d troubadour who lived, why, right freaking here in Abbotsford for, like, a certain amount of time. No. I remember this otherwise forgettable piece of my childhood because, as I must have reminded readers in this column annually for some time now, 16 year old me purchased the record it’s on, Silver Side Up, from HMV on 9/11/01 after leaving school, before working my 3 hour shift at McDonald’s. I already owned The State.
M.I.A. – “Amazon”
Remember her? She was EVERYTHING during the mid-aughts with “Paper Planes,” Pineapple Express, and the like. This track though, I include as the refrain “Hello! This is M.I.A., could you please come get me?” It’s just so relevant today — from the Piracy Funds Terrorism mixtape ft. “Lean On” producer Diplo.
