CIVL’s Aaron Levy welcomes you into 2026 with some songs from many, MANY new years’ ago.
I don’t often share “content” to “social media” personally, ever since Meta banned news in Canada (often inaccurately attributed to the Liberal Trudeau government, for all of their legitimate folly), but I did throw this — my #1 all-time New Year’s Eve song — up on the ol’ Zuckerbox. RIP Miles.
Dinosaur Bones – “N.Y.E”
Short-lived with an outsized influence — no, not the Jurassic (or earlier) lizards themselves, but the band named after them — a Toronto powerhouse that took the local gig world by storm in the late aughts, leading to this epic lo-fi anthem that relatively few people will ever even hear, let alone appreciate.
Nine Inch Nails – “The Day the World Went Away”
Brought to mind because, in thinking of New Year songs, “Year Zero” came up — but I like this more. The vibe is so menacing and ominous all the way through; reminding me of Y2K, when the world almost ended, and how every NYE since I wonder about the same…
A song so essential that when Will Smith — one of the archetypal crossover actor-rappers — released his Willennium record, in time for the “Millennium” in 1999, the lead track directly references this already-classic, specifically because it was calling back from the very moment the song had originally been calling forward toward!
