2020: A Playlist
I just wanted to kick this newsletter off by saying hello to a few new followers who have joined us since our last installment! You’ve caught me in the middle of my month of Year End Lists, so this isn’t a typical installment; a few weeks back I compiled this list of my favorite editions of this newsletter I’ve put out so far, which may give you a better idea of what Do You Know What I Love The Most? is normally all about. I’ve got some pieces I’m excited for you all to see lined up for January, but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy the rest of these lists as well. I’ve really enjoyed putting them together.
It’s December here at Do You Know What I Love The Most?, and that means it’s time for Year End Lists! I’ll be devoting the rest of this month to rounding up and discussing the various media released in 2020 that meant the most to me — just like every other website on the internet! Isn’t that special?
With the holidays coming up this week I thought I’d give everyone something a little lighter than usual; a playlist of the songs that defined 2020 for me. The rules? Only one song per release, and the songs have to have been released in 2020 (so this isn’t technically a “favorite songs of 2020” playlist, as that would have a lot more repeat artists on it. A few of these artists will pop up again next week in my “Top Albums of 2020” list, though). I did specifically sequence these songs to flow together in order, but it wouldn’t be very punk of me to say you couldn’t listen to them on shuffle either. If you know me or have been reading this newsletter for any period of time you probably know by now that my taste in music is rather niche, so this playlist is only representative of what I’ve listened to this year, and not at all of the “objectively best” music has to provide at large. I try to be a culturally literate as possible, but life is too short to listen to music you don’t like, no matter how good or popular it actually is.
2020: A Playlist can be found here on Spotify, or if that’s not your streaming platform of choice, it can also be found here on YouTube. Below I’ve also included a sentence or two of commentary on each track. I hope you guys can find something here you enjoy, if not in the music, than at least in the writing.
“Out On My Feet” — The Wonder Years (Out On My Feet/Brakeless)
The is one of two songs The Wonder Years released this year in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of their first two albums, written and produced in the style of those two albums. Both are absolute jams, but the build-up and release in the final chorus of this song is phenomenal, and it just felt like a perfect opening track to kick this playlist off with.
“Belly of the Whale” — The Lawrence Arms (Skeleton Coast)
This isn’t quite a sea shanty, but it’s close, and who doesn’t like an almost-sea shanty?
“Worries” — MXPX (single)
With this single, MXPX has created a perfect, quintessential pop-punk track. I must have listened to “Worries” twenty or thirty times in a day at one point this year.
“Nothing Changes” — PUP (This Place Sucks Ass)
PUP doesn’t do a lot of mid-tempo songs, but when they do they often end up being some of their most interesting. “Nothing Changes” lyrically taps into the monotony we all felt in 2020 all while taking us on a fascinating musical journey that’s anything but monotonous.
“S U R F P A R T Y U S A” — Dryjacket (Going Out of Business)
Dryjacket markets in chill jams, and this is one of their best, with soothing, lilting harmonies that draw listeners in before surprising them with a grand chorus and then slowly playing out with a mournful trumpet outro. These guys know how to set a mood.
“Gotta Get Out” — Roe Knows Best (Muscle Memory)
If this song had been released in the 90s it would have been playing on every top 40s radio station twice an hour every hour.
“Clarity” — Teenage Halloween (Teenage Halloween)
The only word I can think of to describe this song is “anthemic.” It starts small but then just builds and builds into this massive chorus full of soaring harmonies, voices cracking with emotion and ambition, uplifting, swelling guitar, and the wisdom of lessons learned. What a track.
“Stay Awhile” — New Found Glory (Forever + Ever X Infinity)
Not only is this the catchiest song on NFG’s new record, but it’s also the one that best captures the spirit of young love the album is aiming for while avoiding the traps many of the other tracks fall into.
“Cat’s Cradle” — Tiger’s Jaw (single)
If Brianna Collins took lead vocals on all of Tiger’s Jaw tracks the world would be a better place. Her voice over these guitars is just heaven.
“R/Edgelord” — JER (single)
This debut single from Skatune Network’s Jeremy Hunter combines the boundless, infectious fun of their typical covers with the righteous indignation of their social media to create a peppy, propulsive track lambasting internet jerks who always have to have the last word.
“Jerk” — The Front Bottoms (In Sickness & In Flames)
The Front Bottoms have always had a knack for walking right up to the line of how silly they can be while still being taken seriously without crossing it. I’m afraid their most recent album finally stumbles across that line a few times, but there’s still some real jams on it, “Jerk” included. “montgomery forever” is actually my favorite track on the album, but it comes saddled with a dumb skit once the song ends, so “Jerk” takes its place on this playlist instead.
“Losers 2” — Spanish Love Songs (Brave Faces Everyone)
The chorus of this one truly rips, but it also sums up the themes of both this album and Spanish Love Songs as a band perfectly.
“Promises” — Yellowcard (B-side)
This is technically a B-Side to Yellowcard’s 2011 album If You’re Through Thinking, Say Yes, but it didn’t see wide release on streaming platforms until this year, and I’ll always jump at the chance for new Yellowcard music, even if it’s only new to me.
“Lemons” — Best Ex (Good At Feeling Bad)
Like all of Mariel Loveland’s writing, this track is candid and personal, self-depreciating yet uplifting. The lyrical journey is perfectly complimented by the instrumentals, with the hints of menace lurking in the margins eventually drowned out and overcome by the uplifting, shiny pop of the choruses.
“Bury Me Anywhere Else (Live From Asbury Park)” — Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties (Live From Asbury Park)
I was at the actual concert this live album was recorded at, and while this particular track wasn’t one of my favorites on the original record, it really stood out to me both at the actual show and in its recorded form. Hearing the crowd yell “don’t wanna die in New Jersey!” back at Dan, especially in a year with no shows, fills my heart.
“Strawberry Mansion — From Exile” — The Menzingers (From Exile)
From Exile is an acoustic re-imagining of The Menzingers’ Hello Exile (my favorite record of 2019), recorded at home throughout the Covid pandemic. Listening to it mostly just makes me want to listen to Hello Exile instead, but this new take on Strawberry Mansion, an underrated track on Hello, is a lot of fun.
“Not a Citizen” — Changing (single)
The guitar solos on this song are so good, but the thirty second snippet of this chorus I heard on Instagram, like, eight months ago wormed its way into my brain and has never completely left. So catchy.
“Scram!” — Jeff Rosenstock (No Dream)
I love the bass here, and the transition from the jaunty, bouncy verse to the blistering chorus rules. “I've been told for most my life ‘Try to see the other side’ by people who have never tried to see the other side” is a perfect lyric.
“Best Life” — Cheekface (single)
Sometimes when things are at their worst all you can do is laugh, and Cheekface’s sly, tongue-in-cheek satire pokes fun at the madness of life in 2020, all accompanied by a catchy, sing-along chorus, a bouncy bassline, and even some cowbell!
“Crooked Ways” — Motion City Soundtrack (single)
This is another track that was written years ago and is just now seeing release. Originally commissioned for the Twilight soundtrack, there are hints of the brooding source material in this song, but it’s still a Motion City Soundtrack song through-and-through, with intricate, complex vocals and lyrics and a great sense of melody and structure, quiet and loud.
“Cape Henlopen” — Bad Moves (Untenable)
There’s a beautiful story here about finding yourself in the freedom of a new place (a beach in my home state!) away from your home and family, mirrored by the cathartic, uplifting choruses breaking from the darker, bass dominated tones of the verses.
“Quit Yr Job” — Born Dad (Born Dad’s Greatest Hits)
“Quit your job/and never work again/quit your job/and take care of your friends” are the kinda words I wanna live by.
“Infinite” — Goldfinger (Never Look Back)
I like how intense this song is. It hits this rare tone that’s more extreme than a typical pop-punk song but not quite a hardcore song; it’s still got that recognizable four chords but with a fun bit of bite to it.
“Jessie’s Girl 2” — Coheed and Cambria ft. Rick Springfield (single)
The strange novelty of this song — a thirty-years later sequel to eighties pop hit “Jessie’s Girl” by a totally unrelated band — would be enough alone to get ears on this track, but (un?)fortunately, it’s also a total jam.
“Baby of the Year” — Red City Radio (Apocalypse, Please!)
Simple and catchy riffs and choruses and Garret Dale’s raspy vocals make for a killer modern punk single.
“Some Kinda Hate” — Saves the Day [Misfits cover] (Through Being Ghoul)
I get a real kick out of singer Chris Conley’s take on Danzig; his snarl has a bit of bite, but is also a little silly, but that silliness is half the fun of this cover EP, a feature rather than a bug. My boy Arun Bali absolutely shreds like a madman on guitar a few times here.
“Friendless Summer” — Magazine Beach (Friendless Summer)
I already wrote an entire column of this newsletter about how much I love this song, so I’ll let that speak for me and just say that, as worried as it makes me to put one of the best songs on this playlist at the very end where it may not be heard by many, there was never any other option for a closing track.
Do You Know What I Love the Most’s “Best Of 2020” series:
December 3: Top 10 Newsletters of 2020
December 9: Top Television, Podcasts, and Movies of 2020
December 14: Top Books and Comics of 2020
December 17: Let’s Talk About Substack
Today: 2020: A Playlist
December 30: Top Albums of 2020
ABOUT
“Do You Know What I Love the Most?” is a newsletter from Spencer Irwin. Spencer is an enthusiast and writer from Newark, Delaware, who likes punk rock, comic books, working out, breakfast, and most of all, stories. His previous work appeared on Retcon Punch, One Week One Band, and Crisis on Infinite Chords, and he can be found on Twitter at @ThatSpenceGuy. If you like this newsletter, please subscribe and share with your friends!