Dear listeners,
A long-awaited day has finally arrived: the cinematic clash of matter and antimatter, represented by the two biggest and perhaps most thematically divergent summer blockbusters opening on the same date. To all who celebrate it, a very happy one Barbenheimer to you.
The conversation around “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” risks relying on lazy stereotypes about gender essentialism and taste: men are from Mars and women are from Venus; Oppenheimer is for boys and Barbie is for girls. But what I find funny about a lot of the “Barbenheimer” memes is the way they subtly fool those assumptions as well, treating the idea of “masculine” and “feminine” aesthetics as something more artificial, interchangeable, and downright laughable than they first appear.
I admit that the Barbenheimer memes still make me laugh. (Well, the good.) Even the jokes about how ridiculously over the top the Barbenheimer memes are right now makes me laugh. I wanted to make my own contribution. So, see — Barbenheimer: The playlist.
Sometimes a good playlist is all about consistency and tonal similarity. But when compiling a collection of songs, I also like to play with aesthetic contrasts – the wilder the better. And I definitely went a little wild on this one.
Yes, this playlist is one of them Leonard Cohen‘s most depressing songs ever Natasha Bedingfield‘s mid-year feel-good radio hit ‘Unwritten’. It also follows one Nine inch nails song with a fake pop song that interpolates (a generous word in this context) that same Nine Inch Nails song. One thing it doesn’t include is “Barbie Girl.” Even I know my limits.
But for all its wacky combinations, I hope you find something to enjoy in each of the extremes of this playlist. We all contain multitudes – in each of us an inner ‘Barbie’ and an inner ‘Oppenheimer’. Here’s a soundtrack to satisfy them both.
Listen along on Spotify as you read.
1. Dolly Mix: “Baby It’s You”
The Shirelles were the first group to record the sweetly swooning “Baby It’s You” – written by Burt Bacharach, Luther Dixon and Mack David – as a hit, but I love the driving pace of this 1980s version by underrated British post-punk band Dolly Mixture. (Do you understand? Dolly?) (Listen on YouTube)
2. Nine Inch Nails: “Head Like A Hole”
Trent Reznor’s recording career began with a crackling roar as this thumping track kicked off Nine Inch Nails’ 1989 debut album, “Pretty Hate Machine.” RIP J. Robert Oppenheimer; you would have loved Nine Inch Nails. Maybe. (Listen on YouTube)
3. Ashley O: “On a Roll”
In a 2019 episode of the sci-fi anthology show “Black Mirror,” Miley Cyrus played Ashley O, a fictional pop star with a Barbie pink bob and a creepy holographic alter ego. One of Ashley O’s hits hilariously interpolates “Head Like a Hole,” turning the most brutal lyrics into empty, #girlboss-worthy slogans: “I’m on a roll, riding so high, achieving my goals.” (Reznor, a fan of the show, approved the use of his music, including a reworking of “Hurt” called “Flirt,” which, tragically, didn’t make the episode.) “On a Roll” is so dystopian and absurd that it’s justifiably enjoyable—or at least more catchy than anything you hear on “The Idol.” (Listen on YouTube)
4. Mclusky: “To Hell With Good Intentions”
“And we’re all going straight to hell!” screams Andrew Falkous, in the middle of an inferno of guitar noise, on this propulsive and darkly funny single from the Welsh rock band’s beloved 2002 album “Mclusky Do Dallas”. (Listen on YouTube)
5. Hannah Diamond: “Every Night”
Overly sugary, synthetically glossy and slightly creepy, 2014’s “Every Night” sounds like it was written and performed by an AI program based on ’90s hits by Jock Jams and Max Martin. But it’s actually the work of Hannah Diamond, the British musician and visual artist who has worked with experimental pop collective PC Music. (Her recent single, “Affirmations,” also has a slight Ashley O vibe.) (Listen on YouTube)
6. Leonard Cohen: “Avalanche”
The somber opening track of Cohen’s 1971 “Songs of Love and Hate,” “Avalanche,” is… Certainly one of the songs of hatred. (Listen on YouTube)
7. Natasha Bedingfield: “Unwritten”
If a CW coming-of-age drama is ever made about my life (it won’t be), I think this should be the theme song. Curse “The Hills” for getting there first. (Listen on YouTube)
8. Lou Reed: “Waves of Fear”
Here’s Lou Reed giving Danzig his best, from his 1982 solo album ‘The Blue Mask’ — one of the mid-period gems buried in his extensive discography. The song is both cartoonishly macabre and a very convincing evocation of an anxiety attack: “Waves of fear, pulsating with death / I curse my tremors, I leap on my own step.” (Listen on YouTube)
9. Sophie: “Intangible”
The great electronic performer and producer Sophie, who passed away in 2021, looks beyond the limitations of the material world and reaches for something transcendent and liberating on this swirling pop fantasy. It’s from her first and only full-length album, “Oil of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides,” from 2018. (Listen on YouTube)
10. The Gap Band: “You Dropped A Bombshell On Me”
This is how this playlist ends. Not with a sigh, but with one jam. (Listen on YouTube)
I have more songs than a song convention
Lindsay
The amp playlist
Listen on Spotify. We update this playlist with every new newsletter.
“Barbenheimer: The Unofficial Playlist” track list
Track 1: Dolly Mix, “Baby It’s You”
Track 2: Nine Inch Nails, “Head Like a Hole”
Track 3: Ashley O, “On a Roll”
Track 4: Mclusky, “To Hell With Good Intentions”
Track 5: Hannah Diamond, “Every Night”
Track 6: Leonard Cohen, “Avalanche”
Track 7: Natasha Bedingfield, “Unwritten”
Track 8: Lou Reed, “Waves of Fear”
Track 9: Sophie, “Intangible”
Track 10: The Gap Band, “You Dropped a Bomb on Me”
