The Kinks
The Kinks revive Lola from their earlier hit only to trap her in a nervous, self-lacerating anthem about anxiety and…
paranoia and mental illness self-sabotage fame and surveillance anxiety
Magazine
A song about ideological homelessness, built around a narrator who has infiltrated a crowd or movement only to find himself…
ideological disillusionment alienation from crowds and movements cynicism about political certainty
Frank Ocean
"Chanel" is a loose, associative track built around the Chanel logo's interlocking C's as a metaphor for bisexuality and duality…
bisexuality and duality surveillance and paranoia wealth as armor
Danny Brown
A three-part posse-cut style flex track (featuring Ab-Soul and Kendrick Lamar on the full version, though only Danny Brown's…
success and its authenticity hedonism as armor class ascension from poverty
Mercury Rev
"Holes" is a hazy, impressionistic meditation on loss and the failure of memory to hold together, built almost entirely from…
memory and forgetting grief disorientation
Gang Starr
A boastful street-level anthem built around the double meaning of 'work' as both hustle/grind and criminal labor, delivered with…
hustler ethic street surveillance and paranoia status and reputation
Bruce Springsteen
A minimal, hushed blues built on obsessive desire, where the narrator's want curdles into something closer to torment than…
obsessive desire sleeplessness and mental anguish transgressive attraction
Warren Zevon
A cover of Dylan's outlaw death-ballad, recorded by Zevon while he was terminally ill, so the song's fictional frame collapses…
mortality surrender acceptance
Pet Shop Boys
A cold, hypnotic portrait of London's class and consumer divide, delivered in a near-rap monotone over a synth-pop groove. The…
class division urban alienation consumption and desire
Nas
Nas stitches together two dense verses of violent, luxury-drenched bravado and a grim first-person shooting narrative, unified…
vigilance and mortality street violence and retaliation loyalty and betrayal