De La Soul
De La Soul use a mirror-gazing conceit to push back against critics and industry types who wanted to pigeonhole them as hippies…
individuality vs. conformity authenticity in art resistance to stereotyping
Smokey Robinson
A straightforward declaration of romantic devotion, built on the classic Smokey Robinson template of certainty and fidelity. The…
romantic devotion certainty/fate fidelity
Public Enemy
A dense, funk-driven manifesto that treats mainstream American culture's chosen icons as instruments of erasure, demanding Black…
institutional racism Black pride and self-determination media and cultural gatekeeping
The Flaming Lips
A funky, riff-driven anthem that dresses up a political fantasy of taking down authoritarian power in the language of magic…
power vs. greed collective resistance fantasy as political metaphor
Sleater-Kinney
A defiant statement of self-invention that refuses easy categorization, either as a musical movement or as a stable identity.…
self-definition against labels resistance to commodification anonymity as autonomy
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
The Staple Singers
This is the Staple Singers' rendition of a traditional African American spiritual, one long believed to have carried coded…
deliverance/salvation biblical exodus imagery collective faith
Big Thief
"Not" is a song built entirely out of negation, circling an unnamed thing by naming everything it isn't. Lenker piles up sensory…
negation and unnameability impermanence desire and its objects
Van Morrison
A rapturous, almost weightless love song built from a single sustained feeling rather than a plot. Van Morrison strings together…
romantic rapture renewal and lost time nature as emotional mirror
Soundgarden
A hazy, dissonant piece of psychedelia dressed as a pop single, in which a decaying suburban landscape is invited to be…
apocalyptic longing decay and disguise escapism
Prince
A ballad of apology and release, built around an image—purple rain—that resists literal decoding but functions as a symbol of…
regret and apology romantic ambiguity spiritual transcendence