This is a recurring guest feature with Sean Breslin of Jersey Calling. TGEFM does not accept paid content, and we are publishing this feature because it’s pretty awesome.
Last month, Jersey Calling released our fourth studio album, Parasocial Security. The album gave us a chance to explore some topics bigger than ourselves and I’ve been building some playlists around each track from the album to further the conversation. These playlists are a mix of direct influences and inspirations, or songs that examine themes similar to the specific track Jersey Calling created.
Currently live over at Spotify is the playlist created around our song “Content.” I had a lot of fun with this playlist because I spend a lot of time thinking about the ceaseless self-promotion necessary to succeed as a creator in today’s media landscape, and I think these songs will resonate with anyone who’s seriously pursued their art. Read on for deeper insight on why I chose these tracks, along with audio or video.
Jersey Calling – “Content”
This was the first song I wrote for the album, and I tried to get at all the various aspects of self-promotion on social media. There’s this constant pressure to create new content, to present yourself as genuine, and to keep people wanting more. You end up mining more & more of yourself to give your followers a sense of connection, and if you’re not careful you’ll hollow yourself out.
Hole – “Celebrity Skin”
The media is brutally unforgiving to all women, but I’d argue few women in the rock world have had to endure such blistering scrutiny as Courtney Love in the wake of her husband’s death. She was vilified and blamed, and still somehow had to make a living in the entertainment industry that reviled her. This song perfectly captures the narrator’s transformation from person to commodity: “It’s all so sugarless / hooker, waitress / model, actress / Oh, just go nameless.”
Reel Big Fish – “Sell Out”
This song is impossibly catchy – the harmonies, the driving guitar, the pitch-perfect horns – all force your head into an irrepressible nod. The lyrics are full of promise and hope, the fulfillment of every dream I’ve had since I picked up a guitar 34 years ago. Yes, it’s tongue-in-cheek, but the rock-star aspiration is real & pure.
(And, if you’ll permit a nerdy grammatical digression… I love that the song title is a verb “ to sell out,” as in “take the money & run.” Had they written the title as “sellout,” a derogatory adjective, the song would have taken a slightly harsher edge.)
Lady Gaga – “The Fame”
I love Gaga, and in her first two albums she was incisive and giddy with herself, her weirdness, and her unrestrained talent. This track revels in the glamor and opulence of fame, and takes ownership of the work involved in maintaining that status. But – as my son pointed out to me – the music has a touch of an industrial feel, which to me nods to the reality that fame is a business, and churning out a product for us to consume.
Amanda Palmer – “Guitar Hero”
Palmer’s opening chords recall the Clash’s “London Calling,” and from there she paints a violent picture of the allure of success & fame, regardless of how it’s achieved. Palmer draws a direct line between rock stardom & the infamy of mass shooters. Throughout the song (and its official video, which I did not link), instruments are held as weapons: “Stratocaster strapped to your back / It’s a semi-automatic like dad’s.” The imagery carries throughout the song with a haunting bleakness at the end: “I could save you, baby, but it isn’t worth my time / ‘Cause even if I saved you there’s a million more in line.”
Nirvana – “Radio-Friendly Unit Shifter”
Kurt Cobain gave a satirically commercial title to a gnashing song full of feedback & pick scrapes. But, for all that noise, this is essentially a pop song that lays bare Cobain’s ambivalence about his own fame. From contradictions in couplets or even within single lines, to the ultimately sad repetition of the refrain (“What is wrong with me?”), the vocals and the torrent of sound behind them perfectly encapsulate a world in which Cobain felt trapped.
Ani DiFranco – “Napoleon”
Ani DiFranco remains one of my all-time favorite songwriters, and this early-career track from 1996’s Dilateputs DiFranco’s DIY ethos on full display. The track is full of attitude and a bit of spite, but tempered with a recognition of just how attractive an easy route to stardom seems. Still, for someone who built her catalog, her label, her entire career all from the ground up, the petty complaints of an aspiring pop star are too much for her to take.
NOFX – “Please Play This Song on the Radio”
NOFX’s delightful “fuck you” to every programming director who’s ever walked the earth. The song starts off with a promising familiar four-chord progression, then quickly leans into the shortcomings every songwriter experiences with unabashed glee. Then, with a mischievous self-awareness, they raise their middle fingers higher so the FCC can hear them. It’s simultaneously a rejection of pop radio, but still with a bit of a plea for some airtime.
John Prine – “Spanish Pipedream”
John Prine is a legend, and this silly yet adorable song seemed like the perfect capstone for this playlist. Rather than fretting over the next platform or how many views our most recent video received, there’s something very appealing about cutting ties with mass media & enjoying a simpler life far from the city. This track is a breath of fresh air after a set of songs all examining the rush and panic of life in the spotlight.
