What my Top 10 Says About My Year
Here are the top 10 most lisented to songs for me this year:
1. Heightened by Tech Nine
2. Can I Get a Chee Hoo by Dwayne Johnson from the Moana 2 soundtrack
3. Zero by Imagine Dragons from the Wreck it Ralph2 Soundtrack
4. Stay by Ghost
5. Gotta Go by Agnostic Front
6. Tobey by Eminem
7. The Big Man by Drop Kick Murphys (I'm surprised this isn't higher)
8. The Call of Kthulu by Metallica from S&M 1
9. Valhalla Calling by Miracle of Sound from Valhalla Calling Duet Version
10. Go the Distance by Peyton Parish from The Most Magical Album on Earth
You all know my music and writing are so intertwined. And what I’m listening to has a lot to say about what I’m writing, feeling, and processing. So, in this post I want to share some of what this music meant to me and my stories this year. Permit me some reflection and possibly spoilers (but I’ll try not to do that) on my writing throughout 2025.
There are a few themes for me that surfaced with this list. But before I get into themes, there’s one song on here that is an outlier. It has been on my list for the past many many years. Call of Kthulu from Metallica (from the S&M album which was a collaboration between Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony). I love this song and the story that always comes to mind when I listen to it. So, putting that one aside…
Activate & Stop Moping
There’s a lot of pick me up songs here. Early in the year I couldn’t stop listening to “Can I get a Chee Hoo” which kept me motivated. “Tobey” from Eminem was the same as was “Go the Distance” by Peyton Parish. Early this year I was really struggling in writing. Sales were weak. New content was lingering, nothing was planned for release and there was (still kind of is) an overwhelming feeling around finishing the Lazarus Spiral series. These songs pumped me up to push through.
I can’t thank these songs enough for kicking me in the ass to get moving. Especially “Can I Get a Chee Hoo!” which became my anthem for “get your butt to work and write!” Funny how whenever I try to leave writing I stumble back into it, but this song really slapped me into action. Tobey was the “yeah, I’m inspired to be the GOAT” - and really want to grow into that. It takes work and sitting around thinking about how much my writing sucks isn’t going to get me there. As Arnold Schwarzenegger says, “You don’t whine your dream into existence!” These songs really helped me conquer (for now) a lot of doubt and head trash. I have a lot of people who have enjoyed my stories and give me positive feedback (than you all for that!) - but, just like most people, no amount of hype will ever silence the internal judge. But these songs slap the mic out of the judge’s hand and let’s me pick it up to say what I gotta say. I’m thankful for the artists who inspire me with their work!
Punk Rises Again!
One of my stories this year was focused on the 1980s punk scene. I loved writing it so much and learning about the 80s DC Punk Scene and just listening non-stop to some of my favorite punk bands. I’d never been much of an Agnostic Front listener but have so enjoyed it this year. Drop Kick Murphys have always been a band I listen to all the time. One of my core memories was when my wife-to-be and I were in the Hard Rock Cafe in Oslo, Norway and Sunshine Highway from Dropkick Murphys came on - it was pure happiness in that moment and I ALWAYS get thrown back into that moment whenever I hear their music. And the near release “Big Man” is so fun. I feel like this is success. When someone writes a song or artwork like that for you to honor how much you’ve impacted them. It is such a fun song showing so much love for someone. So, besides the punk story, these songs just are awesome and massive energy boosts to me.
I think 2025 is going to be the seed of a new wave of Punk. The more I read about the DC scene in the 80s, the more FOMO I have, but all the conditions are right for a resurgence in punk. All we’re missing are the people willing to get up and scream, to DIY their vision into reality, and build a community ready to lift each other up (sometimes literally) to thrive against careless corporations and sleeping government representatives. Who knows, maybe there will be more punk coming from me in 2026.
One of my favorite lines from the movie LOGAN is when the horse trailer runs off the road and Wolverine says, “Someone will come along to help.” To which Xavier responds with frustration, “Someone HAS come along!” I love that. Maybe all this punk research, street art, horror I’ve been doing is growing to be something more in me than I originally planned. Hell, I’ve been raging against the machine for most of my corporate life - now maybe it is time to take the reigns off my art.
The Darkness Within
Stay, Heightened, Zero all connected to feelings of isolation. Which, again, if you’ve read my writing, you know isolation and disconnection is a key theme. There’s also the recurring theme of loss or being lost, according to some of my readers. I don’t intend to write in these themes, but they surface regardless of what I want to write. What comes out of me is what comes out. This year a lot of my writing swirled around isolation and overcoming (or not) big obstacles. Hell, Sister Wendy’s stories are some of the biggest obstacles I’ve ever thrown at anyone. Then there was Dr. Chen’s obstacles in Story 13 - where she was literally facing sorcerers and the machinations of one of the biggest bads in any of my stories. These songs were the songs I’d listen to while writing and diving deep into these darker places (even though I feel like Zero has a really hopeful message).
What I was surprised about…
I expected to see more Ozzy on this list because of the various listening deep dives I’ve had after his passing. The lack of Type O Negative was also a surprise as Halloween is normally the season of the Drab Four for me. I’m not a holiday music person in general so no shockers there at the lack of holiday music. And also not on here are the audio tracks I’ve been playing around with to build music for some of my audio story experiments.
Also not on my list, I got the Mortal Kombat soundtrack and have been listening to that like a fiend. It is so good and lightens my 90s teen heart. Songs from Fear Factory, Type O Negative, KMFDM, Napalm Death, OH MAN! Such a good soundtrack. Equalled only by THE CROW (90s version) which swung way over its weight with those bands. I’d say these two soundtracks are core memories of high school for me. Those and playing STAR FOX on Super Nintendo while listening to …AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.
Ah…youth 🤣
That’s a Wrap
To summarize this year, there were a lot of big feelings and my music really captured those big feelings for me. Right now I’m listening to a song about lost family and how you wish they were around to see how you turned out. Memories. Feelings. Working through 2025 which was a hard year for writing for me - at least I think it was. I’ll be reflecting on the year more in future posts. I did read a lot this year (perhaps more than any other year). I think I’ve found my writing style this year - so it might have been a much better year than I knew.
We’ll see…