I decided to pick two songs for each of the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. I thought it would be funny. There is no particular genre that encompasses the whole playlist, these are just songs that I like to listen to, and some that I found during quarantine.

Denial

For denial, I started with Dazed and Confused by Led Zeppelin, which perfectly describes the chaos and confusion that defined the beginning of lockdown, when the duration of quarantine wasn’t clear, schools were haphazardly transitioning to remote learning, and toilet paper was worth  more than its weight in gold, for some reason.

Next I chose Say It Ain’t So by Weezer, which is pretty self explanatory. There was a great deal of denial when the reality that we may never see many of our high school friends in person again, and when the death toll began rising, and state enforced lockdown truly began, throwing our lives completely out of wack.

Anger

For anger, I chose Alert Level (Quarantined Mix) by Ministry, because it just fit too well not to include. This is an industrial metal song which includes sound bytes of reporters talking about the grim future that the pandemic brings, and even a clip from one of Greta Thunberg’s speeches. It speaks about the “betrayal” and failure of governments to prepare for such a pandemic, and has a very bitter nihilistic tone, repeating “lets get ready to die.”

Next is Trauma Team by Vector Seven. The actual song is about militarized private medics in a dystopian future, but I just thought this song was neat, and speaks to the prevalence of EMT and First Responders during the pandemic.

Bargaining

For bargaining, I chose Can I Call You Tonight by Dayglow. This song is actually about a guy that got dumped and is grasping desperately to call his ex in order to make amends. But I thought it would be fun to think about it in the context of zoom calls and digital forms of communication, half measures that we promised each other would suffice as ways to maintain a semblance of normalcy.

Next is Happy Together by The Turtles. I just thought it captured the wistful bargaining that we would always be “together” through social media and whatnot.

Depression

Yeah, I chose Miss Misery by Elliot Smith and My Sh*t’s F*cked Up by Warren Zevon. Maybe a bit vulgar, but I thought they both encapsulated the feeling of fatigue and defeat that started getting to people when the quarantine was several months in, and they were some of my favorite songs in my doomer playlist.

Acceptance

This is the big boy moment when we accept that we have no control over our circumstances, only our actions. Nietzsche would be proud. I chose Let it Happen by Tame Impala. It talks about a “whirlwind that’s coming ’round” which will “carry off all that isn’t bound” but reassures, “let it happen.” I just thought it was a more original choice than Let it Be by the Beetles. Same idea.

Finally is a metal song called I’m the Mountain by Stoned Jesus. This 16 minute song almost drags the listener onward and forward, asking if we are “doomed to live in grief and misery,” but later saying that the only way to survive is to climb the mountain, and never stop, essentially embodying the sprit of the immovable obstacle, the mountain itself. And it’s just an neat song that is great for running to.