Lockdown! at the Disco #5: The Love Episode
LISTEN TO THE EPISODE!
READ THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE!
Hello my lovelies! Another week is out of the way and we’re another minute, hour, afternoon, day, week, and month closer to some manner of normality!
You’re listening to episode #5 of Lockdown! at the Disco on Comics Youth Radio with me – your host Amy Roberts, broadcasting live from the windy oasis of Fairfield and Kensington for the next 90 mins or so. But possibly longer because this is a hefty, wonderful playlist we have here and I will likely lose control of the time in this vast black hole of time that we’re living in.
Today’s episode is all above LOVE. And before we really get into it, I wanted to share a reminder that while society puts far too much emphasis on the idea of romantic love, we won’t be doing the same.
Like, sure – okay - having someone to swoon over and smooch and hold hands with is lovely but it’s no less wonderful or important than platonic love or familial love – the way you feel about your buds and your people and your family. And it’s definitely not a priority over the love that you need to show to yourself.
SO - -
With that in mind, this is going to be an episode about love in the purest, most foundational, and essential sense.
This is an episode about self-care and kindness.
It’s an episode about taking care of yourself while also taking care of whatever community is currently helping your heart to bloom during these dark days.
It’s an episode about letting your geek flag fly and nurturing your passions, whatever they may be.
It’s an episode about standing up tall and proud and resilient against the pain and the unjust and the struggle of the world and of shouting into the abyss of all that to remind the universe that you are awesome, that you are enough, and that you are going to get yourself through.
This episode is about love being the message and you being the mouthpiece – about love being the space we should all pivot from to find calm and meaning and happiness and growth.
It’s about looking square into the eyes of the things that cause you hurt and suffering, rising above it all and saying a huge NOPE to the bad things and a HUGE heck yeah to the good. So, let’s kick this vibe off with… Screaming Females covering Taylor Swift…? Yes, honey!
TRACK #1: “Shake It Off” – Screaming Females
TRACK #2: “Water Me” – Lizzo
That was the incredible Screaming Females with their live cover of Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off” which they did for The A.V. Club Sessions followed by the holy, the sacred, the precious Lizzo with “Water Me”.
And you know, say what you like about Taylor Swift but “Shake It Off” is such a phenomenal anthem about rising above the noise, not relying on other people to bring your happiness, and finding joy and serenity first and foremost in yourself. And I think Screaming Females really blast that point home with their raucous take on it.
And naturally, we had to play a Lizzo track in this episode because she is the absolute patron saint of anthems about finding and nurturing love for yourself. And “Water Me” is just such a self-care jam.
It’s a song to pop while you’re doing your skincare regime, or while dancing in front of your mirror in the morning so you can celebrate how strong and bombastic you look, or for just taking a moment out of your day to pause and say Yeah, you know what? I’m sound.
Hopefully you also noticed that this past week has been mental health awareness week – and if you haven’t, then you need to be checking in our social media feeds a little more, honey! – but hopefully you have seen some signposts around online or on TV regarding ways that we can all acknowledge and take better care of our mental health.
And certainly, one major way to do that is to pay attention to yourself and really listen to what your mind and your body is telling you. Be kind to yourself and don’t be afraid to ask for help as and when you’re struggling, either. I know that takes a lot to do sometimes, but it could be the best thing that you ever do.
When my mental health is bad, I try to treat myself the way that I treat all of my most dearest people when they’re going through a tough time and I strongly recommend that as something very small that you can for yourself right now, to be honest.
Give yourself compliments, reward yourself heavily with treats and great food, give yourself room to roam and space to sprawl and do the things that make you feel good. Because all of that is love and you deserve it. All the time. 24/7. Non-stop love.
You hear me? Okay. Good.
Next up we have “Death Note” by Speedy Ortiz – a song that obviously takes its title from the manga and anime series of the same name wherein a supernatural notebook performs deaths upon the names of the people written inside it. The song is nowhere near as dark, thankfully. But it as good, in my opinion.
If you listen close to the lyrics you’ll find that “Death Note” is nowhere near as dark as the manga and anime where it gets its name but is in fact an ode to the cathartic power of writing. It’s song about how scribbling down notes to yourself can be a powerful means for processing personal pain or for just reflecting on an important moment or feeling.
And I think that counts for anything creative – whether you’re using a computer or your phone or a notepad to doodle or scribble or to write – using these tools as a means to express what’s happening in your life and your world right now can sometimes be a difficult and painful process. But its also a really worthwhile one and something that’s great for your mental health and for healing.
So just remember how Speedy Ortiz tell it: Even the darkest of scribbles can lead to the mightiest moments of enlightenment. No matter how painful the feelings behind your writing or artwork may be, remember they all have the power to be love letters to yourself.
TRACK #3: “Death Note” – Speedy Ortiz
TRACK #4: “Protection Spells” – Pom Pom Squad
That was Speedy Ortiz followed by Pom Pom Squad with “Protection Spells” which is a dreamy little love song about allowing yourself to be vulnerable and allowing yourself to just feel whatever it is that you’re feeling for another person. Which can be easier said than done, admittedly.
Sometimes when we get super close to other people – be it as pals or a crush or a romance – our first instinct can be to pull away or to sabotage or to just dampen the noise of it all. It takes real guts to really let your heart be as loud as it wants to and to really, seriously pay attention to what it’s saying and to act on it. And I think “Protection Spells” kind of nails that idea.
When I first heard that song I was entranced by the fact that it sounds like something you’d hear on the soundtrack to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You know?
Like, maybe Willow and Tara are casting a spell to it in their bedroom or maybe Pom Pom Squad are the special guest stars playing in The Bronze while Spike and Buffy eyeball each other from opposite ends of the room…
..ERR..
OH NO, where am I going with this?! - Coming soon to Lockdown! at the Disco, indie rock buffy fanfic! – in next week’s episode, Tacocat slay demons with Xander!
Oh jeez. ANYWAY - - all of this is to say that growing up, Buffy was very much my thing.
And I think everyone has their thing – a show or book or film series or band who just helps keep them trucking through everyday life.
And that’s a part of love that we rarely discuss in a tangible, serious way as a society – and it’s a love that deserves some recognition, dammit!
It’s important to have something or someone to stan for – and it can be really genuinely lovely and nurturing to be part of a fandom who understand and share your love for something.
Being part of a community like that is so good for the soul and for your wellbeing and for just wasting some time – which we have a lot of right now – just chatting absolute wham with your fellow geeks online.
So I hope you’ve all being finding comfort in whatever your thing is during lockdown and that you have some kind of a community behind you for when you just want to chat about the things that you love with people who share your enthusiasm for it.
I know most of us nerds at Comics Youth have always found comfort in such things.
And when I need comfort, I find myself rewatching the musical episode of Buffy. And I’m not gonna say how many times in the past year that I’ve rewatched “Once More with Feeling” – because that’s frankly a damning figure that I will take to my grave – but just know that its definitely more times than is absolutely necessary. But that’s just because it brings me a lot of happiness.
It’s very much an episode about facing up to your true feelings – even the awful, painful, most difficult ones – and leaning on the people you love and who love you to help you to get through and past those hard times together. So yeah, it’s very much an episode about love.
So why the heck not, we can play whatever we want here at Comics Youth Radio! Here’s a tune that perfectly embodies all of that from Once More with Feeling – this is “I’ve Got a Theory / Bunnies/ If We’re Together” on Comics Youth Radio and I’m playing it for all my fellow Slayer nerds at Comics Youth:
TRACK #5: “I’ve Got a Theory / Bunnies/ I’ve We’re Together” – Buffy the Vampire Slayer
TRACK #6: “The Weapon” – Harry and the Potters
You can always rely on Lockdown! at the Disco and Comics Youth Radio to play some very niche nerdy tracks.
There we had a track from the Buffy musical episode and following that was “The Weapon” by Harry and the Potters and I’m playing both of them for Rhiannon and Anna and Kay and just all the Buffy and Harry Potter nerds at Comics Youth.
I’m one of those rare losers who never vibed with Harry Potter, I’ll be honest. So, soz about me. Somehow, I know that I’m Slytherin though – for whatever that’s worth. Maybe if JK Rowling had put some more – or any – vampires in those Harry Potter books I might have turned heel and fell in love with them. But, alas…
We’re gonna jump straight back into some music here because I’ve been talking too much this episode already and sometimes love just needs space and quiet, you know?
So I’m gonna give that to you fine people via two of the loveliest love songs ever written. Starting with Otis Redding – who remains one of the greatest voices on love. I hope you’re all ready to grab your cat or your fave cuddly toy or yourself, like Audrey in Twin Peaks, and do a swoonworthy slow dance to “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” and it was requested by our Lucas.
TRACK #7: “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” – Otis Redding
TRACK #8: “Lovesong” – The Cure
The unparalleled Otis Redding there followed by The Cure with “Lovesong” and we’re playing that for all our goths cos it was World Goth Day the other day and we’re an office full of goths. So we gotta pay our respects.
And that song was actually written by The Cure frontman Robert Smith as a wedding present for his bride-to-be Mary Poole in 1988. And one of the things I love about this song is that though it was obviously written for a romantic purpose, it’s a song that also works on a platonic level as well.
With all the distance that we all currently have between ourselves and some of the people that we love, “Lovesong” by The Cure offers a reminder that love manages to remain, even when it’s stretched out across miles and feels blurry and far away.
It still has the power to sustain and to remain and – to quote another Cure song – feel close to you still.
Now for something entirely different, though. Let’s talk about pets – ooh that came out a bit Salt N Pepa, didn’t it? YIKES! – ANYWAY, if we’re gonna chat about love then we need to include our furbabies and our animal pals in this conversation too.
So, this next track goes out to every last one of your beautiful pets. To the cats, the dogs, the lizards, the rats, the goldfish, the cheeky tarantulas and whatever other critter you call family.
Pull them close to the speaker because this is a song by Aesop Rock about his cat – and it’s a really lovely ode to pets and to how they can really help you through rough times and really improve your mental health sometimes.
This track is called “Kirby” and I’m playing it in memorium of my beautiful, silly, chaotic kitty Miguel - and to all the pets who have passed or who are present.
TRACK #9: “Kirby” – Aesop Rock
TRACK #10: “This Modern Love” – Bloc Party
That was “This Modern Love” by Bloc Party and it still has the power to bring me to my knees haha.
If you want to feel your heart combust then I strongly recommended searching for Owen Pallett’s cover version of that song on YouTube. Owen was the violinist for Arcade Fire when they first started out and he plays all the parts of this song on the violin using a loop pedal and his vocal performance on it is just something else. In fact the whole construction and performance of it is just something else entirely.
So make a note of it and hunt it down after the show.
There’s a real battle expressed in that song of trying to consolidate personal feelings for someone with the reality of those feelings. It can be all too easy sometimes to fall for the fantasy of a scenario or a person when the reality sadly doesn’t actually measure up to your needs.
Which brings us to the inevitable romance section of this episode. But just remember, platonic romance is also a thing. You can still totally crush on a pal and have it mean nothing more than you appreciating how cool and awesome and boss they are. I
n fact, they’re the friendships and the crushes that we should all aspire to have. You know? Just being a solid cheerleader for a pal and raising your pom poms to their awesomeness 24/7!
But, of course, you can also crush on someone in a less than platonic way. And whether those feelings are reciprocated or not and whether you’re lucky enough to be in a relationship with the person you’re crushing on, just remember to enjoy it. Even if it hurts a little. Even if it leads you a little bit astray or makes you act a little goofy here and there. ENJOY IT!
It’s good to learn patience when it comes to matters of the heart. It’s not something that can or should be rushed, people. And while we’re in lockdown there is no chance of romance being rushed along at all is there? I think a lot of people are stuck in a romantic limbo right now.
With that in mind, this next song is about the struggle of long distance relationships – which is something many of us are dealing with right now – but it can also be a song about a one-sided crush, if that’s where your heart is currently pitched.
This is Caroline Polachek with “So Hot Your Hurting My Feelings”.
TRACK #11: “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings” – Caroline Polachek
TRACK #12: “Just What I Needed” – The Cars
What a song! That was “Just What I Needed” by The Cars and it was just what I needed haha. It is always just what I need, to be honest! And before that was “So Hot You’re Hurting My Feelings” by Caroline Polachek.
I wanted to give my usual weekly shoutout to our amazing Safe Spaces posse – who really help to curate these playlists and to inform and inspire much of the vibe of this radio show if I’m being perfectly honest.
Our Safe Spaces group is one of the most wholesome and supportive and creative tiny communities I’ve ever encountered in my life and I’m so proud of every last member of our amazing group.
One of the highlights of my week is being able to lead our Safe Spaces session with all these amazing young people – who are genuinely some of the most talented writers and artists I’ve ever worked with – and just seeing them elevate and celebrate each other during this difficult time.
You are all superstars and we love you very much. We’ll be talking a little more about this group in a little bit but first, we have a bolshy treat of a runaway love song requested by Rosie from our Safe Spaces group. This is “Lacy Loo” by The Regrettes.
TRACK #13: “Lacy Loo” – The Regrettes
TRACK #14: “Just” – Swearin’
“Lacy Loo” by The Regrettes there followed by “Just” by Swearin’ which is such a Summer song, I feel?
So that’s really fun to listen to during a Summer when we’re all kind of trapped inside just dreaming about the summer that could have been. Sorry.
You know what else is a great summer activity? Just letting your heart blaze like the summer sun with rage about incompetent governments and being lied to time and time again by incompetent governments and being gaslit over and over by incompetent governments and yeah, what a fun time this is?!
But anyway, I took a vow not to be getting too political during these broadcasts so that’s the last I’ll be saying about that for today. But just know I’m as angry as you are right now about all of what is happening right now and that’s cool.
We’re angry because we love our community and our city and our region and we want to protect it from the buffoonery of the clown college rejects in charge of everything at the moment.
I went off on one again didn’t I? Haha – SORRY! Let’s bring it back to some classic love songs shall we?
I am unable to listen to this next song without absolutely sobbing – and I also can’t listen to it without striking a Karen O pose at particular moments of it either. Raising my fist like Judd Nelson in The Breakfast Club and letting a single tear roll down my face as I do so.
I’ll be lucky if it’s just a single tear to be honest. Get the tissues ready, folks. This is “Maps” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
TRACK #15: “Maps” – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
TRACK #16: “Letter to Memphis” – Pixies
I tried really hard to pick a song to follow up Maps with that’s a bit more upbeat to give my eyes time to dry. And “Letter to Memphis” by the Pixies certainly qualifies. It also works really well in tandem as a sibling song to “Maps” in that its about trying to broach the distance between yourself and a loved one. And to say Hey, I’m still here and I still love you.
Which is kind of our current mantra to all of you at Comics Youth right now: We’re still here and we still love you.
Aaaaand we’re coming towards the end, folks! It’s in sight! So let’s keep these tunes blasting – and maybe give my face and my heart a little more time to recover from the emotional annihilation of “Maps”.
This is The Only Ones with the amazing “Another Girl Another Planet” and it was requested by our Ste.
TRACK #17: “Another Girl Another Planet” – The Only Ones
TRACK #18: “A Life Less Ordinary” – Ash
Those are both songs that I completely forgot about until I was putting this playlist together. The Only Ones with “Another Girl Another Planet” followed by “A Life Less Ordinary” by Ash. Which, I’ve never been a huge Ash fan – I saw them live once when I was a teenager and it remains to this day one of the worst live shows I’ve ever been to – but that song makes my stomach flip and my head fill with dreams and it’s just an absolute sweetheart of a song.
And we need all the musical sweethearts we can get right now. Love Hearts for the ears.
As we wrap up this episode about love, I wanted to close things down with a couple of songs that provide sweet reminders about enjoying the little things in life.
Love is many a great thing – but it can also be found in the little things too. So pay attention to them, you know?!
Love can be found in a nice cup of tea or a great book on a rainy day or in eating a dirty slice of pizza in bed with a trashy movie or in finding the last pack of dark chocolate hob nobs on the shelf in the supermarket.
Love is finding the moments and the actions and the people that make your heart soar. And sometimes that just means finding love in the everyday and the mundane – even when your life is struggling to catch up with your dreams.
And on that vibe, here’s Feist with “Mushaboom” and it was requested by Rhiannon.
TRACK #19: “Mushaboom” – Feist
TRACK #20: “Love Today” – MIKA
That was “Love Today” by MIKA and it was requested by Raf who says of it “it’s a whole bop about loving and feeling loved back in the same way.”
Thanks for sharing that with us, Raf and for helping us to close out this episode with something really upbeat and joyful.
Next week’s episode is going to be our Safe Spaces special with a playlist curated by our Safe Spaces gang and it will include content written by them about ways that we can create and maintain spaces that are safe, welcoming, protective, and joyful online and at home.
So until then my lovelies – remember that everything is not cool right now, but it can be. Stay safe and stay sassy and remember that none of us are alone right now. We’re all here as a unit and we’re all navigating this same road together at the same time. We love you and we’ve got you – we are not two, we are one. This is “Strangers” by The Kinks and me, signing off and saying tara until next time…
TRACK #21: “Strangers” – The Kinks