Unskippable

Episode 1

Welcome to the first installmet of Unskippable! I am excited to share this with you, but first a few housekeeping things.

What makes a track “unskippable?” Spotify’s shuffle play isn’t the best sometimes. It will play a track, play a different track, then play that first track again. If I didn’t want to skip it, it stayed until I either couldn’t listen to it again, or I could listen to it over and over and not get sick of it. Same with if I heard a track, then later that day, or the next, heard it again. If I could handle it, it stayed, if not, it got removed from the playlist.

Secondly, these tracks are in no particular order, except the last track, which I picked as the last one because it’s — somewhat poetic that it’s last.

Third, these are not my favourite tracks. Some are, but the majority of my favourites I’ve listened to, to death. While I can listen to them, more than once in short succession, I will skip the majority of them. These tracks, in Unskippable, inspire reflection and thought while they fill in the background with music I like, vent frustrations, or just solo car dance/karaoke parties. Great music for chores and cooking that I don’t have to be like, “Ugh I don’t want to hear this song.” Stop what I’m doing, clean off my hands, find my phone, skip the track then get back to whatever I was doing.

Lastly, genre is a quick Google search. If you disagree, that’s fine, but don’t @ me. It’s just to give someone who maybe doesn’t listen to that genre an idea of what they are getting into.

Okay, lets get this started.

Track: Prayer

Artist: Disturbed

Released 2002

Genre: Alternative Metal

I cannot remember the exact context the first time I heard Prayer, but I’m pretty sure it was on Canada’s Music Video TV station, MuchMusic. At the time, my wife and I were three months married, living in a small one bedroom apartment in a three floor walk-up. If I remember right, we had just upgraded the old wooden cabinet TV to a, modern for the time, like 32″ TV, probably a Panasonic.

I had heard Stupify (wasn’t a fan) and Down with the Sickness (and was very conflicted about it) so I was aware of Disturbed, but this song solidified them as a metal band I liked. Even my wife, who was not a big fan of metal, liked this track. Over the years we have become Disturbed fans, with many songs in regular rotation, but Prayer speaks to me.

It doesn’t really matter what the lyrics really mean, as music and lyrics are, in my opinion, left open to interpretation by the listener. This song, for me, is about no matter how hard you try, no matter how many successes or failures you have, no matter how hard life is — there is always, always, something else to test you. All people need to find ways to overcome these tests of life. Call it prayer, meditation, ignoring the problems, whatever. How we deal with these tests, this constant pressure from life, can highlight a persons true character, and may even surprise themselves.

Hearing this track reminds me I’m not alone when things are hard. Lots of people struggle and have tests life imposes upon them. Knowing I’m not alone, while doing nothing to alleviate the actual pressure, keeps things in perspective and encourages empathy towards others. If I’m not under a life test, someone else is, and it’s important to remember how I felt when I was, so I can be better a human towards others.

Enjoy the track! Episode two is in a couple days!