In late 2017, I started making a playlist of music and sounds that were regularly in my ears in some way that year. I compiled my list by picking apart the top streams from listening services like Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube views, searching my internet search histories for lyrics I tried to find or musician’s bios, and just looking at my trove of cassettes, CDs, and albums and seeing which ones were consistently dust-free and at the top of the piles.
My finding work their way into a YouTube playlist that I post publicly at the end of December or sometime in January. And here’s the latest: not everything, but a good rough version what I listened to in 2025.
The playlist is embedded below. When you’re watching, hover over the middle to click to the next video if you’re bored. Click the link to watch in YouTube so you can watch in Premium without ads if you pay for that, or save videos to your own watchlists if you like.
It was a really tough year emotionally and while I made it through the wilderness (somehow I made it through / didn’t know how lost I was until I found RECORD SCREECH), there’s still some lingering after effects. My dad died in January and I’m still settling his estate, sorting through memories, having moments of guilt and sadness punctuated by ridiculous memories filled with laughter, and then dull no-feeling days where I was just getting through. Writing his obituary in the way that his friends might want to read it was a good experience, but it didn’t make room for the complexity of feelings I have about our complicated relationship. We had a bunch of great years together and a bunch of terrible years together. But obituaries aren’t the place to hash that out, and I still meant the positive words that I wrote. He’s one of the biggest reasons that I’ve been a music adventurer my entire life, and I went to some of my first concerts with him. A friend, who happened to be the first person I told the news to after my dad died, told me, “Welcome to the Dead Dad Club,” and said now I have something to help excuse me when I’m out of it or angry or sad or whatever. I said, “But how long can you use that as an excuse for anything?” and my friend said, “I don’t know, the rest of your life?”
You can see some Mike J. (dad) influence in the R&B and blues picks on the 2025 list, including some Mighty Joe Young, his friend and ambassador into the west side blues scene of the 1970s. There’s also a few songs that made me grieve better, if grieving is crying? I know sometimes it’s just living with the active ghost. Blubbering does not alleviate the situation, still, I’m not ashamed to cry when music moves me. This Martha Wash song, if you think it’s too corny, please keep that to yourself:
In the early days of grief, I was calling it “digging out.” I inherited a household and storefront literally full of memories, knick knacks, clothes, musical instruments, records, and pretty much anything you can think of. And I’m still figuring out how to live with some of it and how to give some of it away. The only thing that worries me about this slow process is being able to afford keeping everything going until some of the properties finally sell, but I realize that slow and steady is otherwise a perfectly fine tempo. I’ve been figuring out how to live with grief since my late teen years when a friend with a terminal diagnosis decided to take his fate into his own hands. The only difference for me is that my feelings were in many ways a performance in my younger years. Now I feel like expressing myself is just a tool to keep me in the present versus an aspiration for all the shit to go away. I need to live with the bad as well as the good. It’s not ever really up to me what happens next, but as long as I do what I can do . . .
There’s moments of ridiculous in this year’s list too. The Weird Al is dad-related. Dad and my stepmom were card-carrying “Friends of Al” and loved seeing his concerts when they could. If the afterlife is some heightened version of adult summer camp, I’m sure Dad and Carol and friends are up there watching countless shows together.
The Leslie Jones stand-up snippet is priceless, as is she. NSFW.
I had D’Angelo on the rotation regardless but was happy to find this demo pop up again after his passing. I’m not sure who exactly does what he did now, but I recommend Anthony Hamilton if you want some of the same vibe.
Dirty Dozen Tournament of Champions is something I watched in real time with my dad when it was broadcast, then we both referenced Al Bundy’s “your mama” jokes on a regular basis when we were having one of those three-hour conversations that resembled a writer’s room. Jokes, a Chicago memory, food talk, more jokes, more jokes, someone else came into the room to tell us dinner was ready, more jokes, etc.
The other big series of events in 2025 that rocked me was the roller coaster ride of my last nine months working for the newspaper I used to work for. My six and a half years were fun, challenging, made me learn a lot, taught me about dropping resentment and regrets, taught me about kindness, and made me a better writer. But I wouldn’t have made it through the last year without loud music, especially thrash. If you’re looking for that sort of thing in my playlist, some of the louder stuff starts in the 130s. I know that some of the thrashmeisters of the world don’t share my politics or disposition, but most metal people are dolls in person and if you want me to switch my mood, play me some Celtic Frost.
I love this 1984 live set from Venom even though little Salem in my head immediately just says “Ok guys, none of us are going to wear shirts, right? Oh wait, put on these sparkle forearm shields and a dog collar with rhinestones on it. Yeah, that’ll show ’em!”
What do I wish for me and you in 2026? Peace, love, and soul. Continued health and healing. Tough moments saved by glittery unnecessary accessories. And the ability to not care about stuff we shouldn’t care about, to make way for doing the work. We can rid ourselves of oppression both within ourselves and our country, our world, through collective action, direct action, and taking care of ourselves and each other. Doing what we can with what we have. Active listening. Hope. Keeping our eye on the prize. No one living in bubbles. The two videos I included from the YouTuber Steppin Choclate Princess illustrate a pretty solid world to live in: 2025’s summer event the World’s Largest Steppers Cookout, hosted in the forest preserve by Calumet City. I really hope they do another one so I can actually attend. Apologies if you don’t like house music or people having fun and dancing, but I do.
If you want to see the lists from past years:
2020 & 2019 I skipped these years for some reason so here’s my ever-evolving karaoke playlist instead.
Thanks for listening!
Leave a comment