A mostly contemporary anti-war playlist

For reasons abstractly philosophic, pragmatically political and deeply personal, I'm feeling pretty anti-war these days. If you're with me, here are my recommendations for a mostly contemporary anti-war playlist.

(If you can think of anything worth hearing that I've ommitted, let me know. I'm always hungry for new tunes.)

Rise Against, Hero of War: When I heard this simple and gripping song on 97X a few weeks ago, I thought I had mistakenly flipped to WMNF, Tampa Bay's awesome community radio station. It is a miracle that a song like this is on mainstream commercial radio. It tells the tragic and all to typical story of a young soldier's disillusionment.

Ani DiFranco, The Atom: This cut is one of the strongest from DiFranco's latest release, Red Letter Year. Here's what she has to sing about the Nobel Prize winning physicists who developed the atomic bomb: "I bet there were no windows or women in the room / when they applied themselves to the pure science of doom." She certainly has a way of putting things into perspective, doesn't she?

 Lexi Pierson, Misunderstood: For those of you that haven't had the pleasure, Lexi is one of Tampa Bay's local treasures and this song is a masterpiece. Order a copy of her self-titled album here and enjoy this clip of Lexi performing Misunderstood live in Clearwater:

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This article appears in Dec 31, 2008 – Jan 6, 2009.