When COVID-19 hit over a year ago, many music lovers were suddenly faced with unusually barren playlists and empty concert venues. Those tickets to see my favorite band (and before one of their drummers quit to manage their entire record label)? Yeah, they didn’t get me very far. It seemed that all music events were postponed a whole year, performed over pre-recorded video for precaution, or just forgotten altogether. The world of music came to a halt, and the only things within reach were the Quarantine Party 2020 playlists all over streaming apps. But with this slow in the typical rush of the music industry, musicians gained the opportunity to reflect on their craftsmanship and how lockdown affected them. From this came an abundance of new music that proves to be unique to the current times and experiences of the artists and fans alike. Below I’ll be reflecting on a few selected songs that were born from the pandemic and what the artists have said about them. Now all that’s left is to hear them live in concert once again…
Parasite Eve - Bring Me The Horizon
Although this song was not directly inspired by the pandemic, the lyrics are so relevant that BMTH frontman Oli Sykes pretty much claimed it as a quarantine anthem, stating in an NME interview, “Every time there was a new story about [the pandemic], we’d turn to each other and say ‘Parasite Eve’, not realising the magnitude of it all…after sitting on it for a while, we realised that this was a reason to release it now more than ever.” I remember when this song topped the rock charts and I had played it on repeat—the narration begins with Syke’s monotone vocals of, “I got a fever don’t breathe on me”. The beat is modern, clean, and has an ominous electronic undertone that makes you feel like you’re literally moving through the hacked wires of an unknown computer virus. Or in the world’s case, a real virus. Lyrics such as “quarantine all of those secrets in that black hole you call a brain before it’s too late” are spoken from a fighter's point of view as the brink of a paradoxical war is fast approaching. In this context, it’s essentially a battle song for the pandemic.
Level of Concern - twenty one pilots
In this chill song, the alternative duo asks, “Would you be my little quarantine / Or is this the way it ends?” Vocalist Tyler Joseph describes Level of Concern via Twitter as “simple but hopeful”, and with his position as a musician, wanted a portion of album proceeds to be donated to charities that helped struggling artists make a living through COVID-19. The song itself describes the very real struggles of being stuck in lockdown with someone and overthinking everything present in the relationship. The narrator seeks reassurance from their partner and urges them to understand how much they mean to them in such trying circumstances. Within the lyrics, Tyler references the names of people in his life, including his tour manager and his wife, in order to get a personal point across that even in the pandemic, there is still connection. Musicians settled into everyday lives, but still wanted to connect to the world with their music. This “panic on the brain” feeling is put to the test with this soft alternative song meant to reach out to everyone. I thoroughly enjoyed this song and although I am not the biggest fan of twenty one pilots, Level of Concern is definitely here to stay and remind us of our relationships in these times.
Straws In The Wind - KGATLW
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is a band you probably have never heard before, but they’re one of my favorites! Straws in the Wind comes off their recent album K.G. (which was released in November 2020, only months before their latest album L.W.) On this track, Ambrose Kenny-Smith takes over lead vocals to create a timely microtonal piece about media overload and how popular opinions tend to manipulate a sense of the future—hysteria propaganda, almost. Ambrose quoted on an interview with FaceCulture, “As corny as it sounds, it was like literally the start of covid…it was kind of like, you know, being at home stuck inside the house…the height of when toilet paper was like gold and everyone was going chaotic, so it was kind of hard not to like reflect on the times a bit.” As King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are well known in the psychedelic rock side of things with their fever-dream-esque aesthetic and peculiar lyrics, it was no surprise that Straws in the Wind kept up that pace, perfectly capturing the more insane moments of the pandemic. After the line, “Condescending expendables botched to a clock / Novice to the dilemma with nothing clever left in stock”, Ambrose asks more desperately, “is it all straws in the wind?”, respective of the pure pandemonium of the pandemic. This song in particular is unusually low for Ambrose’s high-pitched voice, which in my opinion only heightens the solemnity of its meaning. Unlike many songs released during the pandemic, this song offers a more raw and pessimistic view of the world.
Blackened 2020 - Metallica
Just when all of Metallica fans’ lives were really fading to black, you could say, the band released a surprise, stripped-down rerecording of their 1988 hit Blackened. The video released reveals a casual and unrefined view into a Zoom band practice, in fact, Robert seems to be playing guitar in front of kitchen cupboards and Lars clearly either just rolled out of bed or is constipated. With this quiet song followed a quiet and short message from the band, “Here’s a little something we cooked up over the last few days. Hope you’re all safe & sound.” The song was released during the heart of lockdown, right as everyone began truly trying to process the uncertain times. True to the original lyric sample of, “Termination, expiration / Cancellation, human race / Expectation, liberation / Population, lay to waste”, Blackened could not have been a better song for Metallica to bring back to life and make a quarantine lullaby out of—as dark as it truly is. Now, if only school Zoom meetings were as chaotic as the Blackened 2020 music video.
Trouble's Coming - Royal Blood
Mike Kerr was in the process of writing songs for Royal Blood’s latest album Typhoons when suddenly, the growing pandemic made it unsafe for him to meet with his bandmates. The time spent away from the studio made the band rethink not just their song lineup, but also the hit song Trouble’s Coming as well. The song, which focuses on Mike’s frequent nightmares, only became more real when lockdown made it harder to reach out to anyone—but he was quick to turn this mindset around. As he states in an interview with NME, “For the first time in a long time, it felt so pressure-free. The whole world had stopped. My plan was to not make music, but after a week I was itching to do something creative. It was very carefree and pure. As a result, it made for the two best songs on the record.” One of those songs being Trouble’s Coming, an upbeat, dance-rock single that tackled quarantine with a bit of LED lighting and disco. The catchy phrase, “I hear trouble coming, over and over again”, urges the listener to sympathize with Mike’s pessimism and cancel it out with the beat’s optimism. No matter what nightmares occurred as the world submitted to the coronavirus, this song pretty much conquers it.
Living In A Ghost Town - The Rolling Stones
Yes, Mick Jagger is still alive and kicking, and with this came a surprise release from the Rolling Stones, the haunting and melodic single Living In A Ghost Town. It was an obvious sign according to Mick: “The Stones were in the studio recording some new material before the lockdown and there was one song we thought would resonate through the times that we’re living in right now. We’ve worked on it in isolation”, and Charlie added that “[it] took on an added relevance given the coronavirus pandemic currently holding the world in its grasp.” The more I listen to this song the more I find it to be an eerily correct example of the past year, especially when you’d look around your neighborhood and it really was a ghost town. The music video features a holographic, distorted camera view of the viewer’s surroundings—a play on the initial confusion the pandemic brought. The Rolling Stones are known for their extravagance and total manipulation of rock and roll itself, so it was very pleasant to see such a candid and down-to-earth song from them—the first in 8 years.
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