Playlist: We Can't Afford To Be Innocent

[athelind]

I'm kicking around a playlist for the DC Adventures/Mutants & Masterminds game I'm going to be running Real Soon Now, and I'm looking for for songs with heroic, defiant themes.

This is what I've got so far:

• Pat Benatar - Invincible
  
• Muse - Victorious
  
• Bonnie Tyler - Holding Out for a Hero
  
• Queen - We Are The Champions
  
• Remy Zero - Save Me (Smallville Theme)
  
• Five for Fighting - Superman
  
• Rush - New World Man

Maybes:

• Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want
  
• Blue Oyster Cult - Veteran of the Psychic Wars

Rejected suggestions:

• Ozzy Ozbourne - Iron Man (Sorry, wrong publisher!)
  
• The Beatles - The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
  
• They Might Be Giants - Particle Man
  
• Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

This is just ONE playlist, mind. Another (which will get more use) will be purely instrumental, and there may be adventure-specific lists.

---

Comments

[araquan.livejournal.com]

Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground) by Mike & The Mechanics?

Okay, it isn't necessarily all that heroic in the, you know, hero sense, but it's got a rather revolutionary note to it. That's pretty defiant.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

[facepalm]

That's actually on the playlist I've been listening to on repeat at work this week. Yeah, it's on the list now.

[araquan.livejournal.com]

I kinda figured it's the sorta song you oughtta have on a list like this, all things considered... }:D

[athelind.livejournal.com]

... you mean "stuck in the '80s"?

[araquan.livejournal.com]

Not so much that. I just know you've mentioned it in entries concerning resisting the powers that be, before. }:>

[ceruleanst.livejournal.com]

3 Doors Down - Kryptonite
(kind of "bottom of Act Two" but still...)

[margaras.livejournal.com]

Jane's Addiction, "Superhero", from the Strays album.

I can't find a good youtube version. As much as I like JA, they tend to be shit live, even when sober.

[leonard-arlotte.livejournal.com]

Joan Jett - Cherry Bomb

[twentythoughts.livejournal.com]

Mew - Saviors of Jazz Ballet (live version of the song here, starting around the minute mark: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzCUdrfHLt4 )

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Savior ("Parallel Universe" from the same album has a similarly superhero-y flavor to it, I think, just for the "unlimited possibilities" lyrics)

The Streets - Trust Me

My Chemical Romance - Na Na Na

Motorpsycho - Starhammer ("Orbiting stoutfully, I'm the starhammer, I'm bleakly keeping an eye on the sky as I fly by. Watch me!")

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Oh, given my campaign setting, I think "Parallel Universes" is pretty much a given.

[tephra]

Breaking Benjamin - Blow Me Away

[ebony14.livejournal.com]

The Crystal Method - Born Too Slow.
Aqua - Cartoon Heroes (For your sponsored heroes, if only because of the line "What we do is what you just can't do.")

[paka.livejournal.com]

"No More Heroes," The Stranglers (wrong publisher if you think about movies and Dark Horse)
"Heroes," David Bowie
"Ghost Rider," Rollins Band (wrong publisher)
"Spider," They Might Be Giants (wrong publisher)

HE IS OUR HERO

[athelind.livejournal.com]

"Spider," They Might Be Giants (wrong publisher)

Right publisher.

Re: HE IS OUR HERO

[paka.livejournal.com]

But then if we go by Vertigo titles, doesn't that mean that lots of Police songs become valid thanks to the association with Constantine and Hellblazer comics?

[ab3nd.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of an EBM/Goth/Synthpop fan, so the songs I have run that way.

Winterborn - Apropos for last stands, damn-the-torpedos sort of moments. "So swallow fear for fate draws near and hide the signs of pain"

Quicksilver - Don't give in, stand your ground, "The future belongs to the brave"

Sophia - Stand for what's right, even if the world opposes you. "Stand up when no one else is willing/ act not in hatred or in spite/ be to this world as a perfect knight/ even if it means your life". Get the version without the synthed spoken word parts, it kind of wrecks the tempo in places.

They have a lot of music videos on youtube if you want to give it a listen.

VNV Nation has several good songs as well, but tend towards a "You have sown the wind, you poor fools, and now you reap the whirlwind" tone.

VNV Nation - Nemesis: The bad guys are winning, time to step up, but kind of vengeful. "I want justice for a voice that can't be heard / vindication for every suffering and hurt / Let retribution hold dominion over earth / Because judgement day's not coming / Judgement day's not coming
soon enough"

VNV Nation - Darkangel: A bit more nuanced, still with the righting injustice, but tinged with regret, not being able to undo what has been done. "Give me time I will be clear. / Given time you'll understand / What possesses me to right what you have suffered. / I'm in this mood because of scorn./ I'm in a mood for total war. / To the darkened skies once more and ever onward. "

[ab3nd.livejournal.com]

Hrr, and in the course of editing, I drop who the first three are by. Those are by the Cruxshadows.

[normanrafferty.livejournal.com]

VNV Nation, "Chrome"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTL8NtqGdw4
All creation has the promise of heaven, and so you travel the road to hell.

[normanrafferty.livejournal.com]

KMFDM, "Ultra"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCfQrVcQwe8
The soundtrack for Gotham City Heroes. Keep it away from the fire unless you want it to burn.

Michael Kohler, "That Time Is Now"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCwffUO4C5E
No explanation needed.

Apples in Stereo, "Signal in the Sky"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21zzMkUePow
Was there ever a greater tribute to comic book superheroes?

Aqua, "Cartoon Heroes"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_LPJllaogU&ob=av2e
The ironic coolness of this song weighs in at 834 Megamorrisons.

Chesney Hawks, "I Am the One and Only"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8f2mW1GFSI
This song would be in the 1990s Teen Titans movie soundtrack

PWEI, "Rough Justice"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5VDzKSoZUE
Everything that is cool about the Chromium Age, in song.

The Outfield, "Voices of Babylon"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtcCwl_sUWw&ob=av2e
Definitely in the Starman movie.

REM, "Superman"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Box3dj8bTiA
I am surprised no one suggested this before now, although it does lose some of its cred for being quoted in KINGDOM COME.

Rush, "Force Ten"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCn7DyDCLyc
Tough times demand our hearts.

Roger Taylor, "Killing Time"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjPOwLv2_4Q
Would be on the New 52 soundtrack, if there was a god. I'm taking a fast flight, straight course through the force fields.

Roger Daltrey, "Under a Raging Moon"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4VuUBI5gtw
Very good background music, and the theme of id channeled into craft works very well with the superhero theme.

Devo, "Human Rocket"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHxlVK_P48w
This is my personal superhero theme song. I've been locked and loaded and ready for the culmination.

Thou Shalt Not, "Cardinal Directions"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lthI2eZ8x-g
One for the technology-based heroes who must fight because they would otherwise regret. And if I had my day, there's so much I'd reclaim.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

Even if other people shared your dislike of Kingdom Come, that wouldn't be enough to undercut R.E.M.

[normanrafferty.livejournal.com]

Baah, its use in Kingdom Come is as a snidely sarcastic line.

Superman.

Sarcastic.

Boo.

[eggshellhammer.livejournal.com]

The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J2QdDbelmY

Katy Perry - Firework. (Okay, yes, it's a little ridiculous. But it's defiant in it's self-actualization.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGJuMBdaqIw

Florence + The Machine - Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF6kBNLTvaU

[zeeth_kyrah]

"It's My Life" by Jon Bon Jovi has a teen rebellion theme, but it's also about independence and living without regrets, perfect for superpowered vigilantes who Get The Job Done.