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.

[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.

[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.

[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!")

[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.")

[athelind.livejournal.com]

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

[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)

[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.

[araquan.livejournal.com]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[athelind.livejournal.com]

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

HE IS OUR HERO

[athelind.livejournal.com]

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

Right publisher.

[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.

[araquan.livejournal.com]

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

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?