Political messaging has been a crucial component of punk and hardcore for as long as those genres have been around, though Chat Pile seemed to breathe new life into heavy rock music in 2022 with the bluntness of their song “Why.” Between its subject matter and frontman Raygun Busch’s casual delivery of its opening query—“Why do people have to live outside?”—it returns the supposedly complex problems of the American government’s budgeting to the simplicity they probably require to solve them, all while juicing the instrumental with all the anger the band so rightly feels at this sort of gross injustice.
It’s a similar sentiment that lines Bay Area sludge-rockers Wealthy Women’s debut album, Children, whether it be the heartless immigration policies that have thus far defined Trump’s second term just as much as the pedophilia stuff, or confronting his VP’s disparaging remarks about pet-owning Millennials. Comprised of an Irish immigrant, the child of Filipino immigrants, and an ex-pat from the predominantly red Kansas, the band uses these perspectives to address just a few of the many inescapable national crises worsened by our current bull-in-a-china-shop administration with a pummeling, low-end-heavy sound matched by vocalist Peter Sisk’s rabid growls.
Before Children drops this Friday, the band is sharing a playlist of the various influences that helped them establish their sound just as much as the various horrific videos circulating on social media did. Kicking off with “Why,” the set of songs additionally features Sisk’s fellow countrymen Ashenspire, Millennial-radicalizing alt-metal group System of a Down, and Kent State shooting protesters Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, along with a couple of wild cards. Check out the full playlist below, and pre-order Children here.
Chat Pile, “Why”
Remember 2022? People were emerging bleary-eyed from their homes after the pandemic. After looking inward for two years they started looking around outside again. Why the fuck are we buying missiles and bombs instead of putting these people in houses? Treating their physical and mental health issues? Doing anything useful instead of insider trading and selling votes to the highest bidder? Valid questions. Or at least that’s how I think of this song. Plus, it’s a banger.
Sonic Youth, “Swimsuit Issue”
Inspired by a Geffen employee who sexually harassed his secretary and the pervasive ingrained sexism in the music industry. From the album Dirty, which is not the purist’s favorite Sonic Youth album, but it is mine.
Ashenspire, “The Law of Asbestos”
A roiling, boiling condemnation of capitalism and its tyranny over humanity: “Always three months to the gutter.” This could be any song on their 2022 album Hostile Architecture, which is as inspiring a collection of fury at the state of the world as any you’re likely to find.
Pissed Jeans, “Male Gaze”
Top frontman Matt Corvette takes the roving-eyed male bastard inside himself to task in this clever little ditty: Is it an inherently male trait to feel that part of ourselves is separate, an other? To constantly war against it? We feel his struggle. We protest against that part of ourselves, too. We’re not innocent, but we’re sorry.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, “Ohio”
A song about the murder of innocent protesters in America in 1970. Luckily things have moved on, and this could never happen today.
Dolly Parton, “Jolene”
Leave Dolly’s man alone! She’s nice! Damnit, Jolene. I protest.
U2, “Sunday Bloody Sunday”
Just kidding, U2 suck.
Deicide, “Homage for Satan”
Don describes this song as helping clarify his emerging suspicion of his Christian upbringing as a young man. Initially attracted to the transgressive nature of this attack on Christianity, it later came to represent for him a more nuanced view of religion in general. It’s true what they say, Satan has way better tunes.
System of a Down, “B.Y.O.B.”
Don talks about how this was one of the first songs that made him think about America's innumerable wars of aggression overseas. This feels like a fairly universal coming-of-age moment, when you start to compare the story a country tells about itself with the real consequences of its actions.
Edwin Starr, “War”
What is it good for?
