By Loud Atlas
The modern era has given birth to a variety of acronyms and short-hand expressions to deal with an emerging world of themes. Afraid to go skydiving? YOLO, man! Received a dodgy link? Probably NSFW, or indeed not safe at all. And references to the GOAT probably aren't related to anything with four legs.
Both the fear of missing out and the fear of being left out are complex, with branches of modern psychology dedicated to them in our social media age.
ICYMI, we're FOMOing this week.
Let's start deep – mega deep. The only thing that matters, believe it or not, is what's left. Time is ticking, Pink Floyd remind us. If that doesn't give you FOMO, I'm not sure what will.
And then one day you find / Ten years have got behind you / No one told you when to run / You missed the starting gun
Being involved with the social scene is troubling Courtney Barnett. Conflicting emotions confound her in Nobody Cares If You Don't Go To The Party – should she go out or not?
I'd rather stay in bed with the rain over my head / Than have to pick my brain up off the floor
Trends come and go but always with the same social pressures. Brand new things are the Fashion for David Bowie.
They do it over there / But we don't do it over here / [...] Listen to me / don't listen to me / Talk to me / Don't talk to me / Dance with me / Don't dance with me
As any horror film fan knows, secrets lie behind objects, particularly the closed ones. The Green Door is the object of Shakin' Stevens' fascination.
Don't know what they're doing / [...] Wish they'd let me in so I could find out
We all want to belong and to be involved with our peers. Shed Seven missed the joke, so they're Missing Out.
That sounds like I should've been there / It sounds as though everybody laughed / But by the time I'd found out they were all gone
A tale as old as time – boy and girl break up and one wants the other back. But with someone else now on the scene, they've missed out. Smokey Robinson & The Miracles are stuck on the outer rim of a broken relationship in I'm On The Outside (Looking In).
I'm on the outside looking in / I don't wanna be, I don't wanna be left on the outside all alone / Well, I guess I've had my day and you let me go my way
Another man's fine life – his friend's – is something that Philip Jeays is envious of and is determined to have. Geoff has it all, why can't Philip?
And it could be mine, Geoff, mine / All of the time / It could be so simple, Geoff / Oh and life could be fine / [...] Isn't our friendship worth so much more, Geoff?
The fear of missing out on anything (at all, it seems!) troubles Gary Clark Jr. In Gotta Get Into Something, he channels the electric energy of being pumped up for life.
I can't sleep / [...] Walk in the shop / Let's go / Wow, drink it up / Drink it up / Meet me on the eastside
Social media has turned us into self-critical and self-judgemental beings. Liz Lawrence has got all the information about everything all at once, in Drive.
More I know about it / The less I know about it / The more I wanna know less about it
Wolf Alice have to keep up appearances so as not to be left out in the fame-fuelled hedonistic world of LA. The Delicious Things are tempting, but at what expense?
I won't say no, I'll give it a go / Oh, I won't say no, I'll give it a / Shot for the spot at the top, a girl like me / Would you believe I'm in Los Angeles?
Keeping up with everyone else is exhausting and damaging to the soul. Play your own game. Baz Luhrmann told us we're free in the 90s. Self Esteem brings us a modern take on the theme in I Do This All The Time.
Stop trying to have so many friends / Don't be intimidated by all the babies they have / Don't be embarrassed that all you've had is fun
Epic lessons have never sounded so good: defeat FOMO by embracing freedom, but spare a thought to who you leave behind. Lynyrd Skynyrd are as free as a Free Bird.
If I leave here tomorrow / Would you still remember me? / For I must be traveling on now / 'Cause there's too many places I've got to see
Peeking out the curtains After Hours into the nightlife outside isn't a good idea. Ignorance sometimes really is bliss for The Velvet Underground.
All the people are dancing / And they're having such fun / I wish it could happen to me
The Exclusive A-List Playlist:
Pink Floyd - Time (ParaMhor)
Courtney Barnett - Nobody Really Cares If You Don't Go To The Party (Shoegazer)
David Bowie - Fashion (ajostu)
Shakin' Stevens - Green Door (pejepeine)
Shed Seven - Missing Out (BanazirGalbasi)
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - I'm On The Outside (Looking In) (MussoliniHeadkick)
Philip Jeays - Geoff (TatankaYotanka)
Gary Clark Jr. - Gotta Get Into Something (tincanman2010)
Liz Lawrence - Drive (ParaMhor)
Wolf Alice - Delicious Things (happyclapper)
Self Esteem - I Do This All The Time (DiscoMonster)
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird (severin)
The Velvet Underground - After Hours (TarquinSpodd)
The Breaking Into The Group B-List Playlist:
Willie Colón & Hector Lavoe - I Wish I Had A Watermelon (magicman)
The Lovely Eggs - Have You Ever Heard A Digital Accordion? (DiscoMonster)
Dr. Hook - Everybody's Making It Big But Me (severin)
Them (ft. Van Morrison) - Richard Cory (TarquinSpodd)
Imani Coppola - Facetime Continuum (happyclapper)
U.K. Subs - Party In Paris (Carpgate)
Don Gibson - Oh, Lonesome Me (TarquinSpodd)
Billie Holiday - But Not For Me (Nilpferd)
Bad Finger - Come And Get It (Fred Erickson)
Lee Hazlewood - Pray Them Bars Away (Uncleben)
Kim Churchill - Don't Leave Your Life Too Long (severin)
Half Man Half Biscuit - Secret Gig (SongBarLandlord)
TISM - Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me (Nicko)
Guru's Wildcard Picks:
Olivia Rodrigo - Jealousy, Jealousy
Olivia sees everyone getting all the things she wants. Beware the dreaded comparisons which go hand-in-hand with the use of social media.
Henry Britton - I'd Like To Be A Hero, Too
Recorded in 1914 at the beginning of the First World War, long before the horrors were truly realised. Lest we forget.
Angellvro - The Fear Of Missing Out
Only released within the last week, this is FOMO 108 years later.
These playlists were inspired by readers' song nominations from last week's topic: Be here/there now: songs about the fear of missing out. The next topic will launch on Thursday at 1pm UK time.
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