Coded 30s black blues to a 1950s Mexican diva, 1970s and 80s politics to full on out dirty disco in 2021, this week’s guest playlister Pop Off! celebrates a personal birthday with Gay Pride parade that goes beyond the obvious anthems
Read moreGay pride struggles and strides: songs exploring gender and LGBTQ
It’s time to come out with our own Song Bar gay parade – songs exploring, expressing the experience from confusions and problems, all the way to coming out and celebrating gender, difference across the sex spectrum
Read morePlaylists: songs about eyes
From last week’s eye-popping number of nominations following the eye introduction, guest playlister Maki has put his choices into sharp focus, from the 60s to the present day with selections optimally optical and aurally excellent
Read morePlaylists: songs that reference nursery rhymes
From Beautiful Pea Green Boat to Rockabye, they float up in a whole range song contexts and genres. Picking out perfect examples nominated in last week’s topic, guest playlister EnglishOutlaw takes us from innocence to experience
Read moreIt's like this: songs with similes
Used in literature and everyday speech, it’s the verbal tool that compares one contrasting thing to another, by using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. But where do they come up in song lyrics, and where, ideally, are they effective and original?
Read morePlaylists: songs about waking up
Dawn in India to Donovan, Bacharach-David to The Beatles, this week's wonderful selections by guest playlister ParaMhor from last week's nominations will have you feeling wide awake and refreshed
Read morePlaylists: songs about alternative outcomes
If only, maybe or perhaps it happened differently? From Beyoncé to Beach Boys and Belle & Sebastian, this week's guest playlister EnglishOutlaw skilfully treads alternative paths inspired by last week's song nominations
Read morePlaylists: songs about channelling mental and physical pain
Through the haunting voices of Antony Hegarty and Karen Dalton to memories of Syd Barrett and racing with the Boss, this week's guest writer ParaMhor plays through the pain barrier with perfects lists inspired by last week's topics
Read morePlaylists brave and brilliant: uncharacteristic, genre-switch songs
Call the cops! Are music artists not doing what they are supposed to do? This week's guest writer Detective Sergeant Uncleben investigates, and finds that those who break the rules make brilliant playlists
Read morePlaylists: songs featuring male names
Andy to Billy, Carey to Terry, this week's guest writer treefrogdemon does a roll call through hundreds of your song suggestions from last week's topic to show how lyrics define far more than just a name
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