This might be my favorite song of all time. It’s by a slightly obscure Chicago punk band called The Broadways, made up of a couple members from the more well-known ska band Slapstick. It’s got everything you want in a punk song. Palm mutes, open meedly-meedly parts, yelling, speed, a half-time breakdown, and impeccable synchronicity. I listen to this song when I’m sad, when I’m frustrated, when I’m in traffic, and when I need to inject high octane fuel into my veins. The soaring octave chords will always pick me back up again.

All on the streets, the signs read
Cheaper and better technology
This capitalist vision is my nightmare

Put up a sign in my face
What the fuck happened to this place?
I think we made a wrong turn
Look at the lovely concrete

I drove to my stupid job today
Got stopped at an intersection
Fifteen minutes of my life just rolled away

Looked at the guy next to me
He didn't look too happy
No one's happy, but everyone's too busy to see

Let's go shopping today
Drive our fancy cars to the fancy malls
And for lunch we'll have Big Macs

I wish I could turn the clock back
Back to when I was ten
When I wasn't scared of everything
And everything wasn't so fucking crowded

And I wonder if my kid will ever see the horizon
Untouched by billboards and shopping malls
And I wonder if this crazy world
Thinks I'm the one that's crazy

What if I'm the one who's crazy?
What if I'm the one who's crazy?
What if I'm the one who's crazy?
What if I'm the one who's crazy?
I'm not crazy, just frustrated

WIthout a doubt, this song from my teenage years subliminally shaped a lot of my views on what’s wrong with the world. Capitalist intrusions. Eyeball monetization. The always upgrade tech cycle. Why I hate crowds. And traffic. Life evaporating at a stop light seems like a criminal waste of humanity to me. This may subconsciously be part of why I work from home.

I’ll never live up to my punk rock ideals or my teenage self, but this song takes me back to them. Not to “when I was ten”, but to “when I was seventeen” for sure. Driving through big city Houston at night. Going to Food Not Bombs near the abandoned hospital. All it takes is the first verse and BOOM! I’m transported through time and I can see the world through my old anarcho-tinted glasses. It makes you want to smash systems and break concrete.