Songs and Musicians That Matter To Me
Weird Al is probably more responsible for shaping my sense of humor than anyone else. His attention to detail in both his songs and music videos throughout the '80s and '90s was a huge inspiration to me. Even when the joke is completely ridiculous, everything surrounding it has to be absolutely right. The fact that Weird Al's band can convincingly play such an incredible variety of musical styles still amazes me.
Oddly enough, Weird Al is also accidentally responsible for my lifelong distrust of authority. I was probably ten years old, watching the "Fat" music video, and marveling at the makeup effects. My great-aunt walked into the room and insisted that wasn't makeup at all.
"That's a real fat guy."
I confidently explained that it was obviously Weird Al in an elaborate fat suit.
She wouldn't budge. At that age, I still believed adults were basically right by default. But this time I knew they weren't. I had seen the behind-the-scenes footage. I knew how the video had been made. So, for probably the first time in my life, I argued with an adult.
And... I won. It felt incredible.
Ever since then, I've never had much trouble challenging people when I'm convinced I'm right. Teachers. Bosses. Politicians. Editors. If I think you're wrong, I'm probably going to tell you. Maybe that's not the healthiest worldview. But it has worked out pretty well for me. And if anyone asks where it all started...I get to blame Weird Al.
KISS
KISS fundamentally changed the music world by transforming rock concerts into full-blown theatrical spectacles. Full costumes, flying across arenas on ziplines, pyrotechnics, spitting blood, and massive video screens—when you go to a KISS concert, you know you’re getting a hell of a show. Plenty of massive artists and bands follow that playbook now, but as far as I'm concerned, nobody has ever done it better than KISS.
Beyond the visuals, I genuinely love a lot of their music. The classic anthems hold up. While I’ll admit to being a bit of a purist who prefers the original core four, Gene, Paul, Peter, and Ace, I’ve seen various iterations of the band live over the years, and I’ve had a fantastic time every single time. No matter who is behind the makeup on any given night, the energy and showmanship are undeniable.
Laufey
One day, I got a phone call from my youngest daughter, Abby.
"Dad, will you take me to see Laufey?"
At first, I wasn’t even sure what she was saying or what a "Laufey" was. She explained that Laufey (pronounced Lay-vay) was a singer from Iceland who blends classical influences with a soulful, jazz-pop sound. Abby played a few of her tracks for me, and I was immediately blown away by how beautiful, evocative, and precise her storytelling was.
Laufey quickly became "our thing." We have seen her live twice and even caught her concert movie on the big screen in IMAX.
Her music has deeply influenced my creative work: Laufey was actually a massive inspiration for the character of Amelia Chan in The Story of Us (and she’s the star of its hypothetical spinoff). Her music proves just how powerful a well-told story wrapped in a melody can be.
Warren Zevon
When I think of pure storytelling in music, Warren Zevon is an absolute no-brainer. So many of his songs aren't just tracks—they are entire short stories packed into four minutes. Masterpieces like "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner," "Lawyers, Guns and Money," "Excitable Boy," and "Hit Somebody (The Hockey Song)" immediately come to mind.
Growing up on David Letterman, Zevon was a constant, welcome presence on my screen, and I fell in love with his music early on. His sharp wit, dark humor, and unmatched ability to craft complex characters set him miles apart from anyone else in rock and roll.
I was so thrilled to see him finally inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a few years ago. It was long, long overdue, but so profoundly deserved.
Dreamer (Ozzy Osbourne)
My mom was a huge Ozzy Osbourne fan, and because of that, "Dreamer" became a deeply meaningful song for our family. At my wedding, my mom and I shared our mother-son dance to it, a memory I’ll treasure forever.
Years later, I danced to the exact same song with my oldest daughter at her Sweet 16. My mom had already passed away by then, which gave the entire moment a whole new layer of emotional weight. Passing that song down from my mother to my daughter turned a heavy night into a beautiful tribute, proving that the love and memories we share with our parents carry on long after they're gone.
"Mary Jane's Last Dance"- Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
This is often my go-to song for karaoke. I’ll admit that when I think of storytelling in music, the visual narrative of the music video often plays a huge role, and this one in particular has stuck with me for decades. In it, Tom Petty plays a mortuary assistant who steals the body of what we assume is a lost love (played by Kim Basinger) to have one last, deeply disturbing "date" with her. At the end, he carries her out to the ocean and lets her body float away, only for her eyes to pop open right before the final fade to black. It is a haunting, brilliant image that stays with you.
While on the subject of Tom Petty, I have to throw in the video for "Into the Great Wide Open," which stars a young Johnny Depp as an aspiring, naive musician named Eddie Rebel. Both are incredible short-form films that tell truly memorable, lasting stories.
Letter To My 13 Year Old Self by Laufey
While so many of Laufey’s songs feature powerful narrative storytelling, "Letter to My 13 Year Old Self" is particularly emotional for me. Hearing her deliver an "it gets better" message to her younger self never fails to make me pause, listen, and deeply reflect on her words.<.p> It definitely makes me reflect on how I treated people when I was a kid, with the sincere hope that I never made anyone feel the way she describes. Honestly, there are probably some apologies I owe people, too.
I'm so sorry that they pick you lastWhile the song is undeniably beautiful, there’s a bizarre live-audience phenomenon I’ve witnessed all three times I’ve heard it performed in a crowd. Laufey sings:
Try to say your foreign name and laugh
I know that you feel loud
So different from the crowd
Of big blue eyes and long blond hair and boys that stare
One day you'll be up on stageAnd inexplicably, instead of shouting "Laufey!", the entire crowd collectively lets out a loud, completely incoherent, primal yell. It happens every single time, and it never fails to make me laugh out loud.
Little girls will scream your name
Shake It Off by Taylor Swift
I am posting this with minimal comment, and I say this with zero irony or exaggeration: I genuinely believe the lyrics of "Shake It Off" make it one of the most important songs of the last twenty years.
More people need to actually listen to that song and absorb its message. Too many people spend their lives taking everything way too personally and way too seriously. At its core, the song is a simple, bulletproof anthem about letting the noise roll off your back, refusing to give haters real estate in your mind, and choosing joy over outrage.
It’s a message the modern world needs a lot more of.
Hook by Blues Traveller
I love a song that openly mocks the fact that the audience isn’t actually paying attention to the lyrics. No song exemplifies this better than "Hook." When you actually listen to what John Popper is singing, you realize: He’s talking about you, radio listener!
The entire song is a brilliant, self-aware parody of pop music formula, that works as a insanely catchy melody, all while singing lyrics that explicitly confess he could be singing complete gibberish and nobody would care as long as it sounds good:
There is something amissIt’s the ultimate musical prank, calling out the listener for being easily manipulated by a catchy hook while simultaneously handing them one of the catchiest hooks of the '90s. I find the whole concept endlessly funny.
I am being insincere
In fact I don't mean any of this
Still my confession draws you near
To confuse the issue I refer
To familiar heroes from long ago
No matter how much Peter loved her
What made the Pan refuse to grow