Monday music rundown

These 10 songs may or may not help you survive Monday morning. At the very least they will help you avoid overhearing “Mad Men” spoilers.

“Philadelphia Girl” by Casey Neill. I’m driving with my dad to Philadelphia today. This is the first significant trip we’ve undertaken since I accidentally got Tabasco sauce in his eye on the Jersey Turnpike last summer. This song is my favorite pop culture portrayal of Philadelphia — I have no idea if it’s true, but I’d kind of like to find out. Incidentally, the best girls to date come from Chicago and the Twin Cities. The worst: Boston. These are the facts, my friends.

Arcade Fire.

“Rebellion (Lies)” by The Arcade Fire. It’s been five years since Arcade Fire’s debut album and I’m finally getting to the point where all their songs don’t sound the same. Does any complaint scream “I have missed the point” more than “All their songs sound the same.” Again, why I couldn’t be a music critic.

“Work Day” by It Hugs Back. Another reason I couldn’t be a music critic: I enjoy songs about people who like their jobs much more than those about people who hate their jobs.

“The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth” by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! What a terrible title. It used to make me mad that these guys never seemed to put it all together. Now I’m taking the libertarian point of view: Bands called Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! that record songs about yellow country teeth don’t really deserve to succeed.

“Timebomb” by Beck. So Beck is a scientologist and kind of a dork, but man can he still churn out awesome songs. There’s a very compelling case to be made that he’s the most underrated artist of the past 15 years. People roll their eyes, but have you ever been disappointed by a Beck record? I don’t care if he wants to talk about Xenu — “Tropicalia” still rocks.

“Los Angeles” by Counting Crows. Counting Crows released a record last fall that nobody paid attention to. I think I may have been the only one who bought it. This is a shame, because the album was pretty good — I think the shadow of “Chinese Democracy” really had an adverse effect on a really diverse slate of pseudo-comeback albums that came out last fall, including…

“The Hungry Ghost” by The Cure….this awesome song by The Cure. I swear, if you slapped Bloc Party’s name on this song, Brooklyn DJs would still be remixing it right now.

“Rudie Can’t Fail” by The Clash. Prominently featured in “Grosse Pointe Blank,” which at this point I’m just going to have to give in and list among my five favorite movies of all-time, right there with “Taxi Driver,” “The Insider,” “Cool Hand Luke,” and “Night of the Hunter.” It’s too easy to dismiss that movie as a piece of ‘90s nostalgia or a goof on John Cusack’s teen idol status. There’s real pathos there. The balcony scene with Cusack and Minnie Driver never fails to choke me up just a bit.

“Paper Plate” by GZA the Genius. I think I speak for everyone when I say I’m a sucker for rap songs that name check both Ricky Hatton and Floyd Mayweather. Including Pacquiao would have been overkill.

“No Line on the Horizon” by U2. I feel like I’m 80 years old when I say it, but I really don’t think I’m going to find an album this year I enjoyed more than “No Line on the Horizon.”

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