What’s Oberlin Listening To?
By:Sloane DiBari, Contributor
The week of February 26th started out with beautiful, springlike weather, and Wilder Bowl turned into a photo from a college ad pamphlet. The abundance of headphone-wearing students milling about gave me ample opportunity to hear about the music they were listening to. I felt pretty annoying, but I think it was worth it because I’m nosy as hell about people’s tastes in music.
Interestingly, I didn’t get many of the typical bands I’d expect a lot of Oberlin students to be listening to—think the Smiths, Radiohead, Joy Division, and all the other Pretentious Indie Guy acts that a lot of people I’ve met here are into. There was a surprising amount of pop rock. That being said, my sample size was quite small. Still, it’s easy to get the sense that our student body is wonderfully diverse in their tastes in music.
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (1824)
Classical
“I really enjoy it a lot. It’s probably my second favorite Beethoven symphony.” –Asher Kaye
Preachers – Petrol Girls
Baby (2022)
Post-hardcore, riot grrrl
“It’s Noisy. Capital ‘N.’ I like it.” –Jay Beal
Bang the Doldrums – Fall Out Boy
Infinity on High (2007)
Pop punk, emo-pop
“This album has been very much of a comfort album for me. I’ve been listening to it constantly. It’s about missing people, and I’ve been missing a lot of people from home.” –Bastet Zyla
The aisle – PinkPantheress
Heaven Knows (2023)
Contemporary R&B, EDM, drum and bass
“I was like, ‘I haven’t listened to her in forever. Let me put her on today.’” –Jesse Parham
Star of Bethlehem – Emmylou Harris and Neil Young
Duets (1990) [compilation]
Country
“It’s on one of my playlists right now. The playlist is called ‘A Full House and a Rock ‘n’ Roll Band,’ which is from a Lucinda Williams song, which inspired this playlist. I love this song because it’s the only Neil Young song on Spotify. He took all his [solo] stuff off there, but this one’s still on because it’s Emmylou Harris.” –Neve Kelley
A Loose Thread – Daniel Pemberton (from the Enola Holmes 2 soundtrack)
Enola Holmes 2 (2022)
Film score
“I just like listening to movie soundtracks when I’m walking around because it lets me think about what I have to do that day without being distracted by lyrics.” –Ellie Edwards
Newjack – Justice
† (2007)
Electro house
“Sample-based euphoria. Can’t recommend enough.” –Ale Jorge
Going to Heaven – Adeem the Artist
Cast Iron Pansexual (2021)
Alt-country
“It’s awesome. Some real queer country music.” –Indigo Brandstein
Every Morning – Sugar Ray
14:59 (1999)
Pop rock, power pop
“I feel like a douchebag listening to it. It’s amazing. I listen to this when I wanna listen to the Beastie Boys or want to feel like a twinky straight man. Everyone should listen. Wonderful.” –Milo Antonaides
We Built This City – Starship
Knee Deep in the Hoopla (1985)
Pop rock, AOR
“Pretty good.” –Florian Hofweber
Pasaulīte – Žoržs Siksna
Leģendas (2017) [compilation]
Pop rock, disco
“It’s Latvian music. I think it’s from the 80s. I really like the rhythm. I like how upbeat it is. If you translate the lyrics, it’s talking about how the world is burning, and like, ‘where are you, world?’ I’ve been crankin’ this song for years. I don’t know a lot about the guy behind it, but it’s easily one of my top ten favorite Latvian songs. It’s one of the songs I listen to to help me focus.” –TJ Gode-von Aesch
Peacocks – The Mountain Goats
Tallahassee (2002)
Indie folk, singer-songwriter, folk rock
“Silliest song on Tallahassee, which is about divorce. It has a silly line, which is ‘cicadas, locusts, and the shrieking of innumerable gibbons,’ which is an awesome line. ‘Innumerable gibbons’ is just an awesome phrase.” –Ray Davis
Hey Joe – Charlotte Gainsbourg [Jimi Hendrix Cover]
Hey Joe (2014)
Art pop, psychedelic rock
“I went into an Uber and the driver played it, and I mentioned that I liked it. Then we had a conversation the entire time about how he was an up-and-coming artist, and how I was in school, and how he wanted to get into the scene but didn’t want to leave his job, and it was bizarre and just interesting. Super fun. He told me to look him up on Facebook, but I forgot his name.” –Eliana Simpson
Hertz – Amyl and the Sniffers
Comfort to Me (2021)
Hardcore punk
“It’s just such a fun and energetic song. Especially feeling bogged down in schoolwork, it has a sense of escaping, and it’s really danceable. The frontwoman, Amy [Taylor], has such a great voice for punk.” –Fern Slater
Advice – Alex G
Trick (2012)
Bedroom pop, lo-fi/slacker rock
“I like how his instrumentals—like the different guitar chords he uses—hold so much emotion even when the song doesn’t have that many lyrics.” –Delphine McGee
Home – AlicebanD
Aliceband (2011)
Dark cabaret
“It's basically just kinda three massive choruses with a bunch of fast-paced repetitive terms that focus around avoiding intimacy and detachment and self-destructive behavior when it comes to relationships, and it’s lovely, lovely stuff. It's sad shit told in a fast-paced, abstract, highly lyrical form with a tune that could be upbeat with different [lyrical] content.” –Em Herrema
Here’s a Spotify playlist with the songs listed in this article.
