What are some good songs to bring to my human dissection class?
February 5, 2009 4:47 PM

I'm taking a human cadaver dissection class. Our instructor allows us to bring music to play in class. Hive-mind, you know what to do.
posted by BuddhaInABucket to Grab Bag (89 answers total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
Patsy Cline?
posted by GuyZero at 4:48 PM on February 5, 2009


Your Body is a Wonderland by you-know-who. Don't judge me, it was the first thing that popped into my head.
posted by thinkpiece at 4:50 PM on February 5, 2009


A Chance to Cut is a Chance to Cure.
posted by box at 4:52 PM on February 5, 2009




Tom Waits - Bone Machine

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues (I was gonna say Murder Ballads, but some folks in your class might not appreciate that)
posted by katillathehun at 4:54 PM on February 5, 2009


Dem Bones
posted by Electric Dragon at 4:55 PM on February 5, 2009


Nurse With Wound's Chance Meeting on a Dissecting Table of a Sewing Machine and an Umbrella.
posted by nasreddin at 4:55 PM on February 5, 2009


Bodily Functions.
posted by box at 4:55 PM on February 5, 2009


Dem Bones Dem Bones
posted by Andy's Gross Wart at 4:56 PM on February 5, 2009


Heather Nova - "Not Only Human"? (The music in the background of this youtube mashup)
posted by -harlequin- at 4:57 PM on February 5, 2009


I've Got You Under My Skin
I Left My Heart in San Francisco
posted by browse at 4:57 PM on February 5, 2009


Dig Lazarus Dig!!!, also by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Anything by Cannibal Corpse.

I also feel like anything by Grails would be great for that.
posted by The Michael The at 4:58 PM on February 5, 2009


They're a little known band, but The Blue Wrath has a really catch tune, I Monster (links go to song on Youtube), that may be topical. (I have no idea what's up with the unofficial music video.)

More obscure, but Lifeseeker's Gone Guru also seems appropriate. (Some profanity, so be warned. In case there are small kids around as you cut open the cadaver?)
posted by fogster at 4:59 PM on February 5, 2009


The Pixies - I Bleed.
posted by zippy at 5:01 PM on February 5, 2009


I'd probably want to listen to some Dylan.

Maybe Joey. He Was a Friend of Mine. Hattie Carrol.

All about dead people.

Then maybe Search and Destroy by the Stooges.
posted by sully75 at 5:01 PM on February 5, 2009


Sorry, I totally botched the first link. Pink Floyd's "Coming Back to Life" is a nice enough song, but it's not what I meant to link to.
posted by fogster at 5:02 PM on February 5, 2009


Tool - 46 & 2
posted by Roach at 5:04 PM on February 5, 2009


Soul Meets Body by Death Cab For Cutie!
Bodysnatchers by Radiohead!
How To Be Dead by Snow Patrol
The Dead Part Of You by American Music Club! (ok, probably not, but it's an old fave of mine)
Your Ex-Lover Is Dead by Stars!
Not Dead Yet by the Weepies
Superman's Dead by Our Lady Peace
Alive, by Pearl Jam
I'm About To Come Alive, by Train
posted by 2oh1 at 5:05 PM on February 5, 2009


Don't Go Breaking My Heart
posted by Flashman at 5:05 PM on February 5, 2009


If this is an earnest question, I'm sure you'll want something that will neither distract you from your studies nor compromise the dignity of those who generously gave this final gift to assist the medical care of the world they were leaving behind. The classic Pablo Casals performance of Bach's Cello Suites, perhaps.

If you're just inviting verbal riffs on the situation, how about "No Feelings" by The Sex Pistols?
posted by Joe Beese at 5:06 PM on February 5, 2009


Alive And Kicking by Simple Minds!
posted by 2oh1 at 5:06 PM on February 5, 2009


Silence Of The Lambs soundtrack.
posted by turgid dahlia at 5:07 PM on February 5, 2009


Bryan Adams--Cuts Like a Knife
George Thorogood--Bad to the Bone

Geez, I'm a child of the 80's.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 5:08 PM on February 5, 2009


Dead or Alive by Oingo Boingo (and various other songs by them, but this is what first popped into my brain.)
posted by Mizu at 5:11 PM on February 5, 2009


Joe Beese: Oh, I take it very seriously and respect his dignity and all that, but staring into an armpit cleaning off adipose tissue and fascia for 4 hours really, really needs a little help being bearable.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 5:12 PM on February 5, 2009


Fuck the Pain Away by Peaches.

:O
posted by nitsuj at 5:12 PM on February 5, 2009


Hoodoo Gurus, Dig It Up
posted by scody at 5:16 PM on February 5, 2009


Smells like teen spirit?
posted by |n$eCur3 at 5:16 PM on February 5, 2009


Boris - Farewell
Cryptopsy - Slit Your Guts
Death - Open Casket
Earth - An Inquest Concerning Teeth
Emperor - A Fine Day To Die (Bathory cover)
Khanate - Dead
Misfits - Last Caress
Nile - I Whisper In The Ear Of The Dead
Sunn O))) - Death Becomes You

And me without a list comprising the majority of metal I've listened to...argh
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 5:18 PM on February 5, 2009


Behold...The Arctopus - You Will Be Reincarnated As An Imperial Attack Spaceturtle
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 5:22 PM on February 5, 2009


Slayer - Piece By Piece
Slayer - Postmortem
Anything by Dissection.
Hypocrisy - Let The Knife Do The Talking
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 5:25 PM on February 5, 2009


I think most music in the Death Metal genre would be to your liking.

Maybe some Autopsy?
posted by spinifex23 at 5:28 PM on February 5, 2009


23rd Century. Especially if you have any interest in doing implants or joint/part replacements.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 5:32 PM on February 5, 2009


The Cramps

in particular
Songs the Lord Taught Us,
Bad Music for Bad People
(or anything really..)





RIP Lux Interior..
posted by The_Auditor at 5:34 PM on February 5, 2009


"O, Death" -- Ralph Stanley
"This Morning I Was Born Again" -- Ray Wiley Hubbard
"Ain't No Grave" -- Crooked Still
"I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" -- Wilco
"Oops, I Did It Again" -- Richard Thompson
"Cold, Cold Heart" -- Lucinda Williams
"It's a Great Day to Be Alive" -- Travis Tritt
"Innocent Bones" -- Iron & Wine
"The Bones of You" -- Elbow
"Birth, School, Work, Death" -- The Godfathers
"Cuts You Up" -- Peter Murphy
"I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive" -- Hank Williams
"In My Time of Dying" -- Led Zeppelin
"Mack the Knife" -- Bobby Darrin
"If I Die Sudden" -- John Mellencamp
"I Will Possess Your Heart" -- Death Cab for Cutie

Yep, best and weirdest date I've ever had was in the anatomy lab. I totally get what you mean.
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:35 PM on February 5, 2009


Dirt in the Ground - Tom Waits
Cold, Cold Ground - Tom Waits
Excitable Boy - Warren Zevon
posted by dilettante at 5:38 PM on February 5, 2009


"The Origin Of Love" from the Hedwig and the Angry Inch soundtrack. (Or, this excellent cover by Rufus Wainwright.)
posted by nicwolff at 5:38 PM on February 5, 2009


If good taste isn't a requirement...Blind Melon - Skinned
posted by ihunui at 5:39 PM on February 5, 2009


"Ripple" -- The Grateful Dead
posted by docgonzo at 5:45 PM on February 5, 2009


Drowning Pool - Bodies (Let The Bodies Hit The Floor)
posted by nooneyouknow at 5:46 PM on February 5, 2009


Every Time You Go Away, You Take a Piece of Me with You
posted by rikschell at 5:48 PM on February 5, 2009


Them Bones - Alice in Chains
Postmortem - Slayer
Spill the Blood - Slayer
Bodysnatchers - Radiohead
Bloodscrubber - Party of Helicopters (from the album Abracadaver!)
posted by saladin at 5:50 PM on February 5, 2009


Don't Fear the Reaper - Blue Öyster Cult
posted by brianogilvie at 5:58 PM on February 5, 2009


Philip Glass, Music with Changing Parts
posted by Stylus Happenstance at 5:58 PM on February 5, 2009


In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. Extended instrumental noodling might keep your mind off the gore.

Or anything by the Groovie Ghoulies, or perhaps the Monster Mash.
posted by davetill at 6:06 PM on February 5, 2009


Jim Carroll Band, "People Who Died"
posted by equalpants at 6:06 PM on February 5, 2009


It rubs the lotion on its skin
posted by fluffycreature at 6:12 PM on February 5, 2009


Dead Man's Party by Oingo Boingo.
posted by Roman Graves at 6:14 PM on February 5, 2009


"I'm Looking Through You" - The Beatles
"Let's Get Physical" - Olivia Newton John (let me hear your body talk)
"Rip Her to Shreds" - Blondie
"Who Are You" - The Who (so you can pretend to be on CSI)
"Dead Flowers" - The Rolling Stones
posted by Abbril at 6:20 PM on February 5, 2009


Sinatra:

"Help Yourself To My Heart"
"I Only Have Eyes for You"
"I See Your Face Before Me"
"If I Steal a Kiss"
"Name It And It’s Yours"
"There's Something Missing"
"They Can't Take That Away From Me"
“Where Do You Keep Your Heart?"
"Be Careful, It's My Heart"
posted by found missing at 6:21 PM on February 5, 2009


Hive-mind, you know what to do.

That's pretty open ended, so let me digress from the musical suggestions just one moment. I am a body donor. When I'm dead and gone, my body will be taken, post haste, to a nearby medical school, for the benefit of students like you.

I don't particularly care what music you play when you're slicing and dicing me, and actually, I realize that while you are expected to treat the deceased with respect, a little levity to break the tension is probably a good thing. But if I get to make a request, I would appreciate some Grateful Dead (can't believe only one mention so far), some Emmylou Harris, and any kind of jazz.

Also, I would like to encourage all of you to look into body donation -- just contact the nearest medical school. They need you. Unless you prefer to have a small fortune wasted to have yourself pickled, laid out inside a very expensive wooden box and entombed in a concrete vault, all to make your relatives feel that they sent you forth in style.
posted by beagle at 6:26 PM on February 5, 2009


I am throwing out the Schoolhouse Rock classics dealing with the body:

The Body Machine
Do the Circulation
Them Not So Dry Bones

'cause I am old and would want these playing at some point if I was on the table. Besides songs about food these tunes would work.
posted by jadepearl at 6:30 PM on February 5, 2009


Worst meat pies in London from Sweeney Todd? It'sthe one they sing about making the peeps into meat pies.
posted by legotech at 6:41 PM on February 5, 2009


"Bodies," by Glenn Danzig, third album: "I got bodies to the left, I got bodies to the right ..."

"Locked in a Room," by The Ids, Psycho Babylon or the Kissed soundtrack: "Locked in a room with Death ..."

"The Unquiet Grave," by Faith and the Muse.
posted by adipocere at 6:44 PM on February 5, 2009


So I noticed you haven't favorited any of the death metal recommendations (possibly because the genre is inappropriate for the atmosphere, or maybe just because you don't like metal), but I urge you to consider these:

Pathologist - Cadavers In Medical Jurisprudence, from the album Grinding Opus of Forensic Medical Problems.

The County Medical Examiners - The Virchow Postmortem Procedure, from the album Olidous Operettas (these guys are all doctors).
posted by Demogorgon at 6:44 PM on February 5, 2009


Art Paul Schlosser's "Human Guinea Pig"
posted by dr. boludo at 6:53 PM on February 5, 2009


Cadavers, by Brian Dewan.
posted by contraption at 6:56 PM on February 5, 2009


So Into You - Atlanta Rhythm Section
Cold as Ice - Foreigner
Love You Inside and Out - Bee Gees
Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2
Don't Phunk With My Heart - Black Eyed Peas
My Heart is Lost to You - Brooks and Dunn
These Eyes - The Guess Who
Touch Me - The Doors

On the tasteless side of things here is Stephen Lynch's A Month Dead.
posted by sambosambo at 7:06 PM on February 5, 2009


Alice Cooper - I Love the Dead
posted by sfenders at 7:10 PM on February 5, 2009


cage - ballad of worms
posted by thenuts at 7:23 PM on February 5, 2009


Daft Punk - Alive 2007
posted by pwnzj00 at 7:34 PM on February 5, 2009


Heavens - Counting.
Leonard Cohen - Teachers.
Jack Off Jill - Surgery.
Deftones - Knife Party.

(Goddamn, ignore the videos for these things.)

I've cut out (ha ha) a few others since they're a bit more harder and you seem to like...less hard music from the favorites so farl, but there's also Rammstein 'Mein Teil', which is definitely tasteless if you know the story behind it, the Puppet Master album from King Diamond, and Fantomas' Delirium Cordia.
posted by Weighted Companion Cube at 7:50 PM on February 5, 2009


The soundtrack from any and all zombie movie. Or Psycho.
posted by JuiceBoxHero at 8:13 PM on February 5, 2009


Sunshine, Lollipops, & Rainbows
posted by BitterOldPunk at 8:16 PM on February 5, 2009


Flight of the Conchords - Business Time
posted by pmbuko at 8:19 PM on February 5, 2009


Several of Cash's "American Recordings" series would be good. (Particularly III, IV & V)

John Hammond's "Wicked Grin" would be good.

Ah... perfect...

The Remains of You - Corb Lund off "Unforgiving Mistress"
posted by jkaczor at 8:34 PM on February 5, 2009


The Operation by Charlotte Gainsbourg: "our love goes under the knife...deep within the abbatoir/ of your entrails, your insides"
posted by Locative at 8:39 PM on February 5, 2009


Dissect—Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Eric B. is on the Cut—Eric B. and Rakim
The First Cut is the Deepest—I. Roy
Slice O'Life—45 Grave
Detachable Penis—King Missile
Dead Fingers Walking—Working For A Nuclear Free City
Dead Finks Don't Talk—Brian Eno
We're Both Dead Now Alice—The Fugs
Closed Casket—The Deadly Snakes
Oh My Bride—The Deadly Snakes (about stealing your wife's medication—maybe narcotics—in order to inherit her property, and the chorus is all about doctors and morticians viewing her body)
I Want To Die—The Deadly Snakes
There Goes Your Corpse Again—The Deadly Snakes
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead—Warren Zevon
She's Not Dead—Suede
A Short Stop at the Transylvanian Brain Surgeon—Amon Duul II
Elective Surgery—Dr. Octogon
Surgeon's Girl—Wire
Surgery—World Class Wreckin' Cru (Dr. Dre's first band)
You Don't Need a Doctor—The Robocop Kraus
The Human Body—Pylon
Whoops, there goes my body!—Pigbag!
Show Me Your Heart—Need New Body (Seriously, this one is great)
I Got a Feeling In My Body—Elvis Presley
Gut Feeling—Devo
Dummy Discards a Heart—Deerhoof
My Heart is Out of Bounds—The Long Blondes
Something's Got Ahold of My Heart—Terry Reilly
Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist—The Quails
Skidmarks on my Heart—The Go Gos
Open Your Heart—Human League
Your Heart Out—The Fall
Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart—The Puppets
You're Black and Blue—The Exploding Hearts
Hearts in Exile—The Homosexuals
Smoking Takes You Closer To God—Heart of Blues
All of my Heart—ABC
Paint By Number Heart—Martha and the Muffins
Heart of Glass—Blondie
Another Nail in my Heart—Squeeze
Open Up Your Heart—The Newcomers
Slow Nerve Action—The Flaming Lips
Be My Head—The Flaming Lips
I Think I Need a new Heart—The Magnetic Fields
Head, No Heart—100 Flowers
I Don't Own My Heart-100 Flowers
Do You Wanna Touch Me—Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Owner of a Loney Heart—Yes
posted by klangklangston at 9:04 PM on February 5, 2009


The Pixies offer several good options:
Bone Machine
Wave of Mutilation
Broken Face
and my personal favorite...
Debaser
"Slicin' up eyeballs, I want you to know."

I was also going to suggest "Be My Head" by the Flaming Lips.
posted by fructose at 9:23 PM on February 5, 2009


Another one came to mind-- "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes.
posted by fructose at 9:25 PM on February 5, 2009


Radiohead - Knives Out
posted by Windigo at 9:29 PM on February 5, 2009


Zombie Jamboree? (Note: that link goes to a Rockapella performance, but I know other people have done it.)

Or: okay, years ago William Hurt was in a brief-lived sentimental movie about a doctor who gets cancer, which makes him a better doctor and blah blah blah; and the one scene I remember is that early on he has to get an operation, and his colleagues at the hospital where he works offer to perform the surgery; they also offer to, instead of the chief surgeon picking the music he wants to listen to during the surgery, they will let HIM choose the music. And thus, as William Hurt's character is drifting off under anaesthesia, he and all his friends are prepping for surgery and singing "Why Don't We Get Drunk And Screw."

so...that song.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:35 PM on February 5, 2009


Robyn Hitchcock:
Sounds Great when You're Dead
The Yip Song
Balloon Man
This Could Be the Day

Tears for Fears: Watch Me Bleed
Undertones: Sigh and Explode
Cardiacs: All Spectacular
Mutton Birds: Envy of Angels
Smithereens: Cut Flowers
Be-Bop Deluxe: Down on Terminal Street
Bill Nelson: Stay Young
Dream Syndicate: Tell Me when it's Over
Louis Jordan: Jack, You're Dead
Ladytron: Cease2exist
Ultravox: Can't Stay Long
posted by jet_silver at 9:35 PM on February 5, 2009


Cardiacs: Bodysbad
Flunk: Everything is Ending Here
Groove Armada: In My Bones
Ladytron: Open Your Heart
Psychedelic Furs:
Flowers
Pulse

Jets to Brazil: Your X-Rays Have Come Back....
Magazine: Shot By Both Sides

Robyn Hitchcock:
When I Was Dead
Then You're Dust
posted by jet_silver at 10:00 PM on February 5, 2009


Bolds are for sure.

Repo! The Genetic Opera is a rock opera about harvesting organs from corpses [plot changed slightly to not spoilerize]. At the very least you want Things You See In A Graveyard, and probably others.

Bad Religion: Pity the Dead & Struck a Nerve.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Devil's Waitin'

Cake: Sheep Go to Heaven

Cloud Cult: Living on the Outside of your Skin, What Comes at the End, What it Feels like to be Alive, Car Crash, The Man Jumped Out the Window, the Ghost Inside our House, Dance for the Dead....pretty much any of their earlier albums and a great deal of their later albums.

Dead Kennedys: I Kill Children. Although probably a bad idea.

Gorillaz: Last Living Souls & Every Planet we reach is Dead

Gov't Mule: I Shall Return, Like Flies.

Great Big Sea: The Night that Patty Murphy Died

Jonathan Coulton: Re Your Brains. Naturally.

Manic Street Preachers: Most of Lifeblood. Empty Souls, A Song for Departure, Cardiff Afterlife

Of Montreal: Chrissie Kiss the Corpse. About playing weird pranks with a corpse.

Porcupine Tree: Lazarus, Revenant, My Ashes, Heartattack in a Layby, Drown With Me, Ambulance Chasing, In Formaldehyde, Bornlivedie, The Sleep of no Dreaming, Stop Swimming, An Empty Box

Schaffer the Darklord: Night of the Living Christ

Tom Lehrer: I hold your hand in mine

Most of Voltaire.
posted by Lemurrhea at 11:04 PM on February 5, 2009


I can't believe no one's suggested "Take another little piece of my heart" by Janis Joplin yet.
posted by Deathalicious at 11:07 PM on February 5, 2009


Teardrop by Massive Attack
It's The the House M.D. Theme

Going with the Medical TV shows theme

Superman By Lazlo Bane
The Scrubs Theme Song
posted by Redmond Cooper at 1:25 AM on February 6, 2009


I'd be pretty happy with the whole Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack/score.

Nicwolff mentioned Hedwig, but given the choice, I'd pluck two other songs from that wisp of a girly man fable: Angry Inch ("two days later the wound closed up....") and of course, Exquisite Corpse / All Sewn Up .
posted by rokusan at 2:08 AM on February 6, 2009




Code Blue
posted by mkb at 6:33 AM on February 6, 2009


Turn Around by They Might Be Giants

The Addams Family Theme
posted by anthy at 7:04 AM on February 6, 2009


Shriekback, Nemesis. Lyrics here.
posted by vers at 7:38 AM on February 6, 2009


Only Women Bleed, by Alice Cooper (or the hair band version from Lita Ford)

Actually, Alice Cooper's entire oeuvre sounds perfect for this. "Welcome to My Nightmare", "From The Inside", "Zipper Catches Skin"...
posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:44 AM on February 6, 2009


Oh, another tasteless suggestion: The Hokey Pokey.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:45 AM on February 6, 2009


Okay, maybe I'm old and warped but ...

"Timothy" by the Buoys, circa 1971.

Play it around lunchtime.
posted by lpsguy at 7:47 AM on February 6, 2009




Like a Surgeon by Weird Al
posted by GreenTentacle at 11:10 AM on February 6, 2009


Skulls. By The Misfits

also. . .

Braineaters. By The Misfits
Brains for dinner
Brains for lunch
Brains for breakfast
Brains for brunch
Brains at every single meal
Why can't we have some guts???

posted by ws at 4:05 PM on February 6, 2009


Too many literal interpretations here, I think. How about Dark Matter by Andrew Bird? Ten points for mention of the game Operation.
posted by slow graffiti at 5:34 PM on February 6, 2009


« Older Thoughts on Epson Stylus Pro 3800   |   Landlady's domestic dispute leaves my window... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.