Plague Playlist for Prince Prospero?

March 18, 2020 8:30 AM

So like everyone COVID-19 is on my mind. Songs for a playlist? So far all I have is Moribund and the Burgermeister and Don't Stand So Close To Me. Plus for reading, as we shelter in place after the shopping spree: The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe.
posted by Rash to Media & Arts (26 answers total)

Best answer: "Infected" by The The?
posted by all the light we cannot see at 8:37 AM on March 18, 2020

Don't Fear The Reaper -- Blue Oyster Cult
Every Breath You Take -- Police
Down With The Sickness -- Disturbed
It's The End Of The World As We Know It -- R.E.M.
Harder to Breathe -- Maroon 5
U Can't Touch This -- MC Hammer
Staying' Alive -- Bee Gees
Still Alive -- Jonathan Coulton
In the Air Tonight -- Phil Collins
I Will Survive -- Gloria Gaynor
posted by RainyJay at 8:41 AM on March 18, 2020 [2 favorites]

Robyn Hitchcock, "Lady Waters & the Hooded One"
posted by Jasper Fnorde at 8:43 AM on March 18, 2020

Lots more on a previous Ask thread.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:43 AM on March 18, 2020

Fever -- Peggy Lee
Night Fever -- Bee Gees
Cat Scratch Fever

From a friend:
“Don’t Tell the Band” by Widespread Panic
“In Hiding” by Pearl Jam
“The Last Day on Earth” by Marilyn Manson
“Survivalism” by Nine Inch Nails
posted by RainyJay at 8:45 AM on March 18, 2020

How did we miss We Will Become Silhouettes by The Postal Service?
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:57 AM on March 18, 2020

Even another Ask thread.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 9:04 AM on March 18, 2020

Blackalicious - Chemical Calisthenics
posted by zsh2v1 at 9:09 AM on March 18, 2020

Rita Wilson made a similar request for herself and Tom Hanks, and has shared her "Quarantunes" list here.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:41 AM on March 18, 2020

Weird Al - Germs
posted by zsh2v1 at 11:29 AM on March 18, 2020

I have a previous question here full of odes to social distancing.
posted by phunniemee at 12:03 PM on March 18, 2020

The Faint - Paranoiattack
posted by dianeF at 12:36 PM on March 18, 2020

Don't Stand So Close to Me
posted by theora55 at 1:41 PM on March 18, 2020

Best answer: The Plague by Camus is an amazing book that uses the threat of plague to highlight the isolation we all experience in life and how we react when confronted with tragedy and death. It sounds a bit grim, and in a way it is, but in my opinion it's actually the most life-affirming of his works because (no real spoiler) the lesson seems to be to live, fight for life at all costs, and deplore any justification for suffering.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 1:45 PM on March 18, 2020

iMarkkeyz - Cardi B Coronavirus Remix Video (via The Guardian)

The Black Keys - Fever*

*PSA: "In one study, even among patients who required hospital admission for treatment of COVID-19, fewer than half (44%) had fevers at the time of presentation. This makes it difficult to identify patients in the community by way of routine screening measures." via Highlights of Expert Panel on COVID-19 from Harvard, MIT, Mass General Hospital (Dr. Melissa Bender, Just Security, Mar. 15, 2020)

Sabrina Carpenter - Thumbs
posted by katra at 2:15 PM on March 18, 2020

On the irreverent tip:

Government Flu by the Dead Kennedys.

Down with the Sickness - as done by Richard Cheese. The original, by Disturbed is hot garbage, but turning it into a lounge tune was ingenious.

The New Plague by Gwar. Not safe for work or really anywhere else.
posted by aspersioncast at 4:58 PM on March 18, 2020

Bird Flu by M.I.A.
posted by chrchr at 5:28 PM on March 18, 2020

Here's one you don't see every day:

Geggy Tah - Las Vegas With The Lights Out
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 6:40 PM on March 18, 2020

Plan B - The Recluse

waiiiit for it
posted by katra at 9:14 PM on March 18, 2020

If you want a playlist that is broadened out towards our themes of quarantine/shelter in place / social distancing, a friend and I have been making a playlist for this very topic!
posted by actionpact at 10:06 PM on March 18, 2020

Walk On By – Dionne Warwick
Alone Again – Gilbert O'Sullivan
Walk Away Renee – The Left Banke
All By Myself – Eric Carmen
Seasons in the Sun – Terry Jacks
The Way We Were – Barbra Streisand
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Elton John
I've Loved These Days – Billy Joel
One Lonely Night – REO Speedwagon
Separate Lives – Phil Collins & Marilyn Martin
Don’t You (Forget About Me) – Simple Minds
Dancing with Myself – Billy Idol

Good grief, what a list. "What came first, the music or the misery?"
posted by bryon at 10:46 PM on March 18, 2020

Billy Joel's Miami 2017 is yet again pertinent....


("I've seen the lights go out on Broadway,
I saw the Empire State laid low,
But life went on beyond the Palisades
They all bought Cadillacs
And left there long ago....")
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 7:25 AM on March 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Arnaldo Antunes - Lavar as Mãos (Wash Your Hands)
X (Australia) - I Dont Wanna Go Out
Les Savy Fav - Raging in the Plague Age
posted by hydrophonic at 8:55 PM on March 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for all these new sounds! (Somehow I missed those two previouslies.)
posted by Rash at 8:27 PM on March 26, 2020

Response by poster: My favorite candidates from those other threads include Gimme Shelter, Shake The Disease, and When the Man Comes Around; and one more for all of you: an old ditty by Hoyt Axton, Have A Nice Day.
posted by Rash at 1:31 PM on March 27, 2020

Response by poster: "When it all
 Comes down
 I hope it doesn't land on you."


And I just thought of one more, not concerning disease but addressing stay-at-home boredom. You may know it from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack: Flowers on the Wall by the Statler Brothers.
posted by Rash at 9:27 AM on March 28, 2020