Songs to Help You Pick Up the Pieces

This week’s soundtrack is about rising from the ashes of adversity. I’ve had more than my share of tough times, and these songs always gave me the extra shot of strength I needed to move forward…

I’m a huge fan of NIN and Henry Rollins, and someone out there was brilliant enough to fuse both into this:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CPIT4nsT24&fs=1&hl=en_US]

This song was perfect for the “fuck you” attitude I had in the early 1990s, when I was having one of my estrangements with my mother and my sister was on a suicide watch:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KkEHm8aKcM&fs=1&hl=en_US]

When I went through a serious bout of my own depression in the summer of 1990, my spirits were lifted by a film called “Pump Up The Volume.” This song jolted me out of the darkness, and in the many waves of depression I’ve experienced in the 20 years since then, I’ve always returned to this song:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtnSrmNGWJ0&fs=1&hl=en_US]

During some of my most vicious fights against my addictions, music has given me something to relate to, and one of the best examples is the Sixx A.M. Heroin Diaries soundtrack. In fact, there was a time where it was the ONLY album I listened to. This song really resonated because it was the best perspective ever presented on the pain of relapse:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nan4Kdtz-9w&fs=1&hl=en_US]

Whenever I’ve come out of a depression or a period of binging, this song has always reminded me that I have to get over what has happened and move forward:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsDpwb3ILxM&fs=1&hl=en_US]

I end this installment with another Sixx A.M. song that pretty much describes what life is all about, whether you’re going through pain or the highest of highs:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ICav7ieJwQ&fs=1&hl=en_US]

Music will always get me through my struggles. It always has.

May it do the same for you.