We’ve all been there. You left school or work ecstatic for the weekend because that awesome new friend / cool co-worker / cute classmate you’ve been admiring from afar just invited you to a party. But now it’s getting to be time to head out and you’re having reservations. You’re not really going to know anyone there, and you’re worried about embarrassing yourself in front of all these people who are cooler than you and oh hey look there’s a great episode of Top Chef on.
Luckily, the music team at Autostraddle is here to cure your funk with, well, the funk. Listen to this mix, get pumped up, check out your beautiful bad self in the mirror and have a good time because you fucking deserve it!
This week’s formspring playlist request:
via loveyourchaos
To be played during those first few minutes of the debate, when you’re still pondering, as Joe Strummer once did, if you should stay or you should go. This will tip the scales for ‘yes.’ Go with it.
LCD Soundsystem is pretty much applicable to every possible situation ever, but especially dance parties, be they solo while you’re getting ready or with a group.
Lady Luck – Jamie Woon
This track from oh-so-smooth British R&B upstart Jamie Woon goes down extra nicely with a glass of liquid courage on the rocks (but please for the love of Eileen Myles please drink responsibly and always have a safe and sober ride kthx).
Alright – Supergrass
‘But we are young / we run green / keep our teeth nice and clean / see our friends / see the sights / feel alright.’ ‘Alright’ is the kind of lovely, silly little pop song that makes you want to go be young and get into shenanigans and make questionable decisions, because it usually works out in the end.
Don’t act like this isn’t already on your going-out playlist.
Hit Me With Your Best Shot – Pat Benatar
All getting-ready / pregaming playlists need at least one obligatory lip-sync-like-a-nerd-in-front-of-the-mirror-in-a-towel number. This is it. (‘Pocketful of Sunshine’ and ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman’ are among the many acceptable alternatives.)
P.Y.T. – Michael Jackson
Because you may not have MJ’s moves, but you are certainly a P.Y.T. and will carry yourself accordingly.
Banquet – Bloc Party
One of my personal favorite getting ready / pre-gaming songs. The riff will get you going and you may find yourself lip syncing rather passionately to the ‘you know I’m on fire when you come‘ bit without realizing it, potentially confusing your roommates and / or passersby if you’re out in public.
When I was in college, this guy I knew made a coming-of-age movie and used this song to soundtrack a getting-ready montage. I remember thinking it was very effective, and every once in a while, it pops up in my head while I’m getting ready.
Super Freak – Rick James
I find funk to be a particularly effective genre for party / eventually getting your freak on motivation. It has been scientifically proven impossible to not at least slightly shake one’s groove thing while listening to this song. You will feel like a better dancer than you may actually be. And confidence is, like, more than half the battle.
Up For the Down Stroke – Parliament
Same idea as the above. George Clinton is imploring you to get up, so you had better do what he says. This could probably be substituted for any Parliament and / or Funkadelic song, but this is just a personal favorite.
The Rooster – OutKast
An underrated cut from Speakerboxxx / The Love Below. The horns will make you feel downright majestic.
Hey Ladies – Beastie Boys
Listen to this one near the end of the getting-ready process. Maybe you’ve got a beer or your drink of choice in hand. Maybe you’re applying lipstick or fixing your hair. Look at yourself in the mirror, maybe do a little spin as you get to the ‘hey ladies!’ bit.
She Wolf – Shakira
That she-wolf Shakira is singing about? That’s you, you beautiful sexy beast, you. Now go out there and show ‘em what you got.
Eye of the Tiger – Survivor
Sometimes, for that last little boost of confidence, you just need to break out the big guns.
Bad Kids – Black Lips
You can listen to the entire playlist here!
And out the door you go, throwing caution to the wind, dancing to fuzzy Atlanta garage-punk and feeling like you could take on the world. Go get ‘em.
Add your favorite getting ready / pump-up / pre-gaming songs in the comments below.
Have a playlist request? Send it to Crystal via Formspring and someone on the team will make it for you.
shake shake yr booty
Can you make 8tracks or grooveshark playlists of these so we can actually listen to them? That would be rad.
yes i’ll make one! sorry i was supposed to do that but didn’t
i am a *little* disappointed that we can’t even listen to this … AWESOME playlist. not even youtube links? COME ON!
i really thought i could listen to an awesome playlist/into some new artists when i clicked that headline, but apparently you only want money
New Playlist!
For Jamie:
Say Your Sorry – Sara Bareilles
Hard to Say i’m Sorry- Chicago
You’re Gonna Be Sorry – Dolly Parton
Sorry Doesn’t Always Make It Right – Gladys Knight
Sorry – Akon
Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word – Elton John
I’m Sorry – Brenda Lee
Sorry- Jonas Brothers
I mean, you didn’t really mean that right? They work so hard for us, we can give them a break, right?
I mean, I usually just open a new tab, go to youtube & look the songs up myself & you know what? It works wonders!
But you’re totes right. If these people are going to have a website, the least they can do is add some effin’ links. Amateurs.
hi jamie! i’m the executive editor here and i just wanted to point out that all of our playlists are set up so you can easily purchase the songs for yourself. it has very little to do with making money and more to do with helping you obtain the music that we hope you’ll want to play on your music-playing device.
and if i only wanted money, i’d have charged you to read this article — or any other article we’ve published in the past two years — which i didn’t, so.
The streaming link has been included now! It just took a while to coordinate.
I just want to point out that it actually costs us money to create and stream these playlists because sometimes we need to purchase the MP3s that we don’t already own. That money comes straight out of our unpaid writers’ pockets because there’s no budget we can tap into or expense claim we can file. But we keep making these playlists anyway because we love music and we love you and so your suggestion that we only want money hurts my heart.
ugh.
some serious respect out to you & the other writers. for real.
Do you mind if I ask you why you don’t torrent? Especially if you are outside of the US?
because artists need money too
SAY WHAAAAAAT??!
But off a 99 cent download the artist makes 10 cents. You are paying 90% in overhead. To suits. Why not just donate a quarter to the artist and torrent the song. Literally everyone would be better off. By double. You would save 74 cents and the artist makes %150 more. Obviously this doesn’t work if you aren’t a moral person who sticks to the plan, but for those who do, I mean morally what would be wrong with that?
And you can set up a system that uses incentives in just that way, in ways that benefit both us the listener and the artist in a better way than we do now. But instead of looking at that and reading the research on the topic, everyone who profits, unfairly, from the current system uses their power to preserve the status quo.
I torrent and I promise it helps the artists more than if I didn’t, because I’ve written a lot of fancy equations about it, is what I’m saying. Too strong copyright protection (which is what we have now) hurts the music industry and the consumer. Too weak would, also, but there is a middle ground.
I can see where you’re coming from – it’s true that the profit that an artist makes from selling music digitally is minuscule / criminal and any money we can put directly into their pockets will help a lot. However imo we should do that by buying merchandise and concert tickets, because an unfortunate reality is that music sales are really quite important to an artist’s career if they are signed to a record label (and want to stay that way).
If everyone downloads an artist’s songs illegally then the record company will look at the sales figures and assume that the music isn’t popular and therefore not profitable. That will most likely result in the artist being dropped from the roster. Getting dropped might not be a big deal to some artists, however many still prefer / aspire to being signed to a record label and wouldn’t want that to happen. So donating instead of purchasing might help the artist to put food on the table but it could also very well damage their career.
hi, it’s me again. i’m sorry for my previous rude/harsh words.. it was just that i was really excited to hear the songs and the links just got me to amazon and that got me a bit in a rage. SORRY AGAIN, and many thanks for adding the playlist.
(ps: esp soz about the “you only want to make money”-part. i know you don’t. i realise all your hilarious content is free, and i do appreciate it. thanks!)
-jamie
I’m replacing Ke$ha with The Donnas and then I am rocking out to this on Friday night.
Oh man, The Donnas! I haven’t listened to them in so long! My sister and I spent hours in high school just driving around listening to the “Rock and Roll Machine” on full blast.
cool playlist! completely rediscovered pocketful of sunshine thanks to it. the thing is, i was staying in tonite to avoid the friday-hangover-at-work for the 5th week in a row, but i think i might need to get to that party now, hum
she wolf? really?
REALLY! shakira shakira.
Arrrooo!!!
Calvin Harris does an amazing remix of it, If th orginal don’t get u going th remix most definitly will!!
but you make up for this with eye of the tiger, YES
^^this.
“Eye Of The Tiger” is the kind of song that has its own specific walk, y’know? Like, it’s a strutting song. It’s a rooster. Does that make any sense? Probably not.
perfect sense. except the rooster periodically does karate kicks while it struts. you know??
strangely enough..i do know.
Deceptacon – Le Tigre
Hella Good – No Doubt
Lost Coastlines – Okkervil River
Egypt Egypt – Egyptian Lover
Tour de France – Kraftwerk
If I hear any of those songs my body will automatically start moving.
YESSSS, especially the first two
you guys, i think you’re missing martin solveig & dragonette “i just came to say hello.” i say missing because it’s perfect for this!
It’s just called “hello” and yes x1000!
“Wonderful People” by “Q and not U”. I don’t really like any of their other songs, but I used to listen to this song every single time I went out RIGHT before… like when I was putting on shoes. :)
That one by Groove Armada that goes “everybody looks the same” or something like that.
Also has anyone here heard the new album by Within Temptation? I’m finding the song Faster rather sexy, or is it just me?
HI. I LOVE THE NEW WITHIN TEMPTATION ALBUM / ALL OTHER WITHIN TEMPTATION ALBUMS.
And no, it’s not just you. “Faster” is absolutely a super sexy song.
And you know what? Sharon’s voice is sexy in general. For example, this song w/Armin van Buuren – In and Out of Love? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxvpctgU_s8
so so sexy.
I agree with Jamie as well, links would have been a nice afterthought
If you take a look under the track list you’ll see that there’s now a link where you can listen to the entire playlist for free.
The streaming link was always going to be included – it just took a while to coordinate because sourcing and uploading mp3s takes a long time. I wish you guys would have a little more faith.
Woahwoahwoah. We got some serious negative nancys up in this shit right now…AUTOSTRADDLE I LOVE YOU THANKS FOR MAKING ME PLAYLISTS. (I probs wasn’t the only one to request a going out playlist but I definitely sent one in :) )
Anyway, some stuff on my “get your ass dressed and out the door to party” list right now is:
“Business Time” by Flight of the Conchords (even though it’s about getting sexytime on at home, singing “It’s business, it’s business tiiiiime” is very motivating)
“Kids” by MGMT because I can’t listen to this song without wanting to dance like a crazy 16-year-old, sue me.
“I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor” by the Arctic Monkeys
“She’s So Up” by The Knux
“Make It Better” by The Knocks
oooooh…”kids” by mgmt. GOOD addition!
haha negative nancy who still says that really
…..Me. I also make frequent use of the term “debbie downer”. Do we have a problem? :P
“Hello Miss Sad Pants, and her friend, Serious Sally! How about a nice cool mint to help turn those frowns upside down?”
Hey there Mr. Grumpy gills!
If Ellen says it, it’s like the lesbian Debbie Downer.
“Jackson” by Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, but the Live from Folsom Prison version
Love that Pat Benatar’s Hit me with your best shot is on the list..one of my favorite songs. That girl can rock!!
“Peter Piper” by Run DMC
“Love Shack” by the B52s
This is a bit of a random playlist, eh? PYT is always a winner.
This basically describes my weekends. You get home from school and actually sit down without having to think and then your friend calls and goes, “HEY COME TO MY PARTY” and I’m like fuckthisshitijustgothome…but once I actually get to the goddamn party I’m usually happy I went.
This playlist is much appreciated. I always need a little help prying myself from the temptation of listlessness and L Word reruns.
JAMES BROWN!
Heh, my “Get Off The Couch” mix is *extremely* energetic. It takes a lot to get me pumped up.
My latest GET UP! song is Morning Musume’s “Maji Desu ka Ska”, though fair warning: This song is pharmacutical grade genki. It’s peppy to the point of annoying. But listen to it twice and you’ll never get it out of your head.
Some other songs that get my lazy ass in gear:
“Little Plastic Castle” by Ani Difranco
“Sabotage” by The Beastie Boys
“I Love Myself Today” by Bif Naked
“Tell It to the Kids” by Bis
“Fires at Midnight” by Blackmore’s Night
“When It All Comes Down” by Bonnie McKee
“The House Rules” by Christian Kane
“Angels At Play” by Common Rider (Hi wallow14!)
“The Naughty Song” by Cory Lee
“Dance de Bakoon” by C-ute (or “Dancing for Bacon” as I like to call it)
“Tokaikko Junjou” by C-ute
“Not if You Were the Last Junkie on Earth” by the Dandy Warhols
“Suffragette City” by David Bowie
“Rock ‘n’ Roll Machine” by The Donnas
“Hey!” by E.via
“When You Have To” by E.via
“Merry May Folk” by Emerald Rose
“Lachata” by f(x)
“Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand
“Secrets of the Crossroads Devil” by Gaia Consort
“Minority” by Green Day
“My Generation” by Green Day
“Running With Bigfoot” by the Groovie Ghoulies
“Oh Gypsy” by the Gypsy Nomads
“Sadistic Dance” by Hangry & Angry
“Kill Me Kiss Me” by Hangry & Angry
“Striptease” by Hawksley Workman
“Do it Like a Dude” by Jessie J
“Are You Gonna Be My Girl” by JET
“Glass no Pumps” by Maki Goto
“Lady-Rise” by Maki Goto
Pretty much anything Morning Musume’s ever done, especially:
“Love Machine”
“Renai Revolution 21”
“Mr. Moonlight” (Marry me, Yossie!)
“Songs”
“Kanashimi Twilight”
“I Just Wanna Do It With You” by the Mr. T Experience
“Love Is Dead” by the Mr. T Experience
“Want You Bad” by the Offspring
“Days Before You Came” by Placebo
“Around the World” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
“Nobody Weird Like Me” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
“Dani California” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
“Get Up! Rapper” by Salt5
“In the Name of the Dance” by SJ Tucker
“Witchka” by SJ Tucker
“Taglio!” by SJ Tucker
“Turn it On” by Sleater-Kinney
“Cruel to Be Kind” by Space Hog
“Ne Ver, Ne Boisia” by Tatu (I know, I’m sorry)
“Time Running” by Tegan & Sara
“Naked on You” by Treana
“Osaka Rhapsody” by W (Double You)
And now more than ever I’m wishing for an edit button, so I could fix my HTML Fail before everyone saw it!
Sorry, y’all!
why apologize for tatu? i still listen to them every now & then. when i first began learning russian, they seriously helped me w/so many declensions.
I just feel guilty over the whole fake lezzie thing. Like I’m betraying real lezzies for girls who used it as a stage act. Although apparently Yulia is bi and had a girlfriend named Anya at one point? I’m not clear on that.
All I know is their songs are ridiculously catchy and I want to lick Lena.
wow, serious playlist! I’m impressed.
I too am in the camp that “no apologies are needed” for tatu. Real lezs or not, I still think the kiss in the music video for “All the Things She Said” was hot.
ohhhh…gotcha.
well, i don’t know about Yulia’s bi-dom w/this Anya, BUT here’s some potential perspective perhaps:
+ the girls were 14 when they first were chosen. ivan shapovalov (their former manager) basically knew that girl-on-girl would make headlines, thus making him tons of money, so he was the one to stage the fake lez angle.
+ when he was finally dropped by tatu, his next “project” was a singer nato, who essentially had a “terrorist” theme…so..the guy just goes for whatever he thinks will bring attention / money.
+ the initial song itself “all the things she said” was written by ivan’s ex, elena kiper, who had a homo-erotic dream (about her dentist i think?) & so the song itself was written from a genuinely homo-curious place.
i had a HUGE crush on elena kiper back in the day & she talked about all this stuff in a russian interview…so..that has thus apparently made me the international public defender of tatu.
Yeah, the girls were so young when they started all that. I don’t blame them at all for going along with it. I just still feel kinda weird (although less weird with the Elena Kiper homo-curious songwriting inspiration!), considering Shapovalov’s machinations. And a “terrorist” themed singer? I…I don’t even know what to do with that. Fuckin A, man. Even if it’s just for attention/money, that is 19 kinds of fucked up.
How many cases does Russian have?
Six: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental, and prepositional.
I am glad that I am not the only one guilty of doing “lip-sync-like-a-nerd-in-front-of-the-mirror-in-a-towel number” to Pat Benatar. (All songs.)
Most of the time a bottle of jack gets me to go to the party.. This playlist might be better for my liver