Happy Monday and welcome to the new school year, everyone! Today is the official first day of school here in Northern Virginia, and I’ve got a new playlist bursting with new school year vibes for ya.

1. The Call, “Let The Day Start”: As I think I mentioned the first time I featured this song on a playlist, this song was played on KRXO (the classic rock station in OKC) every morning as I was going to school. I equate it with the beginning of the day and with the beginning of a school day in particular. And so here it is, to inaugurate my 19th year of teaching.
2. OK Go, “Here It Goes Again”: As I just mentioned, this will be my 19th year teaching. It’s all pretty old hat at this point. For the first time in nearly two decades, I actually slept really well the night before the first day of school this year. I know! I’m surprised, too. Anyway, this song just reminds me that we’re on this merry-go-round again.
3. The Mountain Goats, “The College Try”: No, I don’t teach college. But I’m also pretty sure he’s not singing about college spirit at a football game in this song, either.
4. T. Rex, “20th Century Boy”: I just need this riff injected straight into my veins, man.
5. Taylor Swift, “Anti-Hero”: I aspire to be like Taylor Swift: not just part of the problem, but the whole problem.
6. Tom Waits, “Get Behind The Mule”: Teaching is a lot like walking along behind a mule: there’s the smell, and occasionally you have to shovel some shit out of your path.
7. Wreckless Eric, “Whole Wide World”: It’s garage rock at its finest and sloppiest, and I love it.
8. The Raconteurs featuring Pete Townsend, “The Seeker”: If I had the chance to play a song with Pete Townsend, this one would probably be pretty high up on the list. And “Squeeze Box.”
9. Sex Bob-Omb, “Threshold”: Did you see they’re doing a Scott Pilgrim animated series with the voice cast being the cast from the movie? I am super stoked.
10. Adeem the Artist, “My America”: There’ve been a couple of country songs lately that espouse a very conservative, reactionary ethos that have rubbed me the wrong way. And I’ve thought about writing a response song to them. But Adeem the Artist beat me to the punch, penning this song that digs into the heart of what these newer songs that I don’t care for are trying to say: “The America I love seems to be disappearing and no one seems to care, and that makes me feel afraid.” Adeem is a self-described “cast iron pansexual,” so I don’t think they’re doing this as a “this is how I really feel about things” sort of song. That’s not the way they’ve described it, at any rate. But it does make me feel a little empathy for these white men who are so afraid and so angry that all they can do is lash out.