Top Pick-Me-Up Songs: My Favorite Four-Minute Escape Sessions

Music has followed me everywhere I go for as long as I remember, and I know I'm not alone in saying that it has become a driving force of every conceivable situation and emotion in my life. Music for me is most helpful when I need a pick-me-up and the real-world solution isn't in sight or ready to happen yet. This is when I play the songs that, for whatever reason, put me in a better mood just for listening to them.

1. "Question Everything" by 8Stops7. This song is a gem from the Ventura, CA-based band that came into the public light, put out one of my favorite albums of all time In Moderation, and promptly disappeared. I still listen to this album consistently, and this song is the one I pick when I need to realize that problems and perspective fades in time, and things that seem daunting or insurmountable can look so silly when compared with time or, in this song's case, a bigger tragedy.

2. "Get Over It" by OK GO. They've become famous for their amusing videos, but it is this song that always springs to mind when I'm in a slump because the music is uplifting, and the message is simple: stop whining and get over it.

3. "Ok It's Alright With Me" by Eric Hutchinson. The first song off of his amazing album Sounds Like This is just a fun song to take your mind off of your problems and groove with the beat, as short as it is.

4. "Work It Out" by Jurassic 5 ft. Dave Matthews. Not only is the video hilarious, the song is a nice groove and advocates just chilling out and not getting too worked up over the problems in relationships. Sadly, J-5 couldn't work out their own problems and now one of the best hip-hop groups of our generation is gone. But if that depresses me, I can just listen to the song again and cheer up.

5. "Landed" by Ben Folds. I had initially disregarded Ben Folds as a comedy artist in the early years of the millennium, but this song has not only proven me wrong, but has cheered me up when I felt trapped in past relationships. And when I finally "opened my eyes and walked out the door," this was the first song I played.

6. "Pantera Fans in Love" by Nerfherder. I'd like to think I grew out of most of the pop punk music I loved in my young, formative years, but Nerfherder is a band that I haven't been able to drop. It might be because they're funny, or because this song always made me laugh even when I was in a foul mood, but it's easy for me to overlook the simple chords and shallow, funny lyrics and just wonder "How come Slayer doesn't sing about this?"

7 and 8. "A Southern Thing" by Better Than Ezra and "New Orleans" by Cowboy Mouth. I'll lump these two together because I play them when I'm upset about the same thing. These songs are a must when I start to feel negative about the city I live in. I'll be honest and say that I often get tired of living in New Orleans and dream of a life in another city, state, country.

But both of these songs have the ability to put me back in perspective and have a sense of pride for my city. With "A Southern Thing," the line in the chorus "Don't mock what you don't understand, it's a southern thing" makes me realize how different living here is than anywhere else. And when Fred Leblanc belts out "take me back to New Orleans and drop me at my door/'cause I might love you yeah, but I love me more" I always think of how this is my city and how proud I am of it.


I have millions more, but these are the songs that truly help me through a troubling time. It would be interesting to hear what songs get other people through the bad times.

Sit tight til the next grade,
RRC