Music on Modest Walrus

Reaction What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong

Sun, 19 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

This has to be one of the finest, most perfectly built musical arrangements ever recorded.

Original by Artist

About This Song

“What a Wonderful World” arrived in 1967, one of the most turbulent years in American history, with the Vietnam War escalating past 500,000 US troops, the Summer of Love colliding with the “Long Hot Summer” riots, civil rights tensions boiling over, a widening generational and counterculture divide, and Martin Luther King Jr. speaking out against the war. Songwriters George David Weiss and Bob Thiele wrote the song specifically for Louis Armstrong, then a 66-year-old jazz legend crossing into pop, as a deliberate antidote to the darkness of the era. Armstrong was uniquely positioned for it: respected across both Black and white audiences, known more for joy than for political messaging, and seen as a bridge between generations and races. Weiss and Thiele wanted his distinctive, weathered voice, shaped by decades of struggle and triumph, to carry a message of hope that would land as genuine rather than preachy.

Reaction Keep Ya Head Up by 2Pac

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

It’s rare to hear a rap track from that era speak this directly.

Original by Artist

About This Song

Released on October 28, 1993 as the third single from 2Pac’s second album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z…, the song was actually recorded back in 1992. DJ Daryl produced the track, building the beat around a sample of Zapp’s 1980 song “Be Alright” and layering in The Five Stairsteps’ 1970 hit “O-o-h Child” for the chorus. 2Pac dedicated the song to Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old Black girl fatally shot by a Korean-American store owner in 1991, an incident that raised racial tensions in Los Angeles ahead of the 1992 riots; the music video opens with a dedication to her memory. He also dedicated it to his godson Elijah and to Corin, daughter of Salt from Salt-N-Pepa, with uncredited backing vocals from R&B singer Dave Hollister of Blackstreet. The track marked a real departure from the more aggressive gangsta rap of the era, leaning instead into a compassionate, socially conscious side of 2Pac that tackled women’s rights and the struggles facing the Black community; he later said in a 1995 interview that he’d noticed a lack of songs uplifting Black women before writing it. A sequel, “Baby Don’t Cry (Keep Ya Head Up II),” followed posthumously in 1999 on Still I Rise.

Reaction Numb/Encore by Linkin Park & JAY-Z

Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

Two acts that had no business sounding this good together somehow made it work, and the live performance takes it even further.

Original by Artist

About This Song

“Numb/Encore” arrived in 2004 as a genuinely unexpected pairing, a joint effort between JAY-Z and Linkin Park that blends JAY-Z’s sharp rap verses with Linkin Park’s atmospheric rock sound. The track came out of the Collision Course EP, a project built specifically to close the gap between two genres that rarely shared the same stage, mashing “Numb” and “Encore” into a single song rather than just trading verses over one beat.

Reaction Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper

Sat, 11 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

Cyndi Lauper was totally out there and I love this about her; unique and she didn’t care about the norms. A great artist and a stellar song.

Original by Artist

About This Song

“Time After Time” appears on Cyndi Lauper’s 1983 debut album She’s So Unusual. Written by Lauper and Rob Hyman, the song started as a working title borrowed from a TV listing and grew into one of the era’s most enduring ballads, a stark contrast to the bright, quirky pop of the album’s other singles. It went on to hit number one on the Billboard Hot 200 and has since become one of the most covered songs of the 1980s.

Reaction Enter Sandman by Metallica

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

I heard this in 6th grade and was hooked right away. Nothing else sounded like it at the time.

Original by Artist

About This Song

“Enter Sandman” is the opening track on Metallica’s self-titled 1991 album, commonly known as the Black Album, produced by Bob Rock. Written by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett, the song is built around one of the most instantly recognizable guitar riffs in metal, paired with lyrics that twist the comforting idea of a childhood sandman into something closer to a nightmare. It became the band’s breakout mainstream single, pulling Metallica out of the thrash underground and onto radio and MTV in a way none of their earlier records had.

Reaction Quality Control by Jurassic 5

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Album

Jurassic 5 have a reputation as one of those groups people point to when they say they “don’t really like hip-hop, but…” Quality Control is the album that earns that reputation, so it was worth revisiting properly.

The Video

About This Album

Quality Control is the second studio album by American alternative hip hop group Jurassic 5, released on June 6, 2000, by Interscope Records. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 77 based on 17 reviews, indicating “generally favorable reviews.” In 2015, it was included in Paste’s list of “10 Hip-Hop Albums for People Who Don’t Like Hip-Hop.”

Reaction Bulls On Parade by Rage Against The Machine

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

There’s no truer words than what Zack de la Rocha lays down here. The anger is real and it’s pointed at something specific, not just noise for its own sake.

Original by Artist

About This Song

“Bulls on Parade” was released in 1996 on Rage Against the Machine’s second album, Evil Empire. Written by Zack de la Rocha and Tom Morello, the song takes aim at the military-industrial complex and the way arms manufacturing and war profiteering keep the machinery of conflict running. The guitar solo is one of the most recognizable in rock; Morello gets the vinyl-scratch sound by setting one pickup to full volume and killing the other, then rubbing his fretting hand across the strings over the dead pickup while flipping the selector switch like a killswitch. No turntable involved, just a guitar rewired to sound like one.

Reaction How to Disappear Completely by Radiohead

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

It came on as a radio follow-up and it’s just so haunting. The strings pulled me in immediately and I couldn’t skip past it.

Original by Artist

About This Song

“How to Disappear Completely” appears on Radiohead’s 2000 album Kid A, produced by the band with Nigel Godrich. Thom Yorke wrote it after a moment of dissociation on tour, taking advice from Michael Stipe to mentally repeat “I’m not here, this isn’t happening” to get through overwhelming situations. Jonny Greenwood arranged the strings, performed with the Orchestra of St John’s, building the song around a detuned guitar drone beneath the orchestration.

Reaction Strawberry Letter 23 by The Brothers Johnson

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

That was a freakin’ vibe. The bassline was unheard of, very “slap the bass,” and it demanded a reaction the moment it kicked in.

Original by Artist

About This Song

“Strawberry Letter 23” was originally written and recorded by Shuggie Otis in 1971, but it’s The Brothers Johnson’s 1977 version, produced by Quincy Jones for their album Right on Time, that became the definitive take. Louis Johnson’s bass playing turned the song into a showcase for the slap-bass technique he helped popularize, and it became the duo’s biggest hit, topping the Billboard Soul singles chart.

Reaction The Light by Common

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

I was blown away from the show. Seeing Common perform live put this song in a completely different light and it’s stuck with me ever since.

Original by Artist

About This Song

“The Light” was released in 2000 on Common’s album Like Water for Chocolate, produced by James Poyser and built around a sample of Bobby Caldwell’s “Open Your Eyes.” Part of the Soulquarians-era work that defined the album’s sound, it became one of Common’s biggest and most accessible singles; a warm, melodic love song that stood apart from the more conscious, abstract material he was known for at the time.

Reaction Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day

Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

I was in middle school when I heard Green Day for the first time. Evolving to recent days, Green Day was my jam. Father’s Day just passed and I’m missing my father, so this one hit differently this time around.

Original by Artist

About This Song

“Wake Me Up When September Ends” was written by Billie Joe Armstrong and released in 2004 on Green Day’s album American Idiot. Armstrong wrote it about losing his own father to cancer when he was just 10 years old and that grief runs through every line. It became one of the band’s biggest singles and despite later being associated with other tragedies because of its timing, remains at its core a deeply personal song about loss.

Reaction Stormy Monday by B.B. King

Mon, 22 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

B.B. King is one of the greats, all time. Hearing him take on “Stormy Monday” live is a reminder of exactly why.

Original by Artist

About This Song

“Stormy Monday” started life as “Call It Stormy Monday (But Tuesday Is Just as Bad),” written and recorded by T-Bone Walker in 1947. It became one of the most covered blues standards of all time, and B.B. King made it a regular part of his live shows over the decades, putting his own stamp on the phrasing, the guitar work and the emotion behind it.

Reaction Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

This is soul music. They just don’t make these anymore. Bill Withers was a musical genius and “Ain’t No Sunshine” is proof of it in under two and a half minutes.

Original by Artist

About This Song

“Ain’t No Sunshine” was written and performed by Bill Withers, released in 1971 on his debut album Just As I Am. It reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and won the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Song. Withers famously repeated the line “I know” 26 times in place of a third verse he hadn’t finished writing; his producers convinced him to leave it in, and it became one of the most memorable moments in soul music.

Reaction If I Ruled the World by Nas ft. Lauryn Hill

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

Nas has always been one of the sharpest voices in hip-hop and “If I Ruled the World” is one of his most enduring records. Pairing him with Lauryn Hill on the hook turns an already great song into something timeless.

Original by Artist

About This Song

“If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)” was released in 1996 on Nas’s second album, It Was Written. The track samples Kurtis Blow’s 1985 song of the same name and pairs Nas’s verses with a hook sung by Lauryn Hill of The Fugees. It became one of Nas’s biggest commercial hits, reaching the top of the Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart, and remains one of the most recognisable hip-hop singles of the era.

Reaction 'Round Midnight by Thelonious Monk

Mon, 15 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

Thelonious Monk is one of the great jazz pianists. His approach to the instrument is unlike anyone else; angular, unpredictable and completely his own. “‘Round Midnight” is the song that defines him and it demanded a reaction.

Original by Artist

About This Song

“‘Round Midnight” was written by Thelonious Monk around 1944 and has since become one of the most recorded jazz standards in history. The title captures the mood perfectly; a piece that sounds like the loneliness and stillness of the late-night hours. Monk’s harmonic language was ahead of its time, full of dissonance and surprise, and nowhere is that more apparent than here. Miles Davis, Coltrane and countless others have covered it, but Monk’s own recordings remain the definitive versions.

Reaction Everlong by Foo Fighters

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

Foo Fighters have been a constant in my life and “Everlong” is the song that defines them. It’s one of those tracks that never loses its grip. The energy, the melody and the emotion. It all comes together perfectly. Hard to ignore a song this good.

About This Song

“Everlong” was released in 1997 on Foo Fighters’ second album The Colour and the Shape. Dave Grohl wrote it during a period of personal upheaval. It shows the song carries a rawness and urgency that’s hard to fake. It became the band’s signature track and is widely regarded as one of the dominant alternative rock songs ever recorded. The music video, directed by Michel Gondry.

Reaction The Middle by Jimmy Eat World

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why I Reacted To This Song

Jimmy Eat World is one of those bands that has been with me for a long time. “The Middle” is one of those songs that hits you at the right moment in life and just sticks. It’s a song about not giving up on yourself and that message never gets old.

Original by Artist

About This Song

“The Middle” was released in 2001 on Jimmy Eat World’s breakout album Bleed American. Frontman Jim Adkins wrote it as an encouragement to younger fans who were struggling to fit in. A reminder that the awkwardness and self-doubt of adolescence is temporary. The song reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of the defining alternative rock tracks of the early 2000s. It still resonates just as strongly today.