#Ashton is just FULL of vibes and rage and punk. /good fucking stuff/. taliesin is doing a VERY specific thing with this character

[sparring-spirals]

Oops! All Deep-Dive on Ashton's Playlist

the title is bad and im not really sorry.

So. Listen. I feel like Taliesin’s description is extremely true- Ashton’s playlist is both extremely vibes based, and VERY dense, if you’re digging into it proper. It’s about Ashton, but its also very much about punk, as a culture, as a movement, as historical building blocks. The two can’t really be divorced, I think.

So my way of pulling apart playlists- 50% vibes, 50% lyrics- doesn’t quite translate for this, because I think it’s best done with like, proper googling into each band and each song, and historical delving, alongside sitting back and really absorbing the Vibes(tm) of the playlist. So! I did a bit of a deeper dive, but also. VERY important disclaimer:

This touches on real history. I am not particularly well versed in punk history, and only a bit with the culture, and was only able to do very surface dives for this.

I cannot emphasize enough how much I am NOT claiming authority or absolute correctness on this, and I’m sure there’s a million things I’m not picking up on. Any bigger assumptions I make are meant to be Ashton-specific. I’ll try to provide links and actual facts without my input as well. Everyone gets to draw their own conclusions, this is mostly for me to have a large pool of info I can look at later. This is long. I’m sorry.

Let The World Turn: is a SOLID start to any playlist, but especially Ashtons.

“Let the World Turn” starts off slow, talks about moving on, talks about figuring out how to keep going. How to leave the past behind. And then- kicks up, gets loud and heavy and defiant. Also, Taliesin was not kidding about the incredible history of this band: (link to wiki page) some interesting highlights among it- arguably the first punk band, definitely the first all-black punk band, named “Death” after the death of the father, related to a desire to turn the negative connotations good. Prioritized brotherly bond and this name over the commercial relationship. 

(There’s like 20 layers here and I am not even going to try explicitly laying them down in case I miss big things so all I’ll say is: Holy shit, right?)

Warbaby:  the line of “beat you black and blue” was. Very prominent to my brain. The band is interesting, though. (link to wiki page) They’re well known within the LA scene, but are not friendly with major record labels, most likely related to their “reputation as trouble makers”. (Not my words, pulling it off a site). The Mau Mau’s are the names of… many things, actually. Like. Puerto Rican gang. Uprising in Kenya. ...

Stayin Alive: I mean, off the bat, you know. Vibes. It’s a reimagined, very unique cover of a well known song. about staying alive. Very fuck you. 

Garbageman: I’m trying to figure out a good way to describe the vibes without getting too pretentious for what its trying to say. I love this song for Ashton, though, okay. It’s fucking perfect. It’s- it’s Ashton, getting into the fight with Ratanish and getting happier and happier as shit goes sideways but it’s a proper brawl, no pretense, no bullshit. That’s how Ashton wants to live. That’s how Ashton will live, for better or for worse, so the question is: what about you?

Beat on the Brat: What can ya lose? Over and over and over.

(Weird Al is a Choice. I’m sure others can speak much more intelligently on this, but: Weird Al as a very talented artist, who largely is known for parodies that are ridiculous but also require a ton of talent and precision and are like. Fantastically made. Also radical self acceptance. You feel me? U feel me. (link to wiki page) )

Won’t You Be My Neighbor?: THIS IS ABOUT FCG AND THAT IS FUCKING TERRIFYING. It’s the well known, cheerful, friendly tone, interspersed with. Rock. Upswells. I don’t know what the musical term for it is but the SHIFT. Drastic, sharp, claws under fur. F.C.G? F.C.G????

Boom Swagger Boom: This is a good song. Taliesin’s caption sums it up well, but I think it also demonstrates another big thing about Ashton, which is how much they appreciate lack of pretense. Attraction, respect, are based on that. Garbageman, too, touches on this: The way a person carries themselves when they can walk the talk. (Optional thought: could refer to a specific person for Ashton?)

Stealing People’s Mail: Yes, yes, the song is about stealing people’s mail (woOOooOooOo). I think the history of Dead Kennedys (link to wiki page) and the themes that run through their songs might be a bigger factor than specific lyrics here- Dead Kennedy’s are a “controversial” band, often with political songs that satirize political figures and authority as a whole, and “provoking debate about censorship in rock music.” So you know, yes, stealing mail, but also- bucking the status quo, shirking authority, railing against a system that works to serve itself.

Sugar Town: “Yeah I’m on my way, on my way to Hell” with the instrumental in the background, the tune. The vibes off this song. Immaculate. Ashton is going to hell, but they’re going to have a good time doing it, owning it all the way down. (Also I tried looking up ShitKid but my "learned on duolingo" Swedish is not good enough to read the wiki and my brain is going too fast to watch info videos. Fun link though)

Happy: This is a beautiful blend of a cheerful, verging on spooky sound with extremely ominous lyrics. There’s SHIT going on in this song that I don’t think we know yet. Who IS happy. Anyway also the double meanings of forced happiness and cheer being a poison. Fuck pretenses, really, huh Ashton? (Danny Elfman is NEAT, worked on like, Tim Burton movies, various other movie scores. interesting. (link to wiki page))

Heart of Glass: WHO THE FUCK FUCKED UP ASHTON. IS THIS ABOUT THE NOBODIES? IS THIS ABOUT THE SPECIFIC PERSON? Holy SHIT. The layers of hurt and distrust and betrayal here. If it’s about the Nobodies: Ashton may (MAY) have come to terms with being left behind, and have rationalized it for the better, but by GOD the trust issues run deep after that. If it’s not about the Nobodies, what the fuck, everyone stop hurting this punk rock D:

Beat My Head Against the Wall: There’s a level of frustration here, although the tune is still? Arguably? Upbeat? But I think there’s a specific acknowledgement here that the rage and anger that Ashton uses as fuel (that Ashton values as honest! Because it is!) can backfire too. But also…………..

Halfway Home: Fucking hell. I feel- like maybe this is the most direct song regarding Ashton’s feelings about the “incident”, and how his entire life- and body- were changed as a result. “Out of body experience”, is a choice phrase by Taliesin. The descriptions of “they lazy way they turned your head into a rest stop for the dead” “is it not me? Am I not folded by your touch?” Ashton, broken and shattered on the floor, Ashton, put together by someone else’s hand through unknown methods, through their fear and kindness and- entirely at someone else’s mercy. 

Ashton didn’t have a say on how they were put together, did they?

Overall impression: Ashton is angry- about the world, about shitty people, about things they cannot change. Ashton is angry because they want the world to be better, so fuck it, they’ll be good where it counts, where it makes things easier, even where it makes them bad. Ashton knows where they are, who they are, what they have at their disposal, and they are proud of it, goddammit.

Ashton has been hurt deep, hurt bad, by people putting up pretenses. Ashton values honesty, authenticity, to a premium. It is not about kind words, it is not about politeness or putting up appearances, about saying the right things but meaning differently. Ashton will take a punch to the face a million times over if you mean it, and will have no patience for empty words or empty gestures.

Ashton is very, very, very punk.

Appendix: “The Decline of Western Civilization” is a documentary that came out in 1981 about the punk rock scene that also stirred up the authorities a bit at the time. (Which is probably a VERY good sign). The Mau Mau’s are noticeably absent from it. Might be an interesting watch.