Feeling angry about this year's midterm elections? MSNBC host Rachel Maddow picked five songs she felt fit that spirit in a video following her appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers last week.
"This was more fun to work on than anything related to the midterms so far," Maddow admitted. For your convenience, a video for each track and an explanation is listed below.
For starters, Maddow went with "Bad Mouth," by Fugazi, seen here in a 1991 live performance:
"You have to have Fugazi on a list of politics-related punk," she explained. "They're D.C., right? And also, this is what the midterms are like this year -- a lot of bad-mouthing."
Next, she selected another band out of Washington, D.C., Bad Brains, and "I Against I," the title track from their third album:
Maddow dedicated this particular song to Colorado Rep. and current senatorial candidate Cory Gardner (R-CO).
"The whole thing he has been as a member of Congress is 'Mr. anti-abortion, Mr. ban contraception,'" she said. "He's been this champion of these personhood things in Colorado. Now he's running as the anti-personhood guy."
Midterms as a whole, Maddow said, can be summed up by her next selection, "I've Heard It Before," by Black Flag (NSFW -- lyrics), but it can also apply to certain conservative arguments in this year's elections.
"No matter what the issue is that needs to be addressed, the solution is 'close the border,'" Maddow said. "So like, ISIS is a problem in Syria -- 'close the border.' Ebola is a problem in West Africa -- 'close the border.' Taxes are too high on medical devices in the Midwest -- 'close the border.'"
Next up, Maddow chose "Youth Decay" by the reunited Sleater Kinney, saying it represents a big problem with voter turnout in midterms.
"Young people don't turn out in midterm elections," she said. "And because the youth vote decays, we have a very different outcome, usually, in midterm elections than we would have in elections that excite more youth to get out and cast votes."
For her final selection, Maddow picked a happier tune, Husker Du's "Books about UFO's," poking fun at conservatives who avoid discussions about scientific realities by saying, "I'm not a scientist."
"Science is cool," she argued. "Science makes you fall in love with people who read books about UFOs."
Maddow's playlist can also be accessed on Spotify. Watch her talk about each of her punk picks in this video, posted online on Monday, below.
