NH7

The Indiecision Five at 5 is our attempt at sharing our musical tastes with you, and showcasing music from around the world. Each day at 5pm sharp, one NH7 writer or staffer will bring you five songs he/she is listening to on the day. We hope you like them. Today, NH7 features writer and Skittles enthusiast Siddhant Mehta shows you how not give a damn. Check it out.

1. Bad Brains – ‘Suck Sess’
It’s always about old-school punk rock and hardcore, when it comes to not really giving a damn. Bad Brains are pretty much one of the oldest and wickedest punk/hardcore bands still knocking about. This song is off their critically-panned album Into The Future and it’s one of the better ones because it follows the basic rules of punk rock. The song is under two and half minutes long (it’s 1:54 seconds long, you pedants!), it’s fast and the lyrics are simple. This is best consumed during traffic jams.

2. David Bowie – ‘Where Are We Now?’
One of the pioneers of rebellious youth culture is David Bowie and while there are plenty of examples of him letting his freak flag fly, this particular song is about how to give a damn. Ziggy Stardust is back in a big way with some really heartfelt singing that shows all the raw pain in his old voice and believe me, that’s not a bad thing. Bowie is known for his associations with Germany, he wrote three albums in Berlin, and he references Germany quite a bit in this song. It’s a mix of nostalgia and some Bowie-weirdness and it’s perfectly understandable to wait expectantly for his first album in over a decade.

3. Bad Religion – ‘Fuck You’
Only a few days to go before Bad Religion release their album True North and the ‘Fuck You’ is exactly what you would expect from one of the best proponents of punk rock. This is song boils down the essence of punk rock and gives you a concentrated dose of what Bad Religion and bands like them have been doing for years. Greg Graffin totally encourages you to say “fuck you” to pretty much everything that needs to be questioned but he’s crafted lyrics that are thoughtful and intelligent but lose none of the raw, empowering feeling of uttering everyone’s favourite expletive.

4. Die Antwoord – ‘Fatty Boom Boom’
If you want to go absolutely mental, then look no further than this song. South African rap/rave group Die Antwoord’s ‘Fatty Boom Boom’ is an awesomely in-your-face track that rips on everything that Die Antwoord can think about. Yolandi De Vi$$er and Ninja deliver visceral body blows in each and every line and are generally trying to piss everyone off with their lyrics and this controversial video. This is the kind of thing you play when you’re trashing a room.

5. Green Day – ‘The Forgotten’
My friend told me about a gig he saw in Sheffield years ago, where Fat Mike from NOFX was on stage and he said, “They say that Green Day and The Offspring are the training bra of Punk Rock.” He then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a training bra and says “This is a training bra.” before throwing it into the crowd and launching into a song. Seriously you guys, where is Green Day? And who are these posers? They made this trio of albums and I didn’t bother listening to them until I came across this song. The title is perfect because to me Green Day are ‘The Forgotten’ to me now. This is how you do the opposite of “not giving a damn”, I mean this song featured on the Twilight Breaking Dawn – Part 2 soundtrack. You think about that.

Check out previous editions of Five at 5 here, and stay tuned for more picks from NH7, Monday through Friday.