It was December 2008, and Alex’s entire world had been reduced to a 160-gigabyte iPod Classic and a folding chair in the basement of his parents’ house.
#99: "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay. He’d listened to this on the bus ride to his last final exam, feeling like a medieval king about to conquer his destiny. Now he was a peasant sweeping up the castle. top 100 songs of 2008
He smiled. Outside, a neighbor set off a firework. 2009 was seven minutes away. He put his headphones back on, queued up #100, and hit play. It was December 2008, and Alex’s entire world
Alex put his headphones on. Song #100 was "Closer" by Ne-Yo. He remembered dancing to this at a frat party, trying to impress a girl named Maria. He’d spilled a entire beer on her shoe. He winced, deleted the sentence he’d just typed, and moved on. Now he was a peasant sweeping up the castle
He scrolled higher. The middle of the chart was a warzone. #72: "Low" by Flo Rida (feat. T-Pain). He’d heard that song at every single stoplight, every house party, every sad trip to the grocery store. The "Apple Bottom jeans" had become the universal background noise of his senior year. He wrote: This song isn't music. It's a cultural event horizon.