Alphabet Soup Week 52: The Z Tracks

As 2024 comes to a close, we wrap up the inaugural (and only!) Alphabet Soup series with a ten-pack of tasty Z Tracks.

Ho. Lee. Zhit!! I can’t believe I actually managed to make it through all of the Alphabet Soup posts this year! And for those of you that have been along for the ride, whether from the beginning or for part of the year, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

I’m currently hanging out in a log cabin in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains, not far from the towns of Blowing Rock, Banner Elk and Boone. My wife and I are relaxing here for a few days to decompress after a stressful holiday period in Bermuda. We’ll ring in the new year here before flying to the UK next week to begin looking for a new house. While the last six months of hiking and traveling have been an amazing experience, we’re both looking forward to beginning the next chapter of our lives.

The universe of Z Tracks from my CD library was pretty slim—about three dozen songs—but more than enough to compile a diverse and interesting playlist. This week’s playlist includes a few recognizable songs from well known artists and some deeper cuts from artists that, while perhaps less well known, are certainly not obscure. Hopefully you find something here that scratches your musical itch, whether a well-loved favorite or something new that piques your interest.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments, so please jump in! What Z tracks would’ve been on your list? Which tracks did you like (or loathe)? Any new-to-you songs here that really grabbed you?

Happy listening!

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ALPHABET SOUP WEEK 52: The Z Tracks

This week’s selections:

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TRACK: "Zoe Jane" from 14 Shades of Grey (2003)

ARTIST: Staind

This is the third appearance for American alternative rock band Staind as they appeared in consecutive weeks back in September. Zoe Jane was the fourth and final single on the band's fourth album, 2003's 14 Shades of Grey. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, the second of three consecutive albums to top the US album chart. By the time this album was released the band had arguably shed the nu metal label with which they'd been burdened since being signed to Fred Durst's Flip Records; to my ear, the nu metal moniker was debatable in the first place. I was a fan of the band and followed them closely for much of their career. Although my musical tastes have shifted somewhat, I do still find myself going back to their albums from time to time, particularly the later ones (through 2008's The Illusion of Progress).

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TRACK: "Zombie" from No Need To Argue (1994)

ARTIST: The Cranberries

Zombie, from The Cranberries' second studio album, 1994's No Need To Argue, is a protest song written by Dolores O'Riordan in the wake of the IRA bombings of the English town of Warringron in early 1993. The second of two bombings resulted in the deaths of two children, aged three and 12, with 54 people injured. In a 2017 interview with Songwriting Magazine, O'Riordan recalled her reaction to the bombings: "I was quite young, but I remember being devastated about the innocent children being pulled into that kind of thing. So I suppose that's why I was saying, 'It's not me' – that even though I'm Irish it wasn't me, I didn't do it. Because being Irish, it was quite hard, especially in the UK when there was so much tension.". Despite concerns from Island, the band's record label, around releasing such a politically charged song, the single topped the charts in multiple countries and became the band’s best selling single.

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TRACK: "Zero" from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (1995)

ARTIST: The Smashing Pumpkins

Zero is the third single from the Smashing Pumpkins' third album, 1995's Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Due to its release in the US as an EP that included more than four tracks, the song actually charted as an album on the Billboard 200, peaking at number 46. The single peaked at number 1 on the Canada Rock chart and at number 15 in the US on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Chart. The Mellon Collie album was the band's commercial and critical high water mark, selling over 10 million units in the US and earning seven Grammy nominations, winning for Best Hard Rock Performance for Bullet With Butterfly Wings. Sadly, for my musical tastes, the band would only produce a few more good albums followed by half a dozen disappointing releases. The band's thirteenth studio album, Aghori Mhori Mei, released earlier this year, is their best effort in over two decades; while not quite a return to form, it was certainly an enjoyable album, one that warranted multiple listens.

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As you make your way through this week’s playlist, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Do any of these tracks really stand out for you? What do you like? What don’t you like?

Please click the button below to leave a comment.

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TRACK: "Zimbabwe" from Survival (1979)

ARTIST: Bob Marley & The Wailers

A tribute to African liberation and self-determination, the song Zimbabwe, which appears on the marvelous 1979 album Survival, was written by Bob Marley in response to, and in support of, the revolution taking place in the country then known as Rhodesia. Upon Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, Marley and the band were asked to perform the song at the independence celebrations in June of that year. Marley appeared against the advice of his management, paying tens of thousands of dollars out of his own pocket to fly the band and equipment to Harare. Originally appearing at Rufaro Stadium in front of 40,000 dignitaries and invited guests, Marley agreed to perform again the following day, attracting a crowd estimated at 110,000 people. Sadly, Bob Marley would pass away less than a year later at the age of 36; we can only wonder where his career might have gone and what he'd be protesting against were he still with us today.

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TRACK: "Zebra" from Teen Dream (2010)

ARTIST: Beach House

The American dream pop duo Beach House has released eight studio albums since forming in Baltimore in 2004. Coming on the heels of 2008's Devotion, the outfit's first album to make a dent in the Billboard 200 album chart, Teen Dream was released in January 2010 to universal critical acclaim. Over a dozen publications ranked the album within their annual top ten lists and it peaked at number 43 on the Billboard 200 chart and in the top ten of the UK and US Independent album charts. Zebra, the album's third and final single, was well received with Zach Schonfeld of PopMatters calling the track "one of Teen Dream’s most irresistible moments, buoyed by yearning vocal sighs and lyrics describing its eponymous "black and white horse arching among us"."

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TRACK: "Zak and Sara" from Rockin' The Suburbs (2001)

ARTIST: Ben Folds

I was a huge fan of Ben Folds Five, particularly of their first two albums, 1995's self-titled debut and 1997's Whatever and Ever Amen. After 1999's The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, Folds would go on to release three solo albums in seven years. The non-single track Zak and Sara appears on the first of those albums, 2001's Rocking The Suburbs. In a twist that will probably delight some of my regular readers (Hi Steve!), the album's title track parodies the nu metal music genre, with Folds stating "I am taking the piss out of the whole scene, especially the followers." Ben Folds Five reunited for one more album in 2012, since which Folds has released an additional two solo albums, including Sleigher, a lovely Christmas album released in October this year.

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TRACK: "Zero Chance" from Down on the Upside (1996)

ARTIST: Soundgarden

Following their 1994 breakthrough album, the critically and commercially successful Superunknown, Soundgarden decamped to Studio Litho and Bad Animals Studio in Seattle to record what would become Down on the Upside. The band eschewed a producer, choosing instead to produce the album themselves as, in the words of vocalist Chris Cornell, "a fifth guy is too many cooks and convolutes everything. It has to go down too many mental roads, which dilutes it.". The album, which debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and reached the top 20 in over a dozen countries, would produce three charting singles, sell over 1.5 million copies in the US, and attain platinum certification in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the US.

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TRACK: "Zoo Station" from Achtung Baby (1991)

ARTIST: U2

Zoo Station was the opening track of U2's seventh studio album, Achtung Baby, the release that represents the final time in which my musical tastes were at least somewhat simpatico with the band's music. If I'm being honest, the divergence probably began with 1987's Joshua Tree album which, while it had some great songs, had lost the immediacy and urgency of their earlier albums. I did physically own Achtung Baby and, again, there were a couple standout tracks on this album (One, Mysterious Ways) along with a couple above average tunes (Even Better Than the Real Thing, Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses). But the band's musical stylings were changing at the same point as my musical tastes were evolving and this was the last album of theirs that I'd ever own.

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TRACK: "Zen Brain" from High/Low (1996)

ARTIST: Nada Surf

When starting this series I wouldn't have expected to see Nada Surf appear twice. That's not a knock on the band, but more of an indication of my then (since completely refuted) categorization of the band as a one hit wonder. The "one hit" I'm referencing is, of course, the track Popular, from the 1996 debut album High/Low which appeared way back in week 27. This week, due to neZZeZity, we dip into that same album for the track Zen Brain. While I recognize the objective nature of the one hit wonder moniker (there has to have been a "hit"), the reality is that having a "hit" has nothing to do with whether an artist's music is "good" (a subjective metric if there ever was one). There are more artists with "hits" whose music I dislike than there are albums by some of my favorite artists that never had a "hit". Nada Surf has now released ten albums, including this year's wonderful Moon Mirror which received widespread critical acclaim and the band continues to generate over half a million monthly listeners on Spotify, putting them in the top echelon (well beyond the 99th percentile) on the platform. Not bad for a one hit wonder!

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TRACK: "Zero Results" from Future Breed (2010)

ARTIST: Hot Hot Heat

We close this week's installment and the entire Alphabet Soup series with the track Zero Results from Canadian indie rock band Hot Hot Heat's fourth studio album, 2010's Future Breeds. Coming five years after major label debut Elevator, by far the band's most successful release, this was their first album not to feature on any of the global charts. The band would only release one more album in 2016 before disbanding, with most members moving on to other musical endeavors.

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What’s next for Joy in the Journey?

Several people have recently asked me what comes next for this Substack now that the Alphabet Soup series is coming to a close. To be honest, I’m not 100% sure exactly where I’ll be going from here. I expect to be quite busy for the foreseeable future. In a couple days we begin making our way from NC back to the UK to begin house hunting and then in late February we’re heading to the Canary Islands for five weeks of hiking on four of the islands. What I do know is that I’ll continue to be active on Substack, both with my writing and in reading and engaging with other authors.

I currently subscribe to a wide variety of music Substacks with a diverse array of content—essays, playlists, songs of the day, genre or album deep dives, new music recs; the list goes on. That diversity of content has inspired a bunch of ideas that I’ve been squirreling away over the last year and I’m looking forward to experimenting in terms of form, content and frequency. I do know that I want to stretch myself, particularly in the area of essay writing, and I’ve also cooked up a new playlist series.

In terms of the immediate time horizon, I have one more 2024 Favorites post coming in the next few days. Early in the new year I’ll be doing a couple posts reflecting on and recapping the Alphabet Soup series. After that? Who knows? We’ll all find out together! I’m excited to see where Joy in the Journey goes in 2025 and I feel so privileged to have a cadre of engaged loyal readers and supporters along for the ride.

Wishing you all the best for 2025 and hoping that the new year fulfills most if not all of your wants and needs.

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Here’s the link to the running playlist which is updated on a weekly basis as each new installment is published:

ALPHABET SOUP RUNNING PLAYLIST

Tracks missing from the Spotify playlist:

• Allegory by Murray Attaway (Week 02)

• Face Me and Smile by The Lover Speaks (Week 12)

• From Your Mouth by God Lives Underwater (Week 13)

• This Can’t Go On! by The Lover Speaks (Week 23)

• Two for the Show by Trooper (Week 40)

• Twenty One by Marry Me Jane (Week 40)

• Slow by 13 Engines (Week 47)

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Thank you for reading Joy in the Journey, I appreciate you being here! If there’s someone in your life you think may enjoy this post, feel free to share it.