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"Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets." -Matthew 7:12 NLT
TW: Heavy topics such as school shootings and suicide are inbound.
I'm not going to embed any music videos, this time around. As I mentioned in my bulletin yesterday, Satellite came out on September 11, 2001. It was probably always scheduled for that day, future events notwithstanding. But in hindsight, the album took on even more significance (something even the band noted on FB and IG). I remember how around that time the album came out, I had a choice to make: either this one, or ANThology by Alien Ant Farm. I'm eternally grateful that I picked Satellite. Don't get me wrong. "Smooth Criminal" and "Movies" were a lot of fun to listen to, but they didn't resonate with me quite the same way that "Alive" did. This whole album, as the years passed, gained even more and more importance for me. It was the first one I discovered by them, and solidified my status as a fan. To this day, I still believe it is their masterpice, head and shoulders above anything they did before or after. Only the album that was after this one, Payable on Death, comes anywhere close to it, in my eyes. So much in the way I did a retrospective of Linkin Park's career in the wake of Chester's passing, I guess I'll do something similar. Just maybe not as in depth.
Track 1, "Set It Off" - As it happens, I cued it up to coincide with me writing about it. These blurbs are only going to be a few sentences at a time. When I first heard this song, I didn't like it that much. It just sounded too heavy and harsh. Ironic, I know, given how enamored I was with Linkin Park. So, it had to grow on me. As the years passed, I started to enjoy it more and more. And it makes a perfect Track 1, for this or any other mixtapes that could come out of it.
Track 2, "Alive" - This. This one is the golden child. As the first song I heard, it struck a match inside me. It was that amazing, and the video for it was just as wonderful. I think, for many of us who were that age right when it came out, it was our introduction to POD. It was what launched them into the mainstream. To pre-teen me, it wasn't entirely clear that it was about God. Obviously, it is and the whole feeling of being born again. That was brought home to me rughly four years later. That was when I became born again myself, after being inspired by my buddy Carlos.
Track 3, "Boom" - Does anyone else remember the music video for this? How they're playing ping pong? Still awesome to this day. Along with Alive, it was one of the ones that stuck out to me right away. An amazing song all around. Fantastic for anything high impact, particularly hockey or wrestling. Back when I played Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 all the time, I assigned this as the entrance theme for Kofi Kingston. He had (and still has) a signature move called the Boom Drop. So it only made sense, right?
Track 4, "Youth of the Nation" - It's really haunting, how, twenty years later, this song is just as relevant now as it was when it first came out. In contrast to the swagger and excitement from the first three songs, this was a huge shift. Both sonically, and lyrically. At the beginning of the song, the speaker is getting ready to go to the school, unaware they were about to be killed in a school shooting. It wasn't far removed from Columbine, and I'm sure it helped inform this song. Then it shifts to a pre-teen girl, "Susie", suffering from a broken home after her dad leaves. It leads her into a downward spiral of self-destructive behavior, lonely from her father leaving her. Then, in the next verse after that, "Johnny" gets mentioned. Friendless and alone, he always tried to project a sense of fitting in with all of the other kids. But it didn't work, and so he "told the world how he felt with the sound of a gat."
Track 5, "Celestial" - An instrumental track that bridges into the title track, Satellite. It's only a minute and a half, but that doesn't mean it isn't powerful.
Track 6, "Satellite" - As I mentioned above, this is the title track. It's also one of the most powerful on the entire album. I think this was one I would hook my buddy Samin with, many years later. It was written about the death of Sonny's mother. It isn't the only one, as a few others do the same. But for those who have lost loved ones and believe that they smile down on you from above, that is the true meaning of the song.
OK, I think I am gonna stop here. I'll follow up later with a part 2 where I dive into the rest of the album. See ya!
Comments
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OlyJason
Listened to this album for the first time in a decade a few weeks back and was just hit with nostalgia. This album is great, I love it. In the years since release I feel it is still relevant and sounds just as good.
This is awesome! Keep up the good work with these types of posts! Kudos given!
Hey, thanks! I keep meaning to come around to the part 2, just haven't had it in me so far.
by Lordking Byron; ; Report
It'll come when you're ready. Gotta be in the right headspace to give POD the write up they deserve!
by OlyJason; ; Report
Heck yeah!
by Lordking Byron; ; Report
Bacon 🥓
Alive was my first song I heard too it was heavily played here in Australia and Youth of a nation....powerful stuff
I heard boom (a remix) on a game called Amplitude on PS2
Nice! I've heard of that game, but I've never played it.
by Lordking Byron; ; Report
I hadn't heard of the first game "frequency" but yeah I think Amplitude was the better one
by Bacon 🥓; ; Report
Here's the remix
by Bacon 🥓; ; Report
Nice, I'll listen to it tomorrow!
by Lordking Byron; ; Report
Sweeeeeeet
by Bacon 🥓; ; Report