Modernity has failed us/
And I’d love it if we made it.

“Love it if We Made it” by The 1975 comes in hot with some powerful lyrics about drugs, communication and survival. There aren’t many songs that hit you like this one does. It demands that you listen.

The message is mostly disturbing, but also hopeful. It is disturbing in that it paints a realistic picture of life in the 2010s. There aren’t many happy images. In fact, it seems like humanity and our sanity are at risk of extinction.

But The 1975 have hope, they’d love it if we survived this. But how? That’s for other people to figure out.

There is something to be said for stating the problem clearly and melodically. This is a variation of the protest song. It is a song that is socially conscious–like some of the great songs from the 60s and 70s. The melody is perfect for the message and unique. Matty Healy sings the vocals as if they matter. His tone is biting.

The intro provides a disorienting, dream-like sound that creates a great environment for the song. I’d Love it If We Made It is very well produced. The rhythm section is strong. They plow ahead relentlessly, and you begin to feel the weight of the song. Will this list of shitty problems ever end? You are almost exhausted by the end. Can we make it? Will we?

I can’t think of a better song to describe 2020 than “Love It If We Made It”.

Love It If We Made It Lyrics

We’re fucking in a car, shooting heroin,
Saying controversial things just for the hell of it.
Selling melanin and then suffocate the black men,
Start with misdemeanors and we’ll make a business out of them.
And we can find out the information,
Access all the applications,
That are hardening positions based on miscommunication.
Oh, fuck your feelings,
Truth is only hearsay;
We’re just left to decay,
Modernity has failed us.

And I’d love it if we made it.
Yes, I’d love it if we made it.
Yes, I’d love it if we made it.
Yes, I’d love it if we made it.

And poison me, daddy.
I’ve got the Jones right through my bones,
Write it on a piece of stone.
A beach of drowning three-year olds,
Rest in peace Lil Peep,
The poetry is in the streets.
Jesus save us,
Modernity has failed us.

And I’d love it if we made it.
Yes, I’d love it if we made it.
Yes, I’d love it if we made it.
Yes, I’d love it if we made it.
And I’d love it if we made it.
And I’d love it if we made it.
And I’d love it if we made it.
I’d love it if we made it.

Tell me something I didn’t know,
Consultation,
Degradation,
Fossil fueling,
Masturbation,
Immigration,
Liberal kitsch,
Kneeling on a pitch.

“I moved on her like a bitch”,
Excited to be indicted,
Unrequited house with seven pools,
“Thank you Kanye, very cool”.
The war has been incited and guess what?
You’re all invited,
And you’re famous,
Modernity has failed us.

And I’d love it if we made it.
And I’d love it if we made it.
And I’d love it if we made it.
Tell me something I didn’t know.
And I’d love it if we made it.
And I’d love it if we made it.
And I’d love it if we made it.
And I’d love it if we made it.

Written by The 1975: Adam Brian Thomas Hann / George Bedford Daniel / Matthew Timothy Healy / Ross Stewart MacDonald

It’s the same old theme/
Since nineteen-sixteen.

“Zombie” was The Cranberries greatest work, and it is one of the greatest protest songs of all-time. The Cranberries were a proudly Irish Band. The song was written after an IRA bombing killed two young children.

Her message is clear: the same shit has been going on for the last hundred years. Everyone is walking around brainless with their big guns and bombs blowing each other up without thinking of the consequences. The military industrial complex has churned out a bunch of zombies that are happy to kill.

Dolores O’riordan, lead singer of The Cranberries’ death was a deep shock to anyone who grew up with The Cranberries. She was such a kick-ass, punk rocker chick that seemed to be bigger than life (in a small package). She played the guitar and sang lead on all their songs, and every public appearance her hair would be a new neon color.

The sound of The Cranberries on “Zombie” differed from most of The Cranberries other music. This song was angry. Not only could you hear it in the lyrics, you could hear it in the loud distorted guitars and the way she would howl out “Zombie”. It is a very raw, emotional song. The band plays an excellent extended outro to end the song.

Zombie Lyrics

Another head hangs lowly,
Child is slowly taken.
And the violence caused such silence,
Who are we mistaken?

But you see, it’s not me, it’s not my family.
In your head, in your head, they are fightin’.
With their tanks and their bombs and their bombs and their guns,
In your head, in your head, they are cryin’.

In your head, in your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie.
What’s in your head, in your head?
Zombie, zombie, zombie-ie-ie-ie, oh.

Another mother’s breakin’
Heart is takin’ over.
When the violence causes silence,
We must be mistaken.

Written by Dolores O’riordan

Imagine there’s no countries/
And no religion, too.

For all his work in The Beatles, Lennon might be best known for “Imagine”. While we think of “Imagine” as a song promoting peace (which it is), it is also very radical. Lennon is advocating socialism, eradication of religion and borders and countries. I think a lot of people like this song and think “yay peace”, but don’t get down to the nitty gritty and think about what he is actually saying.

Are you willing to consider a society with no possessions? Where everyone “owns” the same amount of wealth? I bet you wouldn’t. Would you consider a world without countries? I don’t think you could. Some of you may have imagined no religion.

That is not a knock against you or me necessarily. It is not like Lennon gave up all his possessions and lived his life like a monk. However, let’s really consider what he is saying in “Imagine”. A more egalitarian society is necessary and I believe it will come about in one way or another.

I could imagine borders becoming  less meaningful someday, but we are a long ways away from that. The power of this song is in the ideas it suggests. Let’s think about how things are and how things could be.

The melody and Lennon’s voice carry the message perfectly on practically just a piano. Though, of course the full band and strings comes in about halfway through. The piano arraignment is original and iconic. The slow pacing allows us to focus on his words and we realize how far a way we have to go to reach his ideal of: “A brotherhood of man/ sharing all the world.”

Imagine Lyrics

Imagine there’s no heaven,
It’s easy if you try.
No hell below us,
Above us only sky.

Imagine all the people living for today.

Imagine there’s no countries,
It isn’t hard to do.
Nothing to kill or die for,
And no religion too.

Imagine all the people living life in peace, you…

You may say I’m a dreamer,
But I’m not the only one.
I hope some day you’ll join us,
And the world will be as one.

Imagine no possessions,
I wonder if you can.
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man.

Imagine all the people sharing all the world, you…

You may say I’m a dreamer,
But I’m not the only one.
I hope some day you’ll join us,
And the world will be as one.