Martin Canine's Ultimate Teen Angst Mix

There once was a dude. He liked twisted humor, old Hollywood movies of the 50s and anthropomorphic animals. And he LOVED teen angst music. Often frowned upon by pretentiously classy people, this kind of music with its overblown melodrama, blissfully gimmicky genre bending and gender bending musical style and no holds barred celebration of whatever may rush through one's mind, was nothing short of awesome to him.

Many subcultures and crossover genres are driven by teen angst, with some massive differences in reception and quality, but always with the common feel of expressing a misfit's mind. The 90s had grunge (Hamburger Schule in Germany, highly acclaimed despite the hipster emo looks but not important for this list), the turn of the millennium had nu metal, the mid-2000s had emo and alternative rock, the late-2000s to the mid-2010s had scene, and what was still to come made the dude excited.

Our hero came with a mission: to create the ultimate teen angst mix. Whether as a mixtape on CD, a playlist on a phone or a selection of files on a USB stick, these handful of tracks needed to capture the essence of what is the true spirit of teen angst. On his quest, the dude traveled across the land, searching far and wide, to find the singing bush, say the magic chant and summon the invisible swordsman who would ultimately lead him to the holy land of teen angst music. Then, his acute senses were needed.

While the songs should contain the rich variety that makes the music, the songs should also work together as a whole. It was necessary for the songs to be in the same language, even if some artists were more advanced in it than others. English was chosen as the best language to transport the emotion of the genre, having a naturally cool yet rebellious sound other languages lack. The sound needed to be at least rock inspired, even though the amount and the influences of other genres were allowed to vary. The songs must blend together perfectly, so not only their tone, but also their quality had to be the same (we all know some scene artist sounded less than unprofessional, at least in their beginning). The reputation of the individual artists as well as the movements they are part of may be widely different, but the selection of songs must be hard hitting in its entirety.

Ultimately, our hero succeeded and has created what is the definitive mix, the 12 commandments of teen angst.
And it goes as follows, a list which serves not as a ranking but as a tracklist:

1. I See Stars: The End of the World Party (3:18)
2. Falling in Reverse: The Drug in Me is You (3:39)
3. LaFee: Little Princess (4:21)
4. Sinners are Winners: Kill Your Ego (4:44)
5. Cinema Bizarre: Lovesongs (They Kill Me) (3:44)
6. Black Veil Brides: Knives and Pens (4:15)
7. Blood on the Dance Floor: Where’s My Wonderland (3:44)
8. Linkin Park: What I’ve Done (3:25)
9. Evanescence: Going Under (3:34)
10. Tokio Hotel: Don’t Jump (4:08)
11. Nirvana: Heart Shaped Box (4:41)
12. My Chemical Romance: Welcome to the Black Parade (5:11)

Full duration: 48:44

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All tracks on my personal mix are taken from physical CDs of the artist's respective studio albums, except for track 4, which does not have a wide physical release (only a limited one on Dahvie Vanity's website) and was downloaded from iTunes, from the album "The Invocation".

To have the same listening experience as I had, and to give the artists the credit they rightly deserve (no matter if you think of them as a person, a musician should get paid for their music), you should also buy the songs if you want to recreate the mix.

The Top Ten

1 The End of the World Party - I See Stars