Despite the sunny, perfectly chilly weather, I’m listening to some of the saddest music I can find today. A friend of mine recently started a monthly mix tape club and the first theme is “Sad Bastard: Songs To Listen to While Crying Into Your Beer.” At first, the bad-ass straight-edge kid in me wanted to revolt and make a mix tape of Minor Threat songs because crying into beer is a sissy way to deal with shit, but then I decided to play nice (and not act like an eight-year-old), because just like every other emo crybaby in the world, I love some sad music.

But listening to sad songs when you’re not at all sad is really weird, for obvious reasons. Some songs, songs that I always thought were the saddest songs ever, really aren't all that sad! The opposite is also proving to be true: there are some songs that are being seen in a whole new and sad light.

For instance: I had completely forgotten how sad "Brick" is. I hadn't thought about this song until yesterday afternoon, and I don’t think I’ve listened to it since high school. But fuck! It’s a sad song! Maybe even more so now that I can actually listen to it without my mind being clouded by my own mess of teenage emotions.

Still, I probably won’t put it on the tape. Maybe I will. I don’t know. I do know that “True Love Waits” by Radiohead is most definitely making the cut. That song kills me.