By Jay Hansen

This is a project I’ve been working on in my head for a long time. I’m not the most informed when it comes to the new music scene, so I spent the first half of my day off searching around for stuff to fill in the holes left in my 2012 Election Playlist, and I’ve got the final results for you here!

Do you have a good song that symbolizes or somehow captures the essence of the 2012 election? Share it with me in the comments section on this article, and it may get added to the playlist!

If you want to have some fun, listen to the whole playlist before reading further and try to figure out the significance of each song to the 2012 elections!

(Warning: Some songs are NSFW)

(Note: One song cannot be played in playlist format, so it will just be skipped. You can hear it by opening it individually from the links below)

Songs:

1. Pink Floyd, “Money” – The influence of Citizens United on its first Presidential Election
2. Twisted Sister, “We’re Not Gonna Take It” – The great disgust and contempt that all Americans, from mega liberals to ultra conservatives, have for the Citizens United ruling, and with the entire establishment in America right now
3. Al Green, “Let’s Stay Together.” – Barack Obama’s main theme
4. Meryl Streep and cast, “Money Money Money,” Mamma Mia! The Movie Soundtrack – Mitt Romney’s main theme
5. Bing Crosby, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”  – The state of labor in America and the war upon it, from the labor protests in Wisconsin to the fact that corporations are now outsourcing more jobs than they are creating in the United States.
6. Keisha White, “The Weakness in Me” – Obama’s weakness. I plan to vote for Obama, but it’s not really possible to say he’s been a strong leader or a strong progressive… or progressive at all.
7. Dropkick Murphys, “A Few Good Men” – Occupy Wall Street’s main theme
8. Cast of The Book of Mormon, “Hello!” The Book of Mormon Soundtrack – Pretty self-explanatory… Romney would be our first Mormon President and our second (arguably first) non-Christian President.
9. Baha Men, “Who Let the Dogs Out?” – Dogs Against Romney
10. The Lonely Island, “I’m On a Boat” – Mitt Romney’s inability to relate to people
11. Edwin Starr, “War” – The warmongering against Iran
12. Rage Against the Machine, “Testify” – America’s disturbing trust in a weak, failing, manipulative media
13. BuckCherry, “Crazy Bitch” – Michelle Bachmann’s main theme
14. Walker Hayes, “Pants” – Newt Gingrich’s main theme
15. Carrie Underwood “Before He Cheats” – Gingrich’s constant image problem regarding his marital infidelity. At least it gave us some good entertainment.
16. Bobby Bare “Drop Kick Me Jesus” – Rick Perry’s main theme. A slow, dumbass piece of Texas country with a disturbing and insane twist of religion… JUST LIKE RICK PERRY!
17. Bobby Brown, “Humpin’ Around” – Herman Cain’s main theme
18. John Williams, “Imperial Death March” (hey he picked it, not me) – Ron Paul’s main theme (hey, he picked it, not me)
19. 12 hours of white noise – Jon Huntsman’s main theme
20. Avenue Q, “The Internet is for Porn” – Rick Santorum’s war on porn
21. The Kinks, “Lola” – Rick Santorum’s main theme
22. ‘Devan,’ “If I Only Had a Brain / a Heart / the Nerve” Wizard of Oz Soundtrack – A compilation of themes for three different people; John Boehner and Congressional Republicans / Tim Geihtner and Corporate America / Harry Reid and Congressional Democrats (respectively).
23. Boby Dylan “Times They Are a-Changin” – Obama’s main message in 2008 was change, but over the past four years we’ve learned that the more things change in Washington, the more they stay the same. So now it’s up to us, the people, to bring forth the change so badly needed in this country.

Sorted by meaning / category:

OBAMA

Al Green, “Let’s Stay Together.”

Keisha White, “The Weakness in Me”

Boby Dylan “Times They Are a-Changin”

ROMNEY

Meryl Streep and cast, “Money Money Money,” Mamma Mia! The Movie Soundtrack

Cast of The Book of Mormon, “Hello!” The Book of Mormon Soundtrack

Baha Men, “Who Let the Dogs Out?”

The Lonely Island, “I’m On a Boat”

CITIZENS UNITED

Pink Floyd, “Money”

OCCUPY WALL STREET

Dropkick Murphys, “A Few Good Men”

Twisted Sister, “We’re Not Gonna Take It”

Rage Against the Machine, “Testify”

LABOR IN AMERICA AND THE POLITICAL WAR UPON IT

Bing Crosby, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”

WARMONGERING AGAINST IRAN

Edwin Starr, “War”

MICHELLE BACHMANN

BuckCherry, “Crazy Bitch”

NEWT GINGRICH

Walker Hayes, “Pants”

Carrie Underwood “Before He Cheats”

RICK PERRY

Bobby Bare “Drop Kick Me Jesus”

HERMAN CAIN

Bobby Brown, “Humpin’ Around”

JON HUNTSMAN

12 hours of white noise

RICK SANTORUM

The Kinks, “Lola”

Avenue Q, “The Internet is for Porn”

RON PAUL

John Williams, “Imperial Death March” (hey he picked it, not me)

JOHN BOEHNER AND CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS / TIM GEITHNER AND CORPORATE AMERICA / HARRY REID AND CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS

‘Devan,’ “If I Only Had a Brain / a Heart / the Nerve” Wizard of Oz Soundtrack