9 Songs About Waking Up

Why do so many songs about waking up fail to actually entice anyone to get up and start your day? Here are 9 songs about waking up, about 3 of which actually might get me up instead of just hurling the radio across the room.

Arcade Fire - Wake Up

My pick for song that I'd most like to rip me from the sweet embrace of sleep in the morning. Great percussion, a sing-a-long chorus, upbeat tempo; the only problem is that I'd want to listen to it a few more times and probably miss whatever it was I was getting up for.


Rage Against The Machine - Wake Up

Total bomber. This should get you up, albeit not much much finesse. I think it's a great song but as a wake up call it's about one step above having a dumptruck back through your bedroom wall every morning.


John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up Everybody

This song's got potential but it should be followed with a little more energetic kicker to get you moving. This is a wake up song for people who like to ease into their mornings, like those folk who tune into the classical station to wake up to the gentle sound of a string quartet. (This has never worked for me and only led to the inevitable 15 minute morning sprint to get you to wherever you need to be once you realize you've slept in.


Coheed and Cambria - Wake Up

What the hell is this? The only way this song is waking anyone up is if Coheed and Cambria are actually jumping on your bed while playing this slow dance.


Three Days Grace - Wake Up

The prospect of not having to listen to this Chad-Kroeger-esque crooner for any longer is certainly enough to put a spring in my step


Mad Season - Wake Up

Now we're talking. A slow, gentle first half with a kicker of a bridge featuring a shredding guitar solo. Slows down near the end but at least you're cajoled with a series of "WAKE UP"s so at least you can pretend Layne Staley is your dad (although in Layne's case he's probably just trying to get you up for some money so he doesn't have to sell the TV to get his heroin fix for the morning)


Korn - Wake Up

WAKE THA FUCK UP! It's songs like this that make you wonder why you secretly (or not so secretly in my case) like Korn way back when.



Hayden Panettiere - Wake Up Call

That cheerleader chick from Heroes who was Paris Hilton's skank understudy for a while does some pop/ska nonsense about whatever skanky pop starlets sing about these days.


Maroon 5 - Wake Up Call

Maroon 5 seem as good as any modern day soul/pop derivative. I wouldn't want to wake up to them though. This song especially seems like it would both unoffensive and slow enough to leave me passively accepting as it intruded upon my sleep.

The Wilderness Downtown

It's not often that I see something truly new online but the recent interactive video by Chris Milk and Aaron Koblin is an extremely fresh and interesting experiment in both interactive art and HTML5. The website/video/art project (or whatever it is) blends video, elements from Google Maps and the users personal sense of nostalgia to weave a surprisingly personal experience. Apparently the experience can be viewed in other browsers with some trickery but it's been optimized for Google Chrome so I'd suggest going with that. Check it out at:
http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

If you found it as imagination capturing as I did check out the behind the scenes work at the link below. For what it's worth I have a hard time not thinking about The Wildnerness Downtown whenever I hear the Arcade Fire song that provides the accompanying music.

http://creativity-online.com/news/behind-the-work-arcade-fire-the-wilderness-downtown/145696