Yap Zone: The September 11 Artifacts Playlist

Today, I wrote about my experience as a kid who went to school a few blocks from the World Trade Center in 2001. After evacuating with my classmates, I finally got home after hours of wandering around Manhattan. All I could do was listen to the radio — specifically my favorite station, Z100.

At the time, I wrote,

The music seemed drained of color, and it wasn’t just because I was traumatized. In response to the attacks, Clear Channel, which owned Z100, sent its stations a list of songs that they were strongly discouraged from playing on air, including those that were too joyful; that mentioned planes, flying, or falling; that had even a hint of anti-American critique. We got endless hours of Jewel and “God Bless the USA” when all I wanted was Rage Against the Machine.

So as a companion piece to today's more serious essay, I'd like to present my very subjective take on the songs that capture the spirit of the day and its aftermath, including heartfelt tributes to New York City, reactions to the prejudice that haunted the country after the attacks, and sonic disasters of a much different scope.

Jewel, 'Hands'

OK, the first time I heard "Hands" on the radio on Sept. 11, Jewel's soft crooning about the people power and self-determination got me. But like a dog that offers to shake your hand every time you glance at it, hoping for a treat, the oversaturation of the song ruined the effect. It was on the radio; it was remixed with speeches and slapped onto montages of news footage; it was the song she performed at tribute concerts and television appearances in the days and months that followed the attacks. It had already been a hit single in the late '90s, but the collective craving for some kind of musical balm kept it on the airwaves for a long time after.

Heems, 'Flag Shopping'

Funnily enough, Heems, or Himanshu Suri, was the vice president of the student council at my high school in the fall of 2001. He and I were among the mass of kids that evacuated from Lower Manhattan that day; but as an Indian American, he had a much more direct experience with the swell of racist violence in the post-9/11 world. "We're going American flag shopping/ Red, white, blue on our crib/ The neighbors threw rocks at the house/ They making it harder to live."