Why It Matters

Americans love stuff. We buy more stuff than we have room for, and then we rent special little rooms to store our extra stuff. Occasionally our neighbors get tired of having so much stuff, so they stick a bunch of it on the front lawn for us to buy. “Look! Cheap stuff!” we scream, and we bring home their junk to add to our junk.

What the heck is going to become of my stuff when I die? It’s something I worry about often, not so much because I’ll have any use for my junk when I’m dead and gone, but rather because I don’t want it to be a burden for my kids. Maybe it’s time to start divesting myself of my stuff.

But that means purging my vinyl, and that’s just crazy talk.

Anyway, songs about stuff:

“Love My Stuff,” Charlie Patton.

“Stuff They Call Money,” Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin.

“Stuff,” Miles Davis.

“Stuff’s Stuff,” Stuff.

“Thrift Shop Junkie,” Voodoo Glow Skulls.

“Junk Man,” Ken Nordine.

“Mountains O’ Things,” Tracy Chapman.

“My Favorite Things,” Outkast.

There you have it: Eight songs about stuff pulled directly from my piles of stuff. What did I miss? I’m listening.