The challenge with creating a playlist of war songs is that there’s so damned many of them. That makes sense; after all, war is one of the most disruptive events in people’s lives. It’s both avoidable and unavoidable, the high and the low point in the histories of its participants. Of course we have myriad songs celebrating and condemning war.

So I limited myself to songs not just about war but with “war” in the title. Even then, I still had way too many in my stacks for a short playlist, so I picked a handful covering blues, punk, prog, ska, classic rock, and new wave. Here we go:

“After These Wars,” Ian Anderson.

“The Dogs of War,” Pink Floyd.

“Hate & War,” The Clash.

“Life During War,” Talking Heads.

“My War,” Black Flag.

“Veteran of the Psychick Wars,” Blue Oyster Cult.

“War Crimes (The Crime Remains the Same),” The Specials.

“War Time Blues,” Blind Lemon Jefferson.

So there you have it, eight songs about war. Good God, y’all, what songs did I miss? I’m listening.