12 Years of Higher Education in 144 Songs

This page is not specifically accessible on my site, so either you’ve accessed this directly (through the GitHub repo or by poking around a sitemap) and it’s a bit of an an “easter egg” or you were at my PhD defense when I linked it directly (in which case, thank you!).

As I started college as a music major specifically hoping to go into music supervision, I think it’s only fair that I complete my formal education by soundtracking the whole experience (after all, I created a soundtrack for my USC Thornton application that I figure must have played a role in my acceptance).

As a quick key (that you could also get from my CV), my academic history is as follows:

• 08/2014 to 08/2016 – University of Southern California, Music Industry major in the Thornton School of Music
• 09/2016 to 12/2018 – Northwestern University, Physics BA
• 08/2019 to 08/2022 – Yale University, Astronomy MS, MPhil (en route to PhD); transferred to U of C post-candidacy
• 08/2022 to 08/2026 – University of Chicago, Astronomy & Astrophysics PhD

While these are all phenomenal schools, they all have very different personalities (as I did when I attended them), which are reflected in the music I most associate with each year. I list below 12 songs (in no particular order) from each year I was an undergraduate or graduate student, noting that these are not always the best songs, but the ones that, when I hear, I immediately think of that period (though I did limit to one song per artist per year – with the exception of 2026 – often choosing my favorite of the contenders). I similarly highlight a particular album (or two…) that was (were) particularly relevant in a given year. Interestingly, this exercise works much better with significant hindsight; the hardest years to put together were 2024-2026, while 2014-2016 were the easiest.

I considered making this into a giant Spotify playlist, but because (1) not all of these songs are available on Spotify, (2) not everyone wants to use Spotify as a moral stance (understandable, I mostly use my locally downloaded iTunes library), and (3) many of these songs/artists are well-known so the direct access is likely not needed to understand the reference.

2014

Album: The Bends - Radiohead

1. Tusk - Fleetwood Mac
2. Find Yourself - Jacco Gardner
3. Anthem - Emancipator
4. I’m Full - The Narwhals¹
5. Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall
6. Vagabond - MisterWives
7. Mount Wroclai - Beirut
8. Molly - Sponge
9. Elephant - Tame Impala
10. So American - Portugal. The Man
11. Cobrastyle - Teddybears
12. Cigarette Daydream - Cage The Elephant

2015

Album: From a Basement on a Hill - Elliott Smith

1. Black Soap - Ex-Cops
2. One Line - PJ Harvey
3. Around the Bend - Asteroids Galaxy Tour
4. Walter Reed - Michael Penn
5. Default - Django Django
6. Renegades - X Ambassadors
7. Measuring Cups - Andrew Bird
8. San Francisco - Foxygen
9. Stars are Aligned - Darlia
10. Cemetery Highrise Slum - Creepoid
11. The Lake - Typhoon
12. Low - Cracker

2016

Album: Currents - Tame Impala

or The Getaway - Red Hot Chili Peppers

1. Holy Branches - Radical Face
2. Coast to Coast - Elliott Smith
3. Pretty Pimpin - Kurt Vile
4. Stay Gold - First Aid Kit
5. Annan Water - The Decemberists
6. The Way You Wear Your Head - Nada Surf
7. Brothers On A Hotel Bed - Death Cab for Cutie
8. Parade - Jordan Prince
9. Fight for What’s Right - The Rua
10. Carry Me Ohio - Sun Kil Moon
11. Lonesome Street - Blur
12. Everlasting Muse - Belle & Sebastian

2017

Album: The Stars Are Indifferent to Astronomy - Nada Surf

1. Play - Flunk
2. Deep Blue - Arcade Fire
3. Imitation of Life - REM
4. A Manner to Act - Ra Ra Riot
5. The Headmaster Ritual - The Smiths
6. Codes and Keys - Death Cab for Cutie
7. Shaman - Triptides
8. Orange Crush - REM
9. Film Burn - Yppah
10. Killian’s Red - Nada Surf
11. My Me - T. Hardy Morris
12. Penitent - Suzanne Vega

2018

Album: Be the Cowboy - Mitski

1. Your Best American Girl - Mitski
2. Everlasting Gaze - Smashing Pumpkins
3. Fireworks - First Aid Kit
4. Bang Bang Bang Bang - Soho Dolls
5. Nobody’s Daughter - Hole
6. Distant Radio - Devics
7. Morning Light - Girls
8. The Body is a Blade - Japanese Breakfast
9. Efil’s God - Eels
10. Cells - Teenage Fanclub
11. Fitzpleasure - Alt-J
12. Plimsoll Punks - Alvvays

2019

Album: Coral Fang - The Distillers

1. Brand New City - Mitski
2. Chatterbox - New York Dolls
3. Seek and You Shall Destroy - Smashing Pumpkins
4. This is How I Disappear - My Chemical Romance
5. Blood in Gutters - The Distillers
6. Machu Picchu - The Strokes
7. Cuban Slide - The Pretenders
8. Needle Hits E - Sugar
9. Alec Eiffel - Pixies
10. Ghosts of American Astronauts - Mekons
11. Your Ghost - The Decemberists
12. I Hate People - Anti-Nowhere League

2020

Album: The Pact - Slothrust

1. Waltz #2 (XO) - Elliott Smith
2. Uptown Girl - The Beths
3. Moon Over Marin - Dead Kennedys
4. The Dead Don’t Starve - The Dear Hunter²
5. Heat Waves - Glass Animals³
6. Clash City Rockers - The Clash
7. Head Over Heels - Go-Go’s
8. Peach - Slothrust
9. Garden Song - CRY OUT
10. I Love My Leather Jacket - The Chills
11. Boss Bitch - Doja Cat
12. Stolen Skin - Won’t Stay Dead⁴

2021

Album: Rose Mountain - Screaming Females

1. Dead Alive (Flipped) - The Shins
2. Ripe - Screaming Females
3. Geheimnis - Xmal Deutschland
4. Sma3 - Taqbir
5. Pulaski - Andrew Bird
6. Coul as a Ghoul - Voidz
7. Sunsets - The Distillers
8. Smash Hit - Potty Mouth
9. Waterfalls - Death Cab for Cutie
10. Julep - Punchbrothers
11. Winnebago Warrior - The Dead Kennedys
12. Shot by Both Sides - Magazine

2022

Album: Blue Rev - Alvvays

1. Fire Line - Billy Strings
2. Empty Head - Screaming Females
3. Rigid - The Phlegms
4. Stigmata Martyr - Bauhaus
5. After the Earthquake - Alvvays
6. Angelica - Wet Leg
7. S’il Vous Plait - Otoboke Beaver
8. Not If You Were the Last Junkie On Earth - Dandy Warhols
9. All Too Well (10 Minute Version) - Taylor Swift
10. From Nothing to Nowhere - Pinback
11. Double Suicide - Chronophage
12. Rat Race - Brody Dalle

2023

Album: Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia - Dandy Warhols

1. Girls - The Dare
2. Maya the Psychic - Gerard Way
3. Severed - The Decemberists
4. Bhang, Bhang, I’m A Burnout - Dum Dum Girls
5. Happy Idiot - TV On the Radio
6. Get Off - The Dandy Warhols
7. On Melancholy Hill - Gorillaz
8. Arabian Nights - Siouxsie and the Banshees
9. Pressed - Alvvays
10. Should’ve Been Me - Mitski
11. Cedar Lane - First Aid Kit
12. Paradise Circus - Massive Attack

2024

Album: This Land is Inhospitable and So Are We - Mitski

1. Bug Like An Angel - Mitski
2. Sayonara Cowboy - Totally Cashed
3. Velouria - Pixies
4. Dead Alive - The Shins
5. Amari Szi Amari - Csokolom
6. Armagideon Time - The Clash
7. That’s How People Grow Up - Morrissey
8. Heavenly - Got A Girl
9. Beat A Drum - REM
10. Fleeting One - First Aid Kit
11. Face to Face - Siouxsie and the Banshees
12. Cheer Up London - SOFT PLAY

2025

Album: Deep Dream - Daddy Issues

1. Atomic - Blondie
2. Ruby - Charly Bliss
3. Sisyphus - Andrew Bird
4. Dog Years - Daddy Issues
5. Cold Cold Cold - Cage The Elephant
6. Criminal Image - Screaming Females
7. Glamorous Glue - Morrissey
8. Caribou - Pixies
9. Talk - Tacocat
10. GO! - Santigold (ft. Karen O)
11. Lost Boys and Girls Club - Dum Dum Girls
12. Selfish Soul - Sudan Archives

2026 (so far, subject to change)

1. Rusalka, Rusalka / The Wild Rushes - The Decemberists
2. Take It From The Top - The Velveteers
3. Raising the Skate — Speedy Ortiz
4. 16 Military Wives — The Decemberists
5. Boys in the Better Land — Fontaines D.C.
6. I Fink U Freeky - Die Antwoord
7. Divorce Song - Liz Phair
8. Time Machine - TALK
9. Asking For It - Hole
10. Gut Feeling - DEVO
11. Tranz - Gorillaz
12. Right Wing - Priests

In a tradition that started in no small part because of Juan Guerra and Imad Pasha, since Juan bought me my first vinyl (and then the next year he and Imad gifted me a nice turntable), I’ve collected records for each first author paper I’ve submitted. For another slice of the PhD, I list those here:

• Polzin et al. (2021) – London Calling (first pressing, CBS London) - The Clash
• Polzin et al. (2023a) – Plans - Death Cab for Cutie
• Polzin et al. (2024a) – An Awesome Wave - Alt-J
• Polzin et al. (2024b) – Fetisch - Xmal Deutschland
• Polzin et al. (2024c) – Moon Mirror - Nada Surf
• Polzin (2025) – Coral Fang - The Distillers
• Polzin et al. (2026a) – Deep Dream - Daddy Issues

In soundtracking my entire life, here are the artists that most exemplify the personality of, or at least my experience at, each university I’ve attended:

USC:

• Tame Impala
• Alt-J
• Elliott Smith
• Alvvays
• Radiohead
• Radical Face

Northwestern:

• The Smiths
• REM
• Nada Surf
• First Aid Kit
• Garbage
• Girls
• The Decemberists
• Arcade Fire⁵
• Spoon

Yale:

• Japanese Breakfast⁶
• Ra Ra Riot
• Vampire Weekend
• The Shins
• Death Cab for Cutie
• Voidz
• Screaming Females
• Slothrust

Chicago:

• Dandy Warhols
• Mitski
• Andrew Bird⁷
• Bauhaus
• The Phlegms
• Gorillaz