A look at LCD Soundsystem’s All My Friends and what it means to graduate.
Playing In My Head
Every day has a soundtrack, every moment has a score, but sometimes a musical motif or track can sit with you for a while. As the chapter of my undergraduate degree comes to a close this summer, one song that has played on repeat in my head for the last eight months sticks out: All My Friends by LCD Soundsystem.
An electric dance-punk band, LCD Soundsystem’s music isn’t primarily considered the sort that will stay with you or become deeply personal to those who listen to their music occasionally, but there are a few songs that stand out within their discography. In their 2017 Album, American Dream, the titular track and fan-favourite, Oh Baby, play on the troubling nature of relationships and human connection.
Lyrics such as “at least instead of sleeping here you prefer your own bed” in American Dream, and “we move like a bad scene, shot in the dark” in Oh Baby, indicate a clear struggle to find meaningful personal connections, something the bands Gen-Z and Millennial audiences are sure to relate to, in what has somehow become such a disconnected world.
All My Friends, however, is from the band’s earlier album, Sound of Silver (2007). Here, the song stands out. With its over seven-minute-long run-time, the record has become a ballad for young people over the last twenty years. To listeners, the song tells a story that reflects their lives. Young and old, the line “You spent the first five years trying to get with the plan, and the next five years trying to be with your friends again” means something to anyone who plays the song.
A Personal Connection
For me, it perfectly encapsulates my time here at the University of Sussex over the last three years. You spend your time studying, cramming for exams and papers, but at the end of it all, you will only remember the times you spent with people.
The track’s opening line, “That’s how it starts”, gives the song the feeling that it is someone recapping an experience or their life. This is what makes it the perfect song to sum up the student experience. You spend the first three years trying to be someone, define yourself at such a formative time in your life, and make big decisions about your future. Then you spend the next three reminiscing on the last, thinking about what truly mattered. As the song puts it, “if I could see all my friends tonight”, then maybe the best years of your life could be relived.
There is, however, a beautiful sense of something being final within the song, “this could be the last time”, which adds another layer to its role within defining the student experience. Everyone goes to university knowing it won’t last forever, but (without speaking for all students) many leave wishing it could never end. However, this is what makes being a student so special. The time you get to spend with all your friends as students should be cherished and one day looked back upon as you spend the next five years using the memories of the student experience to mould you into the person you will become.
Another article you may enjoy – https://thebadgeronline.com/2026/04/nostalgic-indie-rock-finds-a-modern-vessel-in-florentenes/
