The Ultimate Dystopian Playlist to Write a Killer Story

~ Kaitlin Hillerich

dystopian playlistHow would you like to listen to some awesome tunes that will help you keep writer’s block at bay and craft that dystopian story you’re dying to tell? *enticing eyebrow waggle*

Well luckily for you, I have spent hours scouring the far reaches of the internet and even braved the corners of the weird part of youtube in order to find the perfect songs to build a sweet dystopian-themed playlist. And because I am a nice person, I am going to share this playlist with you! 😉

I tried to choose songs that had futuristic or electronic sounds, or whose lyrics I thought could fit a dystopian/post apocalyptic world. Some of the songs have a darker feel to them, but I didn’t want the entire playlist to be completely depressing and hopeless so there are upbeat songs as well. I also included several scores without lyrics.

You can listen to the playlist here on youtube, or you can browse the songs below. Enjoy!

The Ultimate Dystopian Playlist

#1: Uprising by Muse

#2: Radioactive by Imagine Dragons

#3: Run Boy Run by Woodkid

#4: Stranger by Skrillex

#5: Who We Are by Imagine Dragons

#6: Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Lorde

#7: The Resistance by Muse

#8: Time is Running Out by Muse

#9: Hanging On by Ellie Goulding

#10: Pompeii by Bastille

#11: From Myself by Paul Hovermale

#12: Hey Brother by Aviichi

#13: Glory and Gore by Lorde

#14: Is Your Love Strong Enough by Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

#15: Oblivion (featuring Susanne Sundfor) from the Oblivion soundtrack

#16: Midnight City by M83

#17: Intruder by Collide

#18: Help I’m Alive by Metric

#19: Unsustainable by Muse

#20: Apocalypse Please by Muse

Pt. II: Scores Without Lyrics

#1: Panoramic by Atticus Ross

#2: Outland by Atticus Ross

#3: Varuna by E.S. Posthumus

#4: Uprising by Audiomachine

#5: A Thousand Details from Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

So there you have it! How did I do? What songs would you have included on the playlist?

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16 thoughts on “The Ultimate Dystopian Playlist to Write a Killer Story”

  1. Oooh, this may very well be an ultimate playlist! I haven’t heard them all, of course, but the Metric and Muse songs I recognized were spot on and I may just spend the afternoon listening to this! 😀 Thanks for the recommendations!

  2. Awesome list! another two to add is Save The World by Swedish House Mafia and Paradise by Coldplay (:

  3. Love all the songs, I have currently written a novel and I’m working on the second installment so hopefully these will help out with the writing process!

  9. Wow, these are great! This post has inspired me to make a Spotify playlist, because I don’t really use YouTube. My playlist is all instrumental, because I can’t write while listening to songs with lyrics; but I’ve included most of the songs from the post, and also from suggestions in the comments, along with some of my own (mostly Hunger Games), if there’s any interested Spotify listeners here. 🙂 https://open.spotify.com/user/v.j.c./playlist/76PCjkdqH24x2lIjmvvbpf

  10. Thanks! I just posted a question on Facebook yesterday asking other writers for songs from their dystopian playlists to use in creating my own. I’ve added all of these to my playlist.

  11. THIS IS AWESOME! Another song I listen to from Imagine Dragons is “Warriors”. Would definitely recommend for any intense war or fight scenes!

  12. The playlist is great! I listen to some of them when I write… A good song for the playlist would be ” Holes in the sky” from M83.

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