Far Out 40: Inspiring indie songs more effective than New Year’s resolutions
“You’ve gotta make it happen” are some wise words from Oasis and the ultimate wisdom for 2026 as we wander into the year of the horse: the year of running, the year of go-getting, and the year of making it happen.
However, it can be hard, and despite the so-called Christmas break, you usually come out of it still in the haze, with New Years heavy with the weight of resolutions and promises to yourself to be better, wake up earlier, start running, eat better and whatever else.
We like to personify January as the ultimate month of self-motivation, but is it? It can be tough to shake things off and hit the ground running when the Christmas chocolate and cheese plates are still set like a stone in the tummy, but this is the year for it.
This is the year for racing into the future, this is the year of getting to work, and this is the year to dream big, as Marty Supreme tells us to do, and the best way to make that happen is a good soundtrack.
Everybody knows that the right song can change everything, so here are 40 of them, all hand-chosen to spark up your attitude and give you a kick up the ass.
To add some intensity into your ear buds, tracks like Fat Dog’s ‘Running’, Fcuker’s ‘Bon Bon’ or Cowboy Hunter’s ‘Perfect (Exceeder)’ are high octane, ideal for running to or just ideal for getting the heart rate up to hype you off the sofa, while in the world of more classic rock and indie, acts like Prince, Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith have been motivating people for decades now as Smith sings on her tune, “My heart starts pumping, and my fists start pumping,” inviting you to get moving.
Personally, I’d say there was no era of indie quite as motivating as the beloved days of youth in the 2000s and 2010s when indie sleaze was in, Tumblr was kicking off, and restlessness was a way of life, with The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Bombay Bicycle Club, Peace all still sounding like that with their songs keeping like time capsules with undiluted energy inside.
For modern picks, 2025 tracks like Wet Leg’s ‘Mangetout’ and Pulp’s ‘Spike Island’ both serve as self-esteem anthems, calling you to go all in on your aims and purpose. Or from 2024, there’s arguably no life coach out there as energising as Amyl and the Sniffer’s Amy Taylor yelling her statement of excited defiance on ‘U Should Not Be Doing That’.
Spanning all corners of indie, from the originators to the modern heroes, from punk elements to alt-pop, these 40 tunes are wide spanning, but all come along with one goal: to get you going for a great new year.
Far Out 40: Inspiring indie for the new year
- Tears For Fears – ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’
- Japanese Breakfast – ‘Be Sweet’
- Wolf Alice – ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’
- Wet Leg – ‘Mangetout’
- CMAT – ‘Have Fun!’
- Lorde – ‘If She Could See Me Now’
- Pulp – ‘Spike Island’
- Amyl and the Sniffers – ‘U Should Not Be Doing That’
- The Dare – ‘I Destroyed Disco’
- Charli XCX – ‘Von Dutch’
- Nourished By Time – ‘Max Potential’
- Fat Dog – ‘Running’
- Prince – ‘Baby I’m Star’
- The Mysterines – ‘Life’s a Bitch (But I Like It So Much)’
- Bruce Springsteen – ‘Born To Run’
- Westside Cowboy – ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’
- Jockstrap – ‘50/50’
- Lime Garden – ‘Pop Star’
- Picture Parlour – ‘$4 Fantasy’
- Anna Calvi – ‘As A Man’
- Y – ‘Why’
- Sorry – ‘Today Might Be The Hit’
- Fcukers – ‘Bon Bon’
- Hinds – ‘Boom Boom Back’
- Faux Real and Wet Leg – ‘Walking Away From My Demons’
- Patti Smith – ‘Pumping’
- The Rolling Stones – ‘Start Me Up’
- STONE – ‘Left Right Forward’
- Swim Deep – ‘Honey’
- Peace – ‘Bloodshake’
- Bombay Bicycle Club – ‘Shuffle’
- Arctic Monkeys – ‘Snap Out of It’
- Gorillaz – ‘DARE’
- The Strokes – ‘You Only Live Once’
- Oasis – ‘Cigarettes & Alcohol’
- David Bowie – ‘Modern Love’
- Lambrini Girls – ‘Cuntology 101’
- ELLiS-D – ‘Humdrum’
- YAANG – ‘Too Much Money’
- Cowboy Hunters – ‘Perfect (Exceeder)’
