That's all you need

Twenty-four hours:
10:05 p.m. Wednesday -- VH-1 Classic's "Alternative" program broadcasts the video for Manic Street Preachers' "Slash 'n' Burn." Hoping not to ruin the moment by seeing another video, I switch over to Fox Soccer Channel to view the second half of the UEFA Cup final from Portugal. CSKA Moscow scores a trio of second-half goals to beat Sporting Lisbon, 3-1, becoming the first Russian club to win a major European trophy.
7:18 a.m. Thursday -- The girls and I watch the Weather Channel. Dubuque's local forecast calls for highs in the mid-70s and a chance of scattered thunderstorms.
"That's good reggae weather," I said. Cue groans from my reggae-hating daughters.
8:15 a.m. -- I drive the girls to school and we listen to "Everything Must Go," the Manic Street Preachers' 1996 album, considered a career high point by many fans. The Welsh band regrouped for this album following the Feb. 1, 1995 disappearance of lyricist/guitarist Richey Edwards. He has never been found.
10:08 a.m. -- I do the dishes and begin making spaghetti sauce while listening to "Generation Terrorists," the Manic Street Preachers' 1992 debut. They turn anti-establishment diatribes into the catchiest anthems of 1990s pop.
11:15 a.m. -- It really is "good reggae" weather, so I listen to a CD of classic Jamaican protest songs during my daily walk. The songs include Delroy Wilson's "Better Must Come" and Half Pint's "Greetings."
12:30 p.m. -- I arrive at work, where I have to write a story in the afternoon and cover a banquet in the evening.
5:15 p.m. -- I listen to Hoodoo Gurus (the "Ampology" greatest-hits compilation) en route to my evening assignment. I am hoping their unbridled, joyful Aussie powerpop gives me a "second wind" necessary to cover a banquet honoring a bank president and his family. It works.
10:05 p.m. -- Back home and back to the reggae. I listen to some dancehall hits from the early 1980s.