Brian Cook: Pride

Brian Cook is the bassist for the Chicago indie rock crew Russian Circles, among others, but he's also an accomplished journalist and author. For his Pride playlist, Cook dug back into his past to select songs important to him as a young gay man. “I didn't know where to look for gay role models as a teenager in the '90s, but I found a home in the punk community, where it felt like living on the fringe was a badge of honour,” Cook tells Apple Music. “Punk made me feel proud to be different, proud to be myself, proud to be out. My playlist is a collection of songs that made me feel less alone as a queer kid, either because the artist was also a member of the LGTBQ community, or because the song championed letting your freak flag fly.”