July 14 is Bastille Day; basically, the French version of the 4th of July in the United States. But that comparison doesn’t really do it justice.

With all due respect to the Founding Fathers, July 4 was the day we sent a strongly worded letter to the King explaining that we were leaving. That’s a revolutionary act and it sparked not just the American Revolution but the beginning of the end for the British Empire. But it’s still just a letter. Bastille Day, on the other hand, is the day French revolutionaries stormed a fortress. The Bastille was an armory and political prison in Paris that was old and scheduled for demolition, and it only had seven prisoners, but as those prisoners were revolutionaries, it represented tyranny. So they stormed it, fought the garrison, won, and executed governor Bernard René Jourdan, marquis de Launay.

That, I think we can all agree, is hardcore.

Yes, France signed an agreement to basically be a territory of Nazi Germany after only nine months of fighting in World War II and that’s not exactly what you’d want, but prior to that, and again recently, they can be pretty impressively revolutionary. I respect learning from one’s mistakes and turning back far-right nationalists when you get another chance. So, like we did in 2019, in honor of past and especially present victories, let’s spotlight some music from France.

Gojira — “Amazonia”

I have no idea how I didn’t include Gojira in 2019. Magma had come out and I like that album a lot, so I certainly knew the band was around, and its album before that was called L’Enfant Sauvage, which certainly suggests France.

Anyway, the good news is my oversight lets me put a band I like right up top. Also, speaking of Past Me doing Current Me a solid: With the exception of Daft Punk, there aren’t a ton of better-known artists on there. Thanks, Past Me! It’s about time you did something that actually helps.

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Phoenix — “1901”

I’m famously not much of an indie pop fan, so I can’t claim Phoenix is among my favorites. And I didn’t pick it in 2019 because it was still really popular. I really just know this song from its inclusion in Girl Talk’s magnum opus, All Day. I love Girl Talk’s All Day. The entire album is on YouTube for free and you should stop reading this for roughly an hour to listen to it in its entirety. I’ll wait.

Back? It’s great, right? Yeah, you’re welcome! I love it too! And now you have a greater appreciation for “1901,” which was supposedly the point of this entry.

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David Guetta — “Sexy Bitch”

The title on the official video is “Sexy Chick.” Apparently, YouTube has the radio edit. Also, we can’t embed it, so you’re stuck with the audio here. It’s a bold move changing the song title in the radio edit. The only other examples I can think of where they swapped out a whole word rather than censoring it were CeeLo Green’s “Forget You,” which makes sense, and the Black Eyed Peas’ “Let’s Get It Started,” which turned out to be such a good idea that they completely disavowed the original. It was such a bad idea that I’m not even linking you to it.

Seriously, what were they thinking?

Anyway, I know David Guetta is mostly known as a producer, but he’s a musician in his own right. He collaborates a lot but at least you’ve heard his name, unlike Mark Ronson, who got completely overshadowed by Bruno Mars to the point people don’t remember it’s actually his song.

Les Fatals Picards — “Sucer des cailloux”

The last couple were from France but were Anglophile. This one is in French.

I don’t know what this song is about. The video confuses me even more. That often worries me on account of how many bands have turned out to be Nazis, but I’ve heard these guys have gotten heat for becoming militantly far-left, and I respect that. We need more militantly far-left bands. I would prefer if they were more like Rage Against the Machine but, you know, I’ll take this.

Also, no, this has nothing to do with Jean-Luc Picard. It’s a reference to the historical province of Picardy. Presumably, Jean-Luc’s family is from there but that’s all I’ve got. Sorry if I got your hopes up.

Nightmare — “Aeternam”

I love me some power metal, so I was very aware of Nightmare. But it wasn’t until I was writing this column that I found out the band is French. I triple checked! It’s from Grenoble, which is in eastern France, near the Italian border.

It’s good that it’s balancing out a bit, because I also discovered a couple bands that aren’t French. For example, Eiffel 65? It did that song about how everything’s blue da ba de da ba di da ba de da ba di and so on? Italian. Bastille? English (Dan Smith’s birthday is on Bastille Day). But France gained Nightmare, so it’s all worthwhile.

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Sortilège — “Métamorphose”

This song is from 1984. That should be immediately obvious upon listening to it. Sortilège was France’s answer to Metallica and Slayer, and it’s honestly just as good. It opened for Def Leppard! But the reason it’s a cult band in France and not anyone you’ve heard of is because it broke up in 1986, which is generally bad for one’s career prospects.

It did reunite in 2019 for some shows, and released an album of re-recorded songs that weren’t as good as the originals. But Sortilège also released a new album in 2023 that is good. Only one member of the original band is left, so it’s not even a Ship of Theseus thing. But hey, it’s hard to argue with good music.

Follow publisher Daniel J. Willis and send column ideas to him at @bayareadata.press on BlueSky.