Joe Nacchio, A Soundtrack

Earlier this month, Joe Nacchio got the big kiss-off from the Supreme Court. Nacchio, the felonious ex-Qwest CEO, tried to get the nation’s highest court to overturn his conviction for illegal insider trading. His scheme cost shareholders, many of whom are retirees living on pensions, $52 million.

Maybe that’s why the Supreme Court judges didn’t even bother to comment on the reasons for denying Nacchio’s appeal.

So it looks like Mr. Nacchio is in (luxury) prison for some time as his lawyers scrounge for other ways to get him out. And since he’s not exactly living in austerity, I figure he has an iPod or Zune, etc. Thus, I give you a short playlist of songs Mr. Nacchio can turn to as he toils in whichever low-paying prison job – pay ranges from 12 to 40 cents per hour – he’s been assigned. (“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” seems an appropriate opener.)

It does seem cliché, however, to list “Folsom Prison Blues” or the obvious selection from Nirvana’s “In Utero” album (Really? Are you going to make me spell it out?). So I will try, as a friend says, to “refrain myself” (lovin’ the inadvertent pun) from those and concentrate on slightly more original titles. Emphasis on slightly.

For those self-pitying/loathing days

• Long Road to Ruin, Foo Fighters
• Blacklisted, Neko Case
• Cryin’, Aerosmith
• All These Things That I’ve Done, The Killers
• Don’t You Forget About Me, Simple Minds
• I Fought the Law, The Clash
• American Idiot, Green Day
• Long, Long Way from Home, Foreigner
• Save Me, Graham Colton
• The Unforgiven, Metallica
• Wasting Time, Collective Soul
• Dumb, Nirvana
• Too Much Time on My Hands, Styx
• Bastard, Motley Crue
• Don’t Stand So Close to Me, The Police
• Daring Lousy Guy, Shivaree
• I Want to Break Free, Queen

For those wishful-thinking days

• Ballad of a Comeback Kid, The New Pornographers
• Out of Exile, Audioslave
• Your Time is Gonna Come, Led Zeppelin
• A Great Day for Freedom, Pink Floyd
• Don’t Stop Believin’, Journey
• Set You Free, Transatlantic Crush

Add your picks.