First off, my hearty congratulations to the citizens of Egypt for their hard-fought take-down of Mubarak. Now we can begin to hope for a peaceful, switft transition to a democracy.

That being said, I think it’s time we start celebrating their victory with some party music! Here’s a list I’ve compiled so far, all appropriate for the day.

• Muse – “Knights of Cydonia” What party is complete without this high-energy, soul-shaking, anthemic jump-around song?! “No one’s going to take me alive; the time has come to make things right. You and I must fight for our rights. You and I must fight to survive.” And fight they did! RAH!!!
• Muse – “Uprising” I swearMatthew Bellamy is bringing back the fist-pump with raging style. You can’t NOT thrust your frist in the air while yelling “HEY!” during the bridge. It’s impossible. Hell, even when I’m *driving,* I still eke out a little non-damaging roof punch. “They will not force us. They will stop betraying us! They will not control us! We will be victorious!” HOLY shiver-inducing. MORE RAH!
• Queensryche – “My Global Mind” I already touched on this yesterday, so I’ll leave it alone, except to say that it packs a huge punch.
• Metallica – Don’t Tread on Me. As anthemic as it gets. “Love it or live it, she with the deadly bite. Quick is the blue tongue, forked as the lighting strike. Shining with brightness, always on surveillance. The eyes, they never close, emblem of vigilance. Don’t tread on me!”
• The Bangles – “Walk Like an Egyptian” Come on … you knew this was gonna show up. Right? You had to know that. How can anyone pass up doing that whole arms-cockeyed thing while they strut around? And that whistling. How cool would it be to hear ALL of Tahrir Square whistle that? Eh? Think about that.
• John Lennon – “Imagine” There has to be at least one lighter-lifting song in the mix. What better song than this? “You may say that I’m a dream, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will live as one.”
• The Beatles – “Blackbird” I love how this has such a “rise above” feel to it. Melodic, simple, but with *such* a powerful message.
• Pink Floyd – “A Great Day for Freedom” And indeed it is. This song has the emotional punch of an Evander Holyfield shot to gut. Peace is such a noble goal, but how you achieve that peace is as important as the peace itself. And the vast majority of the demonstrators in Egypt pulled that off. How amazing is that!?
• Not that this is a song, but how about that insane speech from Independence Day? Where President Whitmore takes the mic just before the last aerial attack and says, “… We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on. We’re going to survive. Today, we celebrate our independence day!!!” Still gives me the chills just thinking about it.

I’m still in shock. I stayed up until 2:30 combing through tweets and news clips, hoping that the blood bath I severely feared wouldn’t happen. Thankfully, it didn’t, and it’s turning into an amazing experience for those who are over there. One twitterer who I’ve been following closely has indicated that there are a LOT of foreigners joining in the celebration. What an experience that would be. I mean, it’s hardly fair to come in at the end and say, “Yay! We did it!”, but in the spirit of joining the Egyptians who finally have their country back (hopefully permanently!), I would gladly join them, pat them on their backs, shake their hands, give them all a hug and say, “YOU did it!”

My next goal is to become more familiar with native Egyptian artists. I bet they have amazing music.

Party on, Egypt.