sotto voce USA

The Random Music Mix / Scalzi's Musical Meme

I've been trying to do this random mix music thing on the weekend, surrounded by other entries, but my personal life is trying to interfere again. Internet access is kind of sporadic for me right now. Hopefully, I'll be cooking with gas again in a couple or three weeks. (Fingers crossed.)

Anyway, here's the master list, a random mix from the collection on my computer:

1. "Ramble On" - Led Zeppelin
2. "Return to Innocence" - Enigma
3. "Why Don't You Get a Job?" - The Offspring
4. "Heaven's Gate" - Ian McCulloch
5. "The World I Know" - Collective Soul
6. "Angel Dance" - Los Lobos
7. "Shepherd Moons" - Enya
8. "The Ghost of Tom Joad" - Bruce Springsteen
9. "Electric Co." - U2
10. "Mad World" - Gary Jules

Whew. Some weird transitions there, especially between songs two and three. Also, the rocking "Electric Co." is surrounded by a couple of slow, moody songs.A few notes: All good songs. Only one big hit - the Collective Soul. An old rocker - the Zeppelin. A slightly newer rocker - the U2. An even newer rocker, but not too new - the Offspring. Ian McCulloch is the former lead singer of Echo and the Bunnymen, a favorite band from my college years. The Gary Jules song is a cover of an old Tears for Fears song. Jules's version is from the Donnie Darko soundtrack. The U2 is a track I borrowed from the Internet, a live version from an old BBC broadcast.

Here's the favorites list from my MP3 player:

1. "Gold Rush Brides" - 10,000 Maniacs
2. "Down There" - Fury in the Slaughterhouse
3. "God Will Listen to You" - Nickel Creek
4. "Omaha" - Counting Crows
5. "Treasure" - The Cure
6. "In Your Eyes" - Staind
7. "Shiver and Shake" - The Cure
8. "Maps and Legends" - R.E.M.
9. "Building a Mystery" - Sarah McLachlan
10. "But I'm Different Now..." - The Jam

I'm not very religious, but I love Nickel Creek's version of that song. The harmonies are wonderful. There's a real dud here - Staind screwed up their cover of the Peter Gabriel song. There's a couple of others I like, but am kind of tired of for now; it's been a while since I changed the songs in my player. I'll have to do that before I do this again.

Over at Scalzi's AOL place, he points to Josh Hosler's site where you can find out what song was Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 on any date in history...well, any date where there actually was a Billboard chart.

The song that was Number One on the day I was born (10/17/1960): "Save the Last Dance for Me" by the Drifters. Eh. Not too bad.

It's interesting to look at the list on that date through the years to see how musical tastes have changed. And I see that "Monster Mash" made its first Halloween appearance in 1962.

I can't remember the exact date, but my high school graduation was during the first week in June in 1978. I figured it would be some disco garbage, but it's even worse. "You're the One that I Want" by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John was Number One that week. If there's a jukebox in Hell that song will be on it.

My wedding Number One was "I Just Died in Your Arms" by Cutting Crew. Eh.

My kids' birthday Number Ones are...

"Let's Go Crazy" - Prince
"True Colors" - Cyndi Lauper
"One More Try" - George Michael

Don't really remember the George Michael song, but I think that may be the worst of the birthday songs. Either that one or my grandson's: "All I Have" - Jennifer Lopez and LL Cool J.

posted by fdtate @ 5:36 AM