Fifteen Songs – “Five on Shuffle” edition

If you’ve been with me for awhile, you know that for the past few years, on or around July 4th, I’ve played the “Fifteen Songs” games here. It’s a trivial and now dated bit I stole from Facebook where you put your iPod, or other music player of choice on shuffle, and then you post the first fifteen songs that appear. The idea behind the whole thing is something akin to an icebreaker, where one is suppose to discard all pretenses and impressions as one’s guilty listening pleasures are laid bare for the world to see. Eh…sure. For me it started as a simple way to post something around July 4th, which is usually my busiest weekend of the summer.

Five on Shuffle, #3

Welcome to my new monthly series called “Five on Shuffle” where I attempt to reconnect with my iPod by using it regularly throughout the year and using it only and continuously on “shuffle.” Once a month I’m going to stop at a completely random interval, snap photos of five songs in a row, and then post and write about them here. The writing may be heavy or light, depending on whether or not I’ve anything remotely clever to say about any given song in the moment.

Five on Shuffle, #2

Welcome to my new monthly series called “Five on Shuffle” where I attempt to reconnect with my iPod by using it regularly throughout the year and using it only and continuously on “shuffle.” Once a month I’m going to stop at a completely random interval, snap photos of five songs in a row, and then post and write about them here. The writing may be heavy or light, depending on whether or not I’ve anything remotely clever to say about any given song in the moment.

Five on Shuffle, #1

Welcome to my new monthly (I think) series called “Five on Shuffle.” With the demise of my iTunes Diaries series, I wanted to re-inject this blog with a little musical flair, and also give myself good reason to use my poor, old iPod. Indeed, there once was a time when I was perfectly tethered to my iPod nearly 24/7. I’d create and kill playlists on a wing and a prayer, and I’d scoop up music faster than it could be added to ye olde iTunes. And while I’ve not completely abandoned my iPod, nowadays, with the likes of Pandora, Spotify, etc., it’s easy enough to get music anytime, anywhere without the little device taking up a pocket.

So here’s the deal (which I think I kind of explained already but maybe not in any exact terms): this year, I’m going to attempt to re-attach myself to my iPod, taking it with me wherever I go and, as the scary kicker, using it only on shuffle. Once a month I’m going to stop at a completely random interval, snap photos of five songs in a row, and then post and write about them here. The writing may be heavy or light, depending on whether or not I’ve anything remotely clever to say about any given song in the moment.

So…since I’ve nothing more interesting to say right now than that, let’s just get on the with first five random songs!

iTunes Diaries, entry #43, “Thieves” by Ministry

I was once a little…um, okay, terribly obsessed with iTunes.  I got my first iPod in 2004 and became immediately entranced by Apple’s seeming infinite lists of music for sale.  Over the years, I spent way too much time on iTunes and spent way too much money on music, some of which was great, and some of which was not.  In 2011, for the sake of my sanity and my bank account, I went cold turkey.  I suspended my iTunes activities and completely stopped visiting site.  With the iTunes Diaries, I take a look back, highlighting the good, the bad, and the ugly in music that I just had to have in the moment. 

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Industrial metal has never really been in my wheelhouse. Certain songs and groups have flitted in and out of my purview over the years — Nine Inch Nails, Prong, and the Revolting Cocks come first to mind — and I’ve enjoyed the occasional compilations involving industrial sounds, but it’s not a genre that ever stuck with me. (Meat Beat Manifesto’s Subliminal Sandwich is quite good, though it’s also very removed from anything strictly industrial, which may lend strongly to my liking of it.)

iTunes Diaries, entry #42: “Fever” by Peggy Lee

I was once a little…um, okay, terribly obsessed with iTunes.  I got my first iPod in 2004 and became immediately entranced by Apple’s seeming infinite lists of music for sale.  Over the years, I spent way too much time on iTunes and spent way too much money on music, some of which was great, and some of which was not.  In 2011, for the sake of my sanity and my bank account, I went cold turkey.  I suspended my iTunes activities and completely stopped visiting site.  With the iTunes Diaries, I take a look back, highlighting the good, the bad, and the ugly in music that I just had to have in the moment. 

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Not every song that I downloaded from iTunes comes with a grand story. Not every song can, because sometimes my rationale for making a purchase was little more than “This is a good song, and I shall buy it.” Take “Fever” by Peggy Lee. It ended up on a playlist that I populated with songs that met this simple criterion. I don’t possess any sort of particular fetish for Peggy Lee or lounge/nightclub acts of the 1950s and 1960s. There was a brief period in the late 90s/early 2000s when I became moderately obsessed with the soundtrack to The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. I loved the mix of fun, modern classics and sultry singers of the past like Lena Horne. So maybe that got stuck in my subconscious somewhere. I’m not really sure.

Fifteen Songs – Now it’s a Tradition

Happy 4th o’ July to any who maybe celebrating such festivities today! Of course, if you’re celebrating then you probably aren’t reading, so…here I am again likely typing into a vacuum.  Of course, what is blogging really, other than talking to oneself? Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I mean, for one, it’s therapeutic. And two…

…what’s that? Oh! A refreshing vodka tonic! **sip** Mmm, vodka-y!

Speaking of celebrating, which we were speaking of before I got off track and then back on again thanks to a lovely alcoholic beverage, it’s that time of year when I play the “fifteen songs” game with my iPod. You know how it goes (not that anyone but me as an iPod anymore…) — put the thing on shuffle then glowingly or embarrassingly list the first fifteen songs that appear. As I’ve done in the past, I’ll offer a few words about the first five songs and then links to the remaining ten. So if you’re chilling with me here, go ahead and get yourself a tasty drink and prepare for some musical randomness!

iTunes Diaries, entry #41: “The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall into My Mind)” by The Bucketheads

I was once a little…um, okay, terribly obsessed with iTunes.  I got my first iPod in 2004 and became immediately entranced by Apple’s seeming infinite lists of music for sale.  Over the years, I spent way too much time on iTunes and spent way too much money on music, some of which was great, and some of which was not.  In 2011, for the sake of my sanity and my bank account, I went cold turkey.  I suspended my iTunes activities and completely stopped visiting site.  With the iTunes Diaries, I take a look back, highlighting the good, the bad, and the ugly in music that I just had to have in the moment. 

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I don’t know if I can honestly say that “The Bomb! (These Sounds Fall into My Mind)” by The Bucketheads is something of a House classic, is a good song. I think it’s an earworm-y song. I think it’s an upbeat song. And I think it’s a song that sounds very stuck in it’s place. That’s to say it’s not particularly transcendent as far as dance music goes. This is something become even more obvious when you watch its video.