iTunes Five
1. What song do you play the most?
‘All in All’ by Toad the Wet Sprocket. It’s on ‘in Light Syrup’, and it will change your life. Funny, it only made the outtake album after they broke up. It is triumphant. Btw, in case you are a fan or casual listener… they are somewhat back together, and still gig as Toad. I can’t say enough good things about this band. They are under-rated, and under the radar. Some of the best music of the ’90s.
2. What song do you play the least?
Anything by Kiss. Oh my god do I hate Kiss. Last year, Brian, Ginther, and I all swapped hard drives to trade music. Result? I have, like, 6 Kiss albums. I am pissed, and everyone is a suspect. Even though my iPod is only 1/3rd full, I removed all the Kiss immediately. Ok, I did keep Beth. That song is dope, but don’t tell anyone I like it. It’s like digging ‘Glee’. Just keep that a secret, broseph!
Listening to Kiss is like taking a Bon Jovi album, and removing what little musicality there is. Then, make sure it is poorly engineered. After that, replace every single lyric with an overt reference to sex, as written by a 9 yeawr old. Then, you have Kiss. I’d rather listen to dance music, and that just hurt to type.
3. What’s the last song you added?
A lecture from Scott Berkun. I am reading a really cool book from him right now. Details over here. But, that isn’t a song, is it? So, the real question is what is the last music I bought. Probably Brandi Carlile’s new disc. Her album ‘the Story’ is amazing. Five Stars.
4. What’s your favorite playlist?
* caution > monster tangent alert
I put together an annual Christmas Rock list, but I am really using Pandora for everything now. I just discovered Pandora two days ago, and it is a game changer. I am not even using my iPod anymore. I had heard about Pandora for years. I knew it took your music and gave you similar music you would like. Well, that idea kinda offended me. See, I don’t need ANYONE telling me what I would like. Plus, I have everything… so what can Pandora do for me? didn’t need Pandora. I thought it was beneath me as a master musicologist. I was wrong.
Pandora just got loaded onto my Roku box (through Netflix) so I loaded it. It asked me what I wanted and I said ‘Jerry Garcia’. So, now is plays Jerry Garcia bootlegs, bluegrass band music, Grateful Dead (live and studio), Bobby Weir solo, the Allman Brothers, Van Morrison, early Dylan, the Band. What can I say? Oh, and it played the Beatles. How the hell did they get the rights to the Beatles? Seriously, that shit is better protected than Fort Knox. I bought three of those Beatles re-master releases this fall, and I don’t think I am technically allowed to listen to them. Apple records is kind of evil. ‘All You Need is Love”? My ass, these guys are more litigious than Scientology. Anyhow… it was 100% correct, and I didn’t have a LOT of this stuff. It was right, I was wrong. Go ahead and mark the day and date on that sentence. You don’t get to see it often.
So, I loaded a Pearl Jam list (those are my two favorite bands, see). It is possibly even better. Even though I have everything studio album PJ has, Pandora plays their live cuts. Remember, for the last ten years, Pearl Jam has released every single concert they have played. So, there are thousands of soundboard bootlegs out there I could never collect. Also, it picked similar bands I would like: Stone Temple Pilots, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, and solo Eddie Vedder stuff. Yeah, they are dead on with those.
Now, what is cool is that my new cell phone (the Palm Pre) also has Pandora on it. So, at work and in my truck, I used to plug my iPod to listen to music. No longer. I plug my cell phone into my computer and truck speakers. I stream the Pandora wherever I go. When I get home, I throw Pandora on the home stereo system through the Roku. This is the really good quality, because it beams it through the whole home theatre system. Pandora does all this for free, too. I was so smitten, though, that I bought the upgrade.
I also made some other stations: Billy Joel, Johnny Cash, Metallica, and Bob Dylan. However, the Jerry and Pearl Jam channels are so good… I haven’t been able to stray. I listened to the Jerry Garcia channel for 9 hours at my desk yesterday, and did the same with Pearl Jam today. On the PJ channel, they are even throwing down ‘Temple of the Dog’. That is some deep catalogue dopeness. Temple of the Dog is Pearl Jam playing with Soundgarden before either band formally existed. It is disgusting good, find ‘Hunger Strike’.
5. What kind of iPod (or MP3 player) do you have?
My iPod is pretty new, but is a ‘classic’ design. It is a 120 gig repository of yumminess. To be fair, though, I really use my Palm Pre for almost everything. I loaded about 12 really good albums on the memory card, and I have Pandora for everything else.
* seriously, I do NOT watch Glee. Anyone who says otherwise gets punched straight in the babymaker. Got it, buster? Don’t even joke about that.
I am Correct 