Hey let's do that iPod shuffle thing - that's always fun

[nathansmart]

well, then go get a CD changer, put it on shuffle and pony up!

[Supa Scoopa]

I think a list of the shittier songs on your ipod would be vastly more interesting.

I'll play that game. First ten "what?" songs to come up:

1. Round and Round - Ratt. Slick and seamless hair-metal before the clown car of bands like Warrant ruined it. The guitarist in my (punk) band wanted us to use the guy that produced this (Beau Hill) for our record because he loved the sound. We ended up fighting with Don Dokken instead.

2. I Found Out - John Lennon. From Plastic Ono Band. I know that I'm supposed to love this record, but I don't. John lost his mojo around '68 and rarely regained it.

3. Freedom of Choice - Devo. I love Devo. Most people think of them as the novelty band that did Whip It. They were quite a lot more, particularly '78 - '80. Several people I know were in the video for this song.

4. Dig a Pony - Beatles. I hate Let It Be. This is the album that should have never seen the light of day. It's on my iPod because I ripped both Beatles boxes in the day I got them, and I put this in because I was hoping against hope that this album would grow on me. It didn't.

5. Mental Hopscotch - Newlydeads. A friend of mine gave this to me. He was in the band at the time. Why they were doing a Missing Persons cover is beyond me.

6. Treadwell No More - Richard Thompson. From the Grizzly Man soundtrack (which is awesome). The soundtrack for being eaten by a grizzly bear. A tasteless title.

7. Wild Thing - Tone Lōc. I love the pastiche of unlikely samples in this song.

8. Nick Cave Dolls - Bongwater. More arty than actually good.

9. You Little Angel You - The Archies. I loved this record when I was four. I still do. Go ahead, make fun. I don't care.

10. You're Such a Good Looking Woman - Joe Dolan. This song flat sucks. Joe Dolan was supposedly the most popular artist in Ireland. If this is true, they've got problems. This came from a comp of songs that Morrissey loves.

[James Smann]

4. Dig a Pony - Beatles. I hate Let It Be. This is the album that should have never seen the light of day. It's on my iPod because I ripped both Beatles boxes in the day I got them, and I put this in because I was hoping against hope that this album would grow on me. It didn't.

[Supa Scoopa]

John's take on Let It Be:

the shittiest load of badly-recorded shit with a lousy feeling to it ever

"Across the Universe" is one of my top three Lennon songs of all time (the others being "Rain" and "Ticket to Ride"), but "Universe" wasn't recorded for Let It Be, so it doesn't count.

Tell me that album belongs in the same sentence as Abbey Road, without using the phrase "unfortunately, they decided to put out the Get Back sessions."

[James Smann]

John, as much as he is my favorite Beatle, and someone I really admire, could talk a load of bullshit with the bast of them. The Get Back sessions that produced Let It Be were epic. I agree that the original album Let It Be is way over-produced and sounds like shit. You can thank Phil "Oh, yeah I guess I DID Kill that Woman" Spector for that though.

The fact remains that two of the Beatles best songs were on that album, Get Back and Let It Be. Add to that Two of Us and I Got A Feeling and to me you have some pretty iconic Beatles songs on that album. Oh and The Long and Winding Road is epic good.

Let It Be's tracks have a way more "live" sound to them, which I really dig. Abbey Road is my favorite Beatle album, sure, but there is plent to love about Let It Be.

[crlygrl]

Last 10 Songs my very customized Pandora Quick Mix played:

Wake Up by Arcade Fire - Anytime I hear this I feel like I'm making history or something. It can also bring tears to my eyes if I let it.

Walk It Off by The Breeders - From their latest album... reminds me of a nice mix of something from Last Splash and Title TK. I hated Title TK and adored Last Splash so it makes sense that I think this one is just OK. The twins sound good... the composition is just not there for me. Sort of flat.

Naomi by Neutral Milk Hotel - I have a lot of trouble deciding whether I like on Avery Island better than Aeroplane Over the Sea... Naomi is an early track on On Avery Island... hearing it by itself is like seeing part of a movie for me. I really like this disc in it's entirety the best, rather than broken up. This song has a nice rambly feel to it. I wish they were still making music.

Trouble by Elliott Smith - I like songs you can listen to while curled in the fetal position, slightly rocking back and forth. This one's pretty awesome for that. I wish he were still alive so much it hurts.

The Crystal Lake by Grandaddy - It's peppy! I love the spacey synthesizer thing going on. Heard it in a Nordstrom Rack recently and had a delightful (if not mildly confusing) shopping experience!

Just Like Honey by Jesus and Mary Chain - This makes me feel like I'm at some magical prom in 1980something. No, more like I'm the queen of that prom. I really like this song.

Michelle by The Beatles - This always makes me think of my dad since its from Rubber Soul and that's his FAVORITE of all favorites. However, I always thought this song sounded like it should have been recorded years earlier along with I wanna hold your hand, etc. etc. It just seemed a little blah compared to the other things they were doing on Rubber Soul. Not a favorite.

Everyday Should Be a Holiday by The Dandy Warhols - peppy poppy goodness. The Dandy Warhols are underrated.

Bermuda Highway by My Morning Jacket - I discovered My Morning Jacket through the "artists I like" part of Zach Galifianakis' MySpace page. Lame, right? WRONG: Loved them. (Also, that page is how I found out about AST) I don't know why I hadn't known about them before, but this happens to be my favorite of their songs. "Don't let your silly dreams fall in between the crack of the bed and the wall." Again, good fetal-position-emotional-breakdown music.

Aint No Thang by Outkast - Southernplayalisticcadillacmusic is the shit. Chicken wang.

[nathansmart]

oh frick, this is way more fun to put embarrassing stuff up:

1) Winter Wonderland - D-Boy Rodriguez, Yo! Ho Ho!

Right out of the gate!! This is a famous christian rapper who was shot and killed or something. He was supposed to be one of the best. I never got into him when I was listening to christian rap. This is from a christian rap christmas album featuring groups like the infamous DC Talk. It's actually not bad. It sounds like all of the other christmas rap music I have downloaded which makes me think that maybe he was one of the better guys.

2) Hyperactive - Robert Palmer, Riptide

This is filed under my "download everything from the 80s" category in iTunes. Hey, at least this one has the hits on it. And frick, I am loving this song as it goes on. I have such a soul in my body that thrives on this type of pop rock.

3) Waiting on the Flood - The Pearlfishers, The Strange Underworld of the Tall Poppies

This is one of the groups I found while going on a crazy indie pop hunt in early 00's. I like to call this genre Indie Adult Contemporary and while I love it and would defend it, it is still embarrassing when it comes up in party playlists.

4) A Gruuv Fo Sum Preechin' - Gospel Gangstas, Gang Affiliated

This is one of the more ridiculous phenomenons of christian rap, and an oxymoronic part of the christian music industry: christian gangsta rap. These guys are like the NWA of christian gangsta rap though. The first guys to really explore this part of popular music and the NWA comparison doesn't stop there. This album is actually a masterpiece beat-wise. It sounds just as good as any Dr. Dre-inspired production can. This song has a great beat but it's just an instrumental with some old sample of a lady preaching and then an altar call at the end.

5) Truth or Consequences - The Wondermints, Our Music is Blue & Green with Purple

I found this group at a listening station in a HMV. They are the backing band for Brian Wilson and they were the ones to really push him to release Smile. This is a collection of some old cassettes they put out and it's not bad but it's just way too 90s for me to care.

6) Country Boy - The Hassles, You've Got Me Hummin'

Do I really like Billy Joel that much that I would download this too? I guess so. This is mostly just boring 60s rock n roll.

7) Inches from Life - MxPx, Slowly Going the Way of the Buffalo

I don't know what's more annoying - punk rock adults complaining about growing up or christian punk rock. How about both? I downloaded this for nostalgic reasons (which now is probably about 65% of my iTunes library) and it actually doesn't turn me off right away. It's the lyrics that mostly do it.

8) Klaus Wuesthoff, 1974 / Opel Commodore - Pop-Shopping, Juicy Music from German Commercials (1960-1975)

Back when I was making beats all the time I was going crazy trying to find samples on the net. After I found this, I started downloading all kinds of crazy European jazz and movie soundtracks. This one is a collection of 45's that were recorded for these commercials but ended up being hits themselves.

9) I've Heard the Stars Sing Before, 2nd Chapter of Acts, Roar of Love

This is a christian adult contemporary group from the 70s and 80s. They put out this album that is all songs based on The Chronicles of Narnia. It just sounds like over produced pop with white gospel vocals over the top. The lead singer Matthew Ward actually put out an not-bad mild rock record (and was probably banned from churches for it) and one of the songs has Ray Parker, Jr. as a session player.

10) Wonder Woman - Frankmusik, Complete Me

Ever since I got into Chromeo and Private I started loosening myself up and really indulging in some pretty bad shit like Disney Channel bands and other crap. This fits in here. It's more respectable than the teen music but it still feels like I'm having a mid-life crisis when I listen to it. It's just more 80s dance pop made by people who barely even experienced the 80s.

[nathansmart]

Aint No Thang by Outkast - Southernplayalisticcadillacmusic is the shit. Chicken wang.

Not that I've taken the time to prove otherwise but that's the only album by Outkast that I really like. I LOVED the Players Ball when it was on MTV.

[Supa Scoopa]

There's Christian rap (said the guy who obviously had no idea)?

[nathansmart]

oh yeah - it ranges from laughable to not so laughable. And then there's this rare group of individuals who are really great and get lost in the music world because they talk about God too much. Sufjan gets away with it because those ideas are little bit more tolerable in the rock world. The rap world is way less accepting of a "moral" lifestyle.

*please don't argue about the use of "moral" - I put it in quotes for a reason

[TacoSmith]

Not that I've taken the time to prove otherwise but that's the only album by Outkast that I really like. I LOVED the Players Ball when it was on MTV.

I'm sure I'm not telling you anything that you haven't heard a million times before, but you should REALLY give Aquemini a chance. It's one of my favorite albums of all time.

[nathansmart]

some examples of good stuff:

LPG - A Place Called Hip Hop - these guys are the first "underground" hip hop group in the christian rap world, they were the first to talk about being "real hip hop" and talked about more than just God - christian rap completely changed after this, it didn't get good, but it got a tiny bit better and it kind of pushed people to rap about more than the gospel (it made it "OK")
[youtube]PFWs3pk3FXo[/youtube]

Mars ILL - Breathe Slow - these guys are probably the most successful, at least in terms of secular undergound crossover - they get respect outside of the christian world and Jax from Binkis Recs and Lil' Sci from Scienz of Life appear on the b-side of this single (I think this is the correct single)
[youtube]yLHK0fRCVlY[/youtube]

Listener - Ozark Empire - he's part of a crew called Deepsace 5 including the above Mars ILL and originally he was part of the this group called LabKlik who were some of the people who spawned out of the LPG influence. They were mostly miss but had a few good tracks - Listener is the better one out of the group and he is a pretty intense rapper - very cool stuff and very fun to see live
[youtube]QyTejjdHejs[/youtube]

and just for fun, here's some Gospel Gangstas - Mobbin'
[youtube]aFDNK4jyI6w[/youtube]

[bridgetosolace]

I honestly have no idea how this will turn out, here we go:

1) The Higher - DARE
God dammit, this is my first song? Disappointing. It's sugary power pop music, but it's very catchy and a little dancy. This is generic, but if you're in the mood it can be fun background music.

2) Brand New - Bought A Bride
I honestly haven't listened to this song until just now, but I've liked Brand New's previous efforts. The album just slipped under my radar. It wasn't immediately accessible so I just didn't listen. I don't agree with all the decisions made on this album, but it's smart and it's different. Kudos to them.

3) Catherine - Limbs
One of the best hardcore albums of the year, and this is a really great song. Catherine mixes metal and hardcore like very few do, with really strong hardcore-ish aggressive riffs with really creative and fun metal riffs and breakdowns. This song has clean vocals in the chorus, which I generally don't like in heavy music, but it's done acceptably here. Great song.

4) Born Of Osiris - Thrive
There's a line in technical metal where music becomes pretentious and soulless. Misery Signals, for example, doesn't force anything is far more even and melodic. This album is unfocused and overly technical. It does have some great riffage and it's a decent listen, but there just isn't much substance.

5) Poison The Well - Sounds Like the End Of the World
Poison the Well is one of those bands that formed my listening habits. The Opposite Of December is the first hardcore album I ever enjoyed. I wouldn't be listening to heavy music today if not for them. After that album PTW tended more towards progressive hardcore. It's hit or miss because it's not as strong rhythmically as I want it to be. But this song is beautiful and unique in it's own way. It has a great crescendo to it, and it's very natural. They simultaneously do something unique and do it without forcing anything.

6) The Hush Sound - Break The Sky
One of my favorite pop albums, and one of the best songs on it. Relentlessly catchy, with a great beat and strong melody. I love this band.

7) A Day To Remember - I Heard It's The Softest Thing
Admittedly, ew. This record is bad. I don't like this style of music. It's generic. For what it is, they don't use autotune and the breakdowns are kinda fun. It's completely middle of the road and generic, though. Not even a guilty pleasure because I don't particularly like it.

8) This Town Needs Guns - Panda
I found this band in my search for more technical indie bands like Maps And Atlases and Minus The Bear. They're actually kind of a mix of the two, favoring Minus The Bear. Enjoyable, really well played indie music with a british singer. I wish the production was better, but I'm a production nazi.

9) Architects - Numbers Count For Nothing
Ahh, the Architects. I somehow like everything about them but don't totally love them. It's just missing a little something to make them great. Kind of similar to Catherine, but rawer and with more syncopated breakdowns. Good song, though. Solid album

10) Across Five Aprils - A Year From Now
Wow, blast from the past. Across Five Aprils was doing the "catchy pop-punk with hardcore breakdowns" before it became super popular. The juvenile rawness of their first record kind of fit with the bipolar music, though. It's a nostalgic record that I still enjoy sometimes. This last song is pleasant acoustic track with spoken word lyrics over it. It's done JUST well enough that the whole thing is a pleasant final track to the album, and this play list.

This is was surprising! A bad start with a hiccup near the end. That was more interesting for me than I'd thought it would be, and certainly less entertaining for you.

I did learn that I need to clean up my library a little bit >_>

[smartbunny]

Pandora is great! Also, Internet radio, I recommend Indie Pop Rocks with Elise, you can find it in iTunes under something. Alternative Rock.

[Supa Scoopa]

some examples of good stuff:

LPG - A Place Called Hip Hop - these guys are the first "underground" hip hop group in the christian rap world, they were the first to talk about being "real hip hop" and talked about more than just God - christian rap completely changed after this, it didn't get good, but it got a tiny bit better and it kind of pushed people to rap about more than the gospel (it made it "OK")

Mars ILL - Breathe Slow - these guys are probably the most successful, at least in terms of secular undergound crossover - they get respect outside of the christian world and Jax from Binkis Recs and Lil' Sci from Scienz of Life appear on the b-side of this single (I think this is the correct single)

Listener - Ozark Empire - he's part of a crew called Deepsace 5 including the above Mars ILL and originally he was part of the this group called LabKlik who were some of the people who spawned out of the LPG influence. They were mostly miss but had a few good tracks - Listener is the better one out of the group and he is a pretty intense rapper - very cool stuff and very fun to see live

and just for fun, here's some Gospel Gangstas - Mobbin'

I have to hand it to you, Nathan. Not only did you come up with band names, song titles, and backstories, but you even shot videos(!) to back up your fakey-fake story, as well, and quickly! That's dedication, and I tip my (non-existent) hat to you, good sir.

[SlyBattery]

3. Freedom of Choice - Devo. I love Devo. Most people think of them as the novelty band that did Whip It. They were quite a lot more, particularly '78 - '80. Several people I know were in the video for this song.

4. Dig a Pony - Beatles. I hate Let It Be. This is the album that should have never seen the light of day. It's on my iPod because I ripped both Beatles boxes in the day I got them, and I put this in because I was hoping against hope that this album would grow on me. It didn't.

I agree about Devo, I am listening to their first album right now. Who can deny Uncontrollable Urge?

I can't fathom truly hating all of Let It Be. And as a matter of fact, Dig a Pony is one of my favorite Beatles songs. Go figure, I guess.

Anyways, my mp3 player is a collection of mostly old songs I downloaded a long time ago, mixed with a few newer things, so here is some stuff I was much more into a few years ago!

1. The Beatles- The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill - For the sake of having something interesting to say about each song, I probably should have skipped this one. I enjoy the song, but...yea...thats all.

2.Charles Manson - Cease to Exist - Fun game to play with this song: Play it for a friend and see if they can guess who it is. Then witness their disbelief when you tell them Charles Manson. How is it that this song is so good? It blows my mind, but it really is something that should be heard.

3. The Beach Boys - God Only Knows - Brian Wilson is a (sigh) genius. Not my favorite Beach Boys song, but a great one.

4. Hot Hot Heat - Let me in - I heard this on the soundtrack for some video game 30 times to the point that I had to download it. Hot Hot Heat writes some really catchy singles. Shame the rest of their music seems to suck.

5. The Patters - Earth Angel - This isn't actually the Platters version, but the one from Back to the Future which was always more enjoyable to me.

6. The Misfits - Halloween - I love everything from the Danzig-era Misfits. Its always fun being put in my place when I try to sing along with Danzig in my car only to have my voice get destroyed 3 songs in.

7. A-ha - Take on Me - Proof that I am not skipping any songs that come up. What can I say, its a great song. I love it in a non-ironic way (but also a little in an ironic way.) Another fun song to sing along to until he hits that ridiculous high note.

8. Jimmy Eat World - Praise Chorus - I think of Jimmy Eat World kind of like Hot Hot Heat, though I haven't listened to an album of Jimmy Eat World yet. They write really catchy singles, and this was the best one by far. Its such a great anthem for rock n' roll. One of the few songs that I liked when I first heard it, and never get tired of hearing.

9. The Beatles - Glass Onion - I hate this song. Its on my mp3 player because I have the White Album on it. Next to Wild Honey Pie (which is barely a song in all fairness) its the worst Beatles song. I honestly don't get why anyone likes this song, but thems the kit kats.

10. Iggy Pop & The Stooges - I Wanna Be Your Dog - One of the first songs on my foray into punk music. You really have to appreciate using jingle bells in a non-christmas themed song.

[hound]

Who the f are half you people in this thread!

Done with my ipod, ratings from 1-5 hounds:

Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet - "Shake Some Evil" [Savvy Show Stoppers] -- If there's two things I love, it's Kids In The Hall and surf music. Shadowy Men were such a great band. This is one of their slower, creepier tunes.

Fergus & Geronimo - "I May Be Poor" [Denton Denton USA!] -- Well fancy that! A song from the next release on my very own record label. This might even be the best song on the whole shebang. Check out more here!

The Only Ones - "Flaming Torch" [Even The Serpents Shine] -- The Only Ones are such a great band that I seem to always forget about. When this song came on I thought it was going to be one of the weaker ones from the album and then as it kept going, I was WRONG!

The Original Three - "Scene" [Been Dealt A Losing Hand] -- Dirty as hell garage punk. Recordings are rough but appropriately so. One (or two?) of the Black Lips dudes is in this band, as well. I'd take an Original Three show over the recent Black Lips material.

The Boys - "Backstage Pass" [Alternative Chartbusters] -- I love powerpop and all, but I think The Boys first (more punk than powerpop) album is one of the best, so anytime I hear The Boys that's what I wanna hear. Still, this is a fun bubblegum-powerpop song. Not a favorite from this album.

Ghostface - "Barbershop" [Fishscale] -- Not one of my favorite songs off one of my favorite hip hop albums. Too much nonsense, too short of a song.

Carbonas - "Count Me Out" [self-titled] -- Carbonas were one of the best punk bands of the last 10 years. This album fucking rules, but it's been out of print forever and costs like $30 on ebay now . I really dropped the ball never seeing them before their breakup, even though it seems like they might still play shows sometimes since they just played the Fuck Yeah Fest in LA not too long ago.

DC Snipers - "Straight Razor" [Missle Sunset] -- Two awesome songs in a row! I've listened to this album so many times and I will continue to do so for the rest of my times, it seems.

Thomas Function - "I Kept You In A Pill Bottle" [Har har] -- I don't know. Sometimes I really like these dudes, but other times the singer's voice just bugs the crap outta me. It seems like more of the latter for me recently. This songs not that redeeming. I did enjoy them the two or three times I've seen them though.

Mouse & The Traps - "A Public Execution" [The Fraternity Years (1966-68)] -- Stylistically, a big Bob Dylan rip off. Still, a pretty awesome song. I really like the sound of the recording. A professor of mine told me some fun stories about the recording studio in Tyler, TX where all Mouse & The Traps songs were recorded.

[pixel revolt]

1. Sulk - Radiohead -- Pre-1996 Radiohead? Yeah. I listen to it.

2. Come On! Let's Boogy to the Elf Dance! - Sufjan Stevens -- Sufjan Steven's Christmas songs? Yeah. That too.

3. Axioms That Satisfy - Theta Naught -- Too obscure and instrumental to even comment on.

4. Goodbye to the Dream - Track Star -- I saw these guys in Chicago in 97 at McCulley's. I was there. No, I wasn't. There is no such thing as a venue/bar named McCulley's.

5. Tremolo - Lismore -- You may have heard of Lismore. They are that electronic band whose cd I bought for $1.99 at Amoeba and it didn't suck.

6. No Flashlight - Mount Eerie -- I should really stop this fucking list here. Really. Fuck any song after this one.

7. Romans 10:9 - The Mountain Goats -- I don't what the fuck John Darnielle is thinking. Coming on after Mount Eerie. That's fucking ballsy. Shit.

8. Ruler - Marnie Stern -- No.

9. (Intro) - Mount Eerie -- Earlier when I said fuck every song after this, I did not expect this song to appear. So I retract my statement. Fuck every song excluding this one, which is 3 minutes of Phil Elvrum talking before a live show.

10. Boom - P.O.D. -- Earlier when I said fuck every song excluding (Intro) by Mount Eerie I did not expect Jah to place this high voltage, rap-rock hybrid treadmill anthem on my list, so I will offer a second amendment to my statement. Fuck every song excluding (Intro) by Mount Eerie and Boom by P.O.D. and any song that starts with the singer yelling "WOO-CHA!".

11. Blank Slate - The National -- I bought the Mistaken For Strangers single on vinyl which features this song at an HMV in London for 1.99GBP. FUCK YOU. NO FLASHLIGHT.

[crlygrl]

Pre 1996 Radiohead is great! At least The Bends is great...

[Harry Bongers]

Pre 1996 Radiohead is great! At least The Bends is great...

I know it's not on the Bends but Everyone Can Play Guitar may have the dumbest goddamn lyrics of any song ever.