Tag: shuffle

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Sunday Shuffle [2.0]

I got my first CD player the summer between 11th and 12th grade. I was doing an internship, making my own money for once, and when that first paycheck came in I felt RICH. I don’t even remember how much it was now, but I was decidedly not rich. I just felt like it in the moment, the way you do when your mom’s still paying for everything so you can focus specifically on your wants.

That was me.

And what I wanted was a CD player. I already had some CD’s, one I won from a radio station contest, and another couple I bought in anticipation of the CD player. It was the early ’90s, so tapes were still very much in vogue, at least where I came from. If you had CD’s you were on the cutting edge of tomorrow. I wanted to be on that edge, but I would have to be able to play them.

So I went to Sears and picked one out. It was a single disc player. I mean, I was suddenly rich, but I wasn’t so rich my eyes weren’t bugged out by the prices of the multi-disc changers. Besides, I thought eventually I would trade in my single for a multi, so why not start small? Continue reading “Sunday Shuffle [2.0]”

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Saturday Shuffle

These kids don’t recognize Axl Rose’s voice, I shockingly found out after I introduced a musical challenge game with my students last week. And that wasn’t all. They also couldn’t tell the difference between Faith Hill and Shania Twain, they had no clue who STP was, and they knew no ’80s songs that weren’t by … Continue reading Saturday Shuffle

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Sunday Shuffle

videos-musicales-de-los-90-nirvana-smells-like-teen-spiritMusic has always been my first love, so it’s always almost therapeutic for me to listen to songs that resonate, or that bring me back to an early time in my life, when I first discovered music. During my series of “Shuffles” I’ve been getting back to listening to songs in a random order on my iPod, and it’s been an interesting journey to say the least. So, here is the latest, my Sunday Shuffle…

1. Lucky Town – Darren Hayes

Darren Hayes was the voice of Savage Garden, that 90s group that gave us such anthems as “I Want You,” “I Knew I Loved You,” and “Truly Madly Deeply.” I miss that group, actually, but Hayes’ voice holds up very well in his solo career as well. This song is one of the special ones.

2. Get Down Like That – Ne-Yo
3. B*%ch Please – Snoop Dogg (feat. Xzibit)

I always love it when Snoop Dogg shows up on a shuffle because I know I’m always guaranteed some good  beats when it comes to the big Dogg.

4. On the Coast of Somewhere Beautiful (Live) – Kenny Chesney

This one was the first time Kenny Chesney ever played this song live, so it’s an amazing performance, a once-in-a-lifetime deal. I’ve always liked this song from the album, too, so I was glad it came on. It was good to groove to while I was writing my previous blog entry.

5. Stand Up Comedy – U2

Listening to this song, from the most recent U2 album, just makes me hungry for the new album, which I think will be coming sometime in the summer, hopefully. Getting to hear the new songs “Ordinary Love” and “Invisible” just make me excited as well. Continue reading “Sunday Shuffle”

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Sunday Shuffle

He really did love that trash.

Music has been such a huge part of my life since as far back as I can remember, from eight track tapes, to 45s, to audio cassettes, to CDs, and now to the digital files on my iPod. My first record was “I Love Trash,” the ubiquitous single by Oscar the Grouch, a floppy record that I kept worrying would tear so I handled it carefully while placing it on the phonograph machine. Eventually I wore it out playing it so much, but I really did love that song.

“And this is my mixed tape for her. It’s like I wrote every note with my own fingers.” -Jack’s Mannequin

The first mixed tape I ever got from a girl had “Here’s Where the Story Ends” on it, and I just knew that I would have never heard that song if it weren’t for that mixed tape. Even now I think back to it, and I think that the song meant so much to that girl (whose name I since forget) that she had to put it on a tape for me. And I think about what the songs I love say about me. Which ones I would put on a mixed tape for someone else now. Music is the soundtrack of our lives. Choose your soundtrack well. With that in mind, I’m firing up the ol’ iPod again. Listen with me, why don’t you? Shuffling…

1. Anything Goes – Melanie C

“In olden days, a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking. But now, God knows, anything goes.”

2. Uncle Jonny – The Killers

“When everybody else refrained, my Uncle Jonny did cocaine. He’s convinced himself right in his brain that it helps to take away the pain.”

3. You So Fire – Usher

“Girl you’re so hot you burn everything in sight. You’re so fire.”

4. Lemon [Perfecto Mix] – U2

“She wore lemon to color in the cold, grey night. She had heaven, and she held on so tight.”

5. Going Back – Phil Collins

“Let everyone debate the true reality. I’d rather see my world the way it used to be. A little bit of courage is all we lack, so catch me if you can ’cause I’m going back.” Continue reading “Sunday Shuffle”

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Tuesday Shuffle

3901893182_17b6ed285b_zI had an interesting conversation earlier today with a coworker. When I asked her what type of music she liked, she said she just really didn’t listen to much music at all. After I picked my jaw up off the ground, I realized that not everyone is as caught up in and with music as I am, that it could honestly become an afterthought to others. While I love having music in the background as much as the next person (and I’m listening to Katy Perry’s new album in the background as I write this), I also use it as a focal point for just about everything I do. It helps me focus and concentrate, and it brings me such joy, from a simple pop song to a complex anthem for a generation. It’s been a while since I put this thing on shuffle and let you in on some of the music on my iPod, so here goes…

1. Good Girls Go Bad (Crash Crash Remix) – Cobra Starship

While I prefer the original to this remix, the best thing about the song is its repetition which is everywhere in both versions. Plus it has a guest appearance by my girl, Leighton Meester (Blair from Gossip Girl), so that makes it cool also. “I make them good girls go bad.”

2. Spring – Tracy Chapman

Tracy Chapman is the soundtrack to my adolescence. Well, her and Nirvana, sort of like a yin and yang. This song reminds me of fall, even though it’s named Spring.

3. Brenda’s Got a Baby – 2Pac

My mother’s name is Brenda, so I imagine 2Pac is rapping about me in this song. I’m not sure my mother would be thrilled to know I think this so please don’t tell her.

4. Never Named – Soundgarden

Out of all the Soundgarden songs I have on my iPod (every one they ever released), this one is probably the one I’ve listened to least. Not because I don’t like it, but because there are just so many good Soundgarden songs out there. “I’ll put my hand in flames.”

5. Rolling in the Deep – Haley Reinhart

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a huge American Idol fan, and I have been since season 6. Ms. Reinhart was featured in season 10, and I voted for her many times. This was one of my favorite songs she performed on the show. And no, she doesn’t sound like Adele. Continue reading “Tuesday Shuffle”

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Thursday Shuffle

When I upgraded to my 160GB iPod Classic, I gave my old 120GB one to my wife, who is decidedly not as up on recent music as I am. She gave me a list of artists, albums, and songs that she wanted uploaded to her new device, and the list was relatively short. I was astounded, because there was so much more music her iPod would hold, and I felt it was my duty to help her out. So, in addition to the entire Beatles catalog, Sting and the Police, Taylor Swift, Madonna, Maroon 5, and Sade, I uploaded a few more artists I thought she might like, thinking she would thank me. Well, I was a little bit wrong.

It turns out she liked having only certain artists, and unlike me she wasn’t really up for listening and evaluating something new. So, after I un-synched the additional 30 artists I had placed on her iPod, I began to realize that it was okay. I don’t have to always be the great decider of what music gets played and when. There didn’t have to be some amazing revolution of new songs on my wife’s iPod. What made her happy were the songs and artists she already knew and loved. That was okay for her, and that would have to be alright for me too. I made my peace with it. Then I grabbed my iPod, plugged in my headphones, and put it on shuffle:

1. On the Outside – Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow has some really good b-sides, and this is one of them. “Standing on the outside, looking in…”

2. Animal Instinct (Live in Stockholm) – The Cranberries

Many people think The Cranberries stopped recording music after “Zombie” but that is entirely untrue. Animal Instinct comes from their fourth album, Bury the Hatchet, which is a great album in its own right. On their Greatest Hits compilation, they included this live version of the song.

3. Gold Rush – Snoop Dogg

This was back when G-funk ruled the west coast, and when Snoop was still calling himself a Dogg instead of a Lion.

4. Wildflower – Sheryl Crow

You know, there are some times when I honesty think that shuffle isn’t a true shuffle at all, like when two songs by the same artist show up back to back, or when someone like Sheryl Crow shows up more than once on a small section of the shuffle list, like in this case. This song is even better than the first, though, slow like a ballad. Continue reading “Thursday Shuffle”