What Are You Listening To?

[Jodo]

So what do you guys listen to as of late? Any new favorite bands or anything?

I have found myself stuck firmly between Led Zeppelin and anything related to Jack White. I've always enjoyed LZ, and I essentially grew up with it, but I have aquired the taste for JW on my own. I just got The Dead Weather's Horehound CD last week, and I've been playing it. However, I go through several CD's I have of the White Stripes, Raconteurs,etc. I can't get enough!

I might also add that I've been on a Beatles kick as of late too! I can't get "She's So Heavy" out of my head...

[Guido]

My son and I just watched Quantum of Solace for the first time the other night, and I was surprised/happy to hear JW on the title track! I like him a lot myself, but the Raconteurs was the last thing I picked up. (Incidentally, my son was conceived to LZ ) I'm working on a logo design for a band right now and my soundtrack for it has been almost exclusively Beck.

[Big Red]

I've been listening to nothing but Christmas music for the last two months. I don't plan on listening to much else between now and 1/6.

The last new album I bought was Some Nights by Fun. Not nearly as good as Aim & Ignite and they threw in just enough profanity to make it something I can't listen to in the car with the kids. I'd been on something of a music kick until then but that sent me back to talk radio, mostly EWTN. I'll see what I'm in the mood for once the annual Christmas music marathon ends.

[Jodo]

I've never listened to Beck I don't think, I'll have to check them out!

In an odd turn of events, since I played "Russel Brand" in a play here a few weeks ago, I started watching his movies, and I actually really liked the fake band from Get Him to the Greek: Infant Sorrow. Every so often I have to get on YouTube and listen to a few tracks. Hahaha!

Red, I listened to a few Elvis Christmas songs non-stop last week, but I really enjoy Mannheim Steamroller during the holidays.

[Big Red]

I've never understood the appeal of Mannheim Steamroller. Naturally, that means they get a ton of airplay around here. Same with Josh Groban. I'm not a fan of her music at all. Oddly enough, while I was certain that John Lennon's disgustingly awful song was the most-played song on the local station, they actually published their entire playlist, ranked from top to bottom, and the individual song they played the most was Ms. Groban's I'll Be Home For Christmas. A caveat to that is that Lenin was number two, while Celine Dion's cover of his song was 6 or 7, and three other covers were in the top 40. In other words, while the station manager was still technically right when she said Yoko wasn't the most-played artist, the song itself was played more than anything (and, yes, there were other covers in the nearly 300 songs they claimed to have in their playlist, although in the numerous hours I listened to them during the month and a half they were playing Christmas music, I was only able to find one or two songs in the bottom 200+ that I actually heard them play).

While I still have another week or so to listen to Christmas music, I did take a small break from it yesterday. When I was a kid, Chuck Mangione's Feels So Good was on the radio pretty incessantly. That's not a problem as I love the song. I have a distinct memory from back in '80 or '81 of going with a friend, his mother and a couple of his siblings to one of the local colleges so his mom could try to clear up some enrollment problem for her oldest son. We were told we had to be absolutely silent and as we sat in the hallway unable to talk, play or do anything else, they had a jazz station playing over the intercom. The long version of Feels So Good came on, which was a pleasant surprise to little 8-9 year old me because they almost always played the short cut. Nine minutes and forty-three seconds later, the sleepy-sounding, velvety smooth-voiced DJ came on and said, "That felt so good, let's do it again," and he played it a second time. Also, our favorite local record shop at the time always had several promotional cardboard copies of the Feels So Good album cover, with Mr. Mangione joyously hugging his flugelhorn, hanging from the ceiling. I can't tell you how many times I asked my dad to buy me the album, but never with any success. Several months ago, I played Feels So Good for my daughters, told them the above stories, then remarked to my wife that I couldn't believe I'd never gotten around to buying the full album. I looked out on Amazon and the MP3 album was something like $9.99. A few of his other albums were in the $5.00 section and, sensing some sort of injustice, I refused to pay double for the one I actually wanted. I checked the following month but it hadn't gone on sale. I didn't think about it again until yesterday morning when I was doing some writing and needed a little background music to keep my creative juices flowing and to also keep me awake since I'd just ended my overnight shift. I put on Feels So Good, then decided to check Amazon just for the heck of it. Providence stepped in and it was on sale for $5.00! I hit the 1-click button and a few minutes later, after 35+ years, I finally had the full album! I quickly deleted my old Grokstered, 128 kbps download of the single and let the full album play. It was actually worth the three and a half decade wait.

[Guido]

You've got a great history with that song, Big Red! I had a discussion about music with my 20 y.o. son the other day. He was rockin' some Simon & Garfunkel on his laptop while minecrafting(?). We talked about the classics for a bit, and it was cool to hear his "fresh" take on stuff that I grew up with. The discussion turned to my general boredom with my music library. I really enjoy most everything I own, but it's harder at 42 than it is at 20 to find the time to explore new music and hearing a song for the (literal)100th time can be tough even if you love it, so he's offered to give me suggestions. We'll see what I'm introduced to in the coming weeks...

[Jodo]

I agree, pretty good story Red!

I know our local stations play about the same 12 songs over and over again generally, and it drives me nuts. I know one of the DJ's pretty well, and he said that his station is told what to play daily, and he can only chose the order of the songs. He can't take requests or anything. I guess I never did think about the fact that not only is the station limited to their song bank, but also what they are told to play...

[Big Red]

My son's only into scream metal and death metal, so he's not an option when it comes to asking about new music. Granted, it's a step up from Emo especially because he's slightly more cheery and pouts a bit less, but it's still not anything I'd allow in my car. I agree, though, that sometimes it gets tedious listening to even some of my favorite bands for the hundredth or more time. I'll change things up a bit, especially by jumping to another genre that's drastically different from whatever I've been listening to. The playlists that got the most use in the months leading up to Christmas were 90's Country, Sade, Jazz, Lounge and College, the last of which is a big mix of everything I listened to in college--mostly a whole bunch of classic rock, Jane's Addiction, Garth Brooks, Brooks & Dunn and Hootie & the Blowfish (although you're free to ignore that last one).

Since I seldom listen to the non-talk stations in the car I usually don't run into the problem with their playlists unless my wife insists on music and we're in the car for more than an hour. She tends to only listen to music, and from a limited number of stations so pretty much any song that comes on will send her into a rage about how overplayed it is. I try to bring our Kindle along for those situations. When it's just my son & I in the car and he starts insisting on his CD's or stations, I "compromise" and turn it to EWTN then insist on discussing whatever their current topic is. It drives him nuts but I'm sure he'll eventually catch on.

[Guido]

haha, you're an evil, evil man and a good parent! (Seems that goes hand in hand most times from their POV!)

I've yet to get my first recommendation... I'm excited though, because musically he goes from the listening to the latest electronic music to composing piano music when he gets bored.

[Jodo]

Oh man, scream metal kills me. >< I have several friends that enjoy the genre, and I just can't get into it. On the other hand, I can't listen to talk-radio either!