Shuffle
I haven't done one a most-played-on-iTunes post in awhile because that list tends to stagnate; I now have enough of my CDs ripped* that it's hard to make big changes just throwing stuff on random or even listening to an album a couple of times. But I've also been using my iPod on my commute, and I'm a lot more pitiless about skipping around on random until I get something that I REALLY want to hear at that exact moment. (In other news, my iPod may or may not be slowly destroying me.) You people who have been using iPods for what seems like decades now are probably well aware of this, but I just noticed that when you copy music from your computer to your iPod, it's copied over with the number of plays from iTunes intact. So if a file has spent a certain number of weeks on my iPod, it will accumulate more plays, sort of an alternate universe from the plays it's accumulating on my hard drive. So basically, I thought my top 25 (or 30) most-played from my iPod might be a little more interesting than my hard-drive. I guess that's how it's supposed to be anyway, right? But the hard-drive is the one that actually shows that handy list so I didn't think about that for awhile. Is there a way to sync it up so that the hard-drive updates the number of plays when the iPod is plugged in? If so, is it worthwhile? In the meantime, or for good, here's the early '09 edition of my most-played songs, first skewed toward stuff that was already highly played on my hard drive, and then skewed again, in a completely different direction, toward stuff that is actually on my iPod at the moment.
The 31 Most-Played Songs on My iPod Right Now
1. "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne
2. "Pull Shapes" by the Pipettes
These just do not go away. They're perpetually neck and neck even though "Pull Shapes" supposedly hasn't been listened to since New Year's Day 2008 (this is a lie; I know I've heard it a number of times since then, but I guess it was by some kind of means not tracked by robots -- comforting, really, that this can still happen).
3. "Middle Management" by Bishop Allen
As heard in Nick & Norah's Inifinite Playlist. By you. I heard it like way before then.
4. "We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives" by Los Campesinos!
Gareth recently said that they're sort of sheepish about some of their earlier work, including this. Most people would be lucky to ever write a song this awesome. Some people would be lucky to ever hear a song this awesome.
5. "15" by Rilo Kiley
6. "The Monitor" by Bishop Allen
7. "Most People are DJs" by the Hold Steady
I tend to stop on a few key Almost Killed Me tracks when I want a random Hold Steady track.
8. "Knuckles" by the Hold Steady
See?
9. "Girls Like Status" by the Hold Steady
True story: When I was transcribing the above two songs, I was thinking "well yeah, but shouldn't 'Girls Like Status' be on here? I feel like I listen to that on my iPod like every day."
10. "Abel" by the National
This song and "Mr. November" are why I understand when people say Alligator is better even though I don't really agree.
11. "Silver Lining" by Rilo Kiley
12. "Under the Blacklight" by Rilo Kiley
13. "Never Say Never" by that dog
14. "Fireworks" by the Tragically Hip
15. "The News from Your Bed" by Bishop Allen
Many of you have heard this song on birthday mixes. I apologize if it made you depressed. I love it, though. Nothing depressing about that.
16. "Weekend in Western Illinois" by the Mountain Goats
17. "Mr. November" by the National
Like I said. Plus this got a lot of play during election season.
18. "Apartment Story" by the National
19. "Woah!" by Palomar
20. "Outtasite (Outta Mind)" by Wilco
Kinda outta nowhere, too, this one. I love this song but I don't have anything else from this album; I just remembered it from the radio. I guess it's just one of those things I never skip when it comes on shuffle.
21. "Rain" by Bishop Allen
22. "Like Castanets" by Bishop Allen
23. "Atlantic City" by Bruce Springsteen
When I mentioned in my by-the-numbers post that I bought four Mountain Goats CDs this year, I should've also mentioned that I bought three Bruce Springsteen CDs, and I'm still not super super into Bruce Springsteen but I know more now and might want to buy his next album, which is weird because I don't really listen to a lot of his albums obsessively, at least not yet. I feel like I'm a Nebraska kind of guy more than a Born to Run kind of guy, which is weird because the reason I finally investigated Springsteen is all of the comparisons made to bands that are supposedly influenced by his bigger, more epic stuff, like the Hold Steady and the Arcade Fire. And it's not like I've listened to Nebraska a million times, but I do really love "Atlantic City." Coming almost full-circle: the Hold Steady covers it on an upcoming charity album full of covers commissioned by the original artists.
24. "O Valencia!" by the Decemberists
25. "Stevie Nix" by the Hold Steady
I would've guessed "Banging Camp," but OK!
26. "Table for One" by Liz Phair
27. "Palmcorder Yajna" by the Mountain Goats
28. "Supernatural Superserious" by R.E.M.
29. "Fidelity" by Regina Spektor
I thought Regina Spektor was lame when I saw her as an opening band. Does this mean that Rachel Yamagata has a song that I absolutely love hiding somewhere? God I hope not.
30. "Sun in an Empty Room" by the Weakerthans
The Weakerthans and the Decemberists have both become huge iPod bands for me, maybe because their songs can sound a little samey or taxing when taken all at once on albums, but cut up individually, they're pretty solidly wonderful. I'm glad Marisa keeps up with both of them, and even though I don't think of the Decemberists as a band where I like to listen to their records straight through, I'm perversely psyched for their rock-opera.
31. "Rockers to Swallow" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
I still feel a little weird about how the iPod changes my listening habits -- not really having to make any choices in terms of thinking about what I want to listen to. It's convenient but feels a little insular. I guess I need to learn how better use it and not just take the easy way out and have it shuffle until "Girls Like Status" comes on. But either way, I'm not retiring the CD player; I know you can skip songs with a CD player, but I guess it's sort of like the difference between channel surfing and watching a movie on DVD. Corinne got me B'Day for Christmas so I will be sure to experience that as a single album, the way Beyonce intended.
*Maybe about half? Around 300, I think, but that includes some stuff I ripped from Marisa that I don't have on my own hard copy. My sheer volume of CDs makes a full conversion to digital unlikely. Plus I like CD packaging -- some of it, anyway. The packaging to Mountain Battles is beautiful. And I love that the newest Marnie Stern CD has a painting of a unicorn on it.
The 31 Most-Played Songs on My iPod Right Now
1. "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne
2. "Pull Shapes" by the Pipettes
These just do not go away. They're perpetually neck and neck even though "Pull Shapes" supposedly hasn't been listened to since New Year's Day 2008 (this is a lie; I know I've heard it a number of times since then, but I guess it was by some kind of means not tracked by robots -- comforting, really, that this can still happen).
3. "Middle Management" by Bishop Allen
As heard in Nick & Norah's Inifinite Playlist. By you. I heard it like way before then.
4. "We Throw Parties, You Throw Knives" by Los Campesinos!
Gareth recently said that they're sort of sheepish about some of their earlier work, including this. Most people would be lucky to ever write a song this awesome. Some people would be lucky to ever hear a song this awesome.
5. "15" by Rilo Kiley
6. "The Monitor" by Bishop Allen
7. "Most People are DJs" by the Hold Steady
I tend to stop on a few key Almost Killed Me tracks when I want a random Hold Steady track.
8. "Knuckles" by the Hold Steady
See?
9. "Girls Like Status" by the Hold Steady
True story: When I was transcribing the above two songs, I was thinking "well yeah, but shouldn't 'Girls Like Status' be on here? I feel like I listen to that on my iPod like every day."
10. "Abel" by the National
This song and "Mr. November" are why I understand when people say Alligator is better even though I don't really agree.
11. "Silver Lining" by Rilo Kiley
12. "Under the Blacklight" by Rilo Kiley
13. "Never Say Never" by that dog
14. "Fireworks" by the Tragically Hip
15. "The News from Your Bed" by Bishop Allen
Many of you have heard this song on birthday mixes. I apologize if it made you depressed. I love it, though. Nothing depressing about that.
16. "Weekend in Western Illinois" by the Mountain Goats
17. "Mr. November" by the National
Like I said. Plus this got a lot of play during election season.
18. "Apartment Story" by the National
19. "Woah!" by Palomar
20. "Outtasite (Outta Mind)" by Wilco
Kinda outta nowhere, too, this one. I love this song but I don't have anything else from this album; I just remembered it from the radio. I guess it's just one of those things I never skip when it comes on shuffle.
21. "Rain" by Bishop Allen
22. "Like Castanets" by Bishop Allen
23. "Atlantic City" by Bruce Springsteen
When I mentioned in my by-the-numbers post that I bought four Mountain Goats CDs this year, I should've also mentioned that I bought three Bruce Springsteen CDs, and I'm still not super super into Bruce Springsteen but I know more now and might want to buy his next album, which is weird because I don't really listen to a lot of his albums obsessively, at least not yet. I feel like I'm a Nebraska kind of guy more than a Born to Run kind of guy, which is weird because the reason I finally investigated Springsteen is all of the comparisons made to bands that are supposedly influenced by his bigger, more epic stuff, like the Hold Steady and the Arcade Fire. And it's not like I've listened to Nebraska a million times, but I do really love "Atlantic City." Coming almost full-circle: the Hold Steady covers it on an upcoming charity album full of covers commissioned by the original artists.
24. "O Valencia!" by the Decemberists
25. "Stevie Nix" by the Hold Steady
I would've guessed "Banging Camp," but OK!
26. "Table for One" by Liz Phair
27. "Palmcorder Yajna" by the Mountain Goats
28. "Supernatural Superserious" by R.E.M.
29. "Fidelity" by Regina Spektor
I thought Regina Spektor was lame when I saw her as an opening band. Does this mean that Rachel Yamagata has a song that I absolutely love hiding somewhere? God I hope not.
30. "Sun in an Empty Room" by the Weakerthans
The Weakerthans and the Decemberists have both become huge iPod bands for me, maybe because their songs can sound a little samey or taxing when taken all at once on albums, but cut up individually, they're pretty solidly wonderful. I'm glad Marisa keeps up with both of them, and even though I don't think of the Decemberists as a band where I like to listen to their records straight through, I'm perversely psyched for their rock-opera.
31. "Rockers to Swallow" by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs
I still feel a little weird about how the iPod changes my listening habits -- not really having to make any choices in terms of thinking about what I want to listen to. It's convenient but feels a little insular. I guess I need to learn how better use it and not just take the easy way out and have it shuffle until "Girls Like Status" comes on. But either way, I'm not retiring the CD player; I know you can skip songs with a CD player, but I guess it's sort of like the difference between channel surfing and watching a movie on DVD. Corinne got me B'Day for Christmas so I will be sure to experience that as a single album, the way Beyonce intended.
*Maybe about half? Around 300, I think, but that includes some stuff I ripped from Marisa that I don't have on my own hard copy. My sheer volume of CDs makes a full conversion to digital unlikely. Plus I like CD packaging -- some of it, anyway. The packaging to Mountain Battles is beautiful. And I love that the newest Marnie Stern CD has a painting of a unicorn on it.