1. Run-DMC - "It's Like That"
2. Rick Astley - "Cry For Help"
3. Michael Jackson - "Rock With You" (live in Japan, 1991)
4. The Smiths - "Back To The Old House"
5. The Church - "Under The Milky Way"
6. Collective Soul - "Gel"
7. Eagles - "Take It To The Limit"
8. Stevie Wonder - "Isn't She Lovely"
9. The Cars - "My Best Friend's Girl"
10. ABBA - "S.O.S."

Nothing interesting to say about any of these except #7. Which is that it was a song to which I was indifferent until I heard a fine live performance by - of all people - Cher.

1. The Queers- "Janelle, Janelle" (everybody's favorite Beach-Boys-influenced punks)

2. Debbie Harry- "Under Arrest" From her first solo album Koo Koo, which was really weird and un-Blondie-like, but I've always liked it a lot, even when I was a much less musically adventurous kid.

3. Gang of Four- "5-45" There are no bad Gang of Four songs. Fact.

4. The Apples in Stereo- "Open Eyes"

5. Explosions In The Sky- "Your Hand In Mine" These guys only have two albums that I know of- they need to do more.

6. Love and Rockets- "If There's A Heaven" I listen to L&R way more than I do to the band they branched off from, Bauhaus.

7. Modest Mouse- "Invisible"

8. Foetus- "Not Adam" One of my favorites by him.

9. Big Star- "ST 100/6" This is almost a song fragment more than it is a song.

10. Eels- "World of Shit" Ha, what a way to end.

1. TV on the Radio--I was a lover

2. Rogue Wave--You have Boarded

3. Mr. Scruff--Night Time

4. Harry and the Potters--Hermione's Birds and Bees--very topical, haha!

5. Edith Frost--larger than life

6. Tennis and the Mennonites--Heart of the Beast

7. Of Montreal--the Party's Crashing us--man I love this song!

8. The Pop Group--she is beyond good and evil--from some 70s punk comp I apparently have

9. She and Him--You really got a hold on me--She can really belt it out! That's one of the reasons Elf is one of only three Christmas movies I like. The others also involve music.

10. Stars--Winter Bones--the last song on their latest album, which I haven't listened to enough to really judge yet.

Yeah, I'm in. I'm just idly surfing the web with iTunes on shuffle anyhow. I guess I'll just neglect the Next button for a bit.

1) The Black Lips - Let It Grow. I'm not convinced whether I like really like this band or not, but there's something there that tweaks my VU nerve enough to keep it around. I haven't really given the album enough time. I think I downloaded from amazon as one of their monthly $5 specials in Sept or Oct. Interesting fact, though: as I learned from BoPo's twitter feed, the lead singer is the son of that Atlanta mega-church pastor that came out recently. I hope nothing but the best for that family based on that.

2) Jon Snodgrass - Brave With Strangers. Dog bless, I love this dude's voice. The songs are pretty damn well-written, but he's got a certain alt-country-pop thing the likes I haven't heard done this well in a long time. I haven't dug his other band (Drag The River) as much, but this is a pretty solid album.

3) Felt - Give It Up. I'm not a huge fan of Slug (from Atmosphere), especially solo, but his collabs are often awesome. The best part of this album is hearing Aesop Rock, who I never really considered much of a producer, come into his own in that regard.

4) Stiff Little Fingers - No More of That. Classic. What a phenomenal fucking band. Inflammable Material should be in everyone's stacks. For that matter, Hanx! too.

5) Beastie Boys - Something's Got to Give. I know everyone loves Paul's Boutique, but for my money, Check Your Head was the salt-bridge that gave the Beasties lasting power. Without that album, they'd have been a distant 80's memory. I don't listen to it much any more, but it's desert island material for me.

6) Gator Fuckin - Big Boys. Seriously, the must under-rated hardcore/funk band evar. I've said my piece on them here and elsewhere. Acquire both the Fat Elvis and the Skinny Elvis. Thank me later.

7) Stagger - Street Dogs. Yoif. I freaking loved the shit out of the Dropkick Murphys when they had Mike McColgan (Do or Die was and is just a freaking awesome album, and though I can't substantiate the rumors, I very well may have been at the last show he played with them). Never much cared for the Al Barr-era version of the band (saw them twice in their early days with Barr as singer, it wasn't pretty. Kind of hate who they've become since then). Which is a meandering way of getting to this track, which is McColgan's current band. I saw them open for Social D and they put on a good show, but the Street Dogs studio stuff is kind of hit and miss for me. Not their best stuff, but not horrible.

8) Neko Case - Magpie to the Morning. There are about 2 or 3 tracks from Neko that I really like. This is my favorite of hers. I love the line "Mockingbird sings/in the middle of the night/all his songs are stolen, sweetheart".

9) Pharcyde - Drop Great track. Awesome video, directed by Spike Jonze. Pharcyde aren't in my top-5 of "golden age" hip-hop, but they had some awesome shit.

10)Del Tha Funky Homosapian f/ Casual - Jaw Gymnastics - dogdamnit, that Hieroglyphics crew made a hell of an impression. Still sounds fresh to me. "I'm the difference between Hanna Barbara and Hannibal the Barbarian" is one of my favorite lines ever.

1 Sugarloaf - "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" (great start!)

2 Rockpile - "Wrong Again (Let's Face It)" (another good one)

3 Bob Marley - "Screw Face" (starting to look like an actual playlist)

4 Patti Smith - "Rock N Roll Star" (it's Friday night!)

5 Van Halen - "Atomic Punk" (hell yeah)

6 Stereolab - "Dear Marge" (taking it down a notch)

7 Rolling Stones - "Sympathy For The Devil" (GET YOUR YAYA'S OUT)

8 Johnny Winter - "Lucille" (more tasty rock n roll)

9 Credence Clearwater Revival - "Bad Moon Rising" (honest, this is random!)

10 Blue Oyster Cult - "True Confessions" (1st time I've listened to this isolated from the rest of the album)

This is about as representative of what I am listening to now as I can give you.

1. Lonesome Girl - Kazumasa Hashimoto
2. Mirror Symmetry - Dopplereffekt
3. Times of Change (Changes) - Anton Batagov
4. Hat Song - Kevin Ayers
5. Where The Devil Don't Stay - Drive-By Truckers
6. Spiral Golden Town - Deerhoof
7. Seconds - Pulp
8. Vigilia (Final Blessing) - Einojuhani Rautavaara
9. First to Finish, Last to Start - Ted Leo & the Pharmacists
10. The Old Main Drag - The Pogues

1. The Beatles - Three Cool Cats
2. Cheap Trick - Clock Strikes Ten
3. Thelonius Monk - Evidence
4. Mission of Burma - Train
5. Candy Machine - Procession
6. The Teen Idles - Get up and Go
7. Fugazi - Repeater
8. Misfits - We are 138
9. Crowded House - Don't Dream it's Over
10. Spaceman 3 - Things'll Never be the Same

Oh, I didn't comment. Hrm. Nothing embarrassing, so I don't really have anything to say. I like all of these artists.

Jimmy Smith - Spill The Wine
Ozomatli - April 29th, 1992 Miami
Mellowdrone - What Happened
Screamin' Jay Hawkins - Rockabilly Madman
Parov Stelar - Love
James Morrison - Save yourself
Citizen Fish - Next Big Thing
Ruth Brown - Why Don't You Do Right
Truth - She's A Roller
Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone

1 - New Horizons - Absolute - Hoovery 90s trance. 3 stars. Still has hi-q's - how adorable. Actually sounds a bit like it was made in a rebirth mod.
2 - The Riverboat Song - Ocean Colour Scene - I'm getting a bit sick of this song, but my ipod seems to love it. 3 stars.
3 - Where It's At - Beck - Funky, quirky, has a singalongy bit. 4 stars.
4 - Occupation Ska - The Skatalites - Instrumental ska done right. 4 stars.
5 - Mists of Time - 4t Thieves - From some Scandinavian web-lable IIRC. Trying to out-Orb the Orb. 3 stars.
6 - I Won't Share You - The Smiths - What can one say? Whinge harder Steven!! 4 stars
7 - Close My Eyes - Strawberry Story - Perfect pop. Where do I sign up for the twee revival? 5 stars
8 - No Me Gusta (Original 12" mix) - Partison - Housey house. 4 stars
9 - Got To Stay Away - Bobby Davis - Fairly anonymous 60s or 70s reggae. I basically know nothing about this track, apart from that it was released on Trojan at some point. 3 stars.
10 - Sheen of Gold - Skeptics - From the fantastic Flying Nun stable. Say what you like about the Kiwis (seriously, go ahead...), they do put out a few good records. That said, this one is probably one of the less good entries on the "Pink Flying Saucers Over The Southern Alps" collection. 3 stars.

1. Take on Me, A-ha. (Amazon)
Well hello Middle School! The girls used to play this to try and drown out the young male fascination with Money for Nothing
2. Gypsy, Suzanne Vega (Amazon)
High School. Hello. My parents got a new car that had a ... TAPE DECK! Oh, that was the best car ever. EVER.
3. Is the Blue Moon Still Shining, Red Molly(amazon)
I only just discovered them, but (as you might guess from my folky tendencies) I think I love them.
4. Don't Smoke in Bed , Nina Simone (amazon)
The slow soulful deliberateness of the way she sings this is just so fantastic.
5. Eyes of Margaret, Rankin Family (cduniverse)
I find this to be their least successful album, probably because they let Nashville get their grubby hands on it and sand away the edges and some of the texture.
6. Elenor Rigby , Ray Charles (amazon)
Amazon doesn't have the album this is off of, so enjoy this live version. I think his versions of the song are among the best covers.
7. (Top Hat) Isn't This A Lovely Day To Be Caught In the Rain, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers (amazon)
Astaire's not a great singer, but there's something dreamy about this song - maybe because he's not a good singer. Hrm. Also, I imagine him dancing.
8. Can't Stop Killing You Kirsty MacColl (amazon)
Different album at the link, but she's awesome every way to Sunday.
9.You're the Kind of Trouble , Solomon Burke (amazon)
I really really really like this song.
10.Southern Home , Meg Christian (amazon)
This song really captures that pushme-pullyou the South can have on a person raised here.

In summary: With the exception of the Burke and the Red Molly this is like being caught in my teenage and college years. I feel like I should be yelling things like "Get off my lawn" and booking trips to Branson.

1. Violent Femmes - Promise
2. Moody Blues - You and Me
3. Warren Zevon - Accidentally Like a Martyr
4. Feargal Sharkey - A Good Heart
5. Nickelback - Not Leavin' Yet
6. The Replacements - Here Comes a Regular
7. The Who - I'm a Boy
8. Rod Stewart - Cheek to Cheek
9. The Beach Boys - Custom Machine
10. Dash Rip Rock - Stairway to Freebird
11. (because that's where it goes to) Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Relax

Not much here that would feature in my 'best of' (apart from Warren Zevon and Frankie), but they're all on there, so I must have liked them at some point.

Crime in the City - Neil Young, Freedom
Hate to Lose Your Lovin' - Little Feat, Let it Roll
Life's Railway to Heaven - Patsy Cline, Some Anthology
Jesus is Just Alright - The Byrds, 20 Essential Tracks
Cry Baby Cry - The Beatles, Anthology 3
I Told You I was Freaky - Flight of the Conchords
Don't Come Around Here No More - Tom Petty, Southern Accents
Old Soul - Thea Gilmore, Liejacker
And Darling - Tegan and Sara, If It Was You
Wouldn't It Be Loverly - Portland Gay Men's Chorus, On Broadway
Play it All Night Long - Warren Zevon

All these from my laptop which as a different library than my main one (which resides on my work computer). A lot of these I have from being at people's houses and going through their CD's and ripping as I visit.

1. John Williams - Imperial Starfleet Deployment / City in the Clouds
This is not a standout track for me on the Empire Strikes Back soundtrack (that being "The Asteroid Field") but it's good to have some John Williams come up now and again and serves as a reminder that I should really fire up the trilogy some time soon. I can't remember the last time I did, and that means it's been too long.
2. Motley Crue - Looks That Kill
I am the youngest of four brothers and heard a lot of stuff that I didn't like as a kid, but dig now. Motley Crue is definitely one of my Brothers' Bands but somewhere in the last few years I came around and this is one of the few songs I plucked from a Motley Crue best-of.
3. Fischerspooner - Emerge
I think Fischerspooner was one of those weird little electronica acts that I got introduced to in the early, incredibly awesome days of broadband internet and Heavy.com.
4. Boney M - Gotta Go Home
Thanks to growing up with AM Radio I have a nostalgic, unironic love of Boney M. Although since I have been listening to Duck Sauce's "Barbra Streisand" a fair bit lately (which samples this) I am sort of expecting that song to happen while listening to this one.
5. Scorpions - The Same Thrill
Nothing to say about this song, unfortunately.
6. Royksopp - So Easy
I think I was introduced to these guys through the video for "Remind Me", which is just one of many excellent videos associated with their music. It was probably posted on MetaFilter way back when. Every album they've released since then has been my new favorite album by them, and I just now realized that their newest one has been out since September?? what the heck how am I not on top of this
7. Eric Clapton - Hey Hey
This is off of that unplugged album where he looks like a Librarian / Somebody's Dad on the cover. Haven't the faintest idea what compelled me to check it out, but it's a welcome addition to my library in any case.
8. Nirvana - Drain You
I like Nirvana. Don't love 'em, don't care if he was killed or killed himself or whatever, but I like 'em okay. This song's good and fun to play along with in Rock Band. Most of my friends are not Nirvana fans at all (blaming them for the death of the 80s hair-metal bands they love so much) so I tend to keep my appreciation to myself.
9. The Go! Team - Keys to the City
A friend of mine introduced me to them but later disowned them completely, citing a "squick factor" (general unease, I suppose) with their lo-fi basement-studio production values. It was the most pretentious thing I think he's ever said, and not just because he makes music in his basement, which he does.
10. Muse - Ruled By Secrecy
I haven't actually listened to "Absolution" all that much, mostly sticking to "Black Holes and Revelations" which I enjoy. Sometimes I can't not hear the way the lead singer massively, noisily inhales before every line.

It's getting so I can pick the person before I get to the bottom of the playlist. It's an interesting way of becoming more acquainted with folks.

1. The Black Keys - Sinister Kid
It's not a playlist from me without at least on song from the boys from Akron.
2. Wilco - At Least That's What You Said
One of my favorite "Starts out as as a quiet folk song and mutates into a screaming mess of guitar noise" Wilco songs.
3. Arcade Fire - Half Life II
I keep trying to pay attention to this album and I still don't have an opinion on it.
4. The Who - Cut My Hair
Been listening to Quadraphenia and By Numbers a lot lately. Townsend at his most suicidal teen angsty.
5. Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers - A Night in Tunisia
Blakey kicks all kinds of ass in this.
6. The Black Keys - Set You Free
See #1.
7. She & Him - Lingering Still
Fun pop, Deschanel seems to be pretty serious about music and this isn't just a dilettantish vanity project.
8. Grateful Dead - Ship of Fools
Yup, still a dead head.
9. Gov't Mule - We're Not Gonna Take It
Fun live version
10. Bjork - An Echo, A Stain
Picked this album up on an Amazon MP3 special for a $3 a while ago and haven't listened to it much.

Okay, I finally unclicked all of Jamie's Lifter Puller/Afghan Whigs that always mucks this stuff up. Let's see what we got.

1) Antonin Dvorak - I. Moderato from Serenade for Strings. As a cellist, I learned to love Dvorak early on. The New World Symphony (No. 9) was one of the first "real" pieces we played in youth orchestra, and boy was it fun. So when I was housesitting one summer, I put on a New World cd and found this suite following it. It's one of my favorites. I used to listen to this as I went to sleep at night.

2) Handsome Boy Modeling School feat. DJ Shadow & DJ Quest - Holy Calamity (Bear Witness II) from So How's your Girl... This is another one of the cds I fell in love with when I stole it from my brother :) After high school he lived at home for a while, spending all of his money on whatever Spence at Strictly Discs told him to buy. Gotta love it.

3) DJ Danger Mouse (mashup of Jay-Z vs. the Beatles) - Lucifer 9 (Interlude) from The Grey Album. Meh.

4) DJ Paul V (mashup of Lil Mama vs. The Champs) - Tequila Lip Gloss from Best of Bootie 2007. Ooh! Now this is a fun surprise! This mix was a free download I found somewhere or other.

5) Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek from Speak For Yourself. The guy I dated for a year after my divorce is a big loud beer-swilling Minnesota hunter-y guy with dad issues and a metal lathe in his kitchen. He loves emotional girly music. He's seen the Indigo Girls approximately 11 times. My ex-husband liked Metallica and Paul McCartney, and that's it. So Imogen will always be linked to that time, when I finally got to listen to something else in someone else's car.

6) Shout Out Louds - Normandie from Our Ill Wills. I... don't think I've ever heard this one. Where did it come from?

7) Frou Frou - Psychobabble from Details. See #5.

8) No Doubt - Spiderwebs from Tragic Kingdom. From my Rock Band rock band days on public access TV :P The others were obsessed with ND, so I could live with never hearing them again, but it's one of their cuter songs.

9) Glenn Gould - Aria (main theme) from Bach's Goldberg Variations. I do love me some Bach. It's one of those things that you dismiss as NPR wallpaper music until you actually perform it. The continuous flow of logic and precision really calms my ADD brain.

And... geez, I'm just noticing this for the first time, but what sounds like interference is Gould going "doobeedoobeedoo." (Not a huge surprise.)

10) Ian Bostridge - Janacek's "Moravian Folksongs (15) for solo piano, JW 9/23" from Janacek: The Diary of One Who Disappeared. Ian Bostridge is actually a stunningly beautiful tenor who usually sings things like Schumann/Schubert lieder (seriously, "Du bist die Ruh"... amazing), but I guess he plays piano, too. It's only 50 seconds long.

Incidentally, when you search for this on YouTube, down the side are about 15 other Janacek classical pieces and suddenly "Miley Cyrus Pole Dances At Teen Choice Awards!!!"

It's getting so I can pick the person before I get to the bottom of the playlist. It's an interesting way of becoming more acquainted with folks.
Yeah, I picked yours after the first few tracks ;-)