[ march 03: randomness of my musical taste ]

Everyone who knows me, knows I'm a music freak. I'm not a music snob, by any means. I'm just as likely to rock out to Mandy Moore (playing right now!) as I am to Queen. I just love music. All music, any music. There's very little music I don't enjoy. Death rock hurts my ears a bit. And a lot of rap lyrics make me angry. Other than that, I'm pretty much game.

I also have a freakish ability to remember lyrics. I know all the words to easily a few hundred songs. Possibly a few thousand. I don't know how I remember the words. I just do. And I can also remember words to songs I haven't heard in years.

However, I'm not a music know-it-all. I've never followed the details of any one group. I don't know everything about everything. Music equals entertainment for me. I don't feel the need to know the coolest indie group before the rest of the world. I'm fine finding a group or singer whenever I find them. If it's five years after they were cool, and I like their music, that's fine by me. I've never apologized for my taste in music, or felt ashamed by it, although on waaaaaay more than one occasion, I've been made fun of or looked down upon for some of what I like. I don't care if someone writes their own music (although that's always incredibly impressive to me) or if they're just a pretty face and a pretty voice presently someone else's lyrical genius.

If I enjoy it, I enjoy it. End of story.

In an effort to make a proper list to emphasis how freaking random my taste in music is, I jumped back and forth between two different options... showing you a completely random list of twenty songs, or a longer, but still completely random, list of artists. And then I decided one list just wasn't enough, so here are both!

The first list is of twenty songs. I put my entire musical library on shuffle, and hit play. I didn't skip anything, or replace anything with a "cooler" song. These are the first twenty songs that played:

1. Jamiroquai: Deeper Underground
2. Sufjan Stevens: Redford
3. Frank Sinatra: Falling In Love With Love
4. Antony & The Johnsons: Hitler In My Heart
5. Toni Braxton: Another Sad Love Song
6. Switchfoot: Gone
7. Stephen Kellogg: Summer
8. Billy Joel: Everybody Has A Dream
9. The Cars: Since You're Gone
10. Phish: The Mango Song
11. Sara Evans: Born To Fly
12. Rob Thomas: Little Wonders
13. Imogen Heap: Headlock
14. The Magic Numbers: Love Me Like You
15. Bright Eyes: First Day Of My Life
16. Alan Jackson: Livin' On Love
17. Plain White T's: Last Call
18. Cletus T Judd: Third Rock From Her Thumb
19. Green Day: Whatsername
20. Alison Krauss & Union Station: Daylight
    

If the fact that Cletus T Judd is on the list doesn't prove I didn't skip any songs or alter the list in any way, I don't know what would!

And here is an alphabetical list of artists that populate my iTunes. This is by no means a complete list of artists, as I have music from over 1500 different artists. I went through my iTunes and picked four artists from each letter. I tried to pick artists that I had at least one full album from (although that was impossible with Q, X & Z). I tried to be as random as possible, but also to cover as many genres as possible.

Enjoy the randomocity!

A | ABBA, Aerosmith, Air, Amy Grant
B | The Bangles, The Beatles, Billy Joel, Bette Midler
C | Carly Simon, Carrie Underwood, Cat Stevens, Cher
D | The Dandy Warhols, Darryl Worley, Dishwalla, Dixie Chicks
E | The Eagles, Ella Fitzgerald, Eric Clapton, Evanescence
F | Faith Hill, Fastball, Fiona Apple, Frank Sinatra
G | Gary Allan, Giuseppe Verdi, Good Charlotte, Gretchen Wilson
H | Hellogoodbye, Hilary Duff, Hot Hot Heat, Howie Day
I | Immortal Alice, Imogen Heap, Indigo Girls, Iron & Wine
J | Ja Rule, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Buffett
K | Katie Melua, Kelly Clarkson, Kenny Chesney, The Killers
L | Las Ketchup, Lauryn Hill, Lenny Kravitz, Linkin Park
M | Madonna, Mandy Moore, Marcy Playground, The Moody Blues
N | Nellie McKay, The New Amsterdams, Nickel Creek, NSync
O | OAR, The Offspring, Ok Go, Outkast
P | Paolo Nutini, Pat McGee Band, PJ Harvey, The Police
Q | Q-Tip, Quantic, Queen, Quincy Jones
R | Radiohead, Regina Spektor, Rilo Kiley, Robin Thicke
S | Sara Bareilles, Savage Garden, Simon & Garfunkel, Styx
T | Tatyana Ali, Tears for Fears, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Tim McGraw
U | U2, Uncle Kracker, Under the Influence of Giants, Usher
V | Vanessa Carlton, The Velvet Underground, The Vines, Violent Femmes
W | The Walkmen, The Wallflowers, The Weepies, The Who
X | X, X-2-X, Xscape
Y | Yann Tiersen, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Yellowcard, Yo La Tengo
Z | Zero 7, Zero Assoluto, Ziggy Marley, Zox

And yes, I do still by CDs, both real ones and from iTunes. I went through a phase of downloading, but haven't done that in a really long time.

Anyone else have a completely random taste in music? Am I the only one with such various interests?