Thursday, April 23, 2009

A Question...

Just in from Happy Hour... and there was a slight deviation from our normal practice, which is to say I listened to a soundtrack provided from our personal music collection, as opposed to the normal (for these days, lately) soundtrack as provided via Pandora.

Which got me to thinking... Why is it I'll defer to someone else's choice in music, as opposed to my own? I don't
ever walk into a bar and say..."whatever you think is right" when it comes to ordering beer, nor do I let someone else choose the cigar I'll enjoy during Happy Hour, yet I always seem to defer to the music provided by Pandora or Bill... of late.

Is it simply convenience? Am I just too lazy to dive into and select appropriate music from my personal collection... which is extensive... albeit not as extensive as that owned by Pandora or Bill? All that said, it was good to listen to Keith Richards... followed up with Sticky Fingers... on a slightly gray day here on the High Plains of New Mexico. And it got me to thinking... how is it with YOU, Gentle Reader, do you tend to defer to others when it comes to your listening habits, which is to say the radio or another source? Or do you listen to your personal music more often than not? Enquiring MindsTM wanna know...

In the mean time... part of today's soundtrack. Here's Keith doing "Eileen Hate It When You Leave..."



Ooooh... Good, innit?

15 comments:

  1. Thanks to the iPod, I ONLY listen to music of my own choosing. I've created a wide variety of playlists to suit whatever mood I happen to be in at the time...hard rock, current stuff, 70's soft rock classics, jazz, etc., etc.

    All the music I need.

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  2. Having too much to choose from can get muddy. I have often found myself floundering for a good 10 minutes over what to play, and I don't even have a very big collection.

    Besides, music is usually secondary, background stuff, unlike the aforementioned beer or cigar up there. If music were the focus of your activity, instead of just an accoutrement, you would probably choose your own.

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  3. Chris: Ah... I appreciate what you're saying, even though I'm SUCH a Luddite when it comes to iPods and such. One of these days I might change my mind, but I don't see it happening in the foreseeable future.

    Andy: Music is never... or rather hardly ever... just "background" to me. It's VERY important, so that was what prompted my rather rhetorical question. Whenever I go out to Happy Hour I consider, at some length, which Pandora channel I'm gonna listen to. Today I decided to chuck all that and selected a few CDs from the collection to listen to... thus the question.

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  4. I have to be very careful not to step on Wild Thing's toes. She loves the easy going ballads of yore (Doo-Wop, songs you can understand the lyrics, melodic and not ear ball breaking, etc., etc.)
    I secretly prefer Mozart, Bach and such people. My classical training has stuck with me over the years. Although "Wild Thing" (the song) gets my first place vote for modern music.
    One other thing I have learned: the words "music" and "rap" should never, never be used in the same sentence. Unless you like oxymorons, that is.

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  5. I have to agree with Chris. I love the playlists on my iPod. And have different ones according to my mood. On the rare occasions that I exercise (like jogging on the treadmill), I like something upbeat. Usually some hip-hop (C+C Music Factory), sometimes some heavy metal (Metallica), or some old rap (Beastie Boys' License to Ill. I can't do gangsta rap).

    However, my favorite playlist (and one that makes me enjoy beer again) is my high school music: country from 1987-1993. Including George Strait, Alan Jackson, and Travis Tritt. And rock (not pop) from around the same period. The non-country station I listened to in that time period was a classic rock station that played anything from Led Zepplin to big hair bands of the 80's.

    The last few weeks I've been indulging in some different stuff. Linkin Park and Muse and Paramore. Go figure. LOL! But they sound badass in my expedition(it's got a pretty good stereo system in it). And the kids like it.

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  6. Always listen to my own music..such joy to pick out the perfect CD for the mood I'm in. Very eclectic tastes but prefer my classical collections..just crank up the volume, rattle the windows and have a nice libation..definitely NOT background!! Of course the dogs aren't too crazy about some of my choices.

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  7. Depends on what I'm doing, I guess - traveling, working online, creating. Classical is a default for me but I like to explore. My eldest and I recently drove 4 hours to see my folks and listened to our favorite Cambodian pop CDs.
    Sin Sisamouth is a favorite. (He was an amazing artist in a very unlucky time) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinn_Sisamouth
    (Here I go with the links again)

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  8. Cat sez: "the words "music" and "rap" should never, never be used in the same sentence. Unless you like oxymorons, that is."

    Yep... I GOTTA agree on that. The Boys are much more enlightened than I am in this space, however. Both SNs 1&2 have extensive hip-hop collections, but I suppose that comes with raising kids in this day and age. Must be an Ol Fart thing. (Just sayin', ya know)

    Jenny: You've got pretty eclectic taste! And another iPodder, as well...

    SuzieQ: Your habits sound a lot like mine (especially the window-rattling bits), as I tend to be a bit eclectic, as well. I think I've just been lazy in my listening lately.

    Bec: You can link ALL you want... your links are always most interesting. Sin Sisamouth sounds a lot like music I heard during my stays in up-country Thailand, which isn't all that surprising given the proximity of Cambodia and Thailand... both geographically and culturally. It's a shame what happened to Mr. Sisamouth and the millions of others who died under the Khmer Rouge.

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  9. Ah, I love the "What's on and why" posts with a question for the gentle readers.

    First, on etiquette:

    1. In the car, the driver is in charge of tunes. In that charge he can delegate of course.

    2. At a party, a guest is in deference to the host, but...

    3. At a party a host is in deference to the guests, especially if one brings it up. It's a sign that the guest really felt the need to bring it up. There are exceptions, of course.

    Moving to my player for portability, (not an iPod), it's "talk" mostly for me, these days. Fred Thompson, PJM Political, Atomic Rod, Shire Network News, Bob Brinker. Lileks' "Diner" is a staple when he does one, though I haven't finished all his mid 1990's archives. Also, books on CD are proliferate these days at the library, easy to convert to MP3.

    But I have about 5000 songs on MP3that, yes, I own. I have another 5000 maybe that I haven't converted yet-- an ongoing hobby for ten years now, piping my vinyl and tape into the sound card and making them palatable. All legal, far as I know! (Remember the Duran Duran song I sent you?) (401K would be richer, I admit. You kids, don't do what I done.)

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  10. I kind of like giving Pandora an idea of what I want to hear and then letting her pick the rest. Because I grew up listening to my dad's choice of music (Bob Wills, Ray Price, Charlie Pride, etc.) and then going right on into the country music thing of the 70 and 80's, I missed a lot of good RocknRoll. So, I like it when someone introduces me to new/old music.

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  11. Reese sez: "3. At a party a host is in deference to the guests, especially if one brings it up. It's a sign that the guest really felt the need to bring it up. There are exceptions, of course."

    I always used to let my guests pick and choose from my collection. Since it was my stuff they pretty much couldn't go wrong. Unless they chose something like Dan Fogelberg when everyone else wanted to kick out the jams, of course. ;-)

    I almost did what you did, Bob, beginning back in 1999 when Napster was in its heyday. A friend asked why I wasn't downloading like crazy, seeing as how I was seriously "in" to music. My answer? "I have enough time sinks to deal with -- I don't need another!" Your collection sounds impressive, indeed!

    Lou: My 'rents were interesting when it came to music... Dad liked jazz and Big Band stuff -- he HATED rock 'n' roll-- and Mom liked pretty much anything and everything. My parents' music collection was pretty impressive, in its own right. I like finding new music, too... to this day.

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  12. My musical taste can vary by the hour. Pandora is good because I can just choose a different station with a mix I am in the mood for. We also have satellite radio in both vehicles and that stuff is great for the slightly schizophrenic way I can listen to music - pop to hard rock to classical to country and back again.

    My own collection is large and I only have about 1/10th of it in electronic form. I have weeks of CD ripping time ahead of me if I want to convert it all. I do listen to that stuff sometimes - via a 300 CD jukebox we bought way back in the days before iPods and downloads.

    Buck - I guess I'm kind of a Luddite when it comes to all this as well. Though I did get myself an iPod just before my surgery. Even if I never use it again, it was worth it's weight in platinum for the first month afterwards.

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  13. "Time sink" as a composite noun. Excellent. Never heard that term, but the meaning is clear.

    I've diluted on paper the value of my music collection. But in reality, I can call it up at my pleasure; makes it priceless. Cream (figurative cream, not the band) is always available, overcoming an irrational fear I had that I'd never hear Martha Davis' "Only the Lonely" again.

    Some shallow comfort in that I suppose.

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  14. Sin Sisamouth sounds a lot like music I heard during my stays in up-country Thailand, which isn't all that surprising given the proximity of Cambodia and Thailand... both geographically and culturally.Ah, yes. I was wondering about that. I guessed you might have. Sisamouth's influence carried all over Asia and Europe during that window of time. There was one commenter on youtube who remembered hearing it in Poland in the early sixties. It's a shame we weren't aware of it in the US until recently.

    Say, that Pandora is great! I don't know what took me so long to try it - I know you've mentioned it before. Thanks!

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  15. Kris: I listen sorta like you do. I have a five CD changer, and its current contents are... Mozart Piano Sonatas KV284 & KV570 (Mitsuko Uchida), "Main Offender" (Keith Richards), "Sticky Fingers" (Stones), "The best of the blues" (a Martin Scorsese compendium), and Neil Young's Greatest Hits.

    I like Pandora for the same reasons you do, and often change stations three times (or more) during Happy Hour!

    Bob: Not shallow comfort at ALL. I envy you your collection, and the time and effort you put into it!

    Bec: Asian pop music is interesting... some of it drives me up the wall, some of it is soothing, and some of it is throw-away stuff of the HIGHEST order. The videos of same fall into the same general categories, too. ;-)

    Hey... at least you got to Pandora, eventually! ;-)

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.