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Carrie Brownstein, former guitarist for the late, lamented Sleater-Kinney Band (seriously, if you haven’t listened to “The Woods” yet, go pick up a copy) writes an interesting blog on music for NPR called Monitor Mix. This post on the shuffle feature of the iPod caught my attention recently. Brownstein dislikes what should be the best radio station in the world–non-stop streaming of your record collection.
For Brownstein, selection of songs should be influenced by mood and context and no mathematical algorithm will be able to figure out “Only play this song if I am driving between Seattle and Portland and I think about my old friend from high school”
I think, given her tenure as a professional musician, that what really bugs her is lack of sequencing: “What iPod shuffle lacks is one of the best parts of a great mix — album sequence, or a justification for why one song follows another. Or maybe I’m just a control freak and I don’t like surprises.” I hear her on that. Try listening to one song from, say, “The Wall” or “Dark Side of the Moon”–those are albums meant to be listened to sequentially and in their entirety.
However, in general I’m a shuffle fan. If I’m in my car I set up iTrip and let it rip. In the evening, I dial up shuffle on my living room iPod speaker system. My problem has always been overkill. I tend to listen to the same songs and bands over and over again, until I’m sick of them. Shuffle re-introduces me to the dusty corners of the 8,000 tunes ripped off my CD’s and sitting on iTunes.
Brownstein challenged her readers to set up shuffle and see if they could stand the first five songs that came up. Here it goes:
Out of the Picture–Son Volt
a tune I usually skip over for 3-4 others that I love off of the album “Trace”
Macy’s Day Parade–Green Day
an ok song off of a Green Day album I don’t pull out as much as others
Reno–Bruce Springsteen
The song that earned Bruce the parental advisory sticker! Still Devils and Dust not played nearly as much as other Bruce albums, especially since the live version of Long Time Comin’ came out on “Live In Dublin.”
Watch Me Fall–Uncle Tupelo
I tend to over play “No Depression” at the expense of these other albums. Good song.
Get Up (Sex Machine)–James Brown
UUUUUHHHHH!
5 songs–only one iffy tune in the batch. Sorry, Carrie. Random rocks. Shuffle on.
USA Today has posted an online feature that purports to show what’s on Bruce’s iPod. I took a spin through today and here’s what I found:
1) Bruce likes variety–187 songs by 138 different artists. He doesn’t slap on whole albums, it’s clearly a variety assortment.
2) The tape loop/beat heavy album he recorded in the Streets of Philadelphia era is a distant memory–only 1 hip hop track, “Bridging The Gap” by Nas.
3) D-Y-L-A-N ! ! ! 6 songs by Bob himself; 2 songs by Bob w/ special guests (Mavis Staples and The Band), 1 song by Joan Baez w/ Bob accompanying and at least 2 cover versions of Bob by others (Rainy Day and Rod Stewart!).
4) Country, both old and new: Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Charlie Rich share space with Neko Case, John Prine, Emmylou Harris, Jay Farrar, Joe Ely and Lucinda Williams.
5) Bruce is rockin’ a lot of classic gospel and blues: Clara Ward, Dixie Hummingbirds, Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, Big Mama Thornton, Bukka White, John Lee Hooker, Mississippi John Hurt.
6) Friends, family and Bruce inspirations: Jesse Malin, Warren Zevon, Patti Scialfa, Sleater-Kinney (their cover of Promised Land) and Robert Mitchum (“The Ballad of Thunder Road”).
7) While there are a whole lot of bands I’ll have to Google to find out who they are and the music that they play, it seems that all the talk about his renewed interest in classic pop has ebbed with the recording and release of his album “Magic.” One Beach Boys tune (“Sloop John B.”) and one by Leonard Cohen is all I can find.
I hope to discover a bunch of good new music through this article. Bruce’s music has been extremely important to me, but articles about the music Bruce listens to himself has led me to several bands that I love, most notably Marah and The Hold Steady. This list is a treasure trove.
Also: I found another blog that prints out the entire list without the difficult navigation of the USA Today on-line graphic.
In addition to a good interview, this USA Today feature lets you scroll through what purports to be Bruce’s iPod! Among the rock ‘n’ roll rave-ups, older country, folk and blues and some newer indie rock, I notice something that’s gotta make one former Syracusan smile. Back in the day, as the lead guitarist and singer for the gritty local bar band The Works, Ed Hammell wore a Bruce badge on his guitar strap and talked often of his Springsteen mania. Well, Bruce is returning the favor. He’s got Hammell On Trial’s song “Oughta Go Around” on his iPod.
This is the closest I’m going to get to Springsteen this week–I’m going to have to settle for this and updates from the various Bruce sites (and perhaps youtube) because I’m not going to the Rochester or Buffalo shows on Thursday and Friday. Sigh! I’m a grown-up with work and family responsibilities and an aversion to spending ungodly amounts of money on a show I saw just a couple of months ago.
