After a spirited discussion about radio and music and iPods that ranged over several blogs, and featured Bad Religion, AC/DC and Def Leppard, I got kind of curious about how Pandora compares. So here is the first ten songs served up by a Quickmix of all my playlists:
Rancid- Cocktails
The Replacements - Color Me Impressed
Velvet Underground- I'm Waiting For The Man
Tears for Fears- Head Over Heels
Patti Smith - Trampin'
Thirteen senses - Into The Fire
The Clean - Flowers
Porcupine Tree - The Sky Moves Sidways
Fish - Just Good Friends
Felt - Something Sends me to Sleep
Interesting, half of those songs are not on my hard drive, and 2 were from bands I hadn't heard before. But as far as an inspirational mix, it was strictly meh. Good songs, but not much synchronicity between them. And fortunately for the mental well-being of CERTAIN BLOGGERS, Pandora waited until the 11th song to play "Viva la Vida".
For comparison's sake, here is the first ten off my iPod:
999 - emergency
Todd Rundgren - Happy Anniversary
Randy Newman - My Little Buttercup
Jimmy Cliff- Shelter of Your Love
The The - Voidy Numbness
XTC - Blue Overall
Minutemen - There Ain't Shit on TV Tonight
The Leaves - Hey Joe
Grant Lee Phillips - Boys Don't Cry
PJ Harvey - No Girl So Sweet
Well, there were four there that I wouldn't have been able to identify just from listening, and the Randy Newman was a left field clunker. But the 999 and the XTC were great. The rundgren was a bit techno boopy for me, but the finish with PJ Harvey rocked.
experiment non-conclusive. Further debate and study is needed.
I see stuff I like on both lists...
ReplyDeleteI think there is no perfect answer.
I love that old VU tune. Coldplay can suck it.
ReplyDeleteIf you rate songs there's no reason why your own songs at random shouldn't be loads better than Pandora I'd think...
ReplyDeleteColdplay is the musical equivalent of plain cheese pizza. they aren't exquisite, they aren't special, they just do the basic things but they're solid at it
ReplyDeleteTrouser Press had a great review of Rancid- "Their musical inspiration ranges from Joe Strummer to Mick Jones."
ReplyDeleteGreat putdown, but I have to confess that I like Rancid.
see, now Big - I can call you Big? - I don't see why that is a putdown. They should take inspiration from Leo Sayer?
ReplyDeleteIt's like when I read somebody put down John wesley Harding for being too much like elvis Costello. Hey, like one Elvis Costello is enough?
I also quite like Rancid.