Saturday, February 9, 2008

A Working Definition of "Eclectic"

It seems like if you ask twenty people what kinds of music they like, about 18 of them will immediately say, "Oh, I like really all kinds of music", or "a little bit of everything" or, if they are feeling especially honest, "Pretty much everything except Rap*".

Ask one of these question-avoiders something more specific, like "What is your favorite artist?" and you get a much more helpful answer. Someone who likes "pretty much any music" whose favorite artist is Tim McGraw, is a different someone than a "all kinds of music" appreciator whose favorite artist is Modest Mouse.

The "What's on your iPod" question removes even more ambiguity. So, picking up from Art's post on the same Subject, here are the random 10 songs at the top of my iTunes "party shuffle" playlist. It's a pretty eclectic list, and by eclectic, I mean this:

If I played this list for 100 people, everyone would be guaranteed to really love, and to truly hate, at least one. And the songs some enjoyed the most would be the same ones driving the other listeners crazy.

Here, without further ado, is the list.
  1. "She Said" by Parker Theory from Can Anybody Hear Me?
  2. "Drawer" by Summercamp from Pure Juice
  3. "Something So Right" by Paul Simon from Negotiations and Love Songs 1971-1986
  4. "Cure" by Plumb from Plumb
  5. "Clint Eastwood" by Gorillaz from Gorillaz
  6. "Counting The Crossties" by Bad Livers from Hogs On The Highway
  7. "Everybody Knows" by Echo And The Bunnymen from Flowers
  8. "Where The Streets Have No Name" by U2 from Best Of 1980-1990
  9. "Wild Horses" by Sundays from Blind
  10. "$300" by Soul Coughing from El Oso
and for extra credit, The next three are kinda' fun...
  1. "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman from Tracy Chapman
  2. "Trouble" by Coldplay from Live at KCRW
  3. "My Hero Zero" by The Lemonheads from Schoolhouse Rock Rocks!
If you have heard of more than half of the first 10 artists, then pat yourself on the back, and remind me to never play Musical Trivial Pursuit against you!

So, What's on your iPod? or other music player? The comments section is wide open! Check the link to Art's post for the "Official" rules.

*The iTunes "randomizer" didn't put any of it on to this list, but I own, and enjoy, quite a lot of rap. Now that I look at it, the list is eclectic, but it is awfully white. I need to work on that, put a little more "soul" into my mix...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your list is also missing Classical music of any variety or so-called "world music" of much variety, I might note with an air of musical snobbery.

Red Panda said...

Okay, I'm grabbed my iPod. I will not add any comedy unless it actually a song:

1. "Sorry" - Madonna
2. "Fascination Street" - The Cure
3. "Regret" - New Order
4. "So Long, Marianne" - Leonard Cohen
5. "Because I Want You" - Placebo
6. "Stray Dog and the Chocolate Shake" - Grandaddy
7. "Surprise Ice" - Kings of Convenience
8. "Mr. Wonderful" - Shiina Ringo <---Japanese!!!
9. "Days" - The Kinks
10. "Don't Leave Me Now" - Pink Floyd

No comedy came up. And this wasn't as eclectic as it could've been as my iPod Nano holds much less music than my iTunes.

Red Panda said...

Holy crap, the typing on my last comment was awful.

Frank Gibson said...

Becca - OK, my list was white *AND* lowbrow. So Sue Me!

Valorie - Thanks for playing along! Don't worry about the typing, I just assumed you were influenced by the Japanese music to comment in "Engrish"

For maximum flower happiness, take care that a finger!

Art said...

Cool, Frank. Not only have I heard of most of those artists, I have about half those songs on my iPod. I can't beleve that you listen to Echo And the Bunnymen though... Not that, you know, I listen to them or anything like that...

Anonymous said...

O.K. I'll play...

1. I know It's Over -- The Smiths
2. Clarity -- John Mayer
3. The Muppet Show Theme --Various musician and muppeteers including Jim Henson and Frank Oz
4. London -- The Smiths
5. Pretty Girl -- Sugar Cult
6. Sister Rosetta -- Noisettes
7. Imperial March (Darth Vader)
8. Love Soon -- John Mayer
9. Natural Blues -- Moby
10. Season's of Love -- Rent(Original Cast)

I did have a couple of audio book chapters come up, but I ommitted those.

Anonymous said...

I'm the sorta person that will say "I like lots of different stuff" but will then bore your head off trying to list all the varied genres I listen to : D However, my "top most played" list is dominated by Depeche Mode, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and John Williams.

My random list:
1. "La Dix Croix" by Moi dix Mois (Japanese Goth rock)
2. "I'm your Villain" Franz Ferdinand
3. "Life is a Road" from the Anastasia soundtrack (I'm actually kinda embarrased about that)
4. "Change Your Mind" Better that Ezra
5. "My Name is Jonas" Weezer
6. "I Hear a Symphony" the Supremes
7. "Bailamos" Enrique Iglesias (ok, that one's kinda embarrasing too...)
8. "Phantom of the Opera"
9. "At My Door" Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
10. "Greensleeves" Loreena McKennitt

Like Rebecca's comment, none of my classical or world came up. This is kinda funny, 'cause when I do those email/blog surveys where you ask a question and are supposed to insert a random title as the answer, I always get either something like "Sonatta in G Minor" or some celtic thing that I don't know what it means.

Frank Gibson said...

To those of you who clicked the little "email follow up comments" box...

Becky, Thanks for playing along! Listening to the Imperial March in headphones, while going about your daily routine, has got to cast the world in a peculiar light. You probably want to do the "force throat crush" number on the dry cleaner who messed up your pants.

Liz, Bailamos is a pretty cool song, no shame there. The Anastasia sounstrack, though... You get mad points for multiculturalism.

All in all, I have really, REALLY eclectic friends. That's pretty cool.