Archive for August 4th, 2007

Musical Mood Check

Posted August 4, 2007 By Dave Thomer

I’ve been trying to put together some more iTunes playlists lately, even though I love just taking my whole library and sticking it on shuffle. It’s the closest thing to WDAVE I’m likely to get. But sometimes it ain’t a bad idea to have a defined playlist to fit a particular mood. Here’s my latest effort for a fairly up-tempo, reasonably upbeat mood. It’s heavy on the 90s alt-pop but then again, so is most of my library:

  1. All This Time – Sting
  2. Under the Milky Way – The Church
  3. Regret – New Order
  4. What Would You Say – Dave Matthews Band
  5. Pain Lies on the Riverside – Live
  6. Human Kindness – Neil Finn
  7. Lost Horizons – Gin Blossoms
  8. Big Bar Fight – Greg Edmonson (Firefly Soundtrack)
  9. Tried to Be True – Indigo Girls
  10. This Is Us – Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris
  11. The Boy in the Bubble – Paul Simon
  12. Someday, Someway – Marshall Crenshaw
  13. Wait – Matthew Sweet
  14. Seen the Doctor – Michael Penn
  15. Cruel to Be Kind – Nick Lowe
  16. Annie Get Your Gun – Squeeze
  17. Stupid Songs About Love – Candy Apple Black (Joie Calio from dada)
  18. Crystal Village – Pete Yorn
  19. A Friend of Pat Robertson – dada
  20. Bittersweet Me – R.E.M.
  21. Main Title 1st Season (Extended) – Christopher Franke (Babylon 5 Vol. II)
  22. Special – Garbage
  23. Come Down – Toad the Wet Sprocket
  24. Even a Child – Crowded House
  25. How Could You Want Him (When You Know You Can Have Me) – Spin Doctors

The New Order song is one of those that is utterly tied to a specific memory. I believe this was the summer after I graduated from high school, and I was walking down Roosevelt Boulevard to the bus stop. I was listening to the radio on my Walkman, back when they were big enough to hold cassette players, and that song came on. As the “I would like a place I can call my own” chorus came out, I suddenly had such a rush of energy that I was practically jumping out of my skin. I’m thinking it was the fear and exhilaration of what was coming next, but regardless, I can’t help but smile when I hear the song.

Tried to Be True lets me sneak a second R.E.M. song on here, sort of, since Berry, Buck and Mills all play on the track.

I won a poster while I was on a college visit because I recognized Pain Lies on the Riverside when the campus radio station started playing it. Pretty sure it was a Spin Doctors poster.

Seen the Doctor is actually the first Michael Penn song I ever heard. Then I went back and found out about No Myth and the rest of March. I’m a slow learner sometimes.

I’m experimenting with sticking some of my soundtrack instrumental tracks on playlists with the pop songs. I think it’s working OK.

OK, I’ll open the floor for comments where you can all question my musical taste. 🙂