More music thoughts

[tahnan]

I don't even listen to that much music. But once I'd connected to the iTunes music store, I started poking around the celebrity music lists. And it's fascinating--Mariah Carey lists a lot of music that sounds like Mariah Carey. Including two by herself, which I think is incredibly self-indulgent. But some people...

Barry Manilow, of all people, has a more diverse list than I would have thought. Not incredibly so, but I wouldn't have expected any Neil Young on his list. Or Peter Gabriel, for that matter. Nor did I expect Andrew Lloyd Webber to include anything by Eminem. (A number of people included Eminem's "Lose Yourself", actually.)

I wouldn't have pegged Sammy Hagar as a big surf-music fan, but his list is all beach music--Jan and Dean, two by the Surfaris, two Beach Boys, a Jimmy Buffett. I love Alice Cooper for saying "Bob Dylan is definitely weirder than me" and calling "Smells Like Teen Spirit" "one of those songs that I kick myself for not writing", and for generally having music from more than one decade. Even Sting's collection is kind of surprising--Peter Gabriel, sure, but I don't think I would have pegged him as a Springsteen fan, or James Taylor, and certainly not "Big Bottom" by Spinal Tap.

Alanis Morissette lists Stevie Wonder's cover of the Beatles' "We Can Work it Out," which I have to say is better than the original.

Sheryl Crow, for someone who sings so much fluffy upbeat music, included a whole lot of depressing songs (Johnny Cash's "Hurt"; "Landslide"; "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"; "The Needle and the Damage Done"; "Someone Saved My Life Tonight"...)

Three different songs on three different playlists from Jeff Buckley's "Grace", so that's now on my list of things to find; also a lot of Rufus Wainwright (except on his own list, which did have a few songs by his father--but how can you blame him for including "Rufus is a Tit Man"? As he puts it, "Not many people can boast a song written about them breastfeeding"), so I might actually have to start poking around for his stuff, too.

Sorry, not a lot of substance to this post. For some reason, though, the whole idea of mixes and remixes and covers and lists have been kicking around in my head for a few weeks now.

Comments

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

Hrmm. I dunno how much of Sheryl Crow I'd tag as fluffy and upbeat.
If It Makes You Happy. My Favorite Mistake. First Cut Is the Deepest. Strong Enough. Lots of very dark, or at least bitter, stuff. Even my favorite song, Steve McQueen, is about running away and not having to deal with shit because you can run faster than it can.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Well, OK. My fault for having "Soak Up the Sun" be the first thing that came to mind. And that "All I Wanna Do" song, which for all that the lyrics are kind of odd, had a needlessly boppy tune.

[thedan.livejournal.com]

I would argue that even if lyrically those four songs are dark and bitter, musically they're all pretty upbeat. (At least the first three.)

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

'Steve McQueen' is definitely upbeat. I like to scream along with it in the car. Sometimes there's something very attractive about You'll never catch me tonight.

[laurenhat.livejournal.com]

I definitely recommend Grace. I think it's a little uneven, but generally really good stuff. Sometimes spine-tinglingly so.

I haven't checked out celebrity music lists, but it sounds fun. I think I'll go take a peek...

P.S.

[laurenhat.livejournal.com]

*wave* Hi! I just rejoined LJ after long dormancy, but under a new name (too lazy to adapt the old account to new needs, really). I'm still neural, though. :)

[lemurtanis.livejournal.com]

I've got both Grace and a bunch of Rufus, if you want to borrow them.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

I may; in the meantime, it gives me something specific to poke around for in used CD stores.

[ojouchan.livejournal.com]

You know who's list scares me? RuPaul. *shudder*

[mildmannered.livejournal.com]

Rufus W. and Jeff Buckley are two-thirds of my Gay Songwriter Trinity, the son and holy ghost respectively. The father is Stephin Merritt.

They are all pretty incredible. "Grace" is a brilliant album, and you should get a copy of Rufus' "Want One."

I have a feeling most of those celeb playlists are made up by people's publicists' assistants, though.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Do you think? Mostly they come with comments from the celebrities, often explaining on a song-by-song basis why they picked that one. (And while Russell Crowe likely has a publicist, I doubt that Rufus Wainwright or Suzanne Vega is so busy that they couldn't pick out a playlist.)