Chances are that none of us are listening to as much music in our cars as we used to, but the songs and artists we all love to enjoy are always one click or tap away. I’ve been spending a lot more time in new cars lately, which will most likely spur me to finally pay for Spotify Premium at some point in the near future. I’m sure your recommendations will also encourage me to as well, as these posts always generate great discussions.
Anyway, here’s a sample of what I’m currently listening to.
Why aren’t we talking about T. Rex? Seriously. In college I had some acquaintances who loved classic rock and they never mentioned Marc Bolan or any of the bands he played in. Can anyone explain why? Anyway, despite the band’s output being cut short by Bolan’s death, there’s still a decent amount of T. Rex albums to enjoy. Which is a good thing, because they rock.
I’ve been splitting my time between listening to incredibly cynical music and more uplifting stuff. “Faith” clearly belongs to the sillier side of that spectrum. I was actually reminded of this song because it’s parodied very briefly in an episode of Community, which I recently rewatched because TV comedies are basically the only shows I can stomach right now. Anyway, this is a surprisingly great morning song and I love it.
All of my picks have so far been from deceased musicians. But this last one stings the most, as Adam Schlesinger penned it. Schlesinger passed away earlier this year from Covid and it really bummed me out because I am a huge fan of Fountains of Wayne, the band he belonged to. And of course this song is one of the reasons why he was so great. He’s also one of the reasons why Crazy Ex-Girlfriend was such an excellent show, as he consulted on a number of the musical bits. Anyway, “That Thing You Do!” is a pretty insane song because it’s a catchy 60s tune that would have easily fit into an early Beatles album yet it was still a popular release in 1997. Purposely anachronistic songs are rare. At least I think they are. But this one deserves to be remembered, as does Schlesinger, although I think his legacy will always be with us in some way.
The movie itself is an enjoyable watch but hardly essential.
Pop punk is in right now, at least for me. Angst is a legitimate feeling to have these days, so naturally, bands like Blink-182, Green Day, and the other bands that I had on rotation in high school are back in play. “American Idiot” is unfortunately just as relevant than ever and the album of the same name has aged extremely well. Green Day’s older stuff is also still good, especially Dookie.
Like T. Rex, it’s criminal how little we discuss Elvis Costello. I’ve always appreciated him from afar but delved a bit deeper into his work when I purchased My Aim Is True and This Year’s Model from a record store last year. But this is the song that’s most fitting for the current atmosphere. I’m hoping there’s at least one Costello fanatic among us who can tell me if any of his stuff after Mighty Like A Rose is worth exploring.
Despite all the talk about me needing to listen to angst-ridden songs and more cynical stuff, my summer was actually pretty good and I’m in about as good of a mood as can be expected given the state of everything right now. I’ve gotten plenty of driving in this season, as you’ll soon read about. Haim’s latest album, Women in Music Pt. III, definitely helped keep things positive. I’ve recommended this band before, but felt compelled to once again feature them, as the three sisters make same damn fine music. They’re more confident than ever and this time around they really leaned into their influences. They effortlessly blend Fleetwood Mac, Sheryl Crow, modern indie rock, and even some hip hop into their work. This album is simply stellar front to back.
Albums I’m about to dive into: The Strokes, The New Abnormal; Bright Eyes, Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was.
So what are you currently listening to?
The British Home Front Radio Service (a service of the UK 1940s Radio Station): http://www.1940sukradio.co.uk
Only this summer did I discover the Seattle band The Sonics. They rock; be forewarned. The release “Psycho-Sonic” will do just fine.
The band dates to the mid-’60s and is still playing local gigs in Seattle.
I am quite sure that I will be the only one (like that’s unusual?) but I have been listening to the youTube channel of Tim Gracyk. He is a record collector whose offerings run from some of the very earliest recorded music from the 1880s (if not before) into the 1960s. The really old stuff is interesting in an archaeological kind of way, then there will be a vintage jazz gem that bubbles up often enough to keep me tuned in.
At some point I will leave my “craving something new (to me) phase and will get back into something familiar, but I’m not yet sure what that will be.
Seattle radio sucks. It’s either country or stations playing “Back in Black” and “Hotel California” on an endless loop, so I tended to listen to talk radio. June rolled around and I was thoroughly tired of the saturation of talk about COVID and civil unrest on the radio.
I finally added Sirius XM to my car and really like it. It’s fun to discover or rediscover bands and my music listening has become a lot more diverse in a good way. I’ve started buying a lot more music too. Given the difficult circumstances surrounding 2020, I’ve enjoyed the bubble away from the misery when I drive.
I’ve had SiriusXM for ages now, and my favorite channels are “Deep Tracks”, “First Wave”, and “Lithium”, so I have my bases covered from the late 60s to the early 90s.
I’m also a huge fan of “American Idiot” (album as well as song), but also listen to John Prine (also lost to Covid), Little Feat, Elvis C, and the Clash.
Exactly at this moment I am listening to my neighbor’s lawnmower as I try to hear my office zoom call from my laptop’s tinny speakers…
If you’re into Declan MacManus aka Elvis C, Live at the El Mocambo might be a good album to track down. It’s from a concert right after My Aim Is True was released.
Good to follow with some Nick Lowe (produced Costello) and his spin offs -Little Village, Rockpile. Spice it up with some Webb Wilder, Reverend Horton Heat, Tommy Storm Trio, The Devils Daughters. All play well in the car. Wind down with some Miles -Kind of Blue or Songs from Spain.
And if you like Nick Lowe, a couple of car-themed songs variously recorded by him or his cohorts, are “Crawling from the Wreckage” and “Police Car” (with the lyrics “… I got a V8 heart … “ . Since it’s British and from the ‘70’s when Jaguars were not V8, is it a Daimler or a Rover?).
What have I been listening to this summer? Air nailers. After a hellacious hail storm in March, every house in town has been getting the roof replaced. It sounds like a war zone at times.
Also the last week or so I’ve been listening to the marching band at the new high school practice; their property is contiguous to mine. It’s irritating the hell out of me. It has been built since we purchased so I can be scathing about it.
Otherwise, it’s been the birds as I did all my office work on the deck yesterday. It was glorious.
You’re not the only one who’s going to be irritated. 8 years after moving here, our city changed its general plan and cleared the way for a nice big high school to be plopped on the property adjacent to our townhouse development. Construction began this week. I can hardly wait.
My sympathies during this trying time.
Not only was the building loud but the site work consisted of multiple blasts per day as there is an abundance of rock around here. A big hill was plateaued for the building.
It’s all in how you look at it. I’ve lived next to a middle school for twenty years. I’ve grown to like the background noise and hubbub when the kids are out, and I’ve missed that this year. Their voices remind me that it’s about all about me and my own purposes; that another batch of imperfect humans is coming along to take my place. A high school can be noisier than a middle school of course. But as a former marching band parent, I’d probably dig that too. Hint- they sound better as the season ripens.
Whatever I listen to, gets stuck on my elder son (4 years old), so it gets played and replayed over and over. Spotify knows me all too well, so quite quickly arrived at suggestions of music I used to listen too while I was growing up. Luckily I never succumbed to pure garbage but the finer stuff.
I’ll spare you the entire list but not long ago, it was Cold Chisel and Hoodoo Gurus (Australian pub rock), but now we’re deep into Talk Talk, that revolutionary 1980s band that started as New-Romantics-Sinth-Pop but through the visionary talents of their singer and prime song-writer, Mark Hollis, turned into something beyond definition- well, it was at the time. They remain the most under-rated band in the general public but most influential among other artists that followed. You might say there would be no Radio Head (and many more) without Talk talk. The revolutionary album, “Spirit of Eden” (1988) was a shock to their record company, but not only did Hollis and co wouldn’t let the EMI people change a thing, they refused to make videos or go on tour in support of the album (saying there’s no way to recreate the music onstage). Of course, in real time this went against the band, but after a few decades this enigmatic behavior gives the album a stronger case.
Once Hollis finished with their last album in 1991 and his solo album in 1998- he retired, never to record or perform again, saying he’d reached what he set out to do and had no business trying to top himself, thus gained further respect as a man who would not be tarnished by comebacks and other persuasions. I discovered recently the man has passed away in February 2019, after “a short illness”, as reported.
I got carried away there… I’ll leave you with some of their known stuff- those who were there in the 1980s should recognize a tune or two:
Lol about the 4 year old.
He’s 24 this week, but my son could belt out “Behind Blue Eyes” by age 6. (That’s still my favorite Who song. (The answer to the question “Beatles or Stones” is always “Who!”))
The radio stations in NOLA are lacking.
While in my car, my CD collection of ’70s & ’80s Rock & Roll:
The Police Level 42
The Cure REM
The Pretenders Christopher Cross
Talk Talk Chicago
America MeatLoaf
Depeche Mode AeroSmith
Cheap Trick
Also, I have a few from the ’60s:
Supremes
Temptations
Sony & Cher
While at home, Pandora with the same type of music as above.
Funny that you should lead with T-Rex, because I’d just made an appointment with myself to listen to Electric Warrior this weekend (via my coveted multichannel DVD-A version). I didn’t even know about this band until a few years ago, and it amazes me how they’re ignored/looked down upon. (But considering the number of times Electric Warrior has been reissued, T-Rex must be a secret guilty pleasure for a lot of people!)
There’s a sort of automotive tie-in to this in that I would love to have a car stereo that offers true discrete surround sound. I’d also want it to play DVD-A and SACD disks, and of course that’s never going to happen these days. The only car I’ve ever heard of that had a DVD-A deck and true surround was the first-gen Acura TL. Are there others?
I’m mostly a classical fan for serious listening, but for Friday cocktail hour it’s typically Sinatra, Peggy Lee, and the other masters of the Great American Songbook. I have a newly purchased album by the Ray McKinley incarnation of the Glenn Miller Band scheduled for tonight, though.
The UK 1940s stations that Ed mentioned above are great, and there’s a wealth of great jazz stations via the Internet. An amazing number, really, considering what a minority interest it now is.
Seconding on wanting SACD/DVD-A in cars. I don’t have a huge number of SACDs; a lot of them are issues of three-channel masters from the ’50s and early ’60s from RCA and Mercury. But real surround ones are good.
Part of my work life is as a professional church organist, having majored in organ performance in college. So my immersion in classical music is deep and broad, and it’s a huge part of my life. Not much chance to listen in the car these days because I drive only a couple of days a week now, but sometimes while I’m working I get trapped in the rabbit holes of YouTube. These days surprising things are cropping up as musicians figure out how to do bigger and bigger things virtually. A classical a cappella group from England, Stile Antico, recently put together a video of a masterpiece of English Renaissance music, Thomas Tallis’ “Spem in alium,” written for forty individual parts, divided up into eight choirs. (Classical choral geeks consider it a sort of Mt. Everest among many, because it takes a lot to put a performance together.)
The singers were all in their homes, and each singer recorded several parts. They must have had a reference with which to keep tempo. A member of the ensemble joined these forty files into a single entity with a video grid that lets the viewer see the eight choirs as they enter and leave and the texture gets richer or lighter. Impressive use of technology, and impressive for letting musicians do their stuff under difficult circumstances with gorgeous results.
My wife is an amateur musician, and her community band recorded a piece earlier this year where each musician played individually. Each musician was given a “click track” to follow, so they could keep tempo. My wife wore headphones to listen to it, but I think some folks just had it playing softly in the background.
And I can’t fathom the complexity involved for whoever had to piece all of the individual players together.
All in all, it was a tremendous amount of work to produce a piece that lasted a few minutes, but at least it was something. And it was interesting for me to watch how it’s done.
Unfortunately audio is pretty much ignored by automotive journalists, and car systems are pretty much ignored by the audiophile community — a large part of which also turns up its nose at multichannel. So it’s difficult to get good information.
Optical drives, especially those that support both SACD and DVD, are fading from cars. But my quick glance at some online forums suggests that a few manufacturers (Acura primarily) offer systems that will play five-channel FLAC files as intended, from USB sticks. Others such as Tesla tout their “immersive audio” but just ignore the extra channels.
If I drove enough any more to justify it and needed a new car, I’d be taking test music to an Acura showroom. Having to rip all my multichannel music and copy it onto a USB stick would be inconvenient, but on the other hand many SACD and DVD-A discs are now scarce and would be expensive to replace, so I probably wouldn’t want to cart them around in a car anyway.
It’s so important to test the stereo. When buying my wife’s VW Tiguan, I didn’t, and it was a mistake. The 2013s had downgraded speakers, and it was painful to listen to music in that car. Even on long drives, I’d have to shut it off. Though it was loaded with options and cost $38K, they couldn’t have invested more than $50 in the speakers, combined. I never upgraded them because my wife didn’t care. Thankfully, it’s gone now.
My current Ford with the upgraded Sony system sounds great. In a car, that means I can hear the bass and treble frequencies clearly without excessive volume of midrange distortion. I’ve been reasonably happy with the sound in all my cars — including one with no radio at all, but a great engine note — but that Tiguan was the exception.
Thankyou for posting this gorgeous performance of Spem in Alium. What an achievement, they sound like they’re being led by a conductor.
I’m rebuilding my vinyl collection that I had in high school and my Mom threw out when I left home. These were my scores last weekend. The Ozzys are originals
I have all of those except Piece of Mind (I’m in the minority preferring Paul Di’Anno to Bruce Dickenson, so substitute that vinyl with Killers). High and Dry is such an underrated hard rock album, I thought Def Leppard was a pop rock band until I gave that one a spin.
The Ozzys are gems too, those albums were both butchered by remasters. They cut entire solo fills out of BATM
My antique type of car radio is standard tuned to our Radio 2 station. About 3 months ago, I heard the last and latest song that really impressed me, it was on said station: Orville Peck’s No Glory in the West.
Don’t like Top 40, 50, 100 (or whatever the number) music. The more obscure and unknown, the better. Back in the early eighties, in my teens, I discovered and liked The Gun Club (Jeffrey Lee Pierce), TC Matic (from Belgium), the early ZZ Top albums, Robert Johnson, and many others. They all had in common that none of my friends or classmates had ever heard of them. Things have never changed since.
If you like T-Rex (especially “Electric Warrior”), there’s absolutely no reason not to listen to “The Slider” and “Tanx.” All three albums are great if you like that kind of thing.
And of course T. Rex has a car-themed song too, “Jeepster”. I was a big fan in high school and was a bit bemused (but pleased) when our daughter, born in the ‘90’s, picked up on Marc Bolan un-influenced by me. Now, I pretty much listen to NPR or the local station which plays a fine blend of Americana plus selected classic rock (I hate that term).
I have a wide selection on my USB stick in each car, from Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Rush, and the Tragically Hip, to R&B tunes from the Stylistics, Marvin Gaye, and Kool and the Gang. I have thousands of cuts on each stick.
From the FM dial I take in 91.7 Giant FM from St. Catharines (Classic Rock), or Q107 in Toronto (Rock).
If I need a sports talk fix, it’s the FAN590 or TSN Radio 1050 in Toronto. I will listen to WGR550 in Buffalo to hear Buffalo sports talk.
two podcasts I’ll recommend:
1. Easy Ed’s Variety Hour (tagline – hillbilly, rockabilly, R&B, early 50’s/60’s rock and roll): http://easy-ed.net/ and on iTunes, etc. Comes out of my local college radio station WMFO (Tufts University)
2. Rock-N-Roll Manifesto (tagline – music you need to hear). Plays new punk, old punk, true country, smatterings of chuck berry, older rolling stones. Just a great eclectic mix. has a weekly beer review, too. http://rocknrollmanifesto.realpunkradio.com/ and all your favorite podcast outposts
Both of these have led me to all sorts of new and old music, and I’ve ended up buying bunch through bandcamp.com (bandcamp is another great source for music discovery, by the way)
I can’t argue with any of Edward’s picks. And I can certainly relate to the need for upbeat, bubblegum positivity. I was gifted a set of Bose Soundsport Free wireless headphones for Christmas last year, and only recently have started to make regular use of them to block out the world and its noise. In addition to a bit of Elvis Costello and more than a smattering of George Michael I’ll throw in some Marshall Crenshaw now and then. Not one to limit myself to sounds of the past, I’ll sheepishly admit to a bizarre affinity for Meghan Trainor, an absolute obsession with Miley Cyrus, and yes…I’m a 53 year old man who actually likes Taylor Swift.
For Sunday afternoons in the kitchen, it’s all Ella Fitzgerald all the time.
I’ll join you as a sort of closet Swiftie…”1989″ was pretty much the “house CD” in the 911 for several years. My daughter got me to appreciate her music a few years prior and now some other good friends a decade younger than me are fans too who keep me current on T.S.
American Idiot came out when I was in high school too, I didn’t like it but I remember how huge it was. I was a metalhead though, and pop punk was a no-go. This summer I’ve been listening to the same four albums I listened to back then.
I am currently addicted to Bob Moses, particularly to the irresistible ear-worm “Tearing Me Up.” Also very much enjoying the Level 42 playlist I put together.
I like old stuff, but I like new stuff too!
I love “This Year’s Model” and I lived that album like I lived everything Costello did from 1978 to 1988. I know the words to almost everything he put out in that decade. I remember having an argument with my brother who was better – Elvis Costello of Talking Heads. I still love them both.
Thanks for the TalkTalk stuff too. They were a great band and I loved their music.
With my kids, I try to get them to listen to good stuff of every genre and style. My youngest shocked her 2nd Grade music teacher by singing Petula Clark’s “Downtown” word for word a few years ago. (Ollie also loves “Rose Garden”, btw) – today, my kids are fully into listening to a whole lot of pop crap. But they know better. My oldest is into K-Pop Korean boy bands and some Japanese virtual groups, and some of it is pretty catchy even if the lyrics aren’t in English.
A period of my life I attended university in Niedersachsen so I have a hard love for Sportfreunde Stiller, Toten Hosen, and Cro. I loved Deutche Rap and their garage band sounds. Tokyo Hotel was damn good too.
This week I was listening to my favorite Industrial stuff – Nine Inch Nails, Mussolini Headkick, My Life With the Thrill Kill Cult, Ministry, and I love the 1990s Jangle Rock. Trip Hop like Portishead. As you can see, my tastes are a bit eclectic. My kids play me new stuff all the time, and it seems like I can show them where I heard similar sounds 30-50 years earlier.
New stuff? I am a huge fan of Tame Impala. Their new album is mind blowing and fun. Still love Hot Chip and wish Americans would discover them. Don’t get me started on the Decemberists – I’ve been a fan since 2000 or so, and almost a groupie on their last tour. Pathetic I know. They were my birthday gift last year and my ticket to their backstage was through one of their background singers who my wife went to school with.
But with the average age of a classic rock star approaching 75, rock is slowly dying off and being replaced by something pretty damn strange, digital and not human.
I used to listen to Country music, but drifted away from it about a decade ago because I didn’t like much of the newer music. And since then I’ve just had other priorities, so I haven’t kept up with my former musical interests at all.
But this year, being stuck at home for a good chunk of time, I went looking for some new music that I’d like. I found it in faraway places.
First, Irish country music is really great. Performers that I’d never heard of before, such as Lisa McHugh and others, are absolutely outstanding.
Also, I discovered South African Afrikaans-language music – again, great stuff and very much to my liking, but with a challenge of not understanding the language. Of the Afrikaans performers I’ve been listening to, Ricus Nel has become the favorite in our household. My daughters also got interested in Afrikaans music, and then wanted to learn the language, so we’re trying to teach it to ourselves.
It’s all rather amusing, and not something I would have expected, say, a year ago.
Currently and for the first time in years listening to :
my discovery of the summer is the Mongolian heavy metal band The Hu
I’ve also occasionally pulled up Long Gone Dead by Rank and File and my Squeeze singles collection.
As an aside, the T Rex song Children of the Revolution has the line “Terraplane in the pouring rain” which may be the only pop music reference to the Hudson Terraplane..
I assume “Terraplane Blues” by Robert Johnson doesn’t count because it’s blues, not pop?
Thanks to a couple of teenagers in my house, this has been in pretty constant play for much of the summer. It’s incredibly addictive…
https://youtu.be/N-JoG9GFNPM
My scooter doesn’t have a sound system of course (!), but I listen to all kinds of stuff at home, often ‘binge-listening’ to something for a week or more at a time. Last week it was Grieg, the week before Smetana, before that Erutan and Rainbow’s Night. Currently listening to The Essential Alan Parsons Project; I have most of their stuff on vinyl but the turntable’s broken. My parents’ old radiogram still works, but I’m not about to try paying good vinyl on that!
Helmet.
Even though nothing really changed for me during this pandemic (except the addition of a face covering to my daily attire) because I am “essential” -mechanic…YAY!-, I needed something a little harder than my usual 80s/90s/early 00s indie music/underground punk rock and hip hop. I am a product of my generation at age 40….
Helmet’s album Meantime has helped with the slight angst I am feeling as my side hustles have slowed (outdoor rec and restaurant related) and I have had to tighten finances. When I am feeling low, I rock out to the harder than punk but not quite metal of Page Hamilton and crew. This album influenced me in 1992 and again in 2020. Plus it makes turning a wrench that much more enjoyable.
FWIW I do catch NPR on my 30 minute each way commute because Public Radio.
And headlines……*cringe
I like The Steps track – they’d be great to hear live in a small venue. And Talk Talk’s ‘It’s My Life’ is still in my YouTube favourites list, along with several Erasure tracks (Chains of Love, A Little Respect). Great ’80’s dance music.
My go-to music source for several years has been KCRW’s ‘Eclectic 24’ stream, a no-talk continuous stream of contemporary music chosen by the multiple DJ’s of that Los Angeles NPR station. It’s an excellent way to find new artists to listen to and appreciate. Highly recommended.
One of my current ear worms is The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights’. It’s a dark, disturbing video, but hypnotic and powerful. For CC content, it also features a Mercedes-AMG roadster. I love electronic / r&b, songs that end up playing in your head all day. 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NRXx6U8ABQ
At the other end of the scale is a new discovery for me, Etta Jones’ amazing 1963 recording of ‘Nature Boy’, which I played almost daily for the first half of this year. Ditto Nina Simone’s in-your-face ‘I Put a Spell on You’ from 1965.
Well, driving to Phoenix reminded me that I don’t have Sirius in the truck and since everyone else in the car had podcasts and music downloaded on their phones with headphones I dug deep into the center console and found a few CDs –
– The Airborne Toxic Event’s first album that I played over and over she we moved to CO and I found myself playing multiple times again
– Concrete Blinde’s Bloodlettling which is as good as it ever was
– Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill which I found on the ground in a junkyard last year and plays well despite some scratches and is even better thirty years later that it was new and
– Lynyrd Skynyrd – not sure which album, also a junkyard find, but it’s different from the others and not bad either so it got a couple of rotations too.
-Sparks’ Greatest Hits – great back in High School and just as good now. A highly quirky under appreciated band.
Absolutely adore Sparks. Started listening to them when they were called Halfnelson, and one of the few bands I keep current.
One thousand + vinyl albums in my personal collection. Three thousand + still sealed vinyl albums that I can no longer sell on the internet because; well, there’s no postal service out of my town.
I’ve been ‘stealing’ from my stock, hitting the charity shops and know junkshops, bringing it all home and digitalizing it to MP3. I’ve adopted the motto “all music is good music”. It’s very liberating. I’ve now nearly one thousand hours which I rotate through my phone to play whilst driving. Oldest track in my collection would be Scott Joplin from 1896, played by these splendidly dressed gentlemen.
Car stuff for me is primarily Pandora with my phone plugged into the stereo. I’ve got a number of self-explanatory channels:
Judas Priest
Eurythmics
The Ripchords (you gotta do this if you want 60’s car music, don’t even try Beach Boys)
Lady Gaga
Sex Pistols
Dick Dale
George Thorogood
Stooges
Surf Rock
Techno
Yardbirds
And a thing called “The Erie Channel” which I’ve put together over the past 10+ years consisting of all the stuff I listened to when I lived in Erie, PA 1968-1977. Mostly Glam Rock, lots of Roxy Music, and a lot of Brian Eno’s ambient stuff.
Today was Judas Priest.
My collections of LP’s, cassettes, and CD’s rarely get touched anymore.
I’ve got piles of Lp’s, 78’s, cassettes and 8 tracks. I mostly listen to radio or Youtube now. Sirious XM has some great channels and Youtube has exposed me to some great acts that I never would have known about as well as reuniting me with some old favorites from out of the cobwebs that might have slipped out of my focus. Some newer talent that I’ve found is the “Post Modern Jukebox”, “The Lake Street Dive” “The Crowquill Night Owls”……and an amazingly talented classical pianist “Valentina Lisitsa”. I’ve also been getting reacquainted with “Jefferson Starship”.
I have an older unused smartphone that I use for music to plug and play in the car. The songs are always changing but today they include:
Audioslave, Ozzy, Level 42, Climax Blues Band, Wetton/Downes, The Glitch Mob, Ramin Djawadi, Pet Shop Boys, Simon Linsteadt, Love Unlimited Orchestra, Herb Alpert, Daft Punk, Boz Skaggs, Steely Dan, Zeppelin, John Lennon, Radiohead, The Power Station, America…
.
Wait for it…
.
and Ke$ha.
Having discovered the joys of Spotify last year, I’m like a kid in a candy store.
I can appreciate music from many genres except classical,.
Last year according to Spotify, Warren Zevon was my most played artist, Going through a Drive-By Truckers phase at the moment.
But right now , a classic rock playlist is going.
Bob Segers “Against the Wind” coming to an end, “Let the cowboys ride !!” while the Hammond gently howls .
Music is one of life’s great pleasures for sure.
Now it’s Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers with “Roadrunner.”
“Roadrunner, roadrunneeeerrr!!!” 🙂 I love that song, too.
I happened upon what I feel to be the absolute greatest cover of all time on YouTube. Artist Michelle Kwan covers Metallica One playing the ancient guzheng instrument. It’s as though the whole band (less vocals) flows through a single instrument. I beg all metalheads to give it a listen.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DTNn-iUT6xh4&ved=2ahUKEwiMpfvmufTrAhXaUs0KHevcBO4Qo7QBMAJ6BAgJEAE&usg=AOvVaw1CvqXdYVrB2Xjr4YxUsTc1
My musical tastes differ from most here: primarily classical, with occasional forays into guilty-pleasure mood music and American standards. In those genres, options in broadcast radio in my area are limited to one classical music FM station; that’s it. In one car, a Sirius satellite radio offers various additional choices from Sirius/XM, but not all they have, because some of their channels are SIrius-only, others are XM-only.
All the cars have CD players, and one of them, with an aftermarket Sony unit in the dash, can play music on a removable USB drive. The ones with an auxiliary jack can play music stored on my phone through a cable, the others do it with an FM transmitter/adapter.
I like a lot of the more “bombastic” classical stuff, and a lot of movie music. I have a USB stick with about 40 hours worth of all kinds of stuff in my car, and a backup of it on my HDD. I rarely listen to Sirius, other than some of the comedy and Howard Stern, just because it sounds so damn bad.
Sirius… I don’t know what the digital bitrate might be, other than “abysmally low.” I can hear the artifacts when the car is stopped. Probably could when moving, too, but really should be paying attention to driving!
Covid has been a delight this year, so every morning I’ve been revitalized by these two:
My favorite artist Kylie Minogue’s latest:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l73FJBnjp28&app=desktop&persist_app=1
Dua Lipa’s remix of Love is Religion off of Club Future Nostalgia:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVANGYL5cJs
Who needs coffee?
If you liked those 2 Elvis Costello albums then go ahead and get Trust. A little different but still good.
If I’m ever driving out west then satellite Willies Roadhouse seems appropriate
For a totally fun and uplifting experience, you should check out “Jamel_AKA_Jamal” on Youtube. This is a younger guy (40’s) who does reaction videos on music of ALL genres. It is so JOYFUL to see him react to the songs that he’s (sometimes) never heard, but that we took for granted! He is singlehandedly educating a lot of people about the universality of music and its’ ability to create a shared experience. Here’s a MILD example LOL!:
I’ll second the recommendation on “That thing You Do” as a song and a movie. RIP Adam Schelsinger and John Prine too esp “Tree of Forgiveness”. Heavy rotation:
Jason Isbel -“Here We Rest”
The Beths
Wilco- “Summerteeth” and “AM”
Lifter Puller-“Half Dead and Dynamite”
My usual listens tend to be mellower but complicated – a lot of 70s prog, certain country rock, Dead etc. For much of the last few years I’ve been quite into Trample by Turtles.
But right now I am feeling a lot darker and indeed angry, so I’ve moved from prog towards some prog metal. OSI and Fates Warning started the trend early in the year but for the last month I’m pretty obsessed with Pain of Salvation and their latest album Panther.
TbT:
PoS:
I mostly stream blues and R&B radio shows, copy them as MP3s to a USB stick, and play them in the car. I stream these stations:
KEXP, Seattle
KDHX, St. Louis
WEVL, Memphis
WWOZ, New Orleans
Given my musical taste, I think it’s no coincidence that three of those cities are on the same river.
Been on a Canadian binge lately.
Jeff Healey. Every day whether I need it or not.
Much Triumph, April Wine, and Rush as well…..
Just terminated Spotify Premium after three month discount. On Pandora trial now. Pandora suits me a little better, but both are good. My playlists are all over the place, depending on my mood, but burnt out on classic rock a long time ago. Harry Belafonte is playing as I write this, part of a Jimmy Buffet inspired channel. I sometimes go for Dean Martin/Leo Monte/Sinatra, ’90’s Alternative, such as Weezer/311/Sublime, classic country, surf rock, Hawaiian, and very small doses of modern country.
In the car it is usually stations with frequent traffic reports because this is Los Angeles.
Since REAL rock is dead, and all rap AND pop music all sounds alike, I switched to 1940s era Big Bands and Jazz music on Sirius radio.I also enjoy classic music and talk radio.It`s hard to find any decent pre MTV rock in my neck of the woods,so this is what i`m listening to now. Hell, I don`t even know ANY of the artists that are nominated in all those never ending music awards shows.
Skype calls and meetings….
I listen to a lot of New Wave (Like a lot of you guys do too! Glad to see I’m not the outcast like I usually am). I have an XM receiever in my Saab, so I’m mostly tuned into First Wave (Channel 33). They have a TON of cool stuff on that channel. If you want to listen to that type of music without paying for XM, I strongly recommend KROQ’s HD-2 stream (“The Roq of the 80s”)- I listen to that at the office a lot too.
If you want a really amazing “car song”, here’s one you probably haven’t heard! One of my favorites, from the great Stan Ridgway, “Drive, She Said”:
Great thread!
Thanks for all you contributions!
It made for a real nice weekend day listening to new-to-me music!