You Can’t Hurry LOVE
October 20th, 2006
I like Phil Collins. There. I said it. I’m out of my Collins’ closet. Against All Odds, Two Hearts, In the Air Tonight, Another day in Paradise. Classic stuff. Also on the depths of my ipod (ok, it’s only 2GB, so depths is a bit of an overstatement) you’ll find Paul Simon (Graceland), Hootie and the Blowfish, and Pure Moods – that compilation from a few years back that has stuff like Tubular Bells and Jean Michelle Jarre on it.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m ashamed that I like these musicians, more that they’re not widely considered that hip, and it’s really none of anyone’s business what I listen to. So it came as a bit of a shock yesterday to find that someone docked my ipod in the communal stereo and pressed shuffle. Now, LOVE can be slightly snobbish when it comes to music taste – I’ve learnt that to get a positive response to the question “What’s that CD you’ve bought?” you generally need to reply: “Oh it’s by a six-foot transsexual from Manhattan” or “Yeah, it’s the second album by that depressed one-legged midget from Nebraska”. They’re basically a tough audience, and I was left praying that one of my ‘cooler’ songs would come on. (It really doesn’t get that cool, but I’m not going to get crucified for liking the Arctic Monkeys or something)
Track one: Can’t stand me now by the Libertines: Phew… got away with that one.
Two: Even after all by Finley Quaye: respectable, despite the wife-beating thing.
Three: Driftwood by Travis: draws a few looks and sniggers.
Four: Blue Orchid by White Stripes: ok, this isn’t so bad…
But then the inevitable happened: Paul Simon comes on with Call Me Al. It’s quite a painful experience when you’re able to actually hear what everyone’s thinking. I push myself down into my chair.
This isn’t a story like one of those American high-school rom-coms, where the geeky kid turns into the hero. This story ends with people still thinking I’ve got very bad taste in music – Call Me Al was followed several tracks later by Sussudio – but the experience was a good one, and it’s something that should be encouraged. It’s like the whole thing of swapping your ipod with someone for the day but on a more extreme level. Suddenly you’re the dj for the day; you’re stood there butt-naked with nothing but Serious Hits Live to cover your modesty. Go. Try. Enjoy. Just maybe make sure you remove Phil from your playlist first.
October 20th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Oh dear….
I think it’s time for you to visit Russell Davies’ 10,000 Bands blog.
He’s aiming to fill an iPod with only one song per band/artist.
Now I’d hazard a guess that your 2gb could hold around 500 songs.
So why not do a smaller scale version of what the great man is doing and get 500 songs together with only one song per artist allowed.
Not only will this give you a diverse and eclectic selection, it also means that you’ll only have one Phil Collins track to be embarrassed by.
By the way, if you have to have only one Phil song choose Chinese Walls, a brilliant track he did with Phillip Bailey.
October 20th, 2006 at 7:03 pm
I also suffer a similar fate whenever someone gets into my car.
I have a 6CD changer but unfortunately it’s in the boot, and I never have any idea which CD number on the display correlates with what album.
Actually it doesn’t make the blind bit of difference as every CD will be country.
I used to always try and leave one widely recognised alright one in, just in case, but this resulted in a flustered pressing of buttons to try and reach the CD before the eternal dread of the Handsome Family or the chirpy twangs of Dolly were either recognised or slated.
Which never looked good.
October 24th, 2006 at 9:32 am
Love the ipod of 10,000 bands idea, but not sure how much I could effectively contribute towards it. Surely there’s a place for a similar idea that lends itself more towards my brand of music – an ipod of shame or an ipod 101 – that could be filled with the music world’s atrocities and then buried down a hole in North Korea?
As for the car dilemma, I can sympathise with this, but I also have a solution: kids. It’s quite an extreme length to go to, I admit, but soon your 6 changer will be filled with nursery rhymes and audio versions of Roald Dahl stories, and your C&W collection banished to personal stereo.