All The Songs Stuck In My Head During Curling

Songs get stuck in my head all the time, and during curling is no exception. It’s a great sport, but it’s not one that requires your brain to be constantly active, so I have the capacity to have room for songs. I came up with the idea of putting them all in a playlist a while ago, but wanted to wait until a new curling season starts so I could make a full playlist for the season. With curling officially ending last weekend, I can now share the playlist I’ve been putting together since October.

This is a fun way to give you a peek into my tastes. Of course, I do have things to say.

Like first, sorry. This is a wild array of music from a variety of genres, and if you do choose to listen to it, it will not be a nice, curated listening experience. I guess that’s the point but still. I also want to point out that I purposely didn’t add duplicates to this playlist. You’re welcome. There was one period early in the season where I had ‘One More Angel In Heaven’ from Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat stuck in my head four games in a row. I don’t know what about curling triggered that, but it would not have made for good playlist material. I also purposely removed a song from a musical that without context would have been just super weird to listen to randomly. It’s not even a song I like listening to with context, so I wasn’t going to make you listen to it.

One interesting thing that I knew would happen is nearly 50% of the songs that made it to the playlist were songs that I had heard on the radio during the drive to curling. It’s not even a far drive, but it’s kind of cool how I can hear a song and have it stuck in my head immediately for an hour afterward.

And lastly, this is not a comprehensive playlist. I don’t keep my phone with me on the ice, so I had to constantly make mental notes to add songs whenever I’d realize that a song was stuck in my head, and I know I forgot some by the time I got off the ice. I also purposely chose not to include songs that simply popped into my head temporarily. This is for songs that were stuck in there, not just songs that I thought of for whatever reason.

But that’s enough chatter. Time to listen.

I had fun making it and if you listen, I hope you enjoy it enough. Maybe I’ll make another one next season too.

Usually I ask for comments and feedback here, but I don’t want to get roasted for my taste in music. I know it’s a mess.

That’s all for now!

 

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The Fleeting Music Landscape

Music is and forever will be prelevant in general pop culture, but how it is consumed and how it has evolved has changed a lot in the past few decades.

As you know, around the Christmas holidays, ‘All I Want For Christmas (Is You)’ by Mariah Carey is everywhere. Everyone knows the song. I was talking about it and its pervasiveness this past holiday season when the following question was posed to me: will there ever be another song that’s as iconic and widely known?

And I answered no.

Music is so spread out nowadays that it’s is no longer forced upon us. Fifteen, twenty years ago, there was no Spotify, no iTunes. Yes, there were CDs and those on computers maybe had some mp3s, but we all still listened to the radio a lot and watched the same music videos on MTV. Thus, we all knew of the same big songs and big artists. But now, we can tailor our listening habits to our exact tastes and find songs that radios would never think of playing, so we don’t waste time listening to their set lineup. Music is now a personal thing enjoyed on one’s own, and sometimes never shared.

Obviously, Carey’s hit has the benefit of being a seasonal song so every year it makes a comeback, whereas other popular songs that everybody knows of like ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ don’t have a timeline to follow to force themselves back into the spotlight, and this can affect popularity.

And since we’re all in control of music now, we can move past songs and artists quicker. Of course there are big, popular songs still, but they’re fads that come in and out, and even artists with the number one song can struggle for a lasting career past it.

And speaking of artist careers, I think this concept of music spreading out also relates to the idea that winning a competition show guarantees you a career like it’s advertised. Back in the days of there only being network TV to consume, everyone and their mom would be up to date with shows like American Idol. When a winner was announced, everyone knew their name and music, so yes, they did have a basically set career ahead of them. Even if you didn’t watch the show, you still probably know of Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and even runner-ups like Adam Lambert.

American Idol winners in 2008 be like

So it’s super interesting to me that nowadays, shows like The Voice have had over 20 seasons in the past decade with big-name mentors, and I, someone who is fairly up on pop culture knowledge, can’t name a single winner. Not a one. Do these winners have music careers now? Am I just not in the right places to hear their music? Or is music so spread out now that the only fans are the ones who watched the show, and they struggle to grow in such a competitive industry?

I’m not complaining that the music landscape has shifted. I love being in control of what I listen to. But maybe it is a bit sad that society won’t collectively come together because of music anymore. Unless it’s coming together to agree on how awful songs are. ‘Gangnam Style’, I’m looking at you.

I’m sure in the next few decades, music as a whole and how we consume it will continue to evolve even further, and I’m fine with that. But it is interesting to consider what we may lose in this process.

What are your thoughts on this topic?

 

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Are Songs Good Or Just Familiar?

A while back, I started doing this thing where I’d pick a singer/band whose music enjoy from what I know and listen to their whole discography from start to finish. I need music on while at work, and this project allowed me to put something on and not constantly fiddle with changing songs. Mostly I do this with singers/bands from the 70’s and 80’s who I obviously couldn’t hear during their prime. It’s been very cool to expose myself to new songs and see how an artist can change over decades.

But one thing I’ve learned and find very interesting is that the songs we know and love may not be that great, they’re just simply very familiar to us. There are artists like Bryan Adams, Aerosmith, or Blue Rodeo where I really liked all their songs/singles that I knew going in (or all the ones that my local oldies radio station plays at least). So I thought I’d go into their albums and find many more great songs I’d love just as much. But I did not. Yes, there were some songs that jumped to my attention, but overall, no matter who I listened to (the one and only exception being Billy Joel), I just found a bunch of mediocre songs. So were the singles on the radio the best of the best? Unlikely. I think they’re just ones that are familiar so I guess our brains appreciate them more.

Of course, I didn’t and don’t expect every single song an artist releases to be a perfect hit, instantly classic, and ideal for my tastes, but still. I went through whole albums for so many artists finding nothing that I really latched on to.

That being said, I do realize that there are some issues with how I consumed all this music. Firstly, I only listened to the album once. I don’t have the desire to give it all multiple listens to better absorb them (especially for some artists like Chicago who have literally 30 full albums. Bros…chill…). Secondly, as I mentioned, I’m listening while I’m working. So my brain isn’t in the mode to process the music fully because I’m busy focusing on my job. Perhaps if I was just listening and really able to completely focus, I’d better appreciate some songs more. Maybe.

The title of this post makes it seem like songs can’t be both good and familiar, which is not true, but I guess it has made me question things a little. Are the artists I like genuinely great, timeless creators or has my brain tricked me into thinking a few familiar songs are enough to cement that person into history? Did they just get lucky with those big songs and really have little else to show for a career? Much to think about. I’d love to know if anyone else has dove into full discographies of artists and found similar things.

Now as I said, there were some songs that I discovered in the albums that I did enjoy. Maybe this is me exposing my music tastes or exposing that I’m young and don’t know songs that perhaps everyone else knows, but every time I found a song I liked, I added it to this Spotify playlist. Take a listen if you want.

Do you have any thoughts on the subject? Is there an artist who you think has a bunch of hidden gems in their discography? Is there a song from an artist in this playlist that you think I should give another go?

That’s all for now!

 

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Different Storytelling In Music

I recently spent five straight hours listening to ‘Downeaster Alexa’ by Billy Joel on repeat. I just really got into the song and found it so interesting and so catchy. It’s a bop and a half.

And it got me thinking about storytelling in music. Obviously, I expect storytelling in showtunes as there’s a plot and all that, but I think it’s kind of interesting when a regular singer just tells a story in their music that’s not about them and not relatable, and they do it just because it’s fun and different. Love songs are cool and it’s nice that there are songs about mental health and all that now, but sometimes, I just want to hear a banging song about something random. Like the life of a fisher on a downeaster. I learned more from that three minute song than I ever knew about the topic.

Similarly, I think the best songs on Taylor Swift’s two most recent albums Folklore and Evermore are ‘Betty‘, ‘Last Great American Dynasty’, and ‘No Body No Crime’. What do these songs all have in common? They’re not about Taylor; they’re just little stories involving characters (though Rebekah was a real person). As a listener, I don’t have to relate or find meaning, I just get to enjoy the story set to good music.

Of course, Taylor Swift and Billy Joel aren’t the only ones to do this, but I do wish there was more of it in music. I think it’s really a mark of good songwriting if you can have a song that’s not just about your feelings. In both ‘Downeaster Alexa’ and ‘Betty’, the singers are inserted into the song by playing a character, and I think that was very interesting. Like I genuinely went and looked up if Billy Joel was a fisherman before getting into music. (He was not).

Music is supposed to transport us, and I’d like to be transported to a story more often than I am.  ‘Copacabana’ by Barry Manilow, ‘Livin On A Prayer’ by Bon Jovi, ‘Scenes From An Italian Restaurant’ by Billy Joel, ‘Daniel’ by Elton John, ‘I Ain’t Going Down’ by Shania Twain and ‘Janie’s Got A Gun’ by Aerosmith are a few other story-heavy songs that I enjoy and can think of off the top of my head.

Anyway, that’s my random thought for the week. At the very least, I’ve linked you to some good music. But if you know of other particularly interesting story songs, let me know!

 

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Adam Levine Is Right About Bands

This post topic is like two months old, so sorry if you’re reading this and getting old news vibes. But I remember seeing this online discourse when it happened and thinking it was interesting but only now am I thinking about it enough to make it a blog post.

So way back in early March, Adam Levine, lead singer of Maroon 5 and previous coach of The Voice (and also one of the stars of my favourite movie Begin Again, but that’s not important, I just wanted y’all to know) did an interview where he says that bands are a dying breed. It was in a podcast interview but his quotes are:

“It’s funny, when the first Maroon 5 album came out there were still other bands. I feel like there aren’t any bands anymore,” he said. “That’s the thing that makes me kind of sad, is that there were just bands. There’s no bands anymore, and I feel like they’re a dying breed. And so I kind of, in a weird way, as far as I mean, there still are plenty of bands, and maybe they’re not in the limelight quite as much, or in the pop limelight, but I wish there could be more of those around.”

Adam Levine and Maroon 5 get clowned on a lot online, and this comment was no exception. Twitter had a lot to say.

But here’s the thing: he’s right. Bands are not nearly as prevalent as they once were, and I think he of all people is allowed to speak on this given that he is in a band currently. He knows what it’s like.

Take a look at the top artists of 2020. How many of them are bands? 14 of them include more than one person (3 of them are duos), and of those 14, 6 are groups whose heydays were decades ago (eg. Fleetwood Mac, U2, Queen…). Compare that to the list in 2010, where there are 21, and none of them were from decades past. Billboard does not have data from 2000, but I’d imagine the number is higher than 14.

Another thing that was brought up a lot in this online discussion was K-pop, which is a hugely successful area of music in the last few years, and places like Twitter are heavily populated with passionate fans of this genre. One of the biggest groups is BTS, which ranks 18 on the 2020 list. Here’s the thing about BTS: they’re a group, yes, but they’re not a band. At least, not in the traditional sense. If the likes of NSYNC and One Direction can’t be called bands, neither can all these K-pop groups. They’re boybands for the same reason, which is that they don’t play instruments. This isn’t my definition, this is the classic line separating these types of groups. One is not less than the other and does not define talent or value, it’s just something to note in the context of a discussion on bands.

With all this said, even if we include boybands and whatnot, Adam Levine is right to say that mainstream media does not focus on bands as much. Heck, most of the time we even hear about bands/groups is when someone leaves to go solo. He even acknowledged that there are still bands out there, they just simply aren’t as popular or valued as they might have been a decade or two ago. I just don’t know if that’s the fault of the industry and record labels or the consumers (or both, perhaps).

A lot of the tweets I saw from bands being like “Hi, we still exist, Adam!” or from people sharing images of their favourite bands were of bands I’ve never heard of, and that’s not just because I don’t have a good grasp of mainstream music.

Anyway, Adam Levine is right, and I can’t believe people got so mad about his correct statement.

If anyone wants to know, Neon Trees is my favourite still active and together band. I’d love to know yours in the comments below.

 

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