Andrew seems to have tapped me on the shoulder with the musical baton. Well, here goes…
Update: It seems that this little “social experiment” has had a tremendously viral effect on the blogosphere. This is worse than ebola! I’m interested in further experimentation. Anyone have any ideas? Anyone game?
Total volume of music on my computer
5887 Songs; 29.13 GB. About 2/3 MP3 and 1/3 AAC. Mostly an ecclectic mix of older stuff like the Beatles, to Alt/Rock, to Ska/Reggae, to Hip-Hop/R&B/Rap, to Country/Folk/Bluegrass, to Classical, to Opera, to Jazz/Swing, to Electronica, to Comedy bits, to Sound Clips from movies.
Last CD I purchased
Well, that gets kinda tricky. It depends on what exactly you mean when you ask that.
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Purchased at a store? Oof. I think I bought Audioslave’s self-titled debut, Leaving Through the Window by Something Corporate, and By The Way by Red Hot Chili Peppers all at the same time. That was a little over a year ago, I believe.
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Purchased at iTunes Music Store? Since many of my older CD’s are scratched to all-heck, I recently re-bought Blackhawk’s debut album, L.P. by The Rembrandts, and 7th Avenue by KJ–52.
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Recently obtained? Well, I’ve recently gotten my hands on Mesmerize by System of a Down, Make Believe by Weezer, Out of Exile by Audioslave, and [A User’s Guide To They Might Be Giants](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Users Guide to They Might Be Giants). All of which I’m in the process of listening to, and will most likely purchase if they don’t suck.
Playing right now
Virtual Insanity by Jamiroquai, from the album Traveling Without Moving.
Oops… song just changed. Now it’s Boyz-N-Tha-Hood by Dynamite Hack, from the album Superfast (which is a honky white boy version of the original by Eazy-E).
Part I: Five songs that mean a lot to me greatest albums of all time.
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The Blue Album by Weezer: My best friend’s older brother was playing this after school one day back in 1994, and it was at that very moment that I decided to ditch listening to Country (which I’d listened to for several years) and make the move to Alternative. Most notable are “The world has turned and left me here”, “Say it ain’t so”, and “Only in dreams”. Hands down, one of the greatest albums of all time.
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Dulcinea by Toad the Wet Sprocket: If listening to Weezer made me switch genres, then this Toad album solidified it. With clever lyrics and fantastic harmonies, this album stands the test of time with me. Most notable are “Fly from Heaven”, “Woodburning”, “Something’s always wrong”, “Stupid”, “Crowing”, and “Windmills”.
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August and Everything After by Counting Crows: The summer of ’96 was the golden age of my high school years. I was in love, I spent insane amounts of time with my two best friends, and I began to discover myself and the man I’d grow to become. One thing that fueled that discovery was an old hand-me-down copy of a CD that debuted 3 years earlier. This album has such a depth of emotion that no other album has been able to match it in terms of connecting with the heart. Most notable are “Round here”, “Mr. Jones”, “Perfect Blue Buildings”, “Anna Begins”, “Sullivan Street”, and “Raining in Baltimore”.
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Much Afraid by Jars of Clay: The Jars of Clay 1995 debut was a fantastic acoustic alternative album. I saw them perform on the Dove Awards show, and went out and bought their CD the next day. However, their 1997 followup was even better than the first. The depth of emotion on this album rivals that of AAEA, but this album reaches further into the soul. I still find myself singing along to the fantastic harmonies on this album. Most notable are “Overjoyed”, “Fade to grey”, “Frail”, “Weighed down”, and “Hymn”.
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Pray For Rain by PFR: Beatles-inspired Alternative Rock at it’s best. This 1992 debut album put the group on the map as one of Christian music’s favorite artists. Far and away the most talented band ever in terms of complete composition of an album. From lyrics to musicianship to harmonies… this album nails everything right on the head. When they broke up in 1996, it had nearly the same emotional impact as when Princess Diana was killed. They came together to release a new album in 2001 called Disappear, but I haven’t heard anything new from them since. Most notable are “You Lord”, “Do you want to know love”, “Didn’t he love them”, “Pray for rain”, and “Stay”.
Part II: Five songs I listen to a lot
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Let Me Go by 3 Doors Down: New song that just rocks out!
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Same In The End by Sublime: A classic that rocks as hard now as it always has.
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Science of Selling Yourself Short by Less Than Jake: All that’s left of third-wave Ska.
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Don’t Stop by San Francisco Trance DJs Mars and Mystrë: Takes me back to my short-lived raver days. An infectious cyber-trance anthem by the best DJ’s ever.
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Every New Day by Five Iron Frenzy: Awe inspiring. Makes me so thankful that the emotion just overwhelms, and I start bawling like a little girl while I sing this at the top of my lungs.
Five people to whom I am passing the musical baton
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Paul Griffin: Web designer/developer/programmer turned prep cook, Paul and I have collaborrated a bit on a project or two, and I’d be interested in seeing what his musical tastes and interests are.
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Jeremy Flint: It seems that Jeremy was passed the baton overnight, so his list is posted here.
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Cameron Moll: I came across Cameron’s site a while back after he’d linked to me because he was using one of my JavaScripts on his site. After looking at this gorgeous site, I submitted it to the CSS Vault. I’d be interested to see what kind of music he’s into…
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Sharif Ewees: I forget how I came across Sharif… probably around the time of the Multiple IE Revelation. Anyways, I’ve been reading his site ever since, and I’d love to see what he’s into.
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Stijn “Sken” De Meyere: Formerly an English blog, and now written in, um, something else that I can’t read, Sken’s got to have something interesting on his iPod.
