I have just tranferred 10 years’ worth of MP3s from various CDs, hard drives and an iPod onto a single external hard drive, plugged the computer into my Bose speakers, and hit “shuffle” on iTunes.
I’m having a very surprising afternoon. It’s made me realise how absurdly eclectic my musical tastes have been over the years.
In the past hour I’ve listened to tracks by: Fats Domino; John Martyn; Snoop; Tom Lehrer; Blue Oyster Cult; Dr Dre; Earl Scruggs; Nine Inch Nails; Sammy Davis Junior; Scissor Sisters; Nick Drake; 2 Many DJs; Foo Fighters; Wham (well, that’s one of mrs jjimm’s); Franz Ferdinand; Leo Kottke; and The Aphex Twin.
Yes, I do it at work. And, like you, am constantly pressing the forward button to skip the songs I don’t want to hear.
And, of course, the moment my boss steps into my office to talk to me some really bizarre song comes on. I think the one that made my boss’s head spin was “Mammal” by TMBG. (“Is that a kids song?” says he. “No,” say I, “but I have Free to Be You and Me if you want to hear it.” He didn’t.)
I should have mentioned this crucial point in my OP: I’ve got so much music from so many different sources that I made a deal with myself not to skip anything.
This is why the whole experience is so bizarre.
The Streets’ “Fit but you know it” is on at the moment, which is following some Hindu jazz from Susheela Raman, which in turn followed the theme to Grizzly Adams.
That’s so funny. I’m doing that exact same thing at this very moment. Just thought I’d surf the boards while I listened… So here’s how my afternoon is currently mapped out:
Disgustipated - Tool, Sunspots - NIN, Drive - Incubus, Are you Experienced? - Jimi Hendrix, Pilgramage - NIN, Sabatoge - Beatie Boys, BOdy Count - Boudy Count, Part of me - Tool, Hurt - NIN, Celebration Day - Jimmy Page & Black Crowes, Mr Brightside - THe Killers, Wish - NIN, Heart Shaped Box - Nirvana, The Song Remains the Same - Led Zepplin, Take me Out - Franz Ferdinand, Bad Habit - Offspring, Send the Pain Below - Chevelle, Back to School - Deftones…
I’ve somewhat skipped this by only ripping/importing songs I actually care to listen to (I have a lot of music, especially from the 90s, that isn’t on my computer at all, and a few mp3s I didn’t import). I always listen to my music on shuffle–I quickly get bored otherwise. I also have very varied tastes, so it’s not uncommon to go from In The End (Linkin Park) to For You I will (Monica) to Jerry Springer (Weird Al), or something similar. (For example, I just got done with Daydream Believer, and am listening to Walk to Remember–I’m sure Nickleback will pop up next)
What always gets me though is how often certain bands or singers will crop up. I was doing a 20 songs meme on LJ a while ago, and 7 of them wound up being Linkin Park. I may only have 200 songs imported into iTunes, but just 25 of them are LP.
I do this almost every day. I always take my ipod when i take my dog for walks, and it’s easiest to just let it shuffle through without fooling around with the controls too much.
IIRC, today the mp3 player played Jim Croce, Whippersnapper, Ray Charles, Prince, Jimmie’s Chicken Shack, Kanye West and some others I can’t remember right now.