Well, that certainly was random!
Let’s see what my iPod is shuffling up:
Well, that sort of confirms something I’ve suspected - iPod doesn’t shuffle as randomly as I would like (two Simon and/or Garfunkle songs out 10 doesn’t equal 28 in 3882).
Are you from Southern CA? I’m pretty sure it was only a regional hit, not national. I’m 100% sure it didn’t get radio play where I lived. I don’t think it ever charted, either.
The story I heard was that Bradley heard some guy at a party say, “if it wasn’t for date rape I’d never get laid” and he thought it was such a funny/absurd statement that he wrote the song right pretty much on the spot.
You’re probably right. You picked a good one.
I think I must have ripped the Rasmus song by accident. It’s got to be the worst on the whole CD. Yuck. This is balanced by the Ladytron song, which I love.
Such Sweet Thunder - “Second Best” - from a compilation of Lincoln/Omaha bands from the early 90’s
The Who - “Too Much of Anything”
Le Tigre - “Friendship Station”
“Weird Al” Yankovic - “Hardware Store”
Black Sabbath - “N.I.B.”
Motley Crue - “Afraid”
Mousetrap - “Black and Blue all Over” - another Omaha band
Soft Cell - “Tainted Love”
N.W.A. - “Compton’s in the House (Live)”
The White Stripes - “Death Letter”
This is shockingly representative of my musical taste, save for the egregious absence of Hanson.
I’m not kidding about Hanson either…
You’re actually expecting the iPod to shuffle non-randomly. If it’s picking songs with no memory of previous songs, then there’s no reason why two songs featuring Paul Simon shouldn’t show up close to one another in a long enough sequence.
Put it this way: 28 S&G songs out of 3882 means that the probability of a second one appearing after the first, no more than ten songs later, is 1 in 14.
Edit: I think. Could somebody check my maths, please?
It’s not just one song by one band, either; there’s usually two or three bands that keep showing up within minutes of each other. For example, I’ll be listening to my iPod on shuffle at work, and it will keep playing Stevie Ray Vaughan, Hall and Oates, and Ashley MacIsaac all morning, with other songs mixed in. I have 11 days worth of music on my iPod; I don’t think I should be hearing the same three bands over and over one morning. Doesn’t anyone else notice this with their iPod shuffling?
I notice it, yes, but it doesn’t mean it’s not random. We just have a tendency to see a significance in such apparent trends. OK, there’s 4000 or so tracks to choose from, but of each track played, there’s another ten or so from the same album, and perhaps a hundred from the same artist. This means that for the first ten random tracks played, there’s many hundreds of ‘matching’ tracks, perhaps a quarter of the entire library. Among the next ten random selections, a few of these will appear.
Not as eclectic as I’d hoped, but here goes…
Bet I’ll be the first (maybe the only) with mostly country:
Only half country – I’m surprised.
ipod - 12139 songs
On my mac mini now, which has a slightly different library.
*
The Long Black Veil*, by The Country Gentlemen
Mercedes Benz, by Janis Joplin
Zoot Suit Riot, by the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies
Out of Reach, by Voltaire
Morning Sun, by Tea Leaf Green
Hammerheart, by Bathory
Very nearly skipped this one. Due to Quorthon’s weak clean voice, this was not exactly Bathory’s finest hour.
Gothic Stone, by Candlemass
My Dark Reflections of Life and Death, by Green Carnation
Dangit, why has a twenty minute long song got to come up in the middle of this? I love it, it’s true, but… it’s 20 minutes! This might turn out to be an eight song list if I get impatient.
I’ve Been Everywhere, by Johnny Cash
Made it after all. A pox on those hotel (Days Inn?) commercials for nearly ruining this song for me. I turn the TV off when they come on.
Formulations in Black, by Simple Aggression
An excellent cut by a short-lived local band to round out the ten.
Random picks from a pool of 6593. Let’s spin the clickwheel of sound!
Day After Day - Badfinger [classic rock, okay]
Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan [more classic, but glad to see Bob popped up]
You Want Her Too - Paul McCartney / Elvis Costello [I’ve got a lot of ex-Beatle stuff. Costello helps offset a little McCartney syrup here]
Pulling Mussels (from the Shell) - Squeeze [Nice solid showing from the 80’s]
**Bring it on Home - Sonny Boy Williams (Rice Miller) **- [Solid blues from a true bluesman]
Unreflected - Mazzy Star [90’s neo-psychedelia]
Sound and Vision - David Bowie [One of my more favorite Bowie songs]
Still nothing from this century… growing concern about being percieved as s dinosaur… C’mon… no whammy, no whammy…
Not Me - Robert Mitchum [ARGH. Not even close. I like this goofy little track, though.]
Pasadena Girl - Nellie McKay [Whew. Okay, not my favorite McKay track, but at least I’m in the 21st Century Club]
Wolly Bully - Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs [Oh for… ah well.]
Mother’s Day Song - Stephen Lynch
The Wind - Cat Stevens
Disposition - Tool
My Own Peculiar Way - Willie Nelson
Cousin Kevin - The Who
You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire - Queens of the Stone Age
Into The Ether - The Crushadows
Slowly Growing Deaf - Mr. Bungle
Blue Veins - The Raconteurs
If I should Fall From Grace - The Pogues