# Fun pairings in your alphabetically organized music collection **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [September 5, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-pairings-in-your-alphabetically-organized-music-collection/971014 "2022-09-05T20:24:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-pairings-in-your-alphabetically-organized-music-collection/971014/1 "2022-09-05T20:24:56Z")
Like most sane people, I organize my CDs and LPs alphabetically by artist, regardless of genre. This sometimes puts two very different artists right next to each other, and I sometimes wonder what the artists would say about each other if made aware of this phenomenon (and if they were, of course, still alive). Some of my favorite pairings: - The Clash / Patsy Cline - King Crimson / Kings of Leon - Prince / John Prine - The Radiators / Radiohead What are your favorite music collection pairings? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-pairings-in-your-alphabetically-organized-music-collection/971014/2 "2022-09-05T23:28:13Z")
John Denver / (Eumir) Deodato ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-pairings-in-your-alphabetically-organized-music-collection/971014/3 "2022-09-05T23:42:36Z")
Probably the oddest combination is “Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs” by Marty Robbins, followed by “12 x 5” by the Rolling Stones. Right before Marty is an LP by Bonnie Raitt. She probably dug them both. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-pairings-in-your-alphabetically-organized-music-collection/971014/4 "2022-09-06T00:45:20Z")
Been thinking of starting a thread on this for a while! Canned Heat → Cat Stevens Deep Purple → Devo Donna Summer → The Doors Iron Butterfly → Jackson Browne The Kinks → Kraftwerk → Led Zeppelin Pink Floyd → The Police Radio Birdman → Randy Newman → Red Hot Chili Peppers Van der Graaf Generator - Van Morrison → Wishbone Ash By default iTunes organises solo artists by first name/last name, never bothered to make it last/first which I’d actually prefer. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-pairings-in-your-alphabetically-organized-music-collection/971014/5 "2022-09-06T13:00:37Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > She probably dug them both. I feel the same way about my first pair. Patsy Cline would only have been in her 40s when the Clash hit and I think she might have been feisty enough to embrace the punk movement. By the same token I’ll be shocked if Mick Jones isn’t a Cline fan. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-pairings-in-your-alphabetically-organized-music-collection/971014/6 "2022-09-06T13:04:42Z")
I’m sure I have some funny pairings in my collection, but I’d have to skim my shelves to find them. A rather cool sequence is Beach Boys-Beastie Boys-Beatles. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-pairings-in-your-alphabetically-organized-music-collection/971014/7 "2022-09-06T13:39:54Z")
I gave up on alphabetizing (originally, it was even thornier… organized by sub-genre: “Are the Buckinghams ‘British Invasion’ even though they were from Chicago?”) but even switching to A-Z, I had serious moral conundrums. Like _Jethro Tull is a person’s name, so goes under T, but it’s the name of a band, so J. But my friends all say ‘Got any Tull?’ and now I think of them that way…_ So now my LPs are In Order of How Long Ago I Played Them. But I still get odd pairings, like Sinatra between Led Zeppelin and early Deep Purple. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-pairings-in-your-alphabetically-organized-music-collection/971014/8 "2022-09-06T14:12:30Z")
I have all my stuff digitized for everyday use, and a bunch of it is digital only, so the alphabetized list I have readily available would be the result of Windows sorting artist folders, with first name first and everyone starting with “The” all grouped together. That said, I have these: Bill Hicks \> Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys \> Bill Nelson’s Red Noise Duran Duran \> Dweezil Zappa \> Dylan and the Dead Larkin Poe \> Last Exit Material \> Maurice Ravel \> Mavis Staples Talking Heads \> Tampa Red \> Tangerine Dream ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-pairings-in-your-alphabetically-organized-music-collection/971014/9 "2022-09-06T14:22:30Z")
A few incongruous alphabetical neighbors in my iTunes library: ABBA + AC/DC Ace Frehley + Ace of Base Clannad + (The) Clash Dio + Dion Electric Light Orchestra + Elmer Bernstein\* House of Pain + Howard Jones INXS + Israel Kamakawiwo’ole Judas Priest + Juice Newton Partridge Family + Pat Benatar Saga + Salt-N-Pepa + Sam Cooke Scissor Sisters + Scorpions Vince Guaraldi + Violent Femmes \*- He’s in there because I have the soundtrack to _The Magnificent Seven_ ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-pairings-in-your-alphabetically-organized-music-collection/971014/10 "2022-09-06T14:35:35Z")
Alphabetizing by first names, while completely wrong\*, does add a new dimension to this exercise. ELO and Elmer! \*I understand that platforms default to it, but it makes my brain hurt. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-pairings-in-your-alphabetically-organized-music-collection/971014/11 "2022-09-06T23:41:35Z")
Massive Attack - Paul McCartney - Metallica Marianne Faithfull - The Fall - Fatboy Slim Bryan Ferry - Florence + The Machine - The Flying Burrito Brothers - Funkadelic - Peter Gabriel Grant Hart - Hawkwind - Herman’s Hermits Richard and Linda Thompson - Throbbing Gristle - The Timelords I have pretty catholic tastes. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2022, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fun-pairings-in-your-alphabetically-organized-music-collection/971014/12 "2022-09-07T17:52:29Z")
In the A’s ABBA, AC/DC. Somebody already mentioned that one. It’s probably common. Alanis Morissette, Alice Cooper Andrea Bocelli, Andy Gibb, Andy Williams, Anita Baker.