# Help me build my Pandora Stations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 1, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-my-pandora-stations/620563 "2012-05-01T21:53:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-my-pandora-stations/620563/1 "2012-05-01T21:53:53Z")
I’ve started my Pandora service by creating 4 stations with “seed” artists, and another with “seed” tracks. Please help me by nominating additional seeds or telling me to get rid of the inappropriate ones. For those who don’t know, you build a Pandora station by adding “seeds” – tracks or artists whose music you want to play, along with other music that Pandora thinks is related to the music you pick. For simplicity’s sake, “contemporary” means artists that were reasonably popular during my lifetime, and the oldies are ones whose careers peaked before my time. Here are my stations and seeds so far: **Classic Rock & Roll** Atlanta Rhythm Section Bachman-Turner Overdrive Blood, Sweat & Tears Blue Oyster Cult Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band Bruce Springsteen Buddy Holly & The Crickets Chicago Chuck Berry Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen Creedence Clearwater Revival Deep Purple Derek & The Dominos Eagles Electric Light Orchestra Eric Burdon & The Animals Eurythmics Foghat Gary Puckett & The Union Gap Grand Funk Railroad Guess Who Heart Iron Butterfly James Gang Janis Joplin Jay & The Americans Jefferson Airplane Jerry Lee Lewis Johnny Rivers Led Zeppelin Lynyrd Skynyrd Matchbox Twenty Neil Young & Crazy Horse Pat Benatar Patti Smith Group Paul Revere & The Raiders REO Speedwagon Steppenwolf Steve Miller Band Stray Cats Supertramp The Allman Brothers Band The Beatles The Cars The Classics IV The Doobie Brothers The Edgar Winter Group The Kinks The Marshall Tucker Band The Monkees The Moody Blues The Police The Ramones The Rascals The Rolling Stones The Who The Zombies Three Dog Night Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (Holiday) U2 Uriah Heep ZZ Top **R&B/Soul** Al Green Al Jarreau Al Wilson Aretha Franklin B.B. King Barry White Ben E. King Bill Withers Billie Holiday Billy Paul Curtis Mayfield Dinah Washington Etta James George Benson Gladys Knight & The Pips Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes Ike & Tina Turner Isaac Hayes Jackie Wilson Jimmy Ruffin John Legend Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. Martha & The Vandellas Marvin Gaye Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell Otis Redding Sam Cooke Smokey Robinson Smokey Robinson & The Miracles Stevie Wonder The Commodores The Four Tops The Isley Brothers The Love Unlimited Orchestra The Spinners The Staple Singers The Supremes The Temptations **Contemporary Crooners** Aaron Neville Alison Krauss Annie Lennox Art Garfunkel Bill Withers Carly Simon Chris Isaak Dan Fogelberg Diana Krall Donald Fagen Dusty Springfield Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt & Dolly Parton Enya Etta James Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons Harry Connick, Jr. Huey Lewis And The News Jackson Browne James Taylor Janis Joplin Joe Cocker Johnny Mathis Johnny Nash Joni Mitchell k.d. lang Linda Ronstadt Linda Ronstadt & The Nelson Riddle Orchestra Merrilee Rush & The Turnabouts Nina Simone Norah Jones Peter, Paul & Mary Robert Palmer Rod Stewart Roy Orbison Sarah McLachlan Sarah McLachlan & Ladysmith Black Mambazo Sinead O’Connor The Cranberries The Drifters Van Morrison **Oldie Crooners** Bing Crosby Bobby Darin Dean Martin Ella Fitzgerald Etta James Frank Sinatra Harry Connick, Jr. Jo Stafford Johnny Hartman Johnny Mathis Judy Garland Louis Armstrong Louis Prima Nat King Cole Patsy Cline Perry Como Tennessee Ernie Ford The Ink Spots Tony Bennett **Surf (Seeded by Track, not Artist)** Baja Beyond The Surf California Sun Kamikazee Let’s Go Surfing Miserlou Peter Gunn Theme Pipeline Stormtail Surfer Girl Surfin’ Bird Surfin’ U.S.A The Lonely Sea The Lonely Surfer The Sloop John B. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-my-pandora-stations/620563/2 "2012-05-01T23:32:07Z")
I decided to do ‘Soft Rock’ station. Seeded it with one band, Air Supply. Have never had to thumbs-down a song for not fitting the theme. Though I have thumbs-upped some, which has refined it. I don’t expect you probably want a Soft Rock station. But if you do, that’ll make one. ---
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-my-pandora-stations/620563/3 "2012-05-02T07:26:20Z")
Good lord, most of my stations have a half-dozen seeds, tops. Your classic rock and contemporary crooners combined probably have more seeds than my whole station list! Not saying that’s bad, just different. But that’s the beauty of Pandora, you can use it different ways to get different results. One piece of advice is to go easy on the “thumbs up” button, and keep your artists segregated by genre. I find that if I just let myself go and get sloppy, all my stations end up sounding the same in a month or so. In my case, this involves “Paper Planes” by M.I.A. playing within 3 songs, no matter what station I choose. I mean, I like the song, but not nearly as much as Pandora seems to think I do! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2012, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-my-pandora-stations/620563/4 "2012-05-02T07:31:28Z")
The reason I added so many is that my first experiment, with a single “seed” had such poor results, with the same songs playing over and over again within a few hours of creating the station. [I did this other thread about it.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=650177) Also, I would much rather just listen while I’m doing other things, and not have go back to the page every few minutes to vote things up or down. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-build-my-pandora-stations/620563/5 "2012-05-03T21:17:33Z")
I have a '50s playlist that will fit well with your Classic Rock. Seeds Danny & The Juniors Jerry Lee Lewis The Dovells Sha Na Na The Coasters The Platters Fats Domino