Recently I received a lot of great input in this thread regarding ideas for a playlist featuring stand-out drumming. I also have playlists for songs <2 minutes, cover songs (I sometimes like to play the original and the cover and compare them), driving music.
Have you come up with some interesting themes or ideas for your ipod/itunes playlists?
We play lots of music at work, and occasionally I try to do up a playlist to make it interesting. This was one of my recent favourites, hopefully the theme is pretty obvious:
Two of Us - Aimee Mann & Michael Penn
Jackson - Johnny Cash & June Carter
Islands In The Stream - Dolly Parton & Kenny Rodgers
Where The Wild Roses Grow - Nick Cave & Kylie Minogue
Kids - Kylie Minogue & Robbie Williams
Birds and Bees - Ben Lee & Mandy Moore
Young Folks - Peter, Bjorn and John & Victoria Bergsman
Tomorrow Wendy - Andy Prieboy & Johnette Napolitano
This Mess We’re In - PJ Harvey & Thom York
9 Crimes - Damien Rice & Lisa Hannigan
Candy - Iggy Pop & Kate Pierson
Yankee Bayonet - The Demberists
Something Stupid - Frank & Nancy Sinatra
Don’t You Want Me - The Human League
Especially For Yoy - Kylie Minogue & Jason Donovan
I See You, You See Me - The Magic Numbers
Your Ghost - Kristen Hersh & Michael Stipe
Must I Paint You a Picture? - Billy Bragg & Cara Tivey
Set Fire To The Third Bar - Snow Patrol & Martha Wainwright
Run To Me - Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs
Hold Your Horses - Sarah Blasko & Darren Hanlon
Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard & Marketa Iglova
Concrete Sky - Beth Orton & Ryan Adams
How My Heart Behaves - Feist & Eirik Glambek Boe
Fairytale of New York - The Pogues & Kristy McCall
I’m also a fan of a good covers playlist.
Another one I liked recently was made up of songs such as
Gloria - Patti Smith
Joey - Concrete Blonde
Kate- Ben Folds Five
Jolene - Dolly Parton
Rhiannon - Fleetwood Mac
Daniel - Elton John
Veronica - Elvis Costello
Suzanne - Leonard Cohen
Denis - Blondie
James - The Bangles
Layla - Eric Clapton
Julia - The Beatles
Lucy - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Mariella - Kate Nash
Priscilla - Bat For Lashes
Mary - Scissor Sisters
It went for over four hours. There are LOADS of songs with a person’s name for the title.
Well there’s always the classic “Songs to Slit Your Wrists By” I have a whole slew of variations on that one.
Good ideas Monkey Chews, thanks for the input. I mostly listen to my playlists at work as well but not everyone likes the heavier stuff and I’m not playing 12 hours of U2.
(Finally, my moment to shine.)
I’d like to think my musical tastes are a bit…ecclectic, so my Playlists tend to reflect that.
Some of my highlights…
•‘Chopper (Helicopter gunship music. Ride of the Valkyries; For What It’s Worth; Fortunate Son…that kinda stuff.)
•Armageddon (“End of the World” music—scary, bitter, and/or bombastic)
•Depraved (Tiger Lillies, Rasputina, and the Dresden Dolls dominate this one, with other weird and freaky songs)
•Flight (Flying—at least in flight sim—music, combat and non-combat.)
•Heroism (Hero themes, “charging to the rescue” music, etc.)
•Mad Science (Mad Scientist music, natch)
•Psyops (Scary, unsettling, or threatening music. The kind you’d play if you’re laying siege to a compound. “De Guello,” “O Death,” and Haddaway’s “What is Love?” are promenantly featured.)(Hey, semper paratus.)
•Steampunk (Steampunk-style music, includes some fantasy)
•Stress (“I’m going mad”/nervous breakdown music. Sometimes, it’s just what the doctor ordered. That, and SSRIs)
•Villainy (Good ol’ fashioned supervillain music)
•Voyager 3 (Personal collection of music that I’d like enough to send recorded on a gold phonograph record attached to a space probe.)
•West (Old west mood music. Some period, some modern, a lot from soundtracks. With some Rolling Stones.)
Details of list contents available upon request.
Everyone’s moment comes some time. 
I thought I knew what Steampunk was but I can’t think of any music I would describe that way, could you give me an example? Those are some eclectic ideas BTW, I like 'em.
Man, I wish I was creative enough to come up with playlists like this.
I have the following playlists (and some of these exist only to assist my last.fm account):
3 star songs (which also includes 4 & 5)
5 star songs (only the best of the best)
Song I’ve never listened to
Mozart/Bach/Beethoven/Liszt songs I’ve never listened to (I’m attempting to listen to the complete works of these composers before I die. I even have an opus list for each of them that I cross #'s off as they get played)
Last 25 played songs
I typically have three methods of listening to music. #1 is putting on an album which I want to listen to (EVERYTHING on my ipod are complete albums. I’ll delete a track from it only if I hate the song and never want to hear it again). #2 is putting on the 3 or 5 star playlist and rocking out to songs which I’ve already established that I enjoy. #3 is putting on the never played playlist and setting it to random, for a dose of songs which I’ve never heard before, or ones that have been so long that I haven’t gotten to the album yet.
My problem with taking the time to create new playlists like this is I have a feeling that they’re going to get too predictable to be that enjoyable. I had the same problem when I used to make mix tapes for myself and would waste too much thought on which song was about to come on that I wouldn’t even enjoy the mix as much.
Sure thing (and thanks, BTW 
). It’s a bit subjective, at times, but at others, it’s pretty clear cut. Mostly historical stuff, or period pieces, or even a few designed specifically to sound Victorian/Edwardian.
What I’ve got on the list, in rough order of what I’ve added.
Black Hole—Beck
Rogue’s March—Sharpe Soundtrack
Bugle Call/Moneymusk~Regimental Double Fast—Sharpe Soundtrack
Die Fiorelle (The Trout)—Schubert
Promentory—Last of the Mohicans soundtrack
Dance of Curse—Escaflowne Soundtrack
You Can’t Beat Us—Arthur Fields
Women of Ireland—from Barry Lyndon
It’s a Long Way to Tipperary—John McCormack
Gentleman Soldier—Sharpe Soundtrack
Sarabande (Handel)—Barry Lyndon
Frontier—Dead Can Dance
O’Sullivan’s March—The Chieftains
The Rambling Soldier—Sharpe Soundtrack
Johnny is Gone for a Soldier —Sharpe Soundtrack
Johnny Has Gone for a Soldier—Solas
Over the Hills and Far Away—Sharpe Soundtrack
Pack Up Your Troubles—Murry Johnson
Return to Oz Rag Time March—David Shire
Zeppelin—Roy Budd
Violin Sonata in A Maj, Op. 47—Beethoven
You Will Be My Ain True Love—Allison Kraus
Katy Allen—Grey De Lisle
Love Farewell Sharpe Soundtrack
siegeofmadrigal
A Prayer—Madeleine Peyroux
The Collier Recruit—Sharpe Soundtrack
Ashokan farewell(Main Theme)—The Civil War
Porcelein Crusaders—Vernian Process
Ironworks —ibid
The Deep —ibid
I’m Going Home—Sacred Harp Singers at Liberty Church Sacred Harp Singers at Liberty Church
Idumea—Sacred Harp Singers at Liberty Church Sacred Harp Singers at Liberty Church
Transylvanian Concubine—Rasputina
Coin-Operated Boy—The Dresden Dolls
Marching Through Georgia—Rob Carriker
Great Edwardian Air-raid—Paul Roland
Switchback—Vernian Process
Path—Apocalyptica
The Ruined City The Wheelers Tik Tok—David Shire
The Great Little Army British Army—Royal Marines—Royal Air Force
Highland Widow’s Lament —The Wicker Man soundtrack
Wax Revelry—A customized version of Charlie Epcars Rendition of "Revelry of the Dying, filtered, and overlayed over the noise of a playing Wax Cylinder.
Transcendiosis—A recording of this
Hope—Apocalyptica
TrenchMouth—Rasputina
Liberi Fatali—(One of the Final Fantasy movies, I think)
Soldier, Soldier—Raison D’Etre
Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines—Theme from titular movie
Les Barres De La Prison—Darol Anger
Heart of Oak—from Songs and Folksongs of the British Isles
The Courageous Cavalry—Howl’s Moving Castle soundtrack
Like I said, somewhat subjective to my own tastes, but I’d like to think a few (like The Great Edwardian Air-raid) are pretty spot on. Eh?
I absolutely LOVE making theme playlists.
I have a “Girlie Mix” too - all the song titles include a girl’s name (rules - could not duplicate name or artist):
Check Yes Juliet - We The Kings
Lily Two - Matt Pond PA
O Valencia - The Decemberists
Eleanor - The Low Millions
Jenny - The Click Five
Hey There Delilah - Plain White Tees
Emily - Bowling for Soup
Annie Waits - Ben Folds
Kim the Waitress - The Green Pajamas
Josephine - Teitur
Mischale - Andru Donalds
Jamie (accoustic) - Weezer
String Bean Jean - Belle & Sebastian
Jane’s Getting Serious - Jon Astley
27 Jennifers - Mike Doughtry
Carmen - Anything Box
Ramona - Guster
Adia - Sarah McLachlan
Dear Maria Count Me In - All Time Low
Jezebel - Iron & Wine
Ruby - Kaiser Chiefs
Here is my recent Summer Mix (made to cheer up a friend getting up a bad break up). Friend is from Hawaii and isn’t a big fan of oldies, electronica or anything too alternative. I actually love the way it turned out and burned a copy for me. Rules - upbeat, uptemp, all song titles must include the words: sun, summer or hot, must be a song my friend would like.
Here Comes Summer - The Yum Yums
Hot Hot Hot - Buster Poindexter
Sunshine Girl - Britt Nicole
I am The Summertime - Bachelor Number One
Soak Up the Sun - Sheryl Crow
Summertime - Bon Jovi
Steal My Sunshine - Len
Summer Girl - Jessica Andrews
Island in the Sun - Weezer
Walkin on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves
Summer Breeze - Jason Mraz
Rain in the Summertime - The Alarm
Summerfeeling - Pandera
Summertime - The Click Five
Pocketful of Sunshine - Natasha Bedingfield
Summer Girls - LFO
Hot - Avril Lavigne
Summertime Guys - Nikki Cleary
Sunny Afternoon (instrumental) - Kapono Beamer (Hawaiian guitar player my friend really likes)
And my current workout mix (starts out slow, builds up to a running tempo, slows down to cool down):
Stronger - Kanye West
Boom! I Got Your Boyfriend - M.C. Luscious
Big Girl (You are Beautiful) - MIKA
Here it Goes Again - Ok Go
Cobrastyle - Teddybears
Closer - Lacuna Coil
I Don’t Wanna Be in Love - Good Charlotte
Too Much Booty In the Pants - 2 Live Crew
Deceptacon - Le Tigre
Shake It - Metro Kings
Check Yes Juliet - We the Kings
Somebody Told Me - the Killers
The Cheeky Song - The Cheeky Girls
Crushcrushcrush - Paramore
Whenever Wherever - Shakira
Do Your Thing - Basement Jaxx
Higher Ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers
I Got It From My Mama - will.i.am
Rump Shaker - Wreckx-N-Effect
Remember the Name - Ft. Minor
Some of my other recent favorites - Sugar Mix (every title includes the word Sugar), Hammer Mix (fast driving mix), and the Love and Loss Mix (theme is meeting someone, falling in love, breaking up - starts off happy and ends with Last Goodbye by Jeff Buckley, Someday You Will be Loved by Deathcab for Cutie, never fails to get me to puddle up).
My favorite part about making theme mixes - doing lots of searches and finding new songs to love I had never heard before. I’ve actually got a ton of GREAT music selection from Dopers! Like Swing Life Away by Rise Against, Glory by Happy Rhodes, Josephine by Teitur, Carmen by Anything Box, Do Your Thing - Basement Jaxx, just to think of a few off the top of my head.
You might find some nice ideas at SmartPlaylists.com.
I like to make “Alphabet Mixes” which are pretty much exactly what they sound like; a mix that goes through the alphabet by song title. Since I like the number 27 more than the number 26, they all start with an excerpt of the classic ABC-DEF-GHI by Big Bird (“ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ, I wish I knew exactly what I mean”) and then restart with the letter A.
Most of the five mixes I’ve made are just songs I thought would make good in-the-car mixes, but one focuses on musicals.
My ex-roommate had another method for mixes. You pick an animal, a verb, and a method of transportation (truck, bike, bus, etc.) and search for occurrences of each in your iTunes library. You end up with a some random mix with a name like “Monkeys Messing Around on Mopeds.”
Great ideas Leiko, I’m going to try both of 'em and see what I come up with.
I’ve made several CDs of mp3s which I then load into a five disc DVD changer. Set it to “sequential”, then “random” (which shuffles between songs and discs) and have music non-stop for two and a half days. This is one of two I made to complement each other and are a lot more conventional than most I’ve made. The only real theme I suppose is “Music I was in the mood for the day I made it”. The numbers in parentheses indicate a live version and the year of release. What do you think? See any patterns?
Allman Brothers - Blue Sky
Allman Brothers - Jessica
Beatles - A Day In The Life
Beck, Jeff - Blue Wind
Black Sabbath - War Pigs
Blue Oyster Cult - (75) - Seven Screaming Dizbusters
Camel - M4 Earthrise
Clapton, Eric - (01) - Sunshine Of Your Love
Deep Purple – Lazy
Derek and the Dominoes - (70) - Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad
Dire Straits - (83) - Romeo And Juliet
Doors - Light My Fire
Doors - The End
Dylan, Bob - Like A Rolling Stone
Foghat - Slow Ride
Frampton, Peter - (99) - Do You Feel Like We Do
Gabriel, Peter - (93) - Don’t Give Up
Gabriel, Peter - (93) - Secret World
Genesis - Dance On A Volcano
Golden Earring - Are You Receiving Me
Gov’t Mule - (98) - Afro-Blue
Gov’t Mule - (98) - Spanish Moon
Gov’t Mule - (98) - Thorazine Shuffle
Gov’t Mule - No Need To Suffer
Grand Funk Railroad - Closer To Home ~ I’m Your Captain
Grateful Dead - (80) - Franklin’s Tower
Hendrix, Jimi - (69 -70) - Who Knows
Hendrix, Jimi - Third Stone From The Sun
Jethro Tull - To Cry You A Song
Johnson, Eric - High Landrons
Kansas - Lamplight Symphony
King Crimson - Epitaph
Led Zeppelin - (72) - Stairway To Heaven
Led Zeppelin – Kashmir
Liquid Tension Experiment - Biaxident
Little Feat - (77) - Spanish Moon
Little Feat - The Fan (radio)
Loggins & Messina - Be Free
Loggins and Messina - (72-73) - Angry Eyes
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Simple Man
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band - Waiter, There’s A Yawn In My Ear
Marshall Tucker Band - You Ain’t Foolin’ Me
Matthews, Dave (DMB) - Dancing Nancies
Matthews, Dave (DMB) – Warehouse
moe. - Buster
moe. - Moth
moe. - Rebubula
Ozric Tentacles - Astro Cortex
Petty, Tom - (85) - Breakdown
Phish - First Tube
Phish - The Divivded Sky
Pink Floyd - Dogs
Reed, Lou - (74) Intro~ Sweet Jane
Rolling Stones - Can’t You Hear Me Knocking
Rolling Stones - You Can’t Always Get What You Want
Rush - La Villa Strangiato
Rusted Root - Cruel Sun
Santana - (77) - Europa
Santana - (93) - Guajira
Santana - C9a Every Step Of The Way
Santana - W8 Flame – Sky
Satriani, Joe - SA2 Echo
Sea Level - Midnight Pass
Steely Dan - Aja
Stills, Stephen (Manassas) - 20 The Treasure (take one)
String Cheese Incident - (97) - Pirates
String Cheese Incident - Come As You Are
Supertramp - Another Man’s Woman
Traffic - (73) – Glad>Freedom Rider
Traffic - Low Spark of High-heeled Boys
Trower, Robin - I’m Out To Get You
Trower, Robin - Shame
Trucks, Derek (Band) - Kickin’ Back
Vaughan, Stevie Ray - (85) - Voodoo Child (slight return)
War - City, Country, City
War - War Is Coming! War Is Coming!
Who - Won’t Get Fooled Again
Widespread Panic - (98) - Pickin’ Up The Pieces
Widespread Panic - Space Wrangler
Yes - Roundabout
Yes - South Side Of The Sky
Young, Neil - Broken Arrow
Young, Neil - Cowgirl In The Sand
Zappa, Frank - (88) - The Torture Never Stops part 2
Zappa, Frank - Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar Some More
Zappa, Frank - Son Of Mr Green Genes
Zero - (98) - Papa Was A Rolling Stone
I have a couple to add.
I make a ‘band best’ playlist. Just go through your artist list and pick one song (only one per) and dump into this list. Occasionally I will switch some around.
I do a three star list (with only three stars nothing higher) so I can cycle the songs that otherwise wouldn’t be listened to much.
It’s a cool list but I’m not picking up on the pattern (the Artists are in alphabetical order? 
)