# ipod Playlist ideas **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655 "2008-05-17T14:22:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655/1 "2008-05-17T14:22:41Z")
Recently I received a lot of great input in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=467601) 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? ---
**Author:** ![Monkey\_Chews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@Monkey\_Chews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monkey_Chews)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655/2 "2008-05-18T05:27:22Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655/3 "2008-05-18T05:53:00Z")
Well there’s always the classic “Songs to Slit Your Wrists By” I have a whole slew of variations on that one. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655/4 "2008-05-18T11:07:41Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655/5 "2008-05-18T12:03:17Z")
(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](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_Golden_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. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655/6 "2008-05-18T12:48:39Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] (Finally, my moment to shine.) [/QUOTE] Everyone’s moment comes some time. 🙂 [QUOTE=Ranchoth] •Steampunk (Steampunk-style music, includes some fantasy) \ Details of list contents available upon request. [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655/7 "2008-05-18T13:02:08Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655/8 "2008-05-18T18:49:42Z")
[QUOTE=HongKongFooey] 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. [/QUOTE] 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](http://home.gwi.net/~ipbar/lyrics/revelry.htm), filtered, and overlayed over the noise of a playing Wax Cylinder. Transcendiosis—A recording of [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_k0xqLA7Y0) 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? ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655/9 "2008-05-18T19:21:38Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655/10 "2008-05-19T01:34:24Z")
You might find some nice ideas at [SmartPlaylists.com](http://www.smartplaylists.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655/11 "2008-05-26T08:02:26Z")
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.” ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655/12 "2008-05-26T11:28:41Z")
Great ideas **Leiko** , I’m going to try both of 'em and see what I come up with. ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655/13 "2008-05-26T15:52:28Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Threadkiller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@Threadkiller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Threadkiller)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655/14 "2008-05-26T17:18:27Z")
[QUOTE=HongKongFooey] Have you come up with some interesting themes or ideas for your ipod/itunes playlists? [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![HongKongFooey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c4cdca/32.png) [@HongKongFooey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HongKongFooey)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ipod-playlist-ideas/449655/15 "2008-05-26T21:05:09Z")
[QUOTE=DfrntBreign] What do you think? See any patterns? [/QUOTE] It’s a cool list but I’m not picking up on the pattern (the Artists are in alphabetical order? 😉 )