And interesting exercise in musical taste -- I know nothing about musicology, or what makes songs sound different (other than the obvious things). I can't tell you why jazz sounds like jazz (thought it does sound recognizably like jazz to me).

Here's a question (join in to answer, or do one of your own to ask the group).

Something in me responds to songs with a quick rock and roll beat, and there more than step that beat. I will give five songs that I like, and you tell me more songs I would like (old or new). I need some new stuff but I just don't hear it.

1. Sultans of Swing, by Dire Straits. That song is right on time, very time.
2. Suspicious Minds, by Elvis. Listen to the opening riff, the way those notes just pile on top of each other, but in such a precise rhythm. I immediately go into a good mood.
3. La Grange, by ZZ Top. De-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah NE nah-nah De-nah
4. Hey Ya!, by Outkast. 1, 2, 3, UH! My baby don't mess around
5. The Middle, by Jimmy Eat World.

I could go on, but maybe I'll sprinkle in some more later. Or some clips.


What do you think my "thing" is when it comes to music.

Tell me what other songs I would like -- I'll be honest about whether I already love them (as in, listened to them 100 times love them).

I know what you mean about not hearing anything new. I'm not going to recommend anything for you, because I'm just not that good at it,and I'm disobeying the "rules" of the thread but I just can't help myself.

What I've found pretty fun and accurate most of the time, is using the site pandora.com to build a personal radio station around a specific song or artist that I like. The recommendation system that builds the station is pretty good at picking songs that I will like based on the feedback (I like this/ I don't like this).

I have a great R&B station build from Stevie Wonder's Sir Duke. Others are built around Tom Petty, Pearl Jam, Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here ... I bet Sultans of Swing would produce great results and I'm going to steal that from you.

I also had a friend recommend some bands to me, people I never would have heard of on my own, like the Detroit Cobras and The Dirtbombs (both from, um ... Detroit) and Pandora has been great about building stations around them too. So, recommendations work too, and I bet you'll get some great ones here. You can then use the imwan recommendations and the ones from pandora.com, um, in concert. Have fun!

Try The Carpenters.

I'm going to do a pandora.com experiment. But I wonder if it's algorithm will center more on genre, etc. than on the musicology.

Okay, the first one was a hit. It seized on what it called "musical qualities," and suggested "Southbound Again" by Dire Straits, which is good.

Man, put in Sultans of Swing and you get nothing but awesome.

Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We're Going Down; Dance, Dance

Good Charlotte - Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

Jason Mraz - The Remedy

Von Bondies - C'mon, C'mon

Tonic - Open Up Your Eyes


Let me know if I'm on the right track and I'll give you more.

Yeah, it's pretty awesome. Check out the "why was this song recommended?" link, and you'll be impressed with their classification of musical qualities.

Now I'm trying to create a potent soup by starting other stations and "sending" its suggestions over to the other ones, so it can feed more data into the computer.

Sultans of Swing channel just shot out "For What It's Worth," which is one of my all time favorites. The two competing rhythms are heaven to my subconscious.

My first song in my Sultans of Swing station is So Far Away ... very nice.

I'm going to let this station play for a while, then I'm building one around Hi-Jinks recommendation of the Von Bondies C'mon C'mon

I'm on it.

This Pandora is psychic. It's suggesting songs I already play in heavy rotation.

(My best list is called "Mow Lawn." I started to hear the songs I most wanted to hear while mowing the lawn. Then it became the easiest playlist to remember, and it's now the highest honor I bestow. Or recently acquired songs park there awhile).

Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We're Going Down; Dance, Dance

Yes to Sugar, We're Going Down. No to Dance, Dance.

Good Charlotte - Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

Yes, although it's so common now it sounds like the intro to one of the shows my kids watch on Disney.

Jason Mraz - The Remedy

Yes.

Von Bondies - C'mon, C'mon

Yes, but not super much.

Tonic - Open Up Your Eyes

No.


All of these fit in a narrow band stylistically for me. I like Weezer's Buddy Holly, Stacey's Mom, and Hey Jealousy by the Gin Blossoms (and the Middle by Jimmy Eat World). I would say a punk influence is the common theme.

But why do I hear something similar that clicks in other genres?

Buy that one didn't have "it" for me.

You might like Green Day.

Try "Holiday" (ignore the politics) and anything from the album "Dookie" such as "She."

I liked them a bit back when they exploded commercially. All their songs kind of sound the same to my tin ear.

Punk? Really?

Emo, I think.

Jay is emo.

Another revealing bit -- I love the Doors (had a huge Doors phase way back in the 1980's), but my favorite lasting song is "L.A. Woman." I think it's hands down their best song. It's got those juxtaposed (and quick) rhythms.

Pandora is getting putting out with me. I keep giving it thumbs down to almost everything it suggests.

Over on my Hey Ya channel, I told it I liked "Hips Don't Lie," and it gave me another Shakira song. I wish there was a way to tell it "You can probably forget every other Shakira song from now until the end of time. There was something strange about Hips Don't Lie and it will be the only one. Now figure it out."

God, if Jay is like this now, what is he going to be like when he has his mid-life crisis?