Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Playlist

I have a playlist that includes all my favourite songs, except for:
- Congregational worship
- Soundtracks
- Classical
- Sigur Ros

Recently this playlist broke through the 500 songs mark (as of 20th January 2009 there are 513), and I decided to find out how many there are by each artist. Here are the interesting results:

34 - Delirious
24 - Idlewild
21 - Lifehouse
18 - British Sea Power
17 - Coldplay
16 - Anberlin, U2
13 - Mew
12 - Enya, Live, Oasis, Strangeday
11 - Muse, World Wide Message Tribe
10 - Bloc Party, Killers, Feeder
9 - Easyworld, Editors
8 - DC Talk, RHCP
7 - Counting Crows, Linkin Park, Maire Brennan
6 - Bluetree, Casting Crowns, Dido, Kato, Sixpence NTR, Steve, Travis
5 - Manic Street Preachers, Rock’n’roll Worship Circus, Sabio, Santiago, Stellastarr*
4 - Athlete, Bottlerockit, Dire Straits, Greenday, Jars of Clay, Kaiser Chiefs, Quench, REM, Stereophonics, Tait
3 - 3 Doors Down, Ash, Barlow Girl, Billy Joel, Doves, Evanescence, Falling Up, Franz Ferdinand, Libertines, Queen
2 - Caedmon’s Call, The Calling, Embrace, The Flaming Lips, Foo Fighters, The Gentlemen, Goo Goo Dolls, Keane, The Kissaway Trail, Maroon 5, Matchbox 20, Nickleback, Snow Patrol, Third Day, The Verve
1 - Alien Ant Farm, Aphron, Blink 182, Blur, The Bravery, Cathy Burton, David Crowder Band, Eiffel 65, Eminem, The Feeling, Five for Fighting, The Fray, Focus, Good Charlotte, Haven, Hoobastank, Jennifer Knapp, Justin Thomas, Lostprophets, Nirvana, No Doubt, Radiohead, Rebecca St James, Roddy Woomble, Rufus Wainwright, Skillet, Starsailor, Supergrass, Tobymac, Toploader, Vertical Horizon, The Yearning, Yfriday

Delirious were always going to be top – they are one of my favourite bands and have produced a huge amount of music. Idlewild, Lifehouse and BSP are also in my ‘elite’ group of bands. Interestingly, the 5th band in my elite, Mew, are slightly lower down with 13 songs – but they are superceded by Coldplay, Anberlin and U2, all of whom have produced at least 4 albums to Mew’s 3. In addition, the brilliance of Mew’s ‘And The Glass Handed Kites’ album is partly due to it being 14 tracks blended into 1, which makes it hard to pick out specific tracks to go in such a ‘favourites’ playlist.

The other usual suspects are up there – I really love all the bands with between 8 and 12 songs.

Reading lower down shows several categories of bands, including:
Great bands who only ever produced one album (grrr to Quench, Steve and Sabio!)
Bands who I quite like, but only to the extent of getting their greatest hits album (e.g. Manics, Counting Crows, REM)
Up-and-coming bands who haven’t produced much music yet (e.g. Bluetree)

Right near the bottom come the one-hit and two-hit wonders – classics like Snow Patrol and Five For Fighting.

Overall, I think this list gives a pretty good impression of my music taste, providing you remember that I also like Sigur Ros and a lot of worship music.

Prizes (of love) to anyone who can select an artist and correctly name the songs that I have on the playlist. More love available if you pick an artist with lots of songs, but if you get just one wrong, you get no love.

5 comments:

Joe 50 said...

Right, I'm going to attempt a few, so I guess my love will be a percentage according to correctness.

Alien ant farm- smooth criminal
The bravery- honest mistake
David crowder band- the glory of it all (I am fairly confident on this one)
The fray- how to save a life
Good charlotte- lifestyles of the rich and the famous
No doubt- don't speak
Roddy woomble- Waverley Steps
Toploader- dancing in the moonlight
Keane- Somewhere only we know, Bedshaped
Kissaway trail- smother, 63(?)
Snow patrol- run, chasing cars
Doves- there goes the fear, pounding, black and white town
Libertines- time for heroes, don't look back into the sun, can't stand me now
Manics- surprised and pleased that it was five. Motorcycle, tolerate, design, you stole the sun, you love us
Stellastar*- Lost in time, sweet troubled soul, my coco, jenny, stay entertained (although on my own and flea market are shocking exclusions. unless i'm wrong)
Sabio- meaning of my life, escape, mother, frozen, carry me
Kato- welcome to my world, natural high, javaman, heaven help, don't let me fall, butterfly
Travis- writing to reach you, driftwood, turn, sing, side, flowers in the window
Casting crowns- (based entirely on my favourite songs, I'm not expecting any love on this one) what if his people prayed, american dream, here I go again, praise you in this storm, stained glass masquerade, east to west
Editors- lights, munich, blood, all sparks, bullets, smokers, end has a start, weight of the world, bones
British sea power- something wicked, remember me, fear of drowning, the lonely, carrion, blackout, lately, wooden horse, oily stage, be gone, please stand up, land beyond, true adventures, lights out, no lucifer, waving flags, down on the ground
Idlewild (a ridiculous attempt)- when I argue, these wooden ideas, roseability, idea track, let me sleep, actually its darkness, mistake pageant, quiet crown, you held the world, modern way, american english, i am what I am not, can you tell me 10 words, stay the same, scottish ficiton, love steals us from loneliness, as if I hadn't slept, el capitan, disconnected, goodnight, in competition for the first time, no emotion, you and I are both away, ghost in the arcade

Unknown said...

Alien Ant Farm - correct, you win love
The Bravery - correct
David Crowder Band - correct
The Fray - correct
Good Charlotte - correct
No doubt - correct
Roddy Woomble - correct
Toploader - correct
Keane - 1 out of 2
Kissaway - 1 out of 2
Snow Patrol - correct
Doves - 2 out of 3
Libertines - correct
Manics - 3 out of 5
Stellastarr* - 3 out of 5
Sabio - 4 out of 5
Kato - updated to 7 songs - I had missed off Butterfly - the other 6 are correct
Travis - 5 out of 6
Casting Crowns - 2 out of 5
Editors - 7 out of 9
BSP - 17 out of 17 - outstanding, but you missed one!
Idlewild - 19 out of 24

Joe 50 said...

Unbelievable pressure on the last BSP choice! I'm staking my all and your love on....Great Skua?

I was pretty sure that Control was going to be on your Sabio list but couldn't bear to oust Carry Me, which I presume it replaces?

Would be interested to hear your correct Manics and Stellastarr* list. And Manics really need to make it into your 3rd circle.

I shall wait a couple of months before copying this delightful exercise. That's about average, right?

Unknown said...

BSP - wrong! It's A Trip Out
Sabio - Control is correct
Manics - Motorcycle, tolerate, design, Australia, The Everlasting
Stellastarr* - Lost in time, sweet troubled soul, fleamarket, love and longing, stay entertained

cfg said...

Hi Ben
I should lend you my most recent Paul Simon album, it's great!
First track: 'How can you live in the North East?' :-D
Brilliant.
cfg