Top 25 Most Played

A song for every season, a tune for every time.

I suppose that's what has become of my iPod. I can't remember how many songs I have (3000+), but I know I have enough music to last for almost 10 days straight without repetition.

Sounds like a marathon... who's in?

@CincyAlea asked me to share my 25 Most Played - so here it is, in all its glory, with an explainer for some of the songs on the list.

1. Lie In Our Graves - Dave Matthews Band
This song is #1, but it sure doesn't deserve to be. Don't misunderstand, I love DMB (though have decided I'm over the revelry at Riverbend), but this song accidentally snagged the top spot when my iPod mistakenly replayed it over and over and over - to the tune of 450+ repeats. So a mistaken number one, but a number one, nonetheless.

2. Laid - James
1993. High school. A dorky virgin who was hesitant to say bad words. And a massive crush on a boy named James. It added up to a fantastic equation that led me to heart. this. song. Immensely. To this day, Laid makes me want to jump on a bed and sing with a hairbrush in my hand. I know. Hot.

3. Boys Don't Cry - The Cure
High school also introduced me to The Cure. I never listened to them in Cincinnati, and when I arrived on the scene in Connecticut, I'd never heard of the band. Friends of mine had older siblings who loved the band, so naturally we picked it up, too. Despite Robert Smith's wailing, I actually love a boy (or a man) who does cry.

4. Just Like Heaven - The Cure
Another great tune - this one makes me want to do the Molly Ringwald-in-Breakfast Club dance for some reason. Reminds me of past relationships and hopes for future ones.

5. The District Sleeps Tonight - The Postal Service
My first ever blogging pal Micah makes the most fabulous seasonal mix CDs. He became my first online-to-real life friend, and I am grateful he still includes me in his seasonal compilations. Anyway. I know shit about music. I am the epitome of mainstream (though I have gotten a lot better at finding my own indie music this past year) and am grateful for Micah's more exploratory, hidden finds. Anyway. He included this tune on a CD I think before most folks had even heard of The Postal Service. At 2:17 in, the beat makes me want to pound a table with my fist. Love it.

6. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction - The Rolling Stones
You can take The Doors. I'll take Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The Stones have become my favorite classic rock band. Paint It Black, Brown Sugar, Sympathy For The Devil - I love it all. I had an old college friend introduce The Stones to me, and though we are no longer friends, I am forever grateful for the introduction (though this isn't entirely true. Family Lore says I was a dramatic dancer even as far back as an infant, and that my dad and I would slow dance to Miss You).

7. These Are The Days - 10,000 Maniacs
Anyone who went to school - whether it be grade school, high school or college - in the 90s has no doubt heard this song in a photo compilation of some kind. And is there really a better song to pay tribute to that era? In high school, we felt this message in every heart beat, in every embrace, in every word uttered. We knew we'd never replicate that feeling of not-yet-adults-still-not-kids, growing ambition and responsibility but the casual never ending nights of fun and togetherness. It really was special, wasn't it?

8. Whip It - Devo
What other song makes you want to whip around an imaginary lasso? Maybe it's just me. I say whip it... whip it good.

9. Nothin But A G-Thang - Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg
College. Plastic cups full of beer or hooch. People wearing Hawaiian shirts and leis, packed in a dark garage and breaking it down beneath a hackneyed light system as someone plays on a pseudo sound board. I think it was written in the Greek bylaws that every single frat party was required to play this song.

10. Stupid Girl - Garbage
This song makes me feel like a bad ass. Actually, Shirley Manson makes me feel like a bad ass. She and her band mates were introduced to me (figuratively speaking) by none other than Thomas. Remember when people still made mixes on cassette tapes? Well, Thomas made me the most fabulous mix tapes of Garbage and Better Than Ezra. I think I still have those tapes. They're souvenirs from a time gone by.

11. Poker Face - Lady GaGa
I think you all clearly understand how I feel about The GaGa. Need I say more? Okay, I will. This song comes complete with my own, high production value - low execution dance moves. Occasionally I am struck to break out in dance in my living room... prancing across the space, complete with props and poses. It really is a shame I don't have a web cam, isn't it?

12. Start Me Up - The Rolling Stones
Another great tune to put a gal in a good mood.

13. American Woman - Lenny Kravitz
This man's vocals are pure sex, and that's how he makes me feel when I hear this ditty. Madonna's cover doesn't even touch the original.

14. Supernova - Liz Phair
"Your kisses are as wicked as an F-16 And you fuck like a volcano, and you're everything to me." God, I hope I can say that about someone someday. Phair is a phenomenal songwriter, and her lyrics bring up some of the most spectacular imagery I've heard in music.

15. Pride (In The Name of Love) - U2
My favorite band, hands down, and I am rather surprised to see U2 only hitting at #15. This song is probably my favorite U2 song. Haunting chorus and a beautiful message about Martin Luther King, Jr. The Edge's guitar licks are something to marvel, and Bono will always be nothing but sexy to me.

16. Bittersweet Symphony - The Verve
There I was, tears streaming down my face, chest heaving, when Reese Witherspoon came on full screen, driving down the interstate in Ryan Phillippe's 1956 Jaguar XK-140, and this song eased on. The car. The story behind the scene. The song. I was overcome. The song's lyrics are an interesting commentary on life, and the symphonic elements matched with rock 'n roll is a stunning pairing.

17. Your Woman - White Town
One hit wonder, but oh, what a wonder it is. A man, singing about how he could never be your woman. I always wondered whether this is the kind of song a gay man sings when he breaks up with his lover. Alternately, it's been a great song to groove to when recovering from unrequited love.

18. Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
A long, long time ago in a very far away place Lexington, this used to be a song I sang along to a six string. It still is a great, great song and I love to sing it, though its meaning has warn a bit.

19. Sour Times - Portishead
Speaking of Lexington, there used to be this fantastic, smoky seedy bar called Buster's. The building on Main Street is no longer standing, so you'll have to just imagine a dim space with walls painted black. An eclectic juke box, kitschy diner-like tables near the entrance, and a few ratty pool tables in the back. The handle was missing from the door to the ladies' room, and someone had kindly stuffed the hole with crumpled paper towels. This is where my disdain began for watered down hand soap, but I always forgave the place as I could play Sour Times on the jukebox.

20. Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On) - Robert Plant & Alison Kraus
The guitar on this is wicked. Raising Sand is a great album that got a little press - if you don't have it, I highly suggest you get it.

21. Send Me On My Way - Rusted Root
Simeon The Whale. That's what my mom always thought she heard Michael Glabicki sing when Brig and I would play this in high school. Connecticut is the kind of place where rich kids pretend they're hippies, wearing Birkenstocks, hemp necklaces and sloppy polo shirts. Bumming around in older Saabs, Jeeps and the occasional minivan, this song definitely belongs on the soundtrack of a beloved era.

22. Clocks - Coldplay
I could wax poetic about how much I love this epic song. Instead, I'll just say Chris Martin's piano playing is haunting, and I love singing along to this song at any opportunity. Especially the starry chorus.

23. Friday I'm In Love - The Cure
A song that made an indelible mark in my memory many moons ago. Doesn't everyone want to be in love on a Friday?

24. Strict Machine - Goldfrapp
I know. Random, right? Goldfrapp's entree into commercial mainstream seems like a dark horse, but this is a wonderful electric tune that you should download if you've got an extra $1.29 to spare.

25. Got to Give It Up (Part 1) - Marvin Gaye
I was seven years old when my dad told me about Marvin Gaye's death. A DJ on the radio had just played What's Goin' On as a tribute, saying it was a damn shame what happened to Marvin Gaye. I asked my dad what he was talking about, and Dad had to break it to me that Gaye's father shot and killed him during an argument. My "little girl self" just couldn't understand how a parent could harm their child, no matter their age or the struggle involved. Years later, I'd hear a slew of similar stories while working in the TV business. No matter how many times I'd heard it, it was still a hard pill to swallow. Got to Give It Up is a happy tune that makes me forget my worries, and instead groove and bust a move in any living room, dance hall, car or shower.



Kate's Random Musings by Kate the Great is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.