Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with music and playlist

HELP! Need Wedding Playlist!!

madmamasmith — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:35:50 -0800

HELP! I am (was) using my ipod instead of a DJ for my wedding that is in 10 days and it just CRASHED! It synched to my computer without warning and now all my wedding playlists are GONE! I'm a dope and only very recently started using an external hard drive...long story short I need help to rebuild my wedding playlists. With the stress of the wedding planning I cant even remember to poop, let alone the collection of music ive been building for years!! I would appreciate ANY and ALL recommendations but I need the most help with the dance portion. I love all kinds of music from all eras and I want to make sure there are some dance hits from my school days ie TLC, SWV etc but I also want to play some newer hits and I am suffering serious brain fart. I'm also 6 months pregnant so I have baby brain as they say.

So far my playlists are thus (in a nutshell)

Preceremony/seating:

sun kil moon, joni mitchell, elvis, alasdair roberts, some instrumental stuff etc., peter gabriel

Dinner/Cocktail:

cocteau twins, yo la tango, van morrison, fleetwood mac, sufjan stevens, nina simone, otis redding, nuetral milk hotel

Dancing:

MGMT, MIA, Soldia Boy, JAson Derulo, Kool & the gang, outkast, madonna, pssion pit, cure, aha, TI, iggy pop, peter bjorn and john, daftpunk, the knife, george michael.......

Music-fu to the rescue

notashroom — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:43:44 -0800

PlaylistFilter: I like themed playlists, partly because I have broad taste and they help me link together songs from disparate genres and partly because I can play a playlist or CD that suits a given mood or situation. Help me build a love-themed playlist and find resources for good themed playlists? First, right now I'm looking to build a playlist around a theme of loving acceptance, along the lines of "Just the Way You Are", "My Baby Loves Me (Just the Way That I Am)", and "Close Enough to Perfect". Can you suggest songs that fit this theme, in any genre, of any artist (only or primarily English for vocals, please)?

Second, do you know any good websites featuring themed playlists or with a significant number of them in an easily navigable/searchable format? I remember a post (not sure if it was blue or green, and searching failed me) with a site that was at the time featuring summer-themed playlists, complete with downloadable music and "album" covers. Something like that would be excellent, but just theme, song title, and artist would be enough if the lists were good and navigation usable.

I've seen a million faces

Potomac Avenue — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:27:36 -0800

What are some good songs about being on tour? My band's tour is coming to an end and I'd like to make a goodbye mix for all the crew and other bands we've been rolling with for the past month+.

They could be classic (American band, various zepplin), obscure (humble pie's 30 Days In The Hole [my personal favorite]) or modern (living legends' Creative Differences). They don't have to entirely be about touring as long as at least one verse or so specifically talks about life on the road as a musician.

TIA

Phasing that leaves you happy?

Mizu — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:44:51 -0800

Modern Minimalist Orchestral Music Filter: Could you help me find music similar in mood and sound to a particular piece by Yoko Kanno? "Twinkle" on the Macross Frontier O.S.T.1 is beautiful and I want more! I'm a fan of Steve Reich and phasing already, but "Twinkle" has a sort of gentler, uplifting feel that I absolutely adore. Last time I tried Pandora, it wasn't so great with classical music, and I don't have any friends who share my taste. So I turn to you, dear Metafilter!

Ulterior motive: I'm about to embark on my first NaNoWriMo, but before that I have about 16 hours of airplane ride to deal with. So I'm looking for many, many hours of music, if possible, with no English lyrics, although other languages would be okay, as long as it isn't too distracting from the process of writing. Hopefully I can compose some epic uplifting and mellow playlists to carry me to and from my stressful destination, and then inspire me to keep writing.

Other than almost anything Yoko Kanno touches, I'm a fan of Ravel, Elvis Costello, Sondre Lerche, E.L.O., April March, Anamanaguchi, Kool & the Gang, Jon Brion, Justice, Frou Frou, and what snobby eclectic girl would be happy without Bjork? I have an extreme soft spot for string instruments and piano. If any of that helps you, I thank you. I'm open to practically anything, if it has the same mood as "Twinkle", or pairs well with it, or is a logical next step.

Thank you in advance!

Playlist for checking out steroes

StimulatingPixels — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:50:07 -0800

What are the best (or your favorite) songs to use when checking out stereo systems? I'm setting up a list of songs that can be used to checkout/show-off a stereo system. The main goal is to use them while hunting a new stereo system so that I can have a consistent set of examples that highlight different audio characteristics.

Crisp highs, full lows, clean vocals, extended volume and tonal ranges, live recordings, electronically produced elements, etc... Any genre is fine, but if you have recommendations for classical, please include the specific performance/recording since that has such a huge influence on the quality.

(Looks like there are some good answers via this question but it's focused more on headphones.)

We on da grind, in Flo'ida slangin' signs...

Methylviolet — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:24:05 -0800

Music recommendation request: My son got a job waving a sign at passing cars for six hours a day, six days a week. Help his life suck less. My 17-year-old son needs more music. Can you suggest:

Waving-a-sign-at-passing-cars theme songs
Florida theme songs, or
Other?

Theme music would be great, but anything you love (or hate) and think he might love would be much appreciated, too.

He basically likes music he can dance to or play on the guitar that isn't lame -- unless it is transcendentally lame, then he likes it. He seems to like music he can physically engage with... and that isn't what the kids he knows are listening to, because it's obscure or because it's utter pop schlock -- same to him. Based on the music below, can you suggest more?

Thanks for your help!

Artists he has loved:

Matt Costa
Leftover Crack/Choking Victim
Amy Winehouse
Tokyo Police Club
Sukhshinder Shinda
Operation Ivy
Santogold
The Clash
Streetlight Manifesto
Hard Kaur
Nas
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
The Supremes
The Distillers

Songs he has loved:

Can't Speak French by Girls Aloud
Fascination by Alphabeat
Pretty OK by The Wrens
Emerge Adult Remix by Adult/Fisherspooner
I'm Yours by Jason Mraz?
Your Mangled Heart by the Gossip
RDB Theme by RDB
Fuck You by Lily Allen
Game of Pricks by Guided by Voices
Destroy Everything You Touch by Ladytron
Standing on the Verge of Getting it On by Funkadelic
Slow Motion by Juvenile Soulja Slim
On Da Grind by Ghetto Mafia
Bad Babysitter by Princess Superstar
Build God, Then We'll Talk by Panic at the Disco
The Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel

Let the guest pick the music before the party

bleucube — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:58:39 -0800

Have party guests build music playlist prior to party online. Is there such a site? My sister is throwing a huge party and would prefer to have people submit their music playlist ideas prior to the party. It would be nice if she can sign up for a service (free) like evite and have people login to suggest a playlist. There service must exist somewhere on the interwebs but my googling isn't getting me anywhere.

That boy needs therapy

benzenedream — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:34:19 -0800

What are some of your favorite obscure electronic music singles? I'm looking for the kind of stuff where an otherwise unremarkable or unrecognized artist managed to release one perfect song. I am not interested in one-hit wonders as Wikipedia defines it -- I don't care if the song was ever popular or a club hit, just that it's good and interesting. Songs that creep onto your playlists despite not knowing or liking anything else by the same band are what I'm looking for, perhaps an excellent remix that managed to redeem a weak song. I tend towards artists such as Negativland, Lionrock, Aphex Twin, Prefuse 73, Amon Tobin, Girl Talk, DNTEL, Autechre, Avalanches, Jason Forrest, etc. but am looking for stuff far off the Pandora similarity radar.

Stop making the eyes at me and I'll stop making the eyes at you

prufrock — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:19:35 -0800

I need recommendations for songs for walking. I've recently discovered the joys of going on long walks by the river. And my playlist is definitely heavier on the metal side(no pun intended etc).

What I've found is listening to grunts and growls or generally melancholic lyrics while going on a pleasant walk I develop a sullen facial expression and colours the outlook of whatever I experience. I'd like to be all joy and jollity while enjoying the late New England spring. While walking, at least.

Anyway, I'd like to ask for your recommendations on music that you might listen to yourselves while walking. Or music that you think might fit my criteria.

-Fast tempo. Not insanely fast or anything, but not a ballad either.
-Sort of uppity and mood boosting.
-Relatively short. ~3 mins. Not a hard limit.
-No electronic/synthpop. Can't stand it.
-Also, any song that might reference/celebrate the notion of eye contact with a pretty girl

That's it.

Here's what I've find myself enjoying and would like to discover more of the same.

Arctic Monkeys - I bet you look good on the dance floor
Stone Roses - Waterfall
The Clash - London Calling
Collective Soul - December
Oasis - The Importance of Being Idle
Blur - Country House/Charmless Man
Pearl Jam - Do the Evolution
Wolfmother - Joker & the Thief
The Crystal Method - Born too slow
That Dead Like Me song
Led Zeppelin - Dancing Days
Buzzcocks - Ever Fallen in Love

Thank you.

What music keeps you going and going and going asking for another hill to come?

mathiu — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:20:28 -0800

[exhausted-athlete-music-filter] What songs will carry you up any hill? I am part of a university sports team that is to compete in a one day, 18 leg, relay race over 45 minute distances in running/inline-skating/street-biking and mountain-biking.

I am in the process of pimping our tour bus with a sound system. I hope that music will lift our athletes' up-hill spirits throughout their gigs.

What music keeps you going and going and going asking for another hill to come?

Accessible playlists

miss_scarlett — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:46:22 -0800

How would one go about creating a playlist akin to a mixtape (ie with specifically ordered songs), to share with a friend via thumb drive/zip file? I know this is possible using iTunes, but what if the recipient doesn't use iTunes?

I want to make a universally accessible playlist, which can be 'zipped' together with notes and images...Is there a software program that will do this for me? Some way I can attach data or formatting to a list of individual files?

How should I choose and enjoy music for my workday?

davebush — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 12:43:02 -0800

How should I choose and enjoy music for my workday? I work at home, at a desk for many hours each day. I have a giant collection of CDs and MP3s that I listen to all day. I don't like shuffled music, I prefer what I call "long listening" - one artist (album by album) or genre all day. A typical day would see me loading up an 8 hour playlist of Pete Namlook or Steve Roach.

My problem is that I'm always thinking "is this the most satisfying thing I can listen to right now?" I often feel like I have too much music and that I'd enjoy it more if I only had 50 CD's. I need help feeling content with whatever I choose to listen to, almost to the point of using a system. Although using shuffle might seem like a logical solution, I really want my music to sustain a somewhat singular mood for the entire day. Any ideas?

I realize this might seem like a trivial thing, but it really does nag at me.

What are some good songs to bring to my human dissection class?

BuddhaInABucket — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:47:26 -0800

I'm taking a human cadaver dissection class. Our instructor allows us to bring music to play in class. Hive-mind, you know what to do.

Bum me out.

prefpara — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:27:13 -0800

Death Cab For Cutie has a song, I will follow you into the dark, which goes well with the Iron and Wine song Naked as we came. I'd like to find more songs that fit with these two. The key identity seems to be that both songs concern the death of a lover (or can be interpreted that way easily). Also, they have stylistic similarities which I will not try to describe.

Please suggest other songs that fit this mold!

The Playlist To Rule Them All

pwally — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:34:54 -0800

I'm trying to make a playlist to end all playlists, and I'm stuck after two songs. I have thousands of songs, but the entrance requirements are stringent: the song must be nothing short of epic.

The first song I have is Gideon by My Morning Jacket.

The second song is Illinois by Sufjan Stevens.

So those two should serve as a good baseline for what I'm looking for... If I had twelve that were of this same caliber I would be happy. I don't want to rule out older songs, but I would rather they be from the 90's to the present. A good metric for whether a song is epic or not is replay ability... I can listen to the above two on repeat about ten times in a row before wanting to puke.

Have any worthy suggestions? Bonus points if you come up with a clever name for the playlist. This is serious stuff people.

I'm in search of the infinite playlist.

cmaxmagee — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:24:11 -0800

I'm in search of the infinite playlist. I work from home and listen to music via the internet all day pretty much every day and I've become very bored with my current options. I've been using Pandora for a long time, but I've found that it is just too repetitive if you listen to it all day. I've created new stations, added new seeds, removed seeds, told it not to play songs for the next thirty days, etc - essentially all the things you are supposed to do if you find that Pandora is getting too repetitive.

And yet, I still find it too repetitive. On top of that, my tastes are extremely eclectic and I love discovering new music, but I find that I'm not doing that on Pandora any more.

So, what I am looking for is a (free) endlessly eclectic stream of music that I can listen to all day. This can be an internet radio station or it can be a Pandora-like app. The broader the better (I'm talking way more eclectic than Morning Becomes Eclectic). I want rock, rap, country, world, jazz, classical, and anything and everything else - i.e. the infinite playlist. Any suggestions?

Hello Mary Lou, Good bye Heart.

bookwo3107 — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:07:03 -0800

I'm looking to put together a CD of Horror Movies' Cheesiest, Greatest Hits (i.e. the opening theme to Killer Klowns from Outer Space, the ballad closing My Bloody Valentine, etc.), but I've hit a wall. Help! So far I've got:
-Red Right Hand (Scream)
-Killer Klowns from Outer Space
-Ballad of Harry Warden (My Bloody Valentine)
-Too Bad You're Crazy (April Fool's Day)
-Prom Night (Prom Night - the amazingly excellent Disco sequence)
-Hello, Mary Lou (Prom Night II)

And that's about it. Ideally this project would fill up a CD for my to-and-from work to put me in a holly jolly Halloween mood. Should I just be happy with what I've got?

Music to eat to. Romantically.

heavenstobetsy — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 16:24:29 -0800

Looking for suggestions of songs to be played during dinner at a fairly casual wedding. No DJ, we're just using a PA and some variety of cd player. We're looking for mostly mainstream type mellow-ish music. The bride so far as come up with:

- Amy Winehouse
- Coldplay
- Radiohead
- Feist
- Verve
- The Smiths

So along the vein of those artists probably. At least vaguely romantic in tone/lyrics would probably be best. Thanks in advance, Hivemind!

60's MusicFilter:

pinkbungalow — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 08:40:45 -0800

Help me make a playlist w/ 60's music? Ok, I'll be more specific - I like some of the british invasion stuff, some soul or funk and maybe psychadelic... not to knock the Beach Boys or the Monkees, but I'm not looking for that kind of stuff. I was born in 1964 and I'm thinking of things I might have heard in the last 40 years but not top-40 songs. Maybe some not-so-overplayed stuff, Stones, Who, Kinks, Byrds, Cream, Traffic - but not to leave out some more obscure stuff (Electric Prunes? Zombies?) I know ALL the Beatles songs, so no need to add those. And it doesn't have to be just british - CSN&Y, Hendrix...
I'm sure it can be a long list, but I'd be grateful for your top 5 or 10?

Searching for a Cold War Soundtrack

DOUBLE A SIDE — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 18:46:11 -0800

I am looking to make a music playlist that recaptures that '89 cold war, fall of communism feel. Think Scorpions - Wind of Change. I'm living in Eastern Europe for the first time, a whole bunch of friends and family are coming over for a special occasion and I really want to create a playlist for a night of drinking in an old communist apartment. I'm not so interested in traditional folk music or patriotic songs...but popular music with subject matter relating to the cold war or the fall of communism (or Russia and Eastern Europe in general). I don't mind how cheesy they are and the song doesn't necessarily have to be western.

To Begin:
Scorpions - Wind of Change
Elton John - Nikita
David Hasselhoff - I'm Looking for Freedom
Leonard Cohen - First We Take Manhatten [for the Berlin mention]
Nena - 99 Luftballons

Not Interested in:
The Beatles - Back in the U.S.S.R
Novelty songs - e.g anything by Weird Al

There were these nuclear songs previously, but maybe a bit too nucleary for me.

Similar song to Christina Aguilera's Candyman

artifarce — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:51:50 -0800

Similar-in-style songs to Christina Aguilera's Candyman? I'm helping plan a wedding dance list, and this modern boogie is a lot of fun, but I don't want to be the one that drops "he makes my cherry pop" into this particular dance hall. In other words, it should be clean too. I've searched the "neoboogie" tag a bit on last.fm, but there's a lot of boring songs there to wade through. I want something hip, fast, and that would make both the old and young generations stand up for a little swing dancing. I'm not explicitly looking through music from the last 10 years, but it'd be preferable. Good covers are great too.

Why is Pearl Jam more Classic Rock than Maiden?

theichibun — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:41:46 -0800

[Curiosity Filter] When did Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, and Soundgarden become Classic Rock? I was listening to the local classic rock radio station and they started to play Even Flow. Then I remembered that I'd heard Stone Temple Pilots and Soundgarden played there too, as well as Metallica used on some of the stations promos.

Since I've been essentially radio free for the 3 years I've been to college so far, maybe there's something that I missed. But when did these bands become classic rock?

Are the stations trying to get more people around my age to listen? Is it because they're trying to expand the playlist (which pretty much means they have to get newer)? Were listeners requesting these bands so much that the stations decided to just start playing them?

And maybe most importantly, why am I hearing these bands but still no Iron Maiden outside of Run To the Hills occasionally and whatever is played on The House of Hair?

I don't listen to what they're saying because then I'd be crying instead of dancing...

twiggy — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:27:25 -0800

I'm trying to put together a list of the happiest sounding songs with the saddest lyrics... can you help? I'm looking for songs that people dance, sing and party to all the time seemingly ignorant of their lyrical content.

Here's a couple of examples of super upbeat songs with really sad lyrics to get started:

OutKast - Hey Ya
Len - Steal My Sunshine

As an aside, if it never occurred to you that Hey Ya was kind of a sad song, check youtube for Obadia Parker's acoustic version of it. Bonus points for pointing to cover versions like that one where the music embodies the feel of the lyrics more than the original...

Desperately Seeking Cowbell

worstnerdever — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:58:08 -0800

I just bought my drummer a cowbell, but she's unsure of when to use it. I want to make her a list of songs with interesting uses of cowbell (or something similar, like a woodblock), but so far I've come up with: "Don't Fear the Reaper" - Blue Oyster Cult (obviously) "Red Morning Light" - Kings of Leon I'm surprised that I couldn't find more, and I'm sure that I'm missing some pretty obvious ones. Any help? Our band's style, if you think it's relevant, is somewhere between The Stooges, The Bee Gees and The Flaming Lips. I'm welcoming suggestions from any genre, though, since we tend to experiment with whatever sounds good.

Highway to Hell

markovich — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:13:38 -0800

I want to make a play list of songs that have a reference to a US highway somewhere in the lyrics. Which songs do you know that have this? For example, the song Mississippi Moon by John Anderson has the lyric:

Goin on back to the delta
I'm tired of searching for the answers
Always out there on the run
I'm goin back to where my heart is...
Down on Highway 61

And as a small addendum, what is the significance of picking the particular highway for each song?