Day 30- The B's are Complete!

I finally finished the B's today and what a relief. It seemed like they would never end.

I finished the B's with some Busta Rhymes, Butthole Surfers and The Byrds this morning.

Quick stats on songs in my catalog by "B" Artists...

824 total songs or 50.4 hours of listening. I started the B's on October 10th at 3:00pm so it took me almost 22 days of listening to get through them all.

In regards to my end goal I have now listened to 15.21% of my catalog.

Looking forward to the C's with artists like...

Cake, The Cardigans, Clipse, Coldplay, Counting Crows, etc.

Only 333 songs or 24 hours. Definitely shorter than the B's.

Day 29- It's Britney B*tch!

So here we go an entire post dedicated to Britney - Ms. Spears if you're nasty. I hope you enjoy this classic pic of Britney when she was that innocent.

First for the integrity of the blog and you my readership (all 10 of you) I felt it necessary to download "Womanizer". I repeat this had nothing to do with me liking the song or liking Britney- I just felt to give a full review of Britney I should include her latest song.

After listening to about 3 hours worth of Britney I learned a few things, that are probably well known to the masses. The overwhelming majority of Brit's songs are atrocious and basically un-listenable (if that's a word). Please keep in mind this is coming from someone who secretly loves pop. BUT amongst a plethora of bad songs on each album there are always one or two incredibly amazing pop songs and I know all of you have sung along to them while driving alone.

So in honor of Mrs. Federline's ability to have some pop hits here are her best songs according to what's in my iTunes catalog.

1. Toxic- Who doesn't love flight attendants
   
2. ...Baby One More Time- I remember in college how many sorority's did rush sketches dressed like Britney from this video. That video destroyed the holiness of Catholic school uniforms for at least 5-10 years.
   
3. Oops I Did It Again- My favorite line is... "but I thought the old lady..." - You know you love it.
   
4. Gimme More- It's Britney Bitch
   
5. I'm a Slave 4 U- Reminds me of the good old days when Britney and JT were together. So glad JT got out of that relationship
   
6. Womanizer- It's not that great but its so catchy and Monica has been pissed that it's been stuck in her head all day
   

A few lesser known songs that are also good...
"Why Should I be Sad"- Only because its a Neptunes jam with Pharrel. VB represent

"Email My Heart" - It's all in the name. The song is ridiculous with lyrics about CCing love. It also got some air play at weekend after parties at our place in college. Let's just call them late night dance parties. I'll leave it at that.

I only have a few more songs to listen to by Busta Rhymes and Butthole Surfers before I'll done with the B's. I'll provide some stats on my progress and the B's tomorrow.

Day 28- Short Pre-Britney Post

Didn't have much time to listen today. All I got through was Brandston, Brazilian Girls, The Breeders and Bright Eyes.

One quick thought... Bright Eyes is horrible. There I said it- I'm sorry Neil but his voice makes me angry. The only good song is "First Day of My Life".

But where this leaves me is about to enter the world of Britney Spears. I know at least one reader who will be pumped to see tomorrow's post.

Day 27- Hot Jams rediscovered

After Bjork I had a bunch of random B's intermixed with Black Eyed Peas, Blink-182, Blue Merle, Bloc Party and the Boston Pops Orchestra (I'll explain). But there were definitely some great songs that were rediscovered that I can't wait to share.

First, my certified platinum hidden gem of the week... She Talks to Angels by The Black Crowes. Click the URL to listen to it (and yes buy it) on iTunes. It's an incredible song.

Also back when the Black Crowes were popular (middle school?) I was constantly confusing the lead singer with the lead singer of the Spin Doctors. They were both gangly looking dudes named Chris with amazing beards. Let's see if you can select the correct lead singer. Which one is Chris Robinson and which one is Chris Barron.

I then went through Black Eyed Peas and Blink-182 with nothing memorable to really say other than yes Black Eyed Peas has a song called "Let's get Retarded" but for some reason it became "Let's get it started" for radio play and the NBA playoffs theme song...hmmm.

Bloc Party was next. They are a great alt-rock band with a bit of a techno feel. Highlights are "Banquet", "This Modern Love" and "Tulips (club version)".

Next was a bunch of random stuff like Bloodhound Gang, Blue Merle, Blues Traveler, Bob Dylan and sadly only one song each from Bob Marley ("Is this love") and Bon Jovi (obviously "Livin' on a Prayer", don't think I haven't rocked out to this on Guitar Hero). So definitely some gaps in the catalog identified there.

I ended the day with some John Williams care of the Boston Pops Orchestra. It's an album of all of his big movie hits. So lots of Star Wars themes as well as songs from ET, Star Trek and 2001. It was some enjoyable work music.

Tomorrow I start off the day with a great song "Earthquakes and Sharks" from Brandston and then onto the Breeders. Can't wait to hear "Cannonball".

Day 26- Bjork is Complete or fullkominn in Icelandic

This morning I finished Bjork and am finally ready to give my synopsis of 4.5 hours of the Icelandic songstress.

First to address a few questions...
How did I get into Bjork?
When Bjork first become popular (approximately 1991) with the single Human Behavior off of Debut, my friend Justin's sister had the CD. I really liked the video of the bear walking around the woods and of course liked the song. At the time I got the CD and generally liked the album... Fast forward to my sophomore year of college where I had since forgotten about Bjork. I met this crazy music buff Langer who had a ton of Bjork. We're talking every single and EP. So I borrowed them all and listened to everything. I couldn't get enough of it. I suddenly became a huge Bjork fan. A few years later I was lucky enough to see Bjork perform at Radio City Music hall in 2001 (pictured above) with Langer. This was after the release of Vespertine and as I recall she was accompanied by a choir and a bunch of strange electronic or computer instruments played by one random dude.

I also journied to Iceland with Langer and some other friends (I'm using the term friends loosely here) in 2004 to find Bjork. Unfortunately we didn't find her but did have an amazing time. Iceland is insanely expensive but a great place to visit. Amazing night life, incredible glaciers, geysers and other natural wonders. I highly recommend it. The picture is of us (minus Wart) at Blue Lagoon.




But why Bjork?
I can't really explain why I enjoy Bjork's music other than typically her songs have amazing beats and unique vocals. I think part of the attraction to Bjork is that she is just so different and has such an incredible voice.



Did you survive listening to 4+ hours of Bjork?
Actually it was not as painful as I had thought. I guess I realized why I bought all these CDs in the first place. There were definitely some rough spots - the entire Medulla album, but for the most part Bjork makes great music.

Here is a run down of some rankings of Bjork albums and my favorite songs:

1. Post- Any of the top three I have listed could be ranked first. I chose Post first because I love "Hyper Ballad" (there is an amazing live version of this song from the Woodstock cd but I some how lost that), "It's Oh so Quiet" and "Isobel" which is my favorite Bjork song.
   
2. Homogenic- "Bachelorette" and "Alarm Call" are both amazing.
   
3. Debut- Her first solo album which has "Human Behavior", "Big Time Sensuality" and "Violently Happy". But I think my favorite song from this album is "Anchor Song". The simplicity is what makes this song along with the harmony. The song isjust Bjork and what I think is a trumpet, saxophone and trombone (Whaley). The harmonies are powerful and it's worth a listen. Here are two live versions I found on youtube unfortunately both are sung mostly in Icelandic. Brass version and String Version.
   
4. Vespertine- Much better than I had remembered. "Hidden Place" is easily the best followed by "It's not up to you".
   
5. Selmasongs- The soundtrack from "Dancer in the Dark". Great soundtrack horrible movie. If you are really happy and need to cry or possibly kill yourself watch this movie. Nothing positive ever happens in the movie. I own the DVD so let me know if you need to borrow it.
   
6. Medulla- This album is dreadful. There is one song where Bjork is singing with two other people and everyone is singing in a different key. It actually makes you feel sick and dead inside.
   

Lastly one of the best videos of all time has to be Bjork's "It's Oh so Quiet" by Spike Jonze. Definitely watch it on youtube Shhh Shhh. Who doesn't love dancing mailboxes?

And if you're bored definitely check out "Big Time Sensuality". I could go on but I have a feeling not many of you are still reading at this point.

More to come tomorrow- Black Crowes, Black Eyed Peas, Blink-182 and Bloc Party.

Day 26- Nobody beats the Biz

Before I do my in-depth analysis of Bjork I thought I should mention a few notable artists that I neglected in my last post.

After Billy Joel I had a few artists before the Bjork mega-mix. The most notable of these artists were Bing Crosby and Biz Markie.

Bing was all Christmas music which got me in the mood to do some online shopping.

Biz Markie was of course "Just a Friend". Of course the whole reason for mentioning this was to put a picture of Biz on my blog. He is quite a sight.

Day 25- All Bjork all the time

The majority of my listening this weekend was of the lovely Bjork. I'm about 1/2 way through as I've finished three albums but still have a ways to go. I'll do a full Bjork synopsis when I'm complete which will most likely be tomorrow. I am really trying to figure out how to make that post entertaining and humorous. But Bjork and happiness/humor don't go well together.

In the mean time I had a musical diversion today with the purchase of Guitar Hero World Tour. We got the full kit so I was rockin' out on Drums while Moni was on lead guitar. We still have a lot to learn before we can do a battle of the bands online.

Day 24- Up Early and Rockin' Out

The little one has been sick and so I got up early with her this morning. After some quality time at the baby gym she's down for the morning nap.

I'm listening to "Up Town Girl" and trying to catch up on email.

More to come later today.

Day 23 - Bill and Billy's All Day

Unfortunately I didn't have much quality listening time today so I only made it through a few artists... Bill Cosby, Bill Withers, Billie Holiday, Billy Gilman, Billy Idol and Billy Joel.

I don't have any truly compelling statements to say other than Billy Idol's "Mony Mony" is hilarious and any song that says "ride the pony" in it is great. Also Billy Joel's "Movin' Out" is amazing. I didn't become a fan of Billy Joel until I lived in Long Island. I always hoped I would run into him in the Hamptons or more likely that he would be going for one of his late night drives and run into me.

Lastly in response to a few comments on yesterday's post..
I would say less than 1% of all humans have 4.2 hours or more of Bjork. I also think my listening pace will slow down dramatically during the holidays, but hopefully I can make it up and still finish by May.

Day 22- Progress Update plus Better Than Ezra, Beyonce, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Big Punisher and Bill Cosby

Progress to Date
Did a quick status check based on a request. I did purchase several new albums (did not break any rules) over the last week so the total number of songs is 7,001 or 19.7 days of listening pleasure.

As of 10:15pm on October 22nd I had listened to 718 songs or 1.8 days of music. That puts me at about 10% complete. At this rate I should finish in another 200 days or Sunday, May 10, 2009. Thank you date caculator.

Thankfully I don't have a Zune with access to millions of songs via a subscription plan or I would never complete this task (that's for you Cantando).

Today's Music
I was lucky enough to have horrible traffic this morning when going to work and probably got another 15 minutes of Better Than Ezra in. I was never a big fan of Better Than Ezra when they were popular so I wasn't looking forward to two CDs worth of them. Overall I wasn't really impressed or disappointed. "Friction Baby" was certainly the better of the two albums we have (Deluxe being the other one). My favorite Ezra songs are as follows...

1. King of New Orleans
2. Desperately Wanting
3. Circle of Friends- from the Empire Records soundtrack. I need to watch that movie again

I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with the song "Normal Town". This is off Friction Baby and is a half decent song until about 2/3 in when there is a flute solo. It is so out of place and so awkward that I almost got in an accident when going through the toll this morning. Really, who has a flute solo, even in the 90s? It made me constantly think of my favorite 70s news anchor Ron Burgandy playing the Jazz flute.

After Ezra I moved onto Beyonce. I wish I could tell you that all of the Beyonce was Monica's but unfortunately I have always been addicted to pop and some how acquired Dangerously in Love and a few other singles.

Dangerously in Love has to be one of the most overrated albums of all time....I would call it Dangerously Overrated (BOOM!). I don't understand why it was so critically acclaimed. The low point was easily "Signs", a song about different astrological signs and how her lover seems to have traits from each sign. Just writing about it makes me realize what a horrible song idea it really is. Reminds me of Gemini's Twin from Saturday Night Live.
Thankfully Jay-Z joined B. on a few tracks and those were the high points.

After Beyonce there was some Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Big Punisher (aka Big Pun who is still not a player) and Bill Cosby. Yes Cosby doing some old school comedy about Fat Albert and the gang. "Hey Hey Hey look at Coz doing his thang."

Haven't really looked ahead at tomorrow but it does look like I'll hit Bjork on Sunday or Monday. I hope everyone is looking forward to some very grim posts next week.

Lastly RIP Big Pun

Day 21- Ben Folds, Ben Harper and Better than Ezra

First I want to thank everyone for all the positive feedback and what at least seems to be genuine interest in this blog. I think I've finally stumbled across something that is mildly interesting to write about.

Also sorry if you noticed that Blogger warnings when coming to the site yesterday or today. Apparently Google thought my blog was a "spam blog" that was automatically generated. I'm not sure how to take that and what that says about my literary skills- apparently I'm boring and write like a computer. Anyway onto today's easy listening.

I listened to a ton of music today and made some great progress. I finished off Ben Folds and have to say I was very impressed. Ben holds the test of time and is much better than I had remembered. Fun and easy to digest pop/rock at its best.

Ranking of the Ben Folds and Ben Folds Five albums I have...

1. Rockin the Suburbs- tough to choose one out of the top three, but this in my mind is the most complete album that he's made. Every song is great



2. Ben Folds Five- difficult to make this 2nd, Jackson Cannery, Philosophy and Underground are all amazing



3. Whatever and Ever Amen- this is the first BFF album I had and certainly has the hits that made Ben big like Brick and Song for the Dumbed



4. Ben Folds Live- not sure where to put this. It's a great album but I can't put it above any of the good studio albums. Love the crowd acting as the horns section of Army. Definitely worth listening to



5. Way to Normal- Still not sure about Ben's newest album. Definitely has a very different feel and makes me think Ben just got back from a vacation in Asia. Big fan of Hiroshima and You Don't Know Me.



6. The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner- this album is way below the others and is too slow and not nearly as fun and upbeat as the others.

After Ben Folds I moved straight into Ben Harper. This presented an interesting situation, I'm not a Ben Harper fan at all but my wife is. So there is no way I could skip through any of these songs (see the rules at left). I generally didn't mind Mr. Harper with the best track being his most radio played song "Steal My Kisses" from Burn to Shine. I will say he does a great cover of Crowded House's "World Where you Live".

I'm now onto Better Than Ezra but not before running into some Christmas music by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra from Christmas Remixed and Bette Midler from Beaches. I survived and am looking forward to Friction Baby tomorrow.

I did get one comment on my last post about any concerns I had in regards to upcoming music (thanks Ween)... One major concern I have is Bjork. I am a fan of Bjork and have made the mistake of picking up all her albums. I have 66 songs by Bjork or 4.6 hours! I do like Bjork but I might actually go crazy after listening to that much Bjork in a row. I probably have a few days before I get there so I will just live in fear until then.

More to come tomorrow

Starting a blog and Beck, The Bee Gees and the beginning of Ben Folds

After a few posts on facebook regarding my attempt at listening to my entire music library, several folks commented that I should start a blog or document this adventure in some way. So today I started my first blog. I plan to make daily updateswith info on what has been tickling my ears that day.

This week I've been navigating my way through the B's. Yesterday I listened to a ton of Beck and finished off Modern Guilt and Odelay this morning. Here is my ranking of Beck albums that I have...

1. Odelay- this is probably one of the best albums of all time and entertained many a card game in college
   
2. The Information- this is a great album to listen to while working
   
3. Guero- first half of the album is amazing, second half is boring
   
4. Modern Guilt- after only one listen I really liked the album but it doesn't have as many memorable songs as Geuro
   
5. Mellow Gold- good album but a little dated at this point
   
6. Sea Change - this album is horrible and I only kept one song from it

One thing I did notice after listening to a ton of Beck in a row... the use of "with...". Basically the make up several Beck songs is a statement of action followed by "with" and then something absolutely rediculous that doesn't make sense. I don't ever even attempt to understand his lyrics but one thing that is common is this phrase that goes something like this..."doing some stuff with your cheescake eye glasses."

After Beck I rocked out to some Bee Gees (please check out the link) and really enjoyed it. Definitely worth a listen.

I just started what will probably be at least 2 days worth of Ben Folds. I started with Ben Folds Live and have really enjoyed it so far. But we'll see how I feel in a day.

Week 2- Friday October 17th

This is the second original post I put on Facebook before starting this blog. This was posted on Friday, October 17, 2008 at 10:53pm

Another week has passed in my attempt to listen to every song in my iTunes library. Now that I've been doing this for two weeks its official that I have outlasted several of my previous attempts at diets and new years resolutions.

This week was focused all on Artists in the "B's". Most of the B's so far have been dominated by songs from just a few artists such as Basement Jaxx, Beastie Boys and The Beatles. I have to admit I have (now had) way too many songs by Basement Jaxx, even for someone who secretly likes techno/house/trance its way too much. So I did a fair amount of trimming there. Also the Beastie Boys most recent album is just bad, sorry I had to rediscover that.

A few discoveries from this week...
The Bangles, yes the Bangles from the late 80s, are actually great. Tell me you don't love Manic Monday and Eternal Flame.

The Beatles are amazing. Of course everyone knows that but when you have to listen to three hours straight of a single artist and are amazed by every song that is saying something. I don't think I really appreciated how much they changed from album to album.

So there are your artists to rediscover this week, Bangles and Beatles.

Next up a ton of Beck and Ben Folds and a few interesting artists including the Bee Gees, Bell Biv Devoe, Belly and yes Bette Midler.

More to come next week

Week 1- Friday October 10th

This is the historical post that I put on Facebook before starting this blog. Post was done on Friday, October 10, 2008 at 8:39pm

Some of you may remember that last Thursday I began an epic challenge that will be exhausting and may take years off my life... yes Thursday October 2nd I decided to attempt to listen to every song all the way through in my iTunes library in alphabetical order by artist. No skipping unless I agreed to delete the song forever.

As of Thursday October 2nd at 2:35pm I needed to listen to 6972 songs which constitutes 19.6 days of listening enjoyment. My plan was to listen to approximately 2.5 hours a day and then I would finish in about 6 months.

It all started with "Take on Me" by A-Ha

It's been a tough road so far but I am happy to say I finished the A's today. There were some tough times when I thought I would quit... Alanis Morisette, Alicia Keys, Arrested Development.

Later this afternoon I started the B's and got stuck on Baby Genius Lullabies. Yes we have baby music in iTunes. Sad really.

More updates to come next week.