Week of December 19, 2011

1. "Never There"--Cake, Prolonging the Magic:
Cake was on heavy rotation in the pre-ipod era, throughout the mid to late 90s. I love this song. This song was on my real live "desert island" mix tape that I took with me when I was in the Peace Corps. I have not heard it in a long time and felt happy immediately when it came up. SHUFFLE GOLD!!

2. "My Lonely Man"--Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magik:
"Give It Away" and "Under the Bridge" broke the RHCPs into the mainstream with this album's release. I listened to this album a lot when it first came out in 1991. This song was another tribute to original RHCP guitarist Hillel Slovak, who died of a heroine overdose. I believe "Knock Me Down," off of the previous album, Mother's Milk, was also somewhat of a tribute to Slovak. I always liked this song. This was the last RHCP album that was on heavy rotation for me. I should have known when they spelled magic with a 'k' that the end was near for me. NO SHAME.

SKIP: Eventually, something had to come up on the shuffle that required skipping. I have several non-music items. In this case, I have a digital recording of a drunk-dial message that my father-in-law left. It's hilarious but obviously doesn't fit with the shuffle.

3. "All That Jazz"--Echo and the Bunnymen, Killing Moon The Best of Echo and the Bunnymen:
I just bought this double CD 2 months ago! Hanging out with my friends Chase and Mark, I found this best of in the used bin at Wax Trax Records in Denver. For someone who still buys physical CDs this was an awesome find. I was never a huge Echo fan but needed to have these songs in the library. NO SHAME.

4. "Girlfriend in a Coma"--The Smiths, Strangeways, Here We Come:
I was too focused on the hard rock in high school to have even been aware of the Smiths. I did not discover them until my freshman year in college when I had my music taste awakening. This was the current Smiths album at the time, and this was the single. It was a good introduction to the band. I eventually became a bigger fan after hearing The Queen is Dead. NO SHAME.

5. "Guilford Fall"--Fugazi, End Hits:
Recently in the news for getting a lot of their live albums up in digital format, go to http://www.dischord.com/fugazi_live_series to see if any of the shows you witnessed are up. I like this album as a whole. This song is one of the stronger tracks for sure. I'm saving my shuffle gold judgment for a true Fugazi gem, so NO SHAME.