The Top 25
- Alex
Just a disclaimer... I'm not Casey Kasem.
I listen to music at work pretty much non-stop. And while every once in a while I'll tune in a radio station, by and large what I'm doing is listening to
music from my collection that I've ripped on to the ol' computer. Naturally, being an Apple user, I'm using iTunes, which as it turns out is a pretty slick
application. One of the things it can do is called "smart playlists". They're subsets of your music library based on conditions you've set. For example, if
I wanted a playlist entirely populated by Yanni and David Hasselhoff songs that are shorter than four minutes and haven't been played in the last five days,
I could have it set that up automatically. Or, to use an example that I actually use, I've got a playlist that I set up to play only songs that I've
listened to more than five times (eliminating most of the stuff you have to be "in the mood to listen to"), but that haven't been played in the last five days,
(so I'm not hearing the same things over and over again). It's pretty cool.
But so anyway, one of the default "smart" playlists is "Top 25 Most Played". It's a pretty straight-forward list: "Limit to 25 songs, selected by most often
played". I stumbled across it the other day, and was a little surprised by the songs on it. I think for sanity's sake, I'm gonna limit things to the top five.
Number one:
Another Permanent Address - Chroma Key (67)
Fantastic song. No surprise it's numero uno. I was going to include it in this Gambit,
since I originally got it for free from MP3.com, but then I chickened out because the band still actually exists and sells their songs (and no longer makes this one available for free). Ah well. This song is
a staple on most mix CDs I make.
Numbers two and three:
Phone Call - The Watchmen (53)
No Longer Mine - The Watchmen (43)
Two great songs from The Watchmen. I'm a little surprised I've listened to No Longer Mine quite so much, 'cause it's a little on the sad side,
but all in all two cromulent songs.
Number four:
Daylight - Aesop Rock (39)
This was the one that surprised me, but I have put it on a lot of mixes, and I do listen to it a fair amount, so not too out of place. I like the dude's voice.
Number five:
December (Don't Bring Me Down) - Katey Morley (39)
This is actually the best song you've never heard. I don't even think Katey's gotten around to releasing this disc. Great little mid-tempo pop song
with a chorus that sticks in your head like peanut butter to the roof of your mouth.
So there ya have it. If you're also an iTunes user, feel free to post your own top five in the Forum.
What do you think? Drop us a line at webmaster@simpleprop.com and give us some
feedback. Maybe we'll even run your letters in future Gambits. 'The Daily Gambit' is updated every weekday.
