My Most-Played 2014 Songs (And 2013 Too!)

I got through my recent project of listening to every song I own. I didn't listen to them all. I skipped some, I listened to others for a minute or two, and when I had multiple remixes of particular songs (hi, Madonna!) I chose the ones I liked best. I really need to do a better job of listening to all of my music on a regular basis instead of the same things over and over. I reset the iTunes play counts to zero and we'll see how I do at that. (By the way, I may end up switching over to Google Play because my iPod Classic is acting a bit nutty and, with Apple discontinuing this device, at some point I may need to start listening to my music on my phone. Great if I have wi-fi, but if not...)

Here are the songs I listened to the most in 2014...and after that, 2013 (because I didn't post one of these last year). Note how there are some songs in both lists, which is why I need to listen with more variety. Also, lots of ties. In other years I'd play some songs another time to break the tie. I didn't bother this time.

2014 Most-Played

1. Meteorite - Mariah Carey
2. Happy - Pharrell Williams
3. Counting Stars - OneRepublic
4. Mmm Yeah - Austin Mahone (feat. Pitbull)
5. Are You What You Want To Be? - Foster The People
6. Swine - Lady Gaga
7(t). Coming of Age - Foster The People
7(t). Timber - Pitbull (feat. Ke$ha)
9(t). Best Friend - Foster The People
9(t). Summertime Sadness (Cedric Gervais Remix) - Lana Del Rey
11(t). Sexxx Dreams - Lady Gaga
11(t). La La La - Naughty Boy (feat. Sam Smith)
13(t). Love Me Again - John Newman
13(t). G.U.Y. - Lady Gaga
15. Fashion! - Lady Gaga
16. Hideaway - Kiesza
17. Team - Lorde
18. Lay Me Down -  Avicii  (feat. Adam Lambert and Nile Rodgers)
19(t). I Need a Dollar (from How to Make It In America) - Aloe Blacc
19(t). F for You - Disclosure (feat. Mary J. Blige)
21. Stay The Night - Zedd (Featuring Hayley Williams Of Paramore)
22. Royals - Lorde
23(t). Sing - Ed Sheeran
23(t). Applause - Lady Gaga
25. Get Lucky - Daft Punk (feat. Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers)

2013 Most-Played

1. Get Lucky - Daft Punk (feat. Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers)

2. Your Body (Oxford Hustlers Club mix) - Christina Aguilera

3. Scream & Shout - Will.I.Am (feat. Britney Spears)

4. The Night Out (A-Track Vs. Martin Rework) - Martin Solveig

5. Sweet Nothing - Calvin Harris feat. Florence Welch

6. Summertime Sadness (Cedric Gervais Remix) - Lana Del Rey

7. Applause - Lady Gaga

8. Love You Like A Love Song (Jumpsmokers Club Remix) - Selena Gomez & The Scene

9. Sexxx Dreams - Lady Gaga

10. Pound The Alarm - Nicki Minaj

11. Diane Young - Vampire Weekend

12. Locked Out Of Heaven - Bruno Mars

13. Madonna Has A Kiki - Madonna/Scissor Sisters (mashup)

14. I Need Your Love - Calvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding

15. All Around The World - Justin Bieber

16. I Love It - Icona Pop (feat. Charli XCX)

17. We Found Love  - Calvin Harris (feat. Rihanna)

18. One (Your Name) - Swedish House Mafia (feat. Pharrell)

19. Let's Go (Radio Edit) - Calvin Harris feat. Ne-Yo

20. Spectrum (Say My Name) (Calvin Harris Extended Mix) - Florence & The Machine

21. Fashion! - Lady Gaga

22. Vocal - Pet Shop Boys

23. Love is a Bourgeois Construct - Pet Shop Boys

24. Don't You Worry Child - Swedish House Mafia (feat. John Martin)

25. Treasure - Bruno Mars

My Not-So-Current Jams

I haven't bought many new albums lately. (Aside: is there a better word than "album" to use, seeing as how I'm pretty much all digital, unless there's an exceptional sale?) But I had an iTunes gift card so I've been using it to pick up some old songs...but first, some that aren't so new. (Links are to YouTube so you can listen along with me.)

Are You What You Want To Be? - Foster The People
Coming of Age - Foster The People
Best Friend - Foster The People: these three are from their new album...there's that word again...which, while I like, is much more weighted down in spirit than their previous release. Also, my mp3s of the album may or may not have been...created in an interesting fashion. I'll say no more.
La La La - Naughty Boy feat. Sam Smith: I listened to Sam's debut album online. Liked it, didn't love it. I prefer this and the song "Latch" which he did with Disclosure (on an album that I need to acquire, if anyone wants to help me out via PayPal.)
Meteorite - Mariah Carey: this needs to be released in an extended mix...not really remixed, just a longer version.
Sing - Ed Sheeran: I heard this was produced by Pharrell and I was like "Whaaat?" But it works.
I Need a Dollar - Aloe Blacc: story of my life right now...and this was out before his current run of success, including his appearance at the Philly 4th of July Jam on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

As for the older tracks...

Slow Down - Loose Ends: a follow-up to their classic "Hangin' on a String (Contemplating)."
He's a Saint, He's a Sinner (Extended Version) - Miquel Brown: from the woman who brought us "So Many Men, So Little Time" -- actually, this is from the same album, which I actually did purchase. Classic early-1980s hi-NRG club music. Gay, gay, gay. Video is not of the extended version, by the way.
Living For the City - Stevie Wonder: not the truncated radio version but the full-length version, which I'd never heard before.
Come Into My Life (Radio Mix) - Joyce Sims
Lifetime Love (Hard Club) - Joyce Sims: She pretty much had three or four songs that had some level of success. I now own the three that I know.
Dance With You - Carrie Lucas: Disco!!! From 1979!!! I was 17!!!
Questionnaire (Full Vocal Mix) - Chaz Jankel: this takes me back to before I moved into my own place for the first time. When we first got HBO -- long before they began their run of amazing TV series -- they used to play music videos between movies, and this was one of them.
Say I'm Your Number One - Princess: I forgot about this until I watched a YouTube video from British TV about the Stock-Aitken-Waterman production team. This was one of their hits. I was surprised because it's rather different from this.
Don’t Disturb This Groove - The System: I feel like I should have something more to say about this, but I don't. It's just a song I liked back in the day.

My 2011 In Music

And now that we've moved into 2012, here's a look back at what I downloaded in 2011 -- some of it purchased, some of it, ummm, not -- and what ended up as the 25 most-played songs of my iTunes library.

There are only 271 new tracks in my iTunes since the beginning of 2011. That's down from 317 in 2010. Only 19 were Christmas songs, though, compared to 73 a year earlier. So if you take the holiday songs out of the mix, my musical acquisitions increased. However, a lot of those were downloads of individual songs. Part of the total also comes from a few artists I discovered through various means (such as Twitter or Facebook) who made albums available for free download:

Childish Gambino (a.k.a. Donald Glover) - EP (he's funny on "Community" but he has definite skills in the hip-hop arena; he now has a full-length album out, but I haven't bought it yet)
Loco - No Shade (Mixtape)
Simon Curtis - 8Bit Heart
DISCO PUSHER - Now You Know How The Story Ends (also a mixtape)

Then there were the records released before 2011...

Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
Brandon Flowers - Flamingo
Mika - The Boy Who Knew Too Much
Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer
RuPaul - Champion
various artists - Christmas Remixed-Holiday Classics Re-Grooved (my only "new" Christmas album)

So that leaves just four albums I got that were actually released in 2011:

Weird Christmas

I was watching the NFL Red Zone channel, the one that switches between every game going on, and it dawned on me: it's Saturday. And it's Christmas Eve. And I'm watching NFL games. There's a bit of a surreal feeling to the day (although this has happened before, of course). And for me, the holiday season itself has been unusual.

Normally I'd be trying to get through my stash of Christmas movies or TV shows (as listed here). This year, I haven't watched even one. The only Christmas shows I've watched were new holiday episodes of "Glee" and "Community." The "Community" episode was excellent, as it basically attacked "Glee" all night. I have listened to every bit of Christmas music in my iTunes, but that was in part because for the last week or so I've been taking my iPod to work and listening to music during the day. Having a job and a commute that's over an hour each way has really cut into my time. Besides the holiday TV problem, and the difficulty I've had in finding time to go to movies, I only added 12 new posts to the blog last month and just nine so far this month -- and a number of those are quick "post a picture and add a brief comment" posts. It's really frustrating.

I think I'd have an easier time if I had bought an iPad or other tablet PC, and gotten a 4G data plan to go with it, instead of the laptop I bought in September. That way my time on the bus and El (at least before it goes underground) could be more easily spent surfing the web, reading Twitter, etc., and that would allow me more time at night to blog and such. The more I think about it, the more I want to buy a tablet, but now I have this perfectly good laptop.

But I digress.

Sorry, Annie Lennox

I've decided against a trip to New York City to see Annie Lennox.

That sentence is blasphemous, I know. So here's the deal:

The other day I was on Facebook and there was a post from Annie's page with a link to apply to get tickets to see her perform at the taping of "Christmas at Rockefeller Center." It said there were 500 tickets available. I clicked on the link and registered with the website (which has tickets to a number of TV show tapings, it seems). I requested two tickets, and actually got a confirmation. I clicked to print, and only one page came up (noting that it was for two people).

Then I noticed something on the website. It said that if your ticket was for two and you showed up alone, instead of being allowed in, you'd be put in the standby line! Since no one was able or willing to go with me, I wasn't going to make the trip up there unless I was guaranteed that I'd see the show.

I went back to the website today.

Return Of My Summer Playlist!

I stumbled upon a link to Billboard.com's compilation of their top 10 songs of summer (using a point system based on heir chart methodology) for every year from 1985 through 2009. Looking through their listings, I decided some additions to my summer playlist (Part 1 here, Part 2 here) are required. (I also am adding others to the list of songs I need to own.)

The following, however, are already in my iTunes library. Some I overlooked the first time around and others I've changed my mind about. I'm sure you will find some of them quite cheesy, but it could've been worse: I still left "MMMBop" off the list. Adding these songs and "Commander" (my song of summer 2010) to my original list, I now have exactly 100 summer songs.

Oh, and here's some pretty summer scenery: Hugh Jackman at the beach...


A View To A Kill - Duran Duran (1985)
Sussudio - Phil Collins (1985)
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free - Sting (1985)
Raspberry Beret - Prince and the Revolution (1985) - I can sing the hell out of this at karaoke.
Papa Don't Preach - Madonna (1986)
Invisible Touch - Genesis (1986)
On My Own - Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald (1986)
Higher Love - Steve Winwood (1986) - Also a killer karaoke song for me.
Venus - Bananarama (1986)

My Summer Listening (And Maybe Yours) Part 2

Mmmmmm...deep-fried Oreos: another great idea for summer!

And now, the dramatic conclusion of "Joe's Big-Ass Crazy Summer Playlist!" (Here's Part 1, in case you've forgotten...)

Who's That Girl - Madonna (1987) There are lots of Madonna songs that would feel right for this list, but this was actually a hit during the summer, it has that pop candy feel, and July 11, 1987 was the first time I saw Madonna in concert, as the "Who's That Girl" tour hit the Vet. What vexed me, though, is that when the tour was announced I had read that Bronski Beat was going to be her opening act, but was replaced by Level 42, since the singer who took over when Jimmy Somerville left Bronski Beat took a powder as well.


My Arms Keep Missing You - Rick Astley  (1987) This is a stretch in that it wasn't released in the U.S. or during the summer, and has no summer-type lyrics. It was the B-side of "When I Fall In Love" (cover of the Nat King Cole song), which was released at the end of 1987 in the UK and was trying to be the "Christmas No. 1" -- it's really a big thing over there. The B-side became a dance hit in Europe, and eventually got radio airplay here the following year. The thing that ties it to summer for me is the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul (which actually didn't begin until September 17). I had this little portable hand-held TV and I would watch the late-night coverage while in bed -- thanks to the time difference a lot of late-night stuff was live -- and listen to music (either a radio or a cassette with my then-favorites, taped from the radio or from my 45s or 12-inch remix singles). This was one that I loved at that time, and eventually bought the 12-inch import (for $7.49 -- I think U.S. 12-inch singles were $2.99 or $3.99 at the time).  Here's a link to listen -- and no, this is not an attempt at RickRolling.

Quick Reviews (Oscar Edition): An Education, Precious

Of the 10 Oscar Best Picture nominees, I've now seen eight of them. Both are very good, but only one of them cracked my personal top 10 for 2009.

In "An Education," Jenny, a mature 16-year-old British schoolgirl (Carey Mulligan, deserving of her Best Actress nomination), is diligently on a path to attend Oxford when she has a chance meeting with an older man (Peter Sarsgaard). He is charmed, she is smitten, and some subtle manipulation of her parents allows them to begin seeing more of each other. She is intrigued by his life and his friends. She begins to see this man and his swanky, adult lifestyle, as preferable to the immature schoolmate who fancies her, and to her future at Oxford. How everything plays out held my interest, but how it ends was just a little too pat, keeping it from my top 10. My grade: B-plus.

As for "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," the story of Claireece Precious Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) is harrowing. Sexually abused by her father and impregnated by him twice (one baby with Down syndrome, a second baby on the way), physically and emotionally abused by her mother Mary (Mo'Nique), with whom she lives in Harlem (the story takes place in 1987), obese and illiterate, there would seem to be no hope for this girl. She's suspended from school when her second pregnancy is discovered, but the principal manages to get her into an alternative school. Precious begins to gain a support system in her new teacher (Paula Patton), a social worker (Mariah Carey -- completely de-glammed and nearly unrecognizable) and a nurse she meets at the hospital where she's given birth to her second child (Lenny Kravitz). It amazed me that by the end of the movie, although the future of Precious and her children is far from certain, it still felt uplifting. Something that amazed me even more is that, as much as Mary is an absolute monster, I felt sorry for her a little. The movie also made me angry, thinking about the kids who are in terrible situations in real life but don't get help the way Precious does. My grade: A.