The Random Shuffle Chronicles - Week 1

For the past two years or so, I’ve been trying to complete the daunting task of listening to every song (all 6,237 of them) on my iPod. This particular challenge has only one rule: I’m not allowed to skip over any track as they play on random shuffle.

The rule makes for interesting combinations of songs. For example, Led Zeppelin’s “Over the Hills and Far Away” could be followed up by Kanye West’s “The Good Life,” which could be followed by Simon & Garfunkel’s “The 59th St. Bridge Song,” and so on, and so on.

This listening technique doesn’t make for good party music, however, particularly when a song from Wagner’s Ring Cycle shows up. The lack of the ability to keep the shuffle going at a party makes my task a lengthy one, as do other various other factors. I don’t listen to my iPod at work, my iPod car kits keep breaking, and, about half-way through the challenge(at two different times), my iPod has frozen, taking me back to square one.

However, this time, there will be no excuses. I’m going to make it through every song, or bust. And, if my iPod freezes one more damn time, I’m buying a new one.

I want to make this challenge more interesting (to me) this time, so I’m going to write about it weekly, recapping the good, the bad and the ugly of the weekly shuffle, and highlighting my favorite parts and the most interesting parts of my iPod’s shuffle choices.

So, without further ado, here are some brief observations from Week 1:

Total songs listened to (of (6,237): 112 (1.7 percent)

The Good: The iPod actually played quite a few songs from the latest batch of albums I added, instead of sticking mainly to the songs that have had multiple plays over the years. Instead of such staples as “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking,” I got to hear Blue Cheer’s “Summertime Blues” and Lee Michaels wailing away on “Hold on to Freedom.”

The Bad: There was nothing really too bad in the shuffle’s selections this week. Though, a couple limp-wristed Supertramp songs (“Hide in Your Shell,” “You Started Laughing”) were played, and the iPod chose to pick Beatles songs from the Cirque du Soleil Beatles Love soundtrack, rather than from my actual Beatles albums.

The Ugly: The Styx. Good Lord. The Styx. The iPod decided to have itself a Styx fest during its first week. I know we all thought “Renegade,” “Come Sail Away” and even (gulp) “Lady” were awesome songs back in 7th grade, but I can’t even begin to fathom why I ever bought the Paradise Theater album. Normally, I could listen to those songs with a shudder and move on, but “Nothing Ever Goes as Planned” and “Half-Penny, Two-Penny?” Gah. What’s worse is that the songs played while I was sitting out in the living room with my roommate, who has great taste in music, and now assumed I used to have good taste in music. I’ve now inflicted irreparable damage on my street cred. Damn.

Top 5 Songs of Week 1:

“Million Dollar Bash” – Fairport Convention

“Summertime Blues” – Blue Cheer

“Too Much In Love” – The Move

“Black Mud” – The Black Keys

“Emergency” – The Tony Williams Lifetime