Your iPod’s little secrets
Comments: 32
MyAppleMenu points to an article by Don Fernandez called iPod guilty pleasures:
Those saccharine pop tunes and schmaltzy ballads cloaked from friends? There’s no excuse anymore. No blaming it on a CD that had just one song you liked. No claiming it belonged to your wife, husband or friend.
You selected each and every tune. Like it or not, these are your greatest hits.
Now, let the melodic mocking commence.
Indeed. One interviewee may be regretting having spoken to Fernandez:
“I have all of Ace of Base,” said Robert Miller, 23, of Atlanta, who counts 2,000 songs on his iPod. “I also have New Kids on the Block on there. I keep it hidden. It’s part of my childhood. It doesn’t get worse than the New Kids on the Block.”
I don’t have any New Kids on the Block, but I do have Helen Reddy singing “I Am Woman” (my mum used to play it when I was kid — no excuse, but I know too much to go back and pretend). I also have Bette Midler singing “Do You Wanna Dance” and Dean Martin singing “Besame Mucho” which I listen to without a trace of irony. Let’s see … what else?
- The Doobie Brothers, “Without Love”
- Tom Jones, “That Ol’ Black Magic”
- The Bee Gees, “Stayin’ Alive”
- Gene Pitney, “24 Hours From Tulsa”
- Sammi Smith, “Help Me Make It Through The Night”
- Bobby Darin, “Don’t Rain On My Parade”
- The Jackson Five, “Blame It On The Boogie”
- The Ojays, “Love Train”
- The Righteous Brothers, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’”
- Electric Light Orchestra, “Livin’ Thing”
- The Knack, “My Sharona”
- …other humiliations too numerous to mention
OK. Your turn.
•••
Posted to General Rants • 2004.09.13 (Mon) • 10:52
Comments
Posted by John Todd 2004.09.13, 11:49
I have to compliment you on the ELO selection. My ELO of choice is Telephone Line, and I suppose many would hang me out to dry for that selection.
Posted by Greg 2004.09.13, 12:15
My list of shame is mostly from the 80’s.
Chris Isaak, “Wicked Game” Def Leppard, “Rocket” Extreme, “More Than Words” Jacksons, “Torture” Justin Timberlake, “Rock Your Body” Level 42, “Lessons In Love” Michael Jackson, “Thriller” Robbie Neville, “C’est la Vie”
Posted by B Bigelow 2004.09.13, 12:19
Whip it - Devo.
O the humanity.
Posted by Benjamin 2004.09.13, 12:43
I am sorry, for I have sinned. I have both Ashlee Simpson and Bonnie Pink in my library.
Posted by Gabriel Mihalache 2004.09.13, 14:53
Can anyone say “disco”? (think Alicia Bridges - I Love the Nightlife) And then there’s “We build this city/We build this city on rock and roll”…
Posted by Dietmar Lang 2004.09.13, 14:59
- Pastel Vespa - “I was made for loving you” (cheesy cover version of that cheesy Kiss song)
- Manowar - “Herz aus Stahl” (cheesy, poor german translation of a cheesy song)
- That theme song from the Mickey Mouse Club (Full Metal Jacket made me do it)
- That theme song from Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Rockmaster Scott & the Dynamic Three - “The Roof is on fire” (waaay old school rap music, although one shouldn’t be ashamed of this)
- Dean Martin - “Sway” (the ladies love it!)
- Dead Can Dance - “Song of Sophia”
A lot of other weirdness in there, too. But you know what: Listen to ‘em all, let the “Top 25 Most Played” sort ‘em out.
Posted by Jer 2004.09.13, 19:40
iPod needs a “time to move on” button.
Removes the song from the playlist, from the hard disk, and from the computer on the next sync. It also emits a blast of programmed white noise to expunge it from the ol’ cranium.
Jesus Christ Superstar
Posted by Keith Fox 2004.09.13, 22:12
Being a teen in the 80’s I have Duran Duran on my iPod. I got rid of the original vinyl LP’s so I resorted to P2P to find a few songs. Yikes! I actually put effort into finding some Duran Duran to listen to. Please don’t tell anyone!
Posted by melissa 2004.09.14, 00:36
I’ve been prompted to confess my ipod sins here, leading with some of the bigger offences. my only defenses are that some of these have a good cadence for running, which is when i do most of the listening; and some just make me laugh (still).
sir mix a lot: baby got back mc hammer: can’t touch this adam ant: desperate but not serious; strip cheap trick: i want you to want me big audio dynamite: the globe kelis: trick me tom jones: sex bomb ugly kid joe: everything about you tom tom club: genius of love queen: loverboy, killer queen, fat bottomed girls scorpions: still loving you (my classical-music loving mother became a recent fan when she found an old Scorpions cassette tape in the garage) guns n roses: live and let die aerosmith: walk this way
Posted by Mary Beth 2004.09.14, 03:23
I have a whole lot of accordion and hurdy gurdy music on my iPod — does that count as a guilty pleasure?
But seriously I do have songs from my youth —
Kansas - dust in the wind Bryan Adams — Everything I do Eagles — (I don’t want to go into it) Harry Nilsson — Everybody’s Talking
OK, I have to stop now.
Posted by Kyle 2004.09.14, 03:39
I have at least 6 William Hung songs as well as a complete CD of Mary Kate and Ashley
Posted by Richard 2004.09.14, 04:47
I’m not really embarassed about any of this stuff and I love to listen to it while splitting wood or house painting (it’s useful that way) but pretty much all of my friends find it unbelieveable that I would buy, let alone listen to this stuff. My wife gets it but can’t stand the stuff (anything synthetic).
Hey, I play drums man, I want my music to have a heartbeat.
The Disco Years, Vol 1
2 pop CDs I picked up in India (that are rips of US pop and dance music)
2 Bellydance CDs that are essentially Cairo house music from the last 5 years: Bellyicious and Reg Project II
Got Dance and Dance Party 2003)
A ton of modern techno
Posted by Shannon 2004.09.14, 09:04
George Michael - Faith
Posted by Kristen 2004.09.14, 09:09
I’m in agreement with Richard. I am not embarrassed or guilty about the music I listen to. I like it and that’s why I have it.
Should I really care what other people think of me? Nah. Not based on music. Maybe not on any basis.
But you can be embarrassed for me, if you like. I’ll have the iPod at the next blogger’s meetup and you can cringe on my behalf. :-)
Posted by heather 2004.09.14, 09:35
N’Sync: Bye Bye Bye A-ha: Take On Me Mr. Mister: “The Best of” album Kenny Loggins: Danger Zone Alannah Myles: Black Velvet
And they’re all really good.
Posted by mark 2004.09.14, 12:36
Keith, nothing wrong with a little Duran Duran. “Wild Boys (wild boys) never lose it Wild Boys—-” Common, you know the words.
But for the person with the “Mary Kate and Ashley” have you no shame? Me, I once found a peppy electronic version of Old McDonald but I swear I have no idea how that got on there. Is it possible to cross contaminate iTunes libraries on the same computer?
Posted by Richie 2004.09.14, 18:22
Almost all of the free download tunes offered by the iTMS regardless of whether I like it or not. :)
Posted by Seuss Metivier 2004.09.14, 19:38
I too like many here do not hide my quirky musical tastes nor do I fear it’s inevitable discovery by others.
That being said I am probably embarrassed in that I own and enjoy Joe Pesci’s rendition (as Vincent LaGuardia Gambini aka My Cousin Vinny) of A Wonderful World.
Posted by gleek 2004.09.15, 00:31
ha! i have helen reddy on mine as well! but my guilty pleasure is the five barbra streisand songs that i keep on my ipod. i need to upgrade to a 20G in order to get all my simon & garfunkel, harry chapin, arlo guthrie, and carly simon in the play as well. damn, i’m livin’ in the 70s.
Posted by Mary Beth 2004.09.15, 12:57
Actually, my real guilty pleasure is when someone at work (apple store) asks to hear how an iPod sounds via some particular speakers. It gives me great guilty pleasure to use MY iPod and just click into what playing previously or next up. Luck of the draw. I usually preface it with - , hmmmmsome strange music on this iPod…. as Bulgarian women start to sing, or a lovely waltz swells. Perhaps some medieval chant? Sometimes they get lucky and hit on Bach (a little goldberg variations, jeremy?) or Beethoven. hehehe. At least I can fight the notion that you can’t put classical music on an iPod.
Posted by ericville 2004.09.16, 05:45
- Scorpions- rock you like a hurricane, no one like you
- The Killers - somebody told me
- The Offspring - every song ever made…they’re just the greatest
- Lynyrd Skynyrd - freebird, simple kind of man
- Red Hot Chili Peppers - under the bridge
- Sugar Ray - fly, falls apart
- Sublime - badfish
just a taste of the selection….heh
Posted by sparkle 2004.09.16, 06:34
Styx - Paradise Theatre
Posted by outside looking in 2004.09.16, 19:35
I think your web log is wonderful and would like to start one of my own. Difference being that I am a middle-aged technopygmy living in Canberra who thinks apples per day are for keeping doctor away. Know nought of software beyond that provided by large Australian Government department where I work. Is there hope for me? Are there ‘getting started’ suggestions you might have — about what sort of program to start with and principles of the groovy blog community? thanks vv much.
Posted by m d 2004.09.22, 00:41
how can you put the Jackson 5 in there? I don’t know all the other guys, but J5 rule!! You should be proud, not ashamed! :)
Posted by me 2004.09.30, 17:53
(though i currently lack and ipod, i have kazaa) many of the songs listed above are actually on it and until now i thought i was cool, thankyou very much for bursting my bubble :P cheers mate
Posted by Matt 2004.11.24, 02:22
Belinda Carlisle John Denver
and
S Club 7 - Never Had a Dream Come True
Posted by Brandon 2004.12.28, 19:33
I got these totally over protective parents and i was wondering how i can hide songs from my parents so they only see the appropriate ones when they check my ipod thank you for your help
Posted by Gothic industrial music darkave dark ambient band 2005.01.27, 12:45
I love my ipod for music
Posted by Dan 2005.07.14, 02:45
I stumbled upon your page searching for ‘iPod troubleshoot’.
Anyway, haha, nice entry you got there. I guess we all have something that we’d rather not let others see.
I do like ‘Besame Mucho’, which my fellow 18 year-old friends never seem to appreciate. :D I think Don’t rain on my parade is good too.
Anyway, I have a couple of oldies but I am not ashamed of them, I’m more ashamed of the oh-my-God-i-can’t-imagine-i-have-it N’Sync song ‘Do your thing’.(that’s the most decent song by them I’ve ever heard. i love the beat, more to funk than pop.). Hehe. I have Mandy Moore too but since she’s neat and quite talented, I give her some credit still. And gasp, i have songs sung by American Idol contestants. Hehe.
Lala. But majority of the songs in my iPod is Adult Alternative/Alternative Rock so not many really can uncover these well-kept secret. :D
Posted by ashley 2005.07.19, 12:49
well, i somehow missed the whole technological uprising, and i don’t have an i pod, and i only just this week learnt how to put music on the computer. I wouldn’t say that the music i have is embarrassing, but i just thought u should know that i just got ideas of what i should put onto the computer from all these peoples embarrassing lists. I must be strange… or something.
Posted by Taufa 2005.09.27, 14:55
Forgive me Apple Mac for i have sinned. It has been about three months since my last confession and still I find myself in mischief!!
I’m supposed to be the cool dude in my group, but, as anyone else, I also have my evil little secrets…
I’ve got Bony M’s Brown Girl In The Ring, Bollywood Movie Hits, The Sound Of Music Soundtrack, Weird Al Yankovich, Alot of soundtrax from films like Braveheart, Titanic, Lord of the Ring and also classicals like Carl Orff and Ela Fitzgerald… plus many more…
I SWEAR…. I DON’T KNOW HOW THEY GOT THERE…..(giggles)..I SWEAR.. eheheh!!
I just woke up one morning and they were there…
Posted by Mimi 2006.03.07, 00:58
I heard this song on the radio once and decided to download it: Azn Dreamers - “Fixing a Broken Heart” It’s incredibly ridiculous…I mean, this is a line from the chorus: “Your emotional tools can cure any fool.” It’s pretty hilarious. But for some reason, I never delete it. ;>
Post a comment:
Send This Story to an Enemy
• • •
