I love my music and even more important is how much I love not having to spend too much time organising it. You see I currently have 7000 songs in the iTunes library of my MacBook Pro, eating up a whopping 50GB of the 500GB drive, and although that may seem like a lot, there is another 80Gb hard drive at home with stuff I have ripped from CD’s that rarely gets listened. What can I say, my music tastes in the 90’s seemed to change faster than Moore’s Law[1. Moore’s law describes a long-term trend in the history of computing hardware. The number of transistors that can be placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has doubled approximately every two years. Wiki]. It sure seems like a lot music but the reality is that I only listen to about 10% of it on regular basis preferring to let smart playlists and the iTunes Genius function bring a song back into rotation rather than sitting down and scrubbing through my library looking for something to catch my eye. Even hot album art brought forth in Coverflow isn’t enough to get you to slow down and evoke that musical heart string you are looking for at that moment.
So after nearly 5 years of tweaking my iTunes library and only allowing albums in once they have been properly tagged and rated all I have to do is find ONE song I’m in the mood for, it doesn’t even have to be the perfect song as long as the mood is right. I then play it out a bit to make sure it’s in fact the right mood or chord and then hit Genius. Yes, I said Genius, and YES I am admitting to actually liking it. Here’s the sad reality of why Genius is so good most of the time: “It’s YOUR Fr@cking music, you should actually LIKE it!” You see the problem is that so many of us where in such a hurry to fill our hard drives with something to listen to that we just downloaded anything even whole albums where all you wanted was that ONE song. If you don’t like certain songs but feel that you need to have them with you, then down rate them. If there is that one song that can never be played except when you specifically want to, like say… Smack my Bitch Up by the Prodigy, then Uncheck it so it will never get selected by Genius.
However, Genius isn’t perfect either. Lately, I’ve been thinking that it’s a little Xenophobic. For example, my current saved playlist: GENUS CANADIANNA is based on The Tragically Hip’s awesome “38 years old[2. I am currently 38 years old, however my 4 awesome kids would be proof that I have in fact kissed a girl.]” from the Up to Here album. Of Course, I expected a few other Canuck Rock bands thrown in there for good measure, but honestly I am a little taken a back from:
A) How much great Canadian music there actually is out there.
B) How much of it I own.
C) How few female artist I listen to.
D) How glad I am that I don’t own more Alanis Morissette and ANY Saline Die-On[3. I refuse to give her any more link-love or credit than she already has, hate me in the comments.]!
E) Where the Seattle grunge is.
And it does this with the Brit Pop scene, never really leaving the late nineties and exploring some newer equally awesome stuff like Snow Patrol, Franz Ferdinand and the Arctic Monkeys. And don’t get me started on how disjointed french music selection is… but this is partially my fault, as I seem a little more particular and eclectic about the kind of music I will listen to in French, that’s more of Ouatte De Phoque post really.
All that said, don’t be afraid to use Genius, it’s actually pretty damn good provided you actually care about your music and don’t mind hitting refresh a few times. I’m hardly listening to any Last.FM or Pandora anymore since I’ve been having so much fun seeing how new stuff get’s mixed into the playlists. Who would have though that Metric’s Front Row would play so well off the back of David Usher’s Black Black Heart or that Sam Robert’s heavy base laden Canadian Dream would flow so well into the Barenaked Ladies Grade 9. Still there is no explanation as to why the Foo Fighters or Inxs were chosen to represent but there they are and the choice of songs is pretty good… Of course it is, it’s my music after-all.
| Song Title | Band/Artist | Album |
| 38 Years Old | The Tragically Hip | Up To Here |
| Hard Road | Sam Roberts | We Were Born In A Flame |
| Enid | Barenaked Ladies | Gordon |
| Weighty Ghost | Wintersleep | Welcome To The Night Sky |
| Ocean Pearl | 54-40 | Millenium |
| Gel | Collective Soul | Collective Soul |
| She Ain’t Pretty | The Northern Pikes | Snow In June |
| Love Removal Machine | The Cult | Pure Cult: The Best Of The Cult (For Rockers, Ravers, Lovers & Sinners) |
| Drinking In L.A. | Bran Van 3000 | Glee |
| Little Bones | The Tragically Hip | Road Apples |
| Gimme Sympathy | Metric | Fantasies |
| Alone in the Universe | David Usher | Morning Orbit |
| Thanks That Was Fun | Barenaked Ladies | |
| With A Bullet | Sam Roberts | |
| Change | Blind Melon | Blind Melon |
| Boots Or Hearts | The Tragically Hip | Up To Here |
| Afterglow | INXS | Switch |
| Soft Revolution | Stars | |
| Mary | Sarah McLachlan | Fumbling Towards Ecstasy |
| Wild Flower | The Cult | Pure Cult: The Best Of The Cult (For Rockers, Ravers, Lovers & Sinners) |
| Where Have All The Good People Gone? | Sam Roberts | We Were Born In A Flame |
| What A Good Boy | Barenaked Ladies | Gordon |
| The Music | David Usher | Strange Birds |
| Sick Muse | Metric | Fantasies |
| Ahead By A Century | The Tragically Hip | Trouble at the Henhouse |
| Heart Of Gold | Neil Young | |
| Where the River Flows | Collective Soul | Collective Soul |
| Vox | Sarah McLachlan | Touch |
| Call And Answer | Barenaked Ladies | Stunt |
| Girl With A Problem | The Northern Pikes | Snow In June |
| Sweet Soul Sister | The Cult | Pure Cult: The Best Of The Cult (For Rockers, Ravers, Lovers & Sinners) |
| Devil Inside | Inxs | Kick |
| Trickle Down | The Tragically Hip | Up To Here |
| The Canadian Dream | Sam Roberts | We Were Born In A Flame |
| Grade 9 | Barenaked Ladies | Gordon |
| Stadium Love | Metric | Fantasies |
| Love Will Save The Day | David Usher | If God Had Curves |
| Marigold | Foo Fighters | Skin And Bones |
| Wait | Sarah McLachlan | Fumbling Towards Ecstasy |
| Love Is A First | The Tragically Hip | We Are The Same |
| She’s Only Happy in the Sun | Ben Harper | Diamonds on the Inside |
| December | Collective Soul | Collective Soul |
| Tessellate | Tokyo Police Club | |
| Don’t Walk Away Eileen | Sam Roberts | We Were Born In A Flame |
| Edie (Ciao Baby) | The Cult | Pure Cult: The Best Of The Cult (For Rockers, Ravers, Lovers & Sinners) |
| Blow At High Dough | The Tragically Hip | Up To Here |
| Brian Wilson | Barenaked Ladies | Gordon |
| Black Black Heart | David Usher | Morning Orbit |
| Front Row | Metric | Fantasies |
| Skin And Bones | Foo Fighters | Skin And Bones |