Friday, January 18, 2008

Songs that stop the dial

I might as well continue the lack of any science-based posting with something I thought of while driving into work today. As I was flipping through the radio channels I realized that there is a definite hierarchy to the songs that I listen to. Generally, I flip through a few channels, hear a few seconds of what's being played, and then decide which song to listen to and switch back to that channel. If I kept track of all the songs and my preferences, I could create a rather accurate ordered list of my favorites (hmmm, maybe I can't quite escape being sciency). However, there are certain songs that simply stop the dial - if it is on, I don't bother finding out what else is available.

Of course, these songs are a varied lot - some are all-time favorites, others are new songs that I'm currently excited about. Now, my taste in music is rather eclectic and I don't think I have the absolute best taste either (as my wife will surely agree) - I like what I like whether it's Led Zeppelin or The Chieftains.

On the way into work this morning, there were actually a number of stop-the-dial (STD?) songs, but I think the following gets top billing for today.

(and no, I'm not the least bit embarrassed admitting this)

2 comments:

Stephen Matheson said...

Thanks for coming out on this one! Livin' on a Prayer was one of the first tunes I bought on iTunes, and I got the kids excited about it too. (It's gotta be LOUD.) Love the talkbox. It ain't The Joshua Tree, but anthems have their place, and we all need our guilty pleasures...

Christopher Taylor said...

I went to a concert by the Dresden Dolls a couple of years ago, with the Red Paintings as backing band (both alternative bands if you're not familiar with them), and towards the end of the concert the two bands combined to give a performance of this song (followed by the band members arguing about what the hell Bon Jovi was actually on about). It got a huge reaction from the crowd.