Pandora

I have cable and there is a section of music stations on my TV. I used to put it on a lot (before I got a radio for my living room) while I was cleaning the house or at parties, etc. Today I discovered that they have replaced the musicals station with something called "Stage and Screen." When I went there it was playing Jessica Simpsons' "These Boots are Made for Walking" from the soundtrack of The Dukes of Hazzard. Not exactly what I was looking for. So I changed to a station called "Retro Rock" thinking it was going to be music from the 50's and 60's. It plays music from 1991.

And so, I went to Pandora. If you don't already know about Pandora, it is an online radio station made just for you. You create stations based on bands, songs, or genres you enjoy and it plays just that music and music like it! You can even set it to "Quickmix" and it will play random selections from all of your stations.

Pandora also has a free iPhone app! I wrote about it a few months ago (here). It's a must-have.

Here is a list of songs that played on my Quickmix this afternoon:

1) HooDoo: Muse

2) Beware of Darkness: George Harrison

3) Rain: The Beatles

4) A Must to Avoid: Herman's Hermits

5) Eleanor Rigby (Live): Paul McCartney

6) Drive: Incubus

7) Come Together: The Beatles

8) Never Let You Go: Third Eye Blind

• I don't actually like this song, but OK.

9) Get it On: T. Rex

• Ditto this one. Still better than Jessica Simpson.

10) Yellow (Live): Coldplay

• "If you stand up we'll buy you all ice cream."

11) I Want You Back: The Kooks

• I've never heard this before, part of the fun of Pandora radio.

12) Revolution (Love Version): The Beatles

• "ALL RIGHT!"

13) Can't Explain (Live at Leeds): The Who

14) Float On: Modest Mouse

• So THAT is what this song is called...

15) Superhero (Live): Stephen Lynch

16) I'm On a Boat: The Lonely Island

17) The Wind Cries Mary (Live): Jimi Hendrix

18) Trouble: Coldplay

• Why so much Coldplay today? I don't even have a Coldplay station.

19) The Song that Goes Like This: Spamalot

• I don't care about Spamalot, but I do think this song is cute.

20) Loro: Pinback

• I've also never heard this before. It came up on my MGMT station.

To be honest, I did use all six of my skips. :)

A couple of my friends have a beef with Pandora that it almost never plays female artists unless you are on a female artist themed station. They have a point - except for half of "The Song that Goes Like This" none of those songs were sung by women. The twenty-first song was "Over and Over" by Rachel Yamagata care of my "This Never Happened Before" station, though. (It's my only station inspired by a song instead of a band). That is a pretty good song, too. I think I'll add a Rachel Yamagata station. Go women!