Yesterday, I was driving to Denver in a car that was like an estranged friend and had no tape player so, with my iPod on the fritz (the reason I was heading south in the first place - well, one of them), I listened to commercial radio; particularly the “alternative” stations. Apart from the curious use of “emo” by the button jockey, they played a Foo Fighters track (Everlong), 2 RATM songs (Guerilla Radio, irony anoyone, and Bombtrack), a Nirvana one (Heart Shaped Box), and a Cure song (Just Like Heaven; additionally they did a spoof entitled 'crank calling Robert Smith'). That sort of playlist reminds me when I used to actually listen to commercial radio - haven't times changed since college? Good tracks, no doubt, but should the purportedly edgy, emo Clearchannel station be retitled “classic indie“ or something?
On the way back, I turned the radio off and listened to what I had on the ailing iPod (diagnosis: fragmentation and general malaise brought on by forcing an Apple device to mate with Windows); here's a sampling:
Honey Pie, Beatles
Fallen For You, Sheila Nichols
Baby Britain, Elliot Smith
O Stella, PJ Harvey
You Said Something, PJ Harvey
In the Morning, Norah Jones
New Mate, Figurine