Earworms and Guilty Pleasures

An Earworm is a song that gets stuck in your head and starts repeating itself over and over. A Guilty Pleasure is the opposite of Critically acclaimed music. Critically acclaimed music is intelligent music, well thought out lyrics, layered textures of music, and you feel smarter just by listening to it. Example: The Talking Heads. A guilty pleasure would then be music that is trite, but despite your better judgment, you like listening to it anyway. Example: Britney Spears.

I have been making my second Desert Island Disk. If you knew you were going to be stranded on a desert island, and it had a working cd player and you could only bring a limited quantity of music, what would you take? I have taken those songs, and re-encoded them to 128-bit .ogg vorbis files, and can then fit 12 hours of music on a blank cd-r that will play in my mp3-cd player. The first time I did this was 2 years ago, and picked my alltime favorite songs. This time a picked songs that were not included the 1st time, and includes new songs I did not know then.

If you look through the list, I imagine there will be several songs you don't know, maybe over half. If you know me, there might be some "Huh?" moments. There's no classical, Rap, modern Country, Jazz. It's mostly classic rock, 80's, Electronica, with some Psychedelic, mambo, bubble gum, Christian, comedy, alternative and plunderphonics mixed in, 60s through today.

Listed in order of song length (I'm just weird that way.)

1) Blue Man Group Featuring Venus Hum - I Feel Love (Jason Nevins Big Room Remix) (You can listen to this Here)
2) White Stripes - Seven Nation Army (Adam Freeland Remix) (Not sure where I found this, it's probably White Label)
3) Armand Van Helden - MyMyMy (Ashley Beedle Remix)
4) Meatloaf - Paradise by the Dashboard Lights (complete, with Vin Scully and the lady from Night Court)
5) Ted Nugent - Stranglehold
6) Hoxton Vs. Cream - Sunshine of Your Love (Club Mix)
7) N-E-R-D - Rockstar (Nevin's Classic Club Blaster Edit) from the SSX 3 soundtrack. (Listen Here.) (this is also MariLynn's MySpace profile song)
8) Britney Spears - My Prerogative (Armand Van Helden Remix)
9) Billy Joel - Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
10) B-52's - Give Me Back My Man
11) Beatles Vs. Masters at Work - Get Back (K-VIC White Label Mix)
12) Queen and Paul Rodgers - Hammer to Fall (Live)
13) Fatboy Slim - The World Went Down (B-side to Gangster Trippin)
14) Vinylshakerz - One Night in Bangkok (French XXL Mix) (techno remake of the Murray Head 80's hit)
15) Chicago - Introduction (the first song on Chicago Transit Authority album)
16) Manfred Mann's Earthband - Mighty Quinn (live)
17) Sufjan Stevens - Chicago (Thanks to Eric for pointing me in his direction)
18) Fatboy Slim - What They're Looking For (on the single Slash Dot Dash)
19) Madonna - Hung Up (her newest single, as of this writing, samples ABBA)
20) Spandau Ballet - True (every best of the 80's collection has this)
21) Heart - Magic Man
22) Yma Sumac - Gopher (Q-Burns Abstract Message Remix) (the toughest-to-classify song I have ever heard)
23) Yes - Tempus Fugit
24) Mighty Dub Katz - Let the Drums Speak (Original Mix)
25) 4 Non Blondes - What's Up
26) Prince - Seven
27) Global Deejays - Stars on 45 remix (Listen on their website)
28) Blues Traveler - Hook (Yes, the hook does bring me back)
29) dc Talk - Jesus Freak (I'm usually not a fan of Christian Contemporary, this is a rare exception)
30) Elton John - Sad Songs (Say So Much)
31) Funkstar De Luxe Vs. Laid Back - White Horse
32) Housemartins - Build (this group was far less popular in the US than in Britain.)
33) Edgar Winter Group - Frankenstein
34) Faith No More - Epic
35) Fatboy Slim - Wonderful Night
36) Stereophonics - Handbags and Gladrags (better than the Ricky Gervais version)
37) Lita Ford & Ozzy Osborne - Close My Eyes
38) William Shatner - Common People (listen Here)
39) Paul McCartney & Wings - Uncle Albert-Admiral Halsey
40) Joe Walsh - Life's Been Good
41) Fatboy Slim with Lateef - The Journey
42) Creedence Clearwater Revival - Suzie Q (From Emusic.com)
43) Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds (The inclusion of an Elvis Song surprizes even me)
44) Limp Bizkit - Behind Blue Eyes (remake of The Who song)
45) Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride
46) Barenaked Ladies - If I Had a Million Dollars (a group I otherwise dislike, but this song is clever)
47) Fatboy Slim - Mi Bebe Masoquista (Has any other techno DJ ever sampled Shel Silverstein?)
48) Marty Robbins - El Paso (The oldest song on here. I first heard this song during a skit on Carson's Comedy Classics many years ago.)
49) Culture Club - Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?
50) Billy Squire - The Stroke
51) White Stripes - Take, Take, Take
52) Michael Jackson - Smooth Criminal
53) House of Pain - Jump Around
54) Howard Jones - No One is to Blame
55) Ugly Kid Joe - Everything About You (yes, an all around stupid song)
56) Amy Grant - Angels (This goes back to when my brother and I shared a room and I listened to his CDs)
57) Blue Man Group - Your Attention (Watch the live performance)
58) Tenacious D - Tribute
59) Tenacious D - Wonderboy (they have 2 hits I really like, and nothing else)
60) Abba - Take a Chance on Me
61) B-52's - Strobe Light
62) R.E.M. - What's the Frequency, Kenneth
63) B-52's - Song for a Future Generation (Wanna be a daughter of Dracula. Wanna be the son of Frankenstein. Let's meet and have a baby now!)
64) Mono Puff - Extra Krispy (cover of Van McCoy's song comparing life in New York City to KFC chicken)
65) Foghat - Slow Ride (I was irked when I bought their greatest hits to find the short version of this song)
66) Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Questions
67) Cars - Drive
68) Will Smith - Will2K (its the Millennium, excuse me, Willennium.)
69) Dobie Gray - Drift Away
70) Boogie Pimps - somebody to Love (Salt Shaker Remix)
71) ThePartyParty - Dick is a Killer
72) The Mamas and the Papas - Creeque Alley
73) Black Eyed Peas - Where is the Love? (A song I associate with my 4th wedding anniversary vacation. That and Chingy's "Holidae Inn")
74) Bee Gees - Lonely Days
75) Prince - Kiss
76) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Love Rollercoaster (I Loathe this group, didn't see the movie it was in and disliked my manager who always blasted this from his cubicle, and yet the actual song is o.k.)
77) Paul Oakenfold - Starry Eyed Surprise
78) Blue Cheer - Summertime Blues (a psychedelic remake)
79) Pink - Fingers
80) Pink - Cuz I Can
81) Level 42 - Something about You (it took me forever to find the name and group that did this 80's song.)
82) Human League - (Keep Feelin') Fascination
83) Lenny Kravitz - Fly Away
84) Black Eyed Peas - Don't Lie
85) Emerson, Lake and Palmer - Romeo and Juliet (based on the classical Montagues and Capulets)
86) Four Seasons - December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night) (1994 remake version)
87) Billy Joel - Longest Time
88) Black Eyed Peas - Pump It
89) Ace of Base - Cruel Summer (remake of the Bananarama song)
90) The Cowsills - Hair
91) Nik and Jay Vs. Daft Punk - Around the World (White Label Mix)
92) Santana - Winning
93) John Cougar Mellenamp - Wild Nights
94) Prodigy - Spitfire
95) William Shatner - Has Been (CT Hero Slapped Together Mix) - (runner up in the acidplanet.com remix contest)
96) Three Dog Night - Shambala
97) Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
98) Manfred Mann's Earthband - Eyes of Nostradamus (Manfred Mann had 3 hits in the US and they each sound completely different. "Blinded by the Light" gets heavy airplay on classic rock stations and "Do Wah Diddy" is Quintessential Oldies - An had a section of Opryland named after it)
99) Fleetwood Mac - Oh, Well (an early, early Fleetwood Mac song during the Peter Green days, that doesn't have the same sound as their later days)
100) Juno Reactor - Pistolero (Radio Edit)
101) Offspring - Come Out and Play
102) Friend & Lover - Reach Out in the Darkness
103) ESPN Jock Jam Megamix
104) White Stripes - Jolene (Live) (cover of Dolly Parton song) from Under Blackpool Lights DVD/CD
105) Mouth & Maceal - How Do You Do (an obscure oldies song, but my friend Will likes it also)
106) Pink - Trouble (all of her music videos are stupid)
107) Mr. Big - To Be With You
108) Styx - Boat on the River
109) Bob Rivers and Twisted Radio - Lou Piniella (Listen here - scroll down)
A song about how the hiring of the Seattle Mariner's new manager will turn around their lousy history, set to Hallelujah Chorus. Rivers is a record producer of numerous parodies.
110) Bobby McFerrin - All I Want (from the same album of Don't worry, be happy - a song I got tired of after waiting for my Alamo rental car.)
111) Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show - Cover of the Rolling Stone
112) The Bran Flakes - Good Times and Goo Goo (You can download this song from their Myspace profile page) makes music mostly from samples from thrift store albums. I've even made it my MySpace profile song.)
113) Dave Edmunds - I Hear You Knocking (I always heard this song on classic rock radio stations in Dallas, but never at home. Same for Billy Thorpe's "Children of the Sun".)
114) Blue Swede - Hooked On A Feeling - otherwise known as the ooga-ooga-ooga-chaka song. a one hit wonder from a Swedish cover band.
115) Offspring - Why Don't You Get A Job (I love the video, especially when the Snare drummer comes into the picture.)
116) Association - Precious and Few
117) DJ Danger Mouse - Encore (From the Grey Album) view the video here. this is from a controversial album, which the acapella vocals from Jay-Z's the Black Album were laid on Instrumental cut-ups of The Beatles' White Album. This specific song uses snippets of "Glass Onion" and "savoy Truffle." Read more here.
118) Jackson 5 - Dancing Machine
119) Rooftop Singers - Walk Right In
120) White Stripes - Blue Orchid
121) Paul Shanklin - Al Gore Paradise (political parodist, staple of the Rush Limbaugh show)
122) Ringo Starr -the No No Song (Mentions Nashville, but not for country music. W00t!)
123) ThePartyParty.com - White Lines
124) Fendermen - Mule Skinner Blues (When I was a kid, my grandmother had a K-Tel album of Goofy songs of the 60s)
125) Coldcut - Timber (Gotta love songs that use a chainsaw as an instrument)
126) People are Wrong cast - Dimension Six Rock (Available for download from their website. Best known for having John F. from They Might Be Giants in the cast, but is an enjoyable 70's style rock opera sound that I like.)
127) Fleetwood Mac - Never Going Back Again (overlooked song from the Rumours album)
128) Hillside Singers - I'd like to teach the World to Sing (Superbowl Coke commercial becomes a hit record.)
129) They Might Be Giants - Alphabet of Nations (often, their songs from the children's albums have the catchier tunes. This is from their ABC's CD)
130) People are Wrong Cast - At the Agway (also available for download)
131) People are Wrong cast - I Know What I Saw (see above)
132) They Might Be Giants - The Oblongs Theme (cause I had 30 seconds left)
--These last few are out of order--
133) Michael Jackson Disconet Megamix
134) Stars on 45 - 60s, 70's and Abba medley (a group of studio musicians that formed in the 80s to make medleys of popular songs, enjoying brief chart success.)
135) C&C Music Factory - Gonna Make You Sweat (Ultimix) - (I once found sheet music for this. odd.)
136) Fancy - China Blue (Hot Tracks Remix)
137) Steinski & The Mass Media - The Motorcade Sped On (Song based on samples taken from the aftermath of the JFK assassination)
138) Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Bullfrog (a nice Orchestral rock song that sonds like a bullfrog. On the Works Vol 2 album)
139) Brian Eno - I'll Come Running (the pioneer of the electronica genre released this on his mid -70's album Another Green World. I got this song packaged on a sampler that came along with the Fatboy Slim CD Palookaville)
140) They Might Be Giants - Tippecanoe and Tyler Too (a song about William Henry Harrison)
141) They Might Be Giants - Dallas (a 45 second Venue Song where they have a sound similar to Yes. The video might still be on their website.)
142) Blue Man Group - I Feel Love (Album Version) (Watch it Here)