After a few days of playing all the Poppy Bush-era alternapop it could find, my Pandora REM station finally gave up and served Wicked Game. Video frustratingly almost-but-not-ever-quite NSFW.
Chat about whatever.
***Update***
BTW for some reason Pandora + REM delivers a ton of U2 and The Police but zero Talking Heads. Anyone know why it does that? I would have expected to at least hear David Byrne before Chris Isaak.
BTW 2, the best Pandora Station is Willie Nelson. Prove me wrong.
Wag
Great song that captures an era
Tim F.
Now it’s Red Hot Chili Peppers. I feel like my phone is trying to tell me something.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
It’s good that I have a job interview scheduled for the day after I get back from vacation, but it has definitely added an extra level of stress to the trip.
We have the rental car’s radio tuned to a very odd station — it goes from 70s ballads to “All About the Bass” to Taylor Swift to The Cars. Hypnotic.
Southern Beale
One of the best concerts I ever saw was Chris Isaac at the Ryman Auditorium. It completely shocked me because I wasn’t a huge fan and I think we were given the tickets or maybe I was covering it for work .. I just had never thought of him as a great perfomer. But he gave an outstanding show.
Omnes Omnibus
David Byrne doesn’t mumble?
hilts
An offer that no home buyer can refuse
https://homes.yahoo.com/blogs/spaces/godfather-corleone-house-staten-island-110-longfellow-210506786.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB9tijM9q_c
Omnes Omnibus
@hilts: It’s on Staten Island. No sale.
Cckids
I’ve got nothing musical to add. Spent an hour on the phone trying to find a phar-ma-cee that has Hydr0c0done liquid suspension. If THAT doesn’t make you feel like you’re committing some illegal act, I don’t know what will.
Prescribed for my son, whose pressure sore just went nuclear. God damn the hospital that gave it to him.
mtmofo
Obama sent Loretta Lynch’s nom to the Senate tonight.
Punchy
Pandora’s Les Claypool station plays a lotta Chili Peppers, too. Flea = Les perhaps?
Omnes Omnibus
@efgoldman: I could avoid the neighbors. There is no way I could live on Staten Island. Hell, ancestors of mine were original settlers in the Hamptons and what is now Fairfield County, CT. I can’t disgrace them with Staten Island.
/snob
Hal
@mtmofo: I my brain I still have to swap out Loretta Lynn for Loretta Lynch.
The Dems not confirming her this session would be supremely stupid, but there is a part of me that would love to hear Chuck Todd’s take, since he seems to think Republicans must absolutely govern responsibly now. I’m sure he can find some way to blame Obama. No doubt something about the lack of lunches Obama has had with Senate members.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: Not!!!!! I could not avoid the neighbors.
beltane
@Omnes Omnibus: I with you on that. Some things are just not done, and living on Staten Island is one of them. As my family grew and we could not find anything suitable in our price range in Brooklyn, the thought of moving to Staten Island never even crossed my mind.
Omnes Omnibus
@beltane: Exactly. And, per your comments, you are in no way as snobbish as I am.
dubyabee
Prove you wrong? Heh. Albert King. Just sayin’…
John Revolta
@Omnes Omnibus:??? One can accuse Sting of a lotta stuff, but mumbling wouldn’t come to my mind.
beltane
The Poppy Bush era happened to coincide with college and my Grateful Dead touring years. Maybe the proper response to a Republican administration is to smoke a lot of pot.
beltane
@John Revolta: REM were the mumblers.
Tenar Darell
Saw Book of Life on impulse tonight. That is one of the most visually stunning films I’ve ever seen. Not giving anything away, but the attention to detail was impressive. Look for the fingernail on Manolo’s hand when he holds it up as if to say “wait a minute.”
Omnes Omnibus
@John Revolta: I don’t know why it includes the Police; I was just suggesting why it may not include the Talking Heads. Don’t try to take my suggestion too far.
srv
My Pandora stations have a different DJ at night. I know they want you to think it’s a computer algorithm, but the same station will play radically different music depending on the hour.
I’m just imagining some poor hip Albanian kid hosting my night channels while his mom covers the daytime.
Cliff in nh
there is no station called Willie Nelson, there is of course the artist, and variations of artist…
http://www.pandora.com/search/%20Willie%20Nelson/station
so…
John Revolta
@beltane: And how.
@Omnes Omnibus: Gotcha. Well, lemme try………………..
trollhattan
Went to school with him but didn’t know him…not nearly the level of regret I have for not getting to know Jamie Lee Curtis. But a friend who knows him has many hilarious stories. Anybody catch his “Showtime” show? Wonderfully quirky, a real treat. And Bimbo’s is an actual place, mermaid and all.
John Revolta
I dunno. The only reason I can think of to leave the Heads out of that bunch would be barefaced CBGB hate. Which I can certainly respect.
trollhattan
@John Revolta:
Christ on a ricecake, I sentence any TH haters to view “Stop Making Sense” and call me in the morning. As to the magical music-pickin’ algorithms, they mostly seem to suque. Not as bad as itunes suckage, but still…
Suzanne
R.E.M. is my favorite band EVAR.
Oddly, they did a cover of “Wicked game”. It’s on YouTube. I’m too lazy right now.
Nicole
For awhile, no matter what I typed in for my Pandora station, eventually it would end up playing Journey. It would have been irritating if it wasn’t so weird.
Oh, U2. My adolescent self had so many feels watching Bono in the video for “With or Without You.”
dance around in your bones
Talking Heads! Talking Heads!!
First video I ever bought. And damn if it still doesn’t bring me to tears or laughter , ‘specially when David Byrne came out on the stage with only a tape player.
The addition of the other players in the band just made it more delicious, especially the Tom Tom Club.
james
For the record, Pandora fucks artists and doesn’t pay royalties on pre 1972 music because they are assholes.
Sherparick
As a folky, I enjoy Pete Seeger, Fairport Convention, and Steve Goodman channels. Greatful Dead plays a lot of Dylan and “The Band” as well. Boy am I dating myself.
Donut
The reason why you can’t get certain artists on Pandora is pretty simple. It has to do with licensing. Artists (actually, their publishing companies and administrators) have to agree to let Pandora use their stuff. There have been a ton of legal battles and arguments over this. But the long and short of it is whomever has control of David Byrne’s publishing has elected to leave his compositions out of Pandora’s reach. it could be an issue of royalty rates or it could be Byrne just doesn’t want his shit on Pandora.
daryljfontaine
I think my favorite Pandora “station” is Gogol Bordello.
D
dan
No matter what station I go to or create, no matter the genre, at some point The Police will pop up. And I thumbs down them every time. I hate The Police, Pandora.
Tim F.
@Donut: Maybe, but not in this case. I just created a Talking Heads station and it is awesome.
RSR
Anyone else use Slacker? Similar concept to Pandora.
Pope Ratzy
I have no clue why anyone would use Pandora. The algorithms used to produce selected music that has absolutely nothing to do with the previous music are awesome version of ad placement. Years of work have gone into making those algorithms produce playlists that are optimized for the benefit of labels that have major artists and to scrap those parts of pennies per play into the label’s pockets.
At least with services like Spotify you are selecting the music that you want to hear not what the labels have designated as *associated*
les
@Pope Ratzy:
Ah, I might use Pandora because despite conspiracy theories, it leads me to music I like from artists I hadn’t known.
delk
The New Order station makes me dance around the house.
The Burt Bacharach station was made for lazy Sunday mornings.
Pope Ratzy
@les: If only that was a conspiracy theory. Advertising only makes up a portion of the Pandora revenue stream. Placement of new music within the stream and promoting other songs costs money or a negotiated agreement for the royalty fees.
And while there may be songs that get played in your stream you had never heard, how many times did the algorithm choose some song that you dislike and has nothing to do with the previous music?
james
@Donut: That is not actually correct. Pandora is a “non-interactive” service, meaning that you can’t pick exactly what you want to hear, so it is able to make use of compulsory licenses available through the DOJ’s consent decrees governing ASCAP and BMI. Musicians cannot opt out even in protest of abysmal royalty rates for internet radio.