Saturday, April 15, 2006

Do You Hear What I Hear?

What does your playlist say about you? Today's workout prompted that question. I really hope Curly Su reads this post and blogs back because I'm pretty sure that she, with her musical education, is the only person with any chance of topping my bizarro playlist.

For today's workout, Jessi S. Cannondale was at the bike doctor for her final checkup before the ride from Houston to Austin for the 2006 BP MS150. (Yes, Bolder, this does involve lube.) As a result, today's brick involved 2 hours on a spin bike. Coach T let me use the spin studio and I patched my mp3 pleayer into the sound system so it played over the speakers.

Having my playlist audible to the outside world convinced me that I probably need counseling. The selection of songs is probably shows my past as a classically trained orchestral musician who went to high school in the '80s and downloads new post-grunge and punk as part of his midlife crisis. Either that, or else Greyhound has multiple personality disorder.

For example, taking the list in alphabetical order, A is for Green Day's "American Idiot" and "Attack" by 30 Seconds to Mars. A, however, is also for "Attack on the Death Star" from the original Star Wars soundtrack composed by John Williams and performed by the London Symphony. Already, we see signs of an ubergeek going through midlife crisis.

B is for the Bond Theme (007 music) followed closely by Nickelback's "Breathe" but also "Buckbeak's Flight" from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

C would not only find the opening chorus from Carmina Burana ("O Fortuna"), but also "Cowboys from Hell" by Pantera. WTF??

D not only includes "Doesn't Remind Me Of Anything" performed by Audioslave, but also "Duel of the Fates" from the soundtrack to Star Wars Episode I. It's not getting any more normal, is it?

I dare not take you through the entire alphabet, but go as long as you want and you would find selections from Boston, Van Halen, Queen, and also Wagner's Ring Cycle, Holst's Planets ("Mars, Bringer of War") and the "Band of Brothers" soundtrack. I even have the music composed for televised olympic coverage and used on the Steve Prefontaine movie. (The poor, deluded, old man has a rich fantasy life).

In my list, "Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Flight of the Valkeries" are literally adjacent to one another.

What have you got? Top that, Curly Su.

4 comments:

Habeela said...

Let's see. How does Arabic techo, Carmina Burana Enigma-style, Switchfoot, Sigur Ros, Killers, and old-school Um Karthum (more arabic music from the ballad orchestral age) fair?

Your playlist seems completely normal...what are you talking about?!

qcmier said...

Paganini, Pet Shop Boys, Led Zepplin, Les Miserables, Conan the Barbarian, Sheryl Crow, Bach, Bush....

I say you're normal or maybe we are all abnormal. Rock on!!!

Anonymous said...

ahhh---
i wish i COULD top it. get this. i don't listen to music. i mean, i do. but, not when i train. for me, somehow...training is the escape from the music stuff, and this is sad, but i definitely get a little stressed when i hear music nowadays. not all the time...but i enjoy the quiet when i train. it's a time for me to be able to empty my head...although i must admit that at times i find myself singing at the top of my lungs when i get bored on a long bike ride...so how's that for a contradiction? anyway...will think more about this music thing...maybe i should start listening again...

Anonymous said...

ps--will blog about this whole issue soon...