I used to have this feature where every Monday I'd shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that played. I'm not sure why I stopped. I think I'll start it up again.

Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. 120 - Custom
2. What A Difference A Day Mad - Sarah Vaghan
3. The Sorrowful Wife - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
4. 16 Horses - Soul Coughing
5. Natural Beauty - Neil Young
6. Sweet Home Chicago - Robert Johnson
7. 1989 - Mindless Self Indulgence
8. New Year's Day - U2
9. World Container - The Tragically Hip
10. Church For Thugs - The Game

I haven't written about Custom in a while because I'm baffled. Custom is a multi-talented Canadian musician and director living in Manhattan I befriended a few years ago. He released a very cool album in 2002 called Fast which includes the wicked "120" that just played during my shuffle.

Custom contacted me in early 2005 after he stumbled upon something I wrote about "Hey Mister". We hit it off instantly, and I ended up helping him rescue his domain name from his old label that went under. He also let me build him a site and start up the official Custom forum. He also sent me his new material which sounds fantastic. Over the past few years, I'd hear that he was "this close" to signing a new deal and getting his tunes back in the airwaves. Now, I'm just baffled. This stuff is awesome but the only place you'll hear it is on my iPod.

Custom, you multi-talented freak. Screw the record companies. Let's get the music out there and let it spread organically. Enough of this "hurry up and wait" bullshit. We can do this ourselves.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. The Great Satan - Ministry
2. One Mint Julep - Ray Charles
3. 1979 - Smashing Pumpkins
4. Bombtrack - Rage Against The Machine
5. Five To One - The Doors
6. Sweet Sunshine - Beck
7. Rusty Cage - Soundgarden
8. Cause I Can Do It Right - Big Daddy Kane
9. Freak Magnet - L7
10. Win the West - Emm Gryner

I always thought "1979" was the perfect second single from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. They led with the infectious rocker "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" and followed that up with what would become their biggest hit.

It also had one of the cooler videos of 1996 when I was still young enough to relate.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Marcy Playground - The Vampires of New York
2. Billy Idol - Love Calling
3. Kool & the Gang - Jungle Boogie
4. Regina Spektor - Bonne Idee
5. The Clovers - Love Potion No. 9
6. Pearl Jam - Wash
7. Goo Goo Dolls - Slide
8. Billy Joel - Uptown Girl
9. Ram Jam - Black Betty
10. 2Pac - This Life I Lead

I was going to write about how awesome Ram Jam's Black Betty is, but instead I'll go way back and write about The Clovers' Love Potion No. 9.

As a very young man, I loved 50s music. My favourite cassette tapes were collections of pop hits from the late 50s and early 60s. In the early 80s, a chain of gas stations sold a series of such tapes in a promotion and I loved them all. One song that appeared on this compilation was Love Potion No. 9.

This love of 50s and 60s rock n' roll led to an admiration for The Stray Cats, and Built For Speed quickly became a personal favourite. This was soon replaced by Duran Duran's Rio and the rest is history.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Pay to Play - Nirvana
2. Evacuation - Pearl Jam
3. Soldier In A Box - Hot Hot Heat
4. Ruby Soho - Rancid
5. Come On Home - Franz Ferdinand
6. Release - Pearl Jam
7. Highway to Heck - Bran Van 3000
8. Fear of a Black Planet - Public Enemy
9. St. Andrew's Fall - Blind Melon
10. 5 Days in May - Blue Rodeo

I know I'm supposed to write about Fear of a Black Planet the song, but I'm going to write about Fear of a Black Planet the album instead. Fear of a Black Planet was a very important release in my personal music loving history. The grunge explosion was still a year away and I needed something meaty to bridge me from Appetite for Destruction to Nevermind, Ten and Dirt.

TGFPE. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back came out in '88 and Fear of a Black Planet came out in '90 giving me a few years of Public Enemy gold in my teenage years before Seattle took over my Walkman. If you haven't heard Fear of a Black Planet, you should. They don't make music like that anymore and that's a damn shame.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. blink-182 - Dammit
2. Soundgarden - Nothing To Say
3. Gowan - Out of a Deeper Hunger
4. Radiohead - True Love Waits
5. Smashing Pumpkins - Sweet Sweet
6. Van Halen - Ice Cream Man
7. Von Bondies - Crawl Through the Darkness
8. The Band - Stage Fright
9. Metallica - The Prince
10. Radiohead - Dollars and Cents

"True Love Waits" is one of my favourite Radiohead songs, but it never appeared on a studio album. The version I have is from I Might Be Wrong, an official collection of live songs from back in 2001.

I liked "True Love Waits" so much I threw it on my 100 wedding song playlist for my brothers wedding. Last I checked, they were still together, which means this song works.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. I'm Looking Through You - The Beatles
2. Shuckin' Sugar Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson
3. Black Day in July - Gordon Lightfoot
4. Deep - Danzig
5. The Way We Swing (Remix) - Digital Underground
6. Homeward Bound - Simon & Garfunkel
7. Leather Jacket - Ben Folds Five
8. What A Good Boy - Barenaked Ladies
9. Got Me Wrong - Alice in Chains
10. Guns in the Sky - INXS

There's a great story behind "Black Day in July" from Gordon Lightfoot. The song was banned in the USA following the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968. The song was about the 12th Street Riot in Detroit and the fear was it would incite riots. The lyrics aren't exactly rebel rousing, as it asks "Why can't we all be brothers? Why can't we live in peace?"

Lightfoot is a tremendous singer/song writer, probably right there after Young, Mitchell and Cohen.

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I haven't done this since December, but it used to be a weekly feature. I'd shuffle my entire MP3 collection and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Annihilation - A Perfect Circle
2. Rebirth - Public Enemy
3. She Says What She Means - Sloan
4. Joey - Concrete Blonde
5. Taste It - INXS
6. I Could Never Be That Man - Blue Rodeo
7. So Hard Done By - The Tragically Hip
8. It's Only Me (The Wizard of Magicland) - Barenaked Ladies
9. Ride Like Hell - Big Sugar
10. Bourgeois Blues - Leadbelly

Who didn't like INXS? I practically wore out the Kick cassette tape because it was a tremendous play-through. INXS peaked with 1987's Kick and ten years later Michael Hutchence would be dead.

Just before his death, Hutchence filmed a role in the movie "Limp", directed by my bud Duane Lavold, better known as Custom. When I interviewed Custom a couple of years ago, I asked him about Hutchence. What he told me was quite revealing.

Q: I consider INXS's "Kick" to be one of the finest pop-rock albums ever. You directed Michael Hutchence in "Limp" just before his tragic death in 1997. What kind of guy was he? Did you notice anything out of the ordinary with Michael in late '97?
A: Michael was an amazing guy. He was incredibly dedicated, charismatic, creative, fun to be around and down to earth. He was really a 'rock star'. That may sound like a weird thing to say, but there are lots of famous musicians and then there are 'stars'. He had that. Magnetism. Like even people who didn't know him, would feel something, look up when he entered a room.

Q: Speaking of "Limp", why was it never released and how does one get access to it in order to actually view it?
A: Michael passed away shortly after principle photography. That led to a myriad of complications, obviously, that are too vast and complicated to discuss here. There are no plans for release at this point.

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Every once in a blue Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Kick It In - Simple Minds
2. I'm Hiding - Korn
3. One Step Closer - Linkin Park
4. One - Filter
5. Hypnotize - System of a Down
6. One Day - The Verve
7. Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen
8. Song 2 - Blur
9. Sweet Hitch Hiker - Creedence Clearwater Revival
10. Next Man - Everlast

I was working at my first full-time gig when "Song 2" was released. It was a smash hit and everyone was singing that "Woo Hoo" chorus. A work buddy of mine, Jay Gonzalvo, was sure the lyrics started with "I got my head shaved". I had actually seen the video in French with English subtitles and knew for a fact Damon Albarn was singing "I got my head checked".

Needless to say, hilarity ensued.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Hotel Song - Regina Spektor
2. Sliver - Nirvana
3. Prison Sex - Tool
4. The First Time - U2
5. No Way - Korn
6. One Day In Your Life - 54-40
7. Bounce - System of a Down
8. Hunger Strike - Temple of the Dog
9. Brain Stew - Green Day
10. Positive Bleeding - Urge Overkill

This totally random shuffle produced a whack of songs I totally dig. I've been spinning Begin To Hope, the latest release from Regina Spektor, quite a bit lately. One of my favourite tracks on the disc is "Hotel Song", an infectious little ditty that contains the great lyric "A little bag of cocaine, a little bag of cocaine. So who’s the girl wearing my dress?".

You've still got a little over a day to grab another great Spektor track from this album, "Fidelity". Get it before it's gone.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. I Can't Quit Her - Blood, Sweat & Tears
2. The Ghost of Tom Joad - Rage Against The Machine
3. Thin Air - Pearl Jam
4. Walking on Sunshine - Katrina and the Waves
5. Would? - Alice in Chains
6. By Myself - Linkin Park
7. Burritos - Sublime
8. Pretend We're Dead - L7
9. The Bends - Mr. Bungle
10. Freewill - Rush

Before I fell in love with Alice in Chains' Dirt, I heard "Would?" on the Singles soundtrack. That was a fantastic soundtrack, wasn't it? It is, after all, the album that gave us Pearl Jam's "State Of Love And Trust".

"Would?" was written about Andrew Wood, the lead singer of Mother Love Bone who died of a heroin overdose in 1990. It was a perfect little grunge song. I'm glad I heard it again today.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. What Are My Lies - Green Day
2. Look Into My Eyes - Scarface
3. Sledgehammer - Peter Gabriel
4. Only In Dreams - Weezer
5. Almost Over - Limp Bizkit
6. All My Love - Led Zeppelin
7. You Sure Can't Do - Buddy Guy
8. Raindrop - Tripping Daisy
9. Inside Job - Pearl Jam
10. Guitar Town - Steve Earle

Led Zeppelin's "All My Love" is ruined for me. When I hear it, I think to myself "it's the Popeye song" and break into the revised lyrics. "Olive, my love, Olive, my love."

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Rio Grande Blood - Ministry
2. My Way - Sex Pistols
3. All Canadian Surf Club - The Tragically Hip
4. Anyway You Want Me - Bread
5. Lying From You - Linkin Park
6. Your Saviour - Temple of the Dog
7. Santa Claus Is On His Way - Mr. Hankey
8. At 24 - Skydiggers
9. Adam's Song - Blink-182
10. Daisy - Stone Temple Pilots

I can no longer listen to "Adam's Song" without thinking of the 24 pages of comments on our SLS site regarding the Blink-182 hit.

At the beginning of the discussion, started back in September 2006, I used to interject my two cents regularly. Then, things got awfully dark and depressing, and I backed out to let nature take its course. Finally, after the trillionth threatened pre-teen suicide in this discussion and the Good Charlotte "Hold On" discussion, I wrote this. I don't know if it did any good, but I felt better knowing it was there.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Go West - The Cult
2. The Dark End Of The Street - The Commitments
3. Looking For A Place To Happen - The Tragically Hip
4. If I Had $1000000 - Barenaked Ladies
5. Alien - Bush
6. Layla - Eric Clapton
7. Straight Up Nigga - Ice-T
8. Prayer - Disturbed
9. Lowrider - Korn
10. Brass Monkey - Beastie Boys

Torontonians will remember "the yellow tape". This cassette tape was a five song independent release from the Barenaked Ladies back in 1991. I remember it topping the charts at both HMV and Sam's at Yonge and Dundas. Although I only remember buying it once, I distinctly remember at least two copies made their way into my collection. This yellow tape was a very big deal and just about every cut on that cassette found its way onto heavy rotation at CFNY.

In addition to "Be My Yoko Ono", the yellow tape featured "Brian Wilson", "Blame It On Me", "If I Had $1000000" an a fun cover of Public Enemy's "Fight The Power". It was the first indie tape to achieve platinum status in Canada and it marked the beginning of the Barnaked Ladies rise to power in Toronto, then Canada and then, the world. Next up for the Ladies? Intergalactic dominance.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Heart In A Cage - The Strokes
2. Evil Deeds - Eminem
3. Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin
4. Sunday Morning Coming Down - Johnny Cash
5. Psychedelic Bee - Sugar Ray
6. 4U - Korn
7. ABC - The Jackson 5
8. You Look So Fine - Garbage
9. Hello City - Barenaked Ladies
10. Wish (The Lads Were Here) - Frankie Goes To Hollywood

You'll never guess who wrote Sugar Ray's "Psychedelic Bee". Howard Stern penned the track when he was eleven years old. I remember when Mark McGrath was in the studio last year he mentioned "Psychedelic Bee" was going on the Greatest Hits as a thank-you to the king of all media. Howard stood to earn about a hundred thousand bucks in royalties.

When Howard first left terrestrial radio, I had a secret way to keep listening each morning. That crack in the system was recently plugged and I find myself losing touch with the gang. What's Robin up to? What's Artie weighing in at? What does Howard think of the whole Star Jones fiasco?

As songs go, "Psychedelic Bee" isn't very good. What did you expect from an eleven year old?

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Sway - Dean Martin
2. Perfect - Smashing Pumpkins
3. Legalize It - Cypress Hill
4. Bust A Move - Young M.C.
5. Missionary Man - Eurythmics
6. What's Going On - Marvin Gaye
7. Get Up (Happy Jack Mix) - Technotronic
8. Crumbs From Your Table - U2
9. Who Needs Ya? - Steppenwolf
10. The Vanishing - Stars

"Crumbs From Your Table" appears on U2's eleventh studio album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb. Taryn's dad bought her this disc shortly after its release and it sat on a shelf collecting dust for months. I never felt an urge to spin it or even rip it. Lord knows I've ripped far worse, but there was something symbolic about my willingness to let it rot. It was my own silent protest, my way of telling my Irish brothers that I no longer care. I no longer yearn to hear new music from U2.

Eventually I did rip the album, which is how "Crumbs From Your Table" showed up during the shuffle, but I didn't rip that copy we were given. That copy is still collecting dust somewhere. Where? I don't know. I've stopped caring.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. I'm Still Your Fag - Broken Social Scene
2. Ask Me No Questions - B. B. King
3. Everybody Hurts - R.E.M.
4. Broken Box - Queens of the Stone Age
5. Kill - Jimmy Eat World
6. Agoraphobia - Incubus
7. High On A Mountain Top - Lorretta Lynn
8. Ride Across The River - Dire Straits
9. People Are People - Depeche Mode
10. What's My Age Again? - Blink 182

I'm not really a Loretta Lynn kind of guy, but when I learned her latest album was produced by Jack White, I added it to my collection. White actually wrote one tune on Van Lear Rose, entiteld "Little Red Shoes", and it's pretty cool. His voice is all over "This Old House" and "Portland Oregon" is a bonafide duet. As an album, it's very White Stripish and probably the coolest country album I've ever heard.

The song that played during this shuffle, "High On A Mountain Top", actually plays all the time on CFNY Edge 102, our local "new rock" station. They've taken a ten second sample that they play all the time coming out of commercials on their morning show. If you've been digging that sample and wondering where the hell it was from, wonder no more.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Brother - Pearl Jam
2. Mr. Soul - Buffalo Springfield
3. Holiday (Live) - Green Day
4. Deeper Into You - Trust Company
5. Ren's Pecs - Stimpy
6. The Merchant of Grooves - 3rd Bass
7. What If - Coldplay
8. You Wouldn't Believe - 311
9. I Don't Need No Doctor - Ray Charles
10. Think - James Brown

Do you have any music in your collection that you never listen to? Of course you do. Do you have anything in your collection that you simply don't like and have never liked? I do.

A friend hooked me up with some great music I had my ear on but he threw in a few discs he thought I'd like. One album he highly recommended was Trust Company's Deeper Into You. I ripped it, gave it a listen and didn't like it at all. When I shuffle my collection it pops up now and then and I'm quick to blow by it, but in my collection it remains. Perhaps it's because I have the space for it, or perhaps it's because I fear I'll one day start liking the band and I'll wish I had Deeper Into You in my collection.

Unlikely.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Ton of Joy - Otis Redding
2. I Stand Alone - Godsmack
3. Crying - Roy Orbison
4. New York Town - Woody Guthrie
5. I Believe In Miracles - Pearl Jam
6. Figure 8 - Trust Company
7. The Hazards of Sitting Beneath Palm Trees - Hayden
8. Love In An Elevator - Aerosmith
9. Face Pollution - Soundgarden
10. I Know You Got Soul - Eric B. & Rakim

Public Enemy, in my humble opinion, took sampling to a higher plain. They could transform a James Brown grunt into a killer loop, ideally suited to match Chuck D's rage. Although P.E. sampled from all over the R&B map, James Brown was their favourite target.

Public Enemy is so known for their James Brown samples you'd be forgiven for thinking they started the whole obsession. In fact, it was Eric B. & Rakim who kicked off the James Brown sampling sport with "I Know You Got Soul", a cut from their critically acclaimed Paid in Full. I'm listening to the disc right now and like a fine wine, it's only got better with age.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. All Uncovered - The Watchmen
2. The Beautiful American - Louis Armstrong & Duke Ellington
3. Ring of Fire - Joaquin Phoenix
4. Breath - Pearl Jam
5. Triad - Tool
6. Mr. Jack - System of a Down
7. Human Behaviour - Bjork
8. Unexplainable Hunger - Classified
9. Guantanamera - Wyclef Jean
10. Dear Diary - Travis

One of my favourite songs of all time played during this shuffle. I bought The Watchmen's In The Trees because it was on sale during the Sam the Record Man clearance sale at their Jane and Bloor location and I was digging the heavily played lead single "Boneyard Tree". One spin at home and I had a new favourite cut on the album, "All Uncovered".

I still remember first catching the video for "All Uncovered" on MuchMusic. It struck the perfect tone for the song and to this day if I'm making a mix I try and sneak it on. It even found its way onto the 100 song wedding playlist I put together last month. I shared the MP3 last year but if you want to hear it drop me a line. Satisfaction guaranteed.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Crooked Nigga Too - 2Pac
2. Ch-Check It Out - Beastie Boys
3. Them Bones - Alice In Chains
4. Coruroy - Pearl Jam
5. Let It Grow - Eric Clapton
6. Plush - Stone Temple Pilots
7. Deep - Pearl Jam
8. If You Could Read My Mind - Gordon Lightfoot
9. Figure 8 - Trust Company
10. Steppin' To The A.M. - 3rd Bass

I have a trustworthy friend who swears he was in the room when Gordon Lightfoot signed his first record contract. This event apperently took place at a downtown club after Lightfoot performed. I'm not sure I believe it, but I'm happy to give him the benefit of the doubt and it's a cool story regardless.

To my ears, nothing is more Canadian than that sweet tone of Lightfoot's voice telling a tale to music. My favourite Lightfoot tune is probably "Early Mornin' Rain", but when it comes to pure Canadiana, nothing beats "Canadian Railroad Trilogy". Is there a more Canadian song?

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Promised Land - Elvis Presley
2. Sittin' On Top Of The World - Jack White
3. Gouge Away - The Pixies
4. Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) - Arcade Fire
5. Not The Same - Bodyjar
6. Minstrel of the Dawn - Gordon Lightfoot
7. Neon Crossing - Our Lady Peace
8. Everything I've Known - Korn
9. Exit - U2
10. Eternal Life - Jeff Buckley

The Arcade Fire are a Canadian success story, a Montreal band who recorded Funeral at the Hotel 2 Tango in their home town. It has always bothered me that a Canadian born and bred band would spell their "neighbourhood" trilogy n-e-i-g-h-b-o-r-h-o-o-d.

I realize we're talking about one lousy "u" here, but why Americanize the spelling of such words if you're a Canadian band? Were they afraid the American CD-buying public would be frightened by the funny spelling? I just wish it was "Neighbourhood #1 (Tunnels)", "Neighbourhood #2 (Laika)", "Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out)" and "Neighbourhood #4 (7 Kettles)".

Even without the "u", It's a fantastic album. My favourite of 2005, I recall.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Something's Got To Give - Beastie Boys
2. Guinnevere - Crosby, Stills & Nash
3. When World's Collide - Powerman 5000
4. That Lucky Old Sun - Ray Charles
5. She's Like Heroin - System Of A Down
6. Speed Of Sound - Coldplay
7. About A Girl - Nirvana
8. English Fire - Bush
9. My Way - Limp Bizkit
10. Higher Learning - Patti Smith

The other day a bunch of us guys took Steve to Pizza Hut. If there's a better way to send a guy into marriage, I can't think of it. We began playing a game in which one of us would name a band or solo artist and then we'd one by one name our favourite song from that band or artist. Eventually, we got to Nirvana.

Many of us were torn. It's difficult to come up with a favourite song for an act like Nirvana. Someone said "All Apologies", another said "Lithium" and yet another said "Scentless Apprentice". I ended up going with "Lithium", but I threw "About A Girl" on the table as one of many solid alternatives. "About A Girl" appeared on Bleach, but it really took off after it appeared on Unplugged in New York. Hearing it unplugged got me spinning the Bleach version again and gave me a far greater appreciation for the tune.

Around the tenth anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death I took a crack at listing my five favourite Nirvana tunes as a Friday Five. At the time I had Lithium, All Apologies, Pennyroyal Tea, Sliver and Rape Me. I'll bet I could do that daily and never list the same five twice.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Chi - Korn
2. Come On - The Verve
3. What Is?... - The Kleptones
4. Jump Around - House Of Pain
5. Dig A Pony - The Beatles
6. The Good That Won't Come Out - Rilo Kiley
7. Fiesta - The Pogues
8. Strange Brew - Eric Clapton
9. Hello City - Barenaked Ladies
10. Sexy M.F. - Prince

About a year ago, a friend of mine who lives in California sent me an mp3 of Rilo Kiley's "The Good That Won't Come Out". After one listen I was hooked. It's an absolutely fantastic song that gets better as it progresses, reaching a crescendo just before it leaves you wanting more. I'll share this thing Wednesday and you can hear for yourself.

I've never heard a single reference to Rilo Kiley on our local "alternative rock" radio station. Apparently, it's still too indie. Based on what I've heard, that's going to change fairly soon.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Nicotine & Gravy - Beck
2. Direction - Interpol
3. Wendy Under The Stars - The Odds
4. The First Time I Met The Blues - Eric Clapton
5. A Ballad For The Fallen Soldier - Jay-Z
6. Give The Dog A Bone - AC~DC
7. D.F. - Outkast
8. Not Enough - Our Lady Peace
9. Ex-Pats of the Blue Mountain Symphony Orchestra - Matthew Good
10. Where I'm From - The Game

It wasn't the finale of "Six Feet Under", but it was the second last episode of the series, entiteld "Static". "Direction" from Interpol played while Claire drives to Nate's grave. Everything was building up for "Everyone's Waiting", but "Direction" wasn't the song in "Static" that blew my mind. That song played while Brenda gave birth and kept going during the closing credits and was called "Cold Wind" from Arcade Fire.

I recently added Six Feet Under: Everything Ends to my collection and it includes both tunes. Damn, I miss that show.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. The Spark That Bled - The Flaming Lips
2. Deja Vu - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
3. Gift Shop (Live) - The Tragically Hip
4. Burn Hollywood Burn - Public Enemy
5. Luv - Travis
6. Lips - Whale
7. James - Ring The Bells
8. 1-900-Hustler - Jay-Z
9. Rock and Roll - Led Zeppelin
10. Getchoo - Weezer

It's no secret I burned through both It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back and Fear Of A Black Planet hundreds and hundreds of times as a teenager. Public Enemy wasn't just making a statement, but they were doing it with tremendous rhymes over hard core drum beats and the smartest samples this side of James Brown. "Burn Hollywood Burn" was an awesome cut from Fear and it helped acquaint me with Ice Cube and Big Daddy Kane. Kane had the effortless, smooth as silk delivery and Ice Cube came hard with his gangsta angst. I went out and picked up discs from both artists based solely on their contribution to this PE classic.

Check out the official lyrics. Rap just doesn't sound like this anymore and that's a damn shame.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. One - U2
2. Don't Go Off Wandering - Limp Bizkit
3. Commotion - Creedence Clearwater Revival
4. Faith Collapsing - Ministry
5. The Thanksgiving Song - Adam Sandler
6. Journey On - Dream Warriors
7. One Big Crunch - White Zombie
8. Say It Ain't So - Weezer
9. Stellar - Incubus
10. Lullaby - Hayden

King Lou and Capital Q were (are?) the Dream Warriors, a hip-hop duo from the Jane & Finch area of Toronto. I picked up And Now, the Legacy Begins upon hearing thier breakout lead single, "Wash Your Face In My Sink". Other hits followed, most notably "My Definition of a Boombastic Jazz Style".

And Now, the Legacy Begins was fresh and fun, but that was the last I heard of these guy. I remember they signed Tom Green's hip hop band Organized Rhyme back in the day and made a cameo appearance in their "Check the O.R." video filmed at the Food City at Jane & Finch.

They were good, but where did they go?

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Lisa Likes Rock N' Roll - Ian Hunter
2. Rat Trap - Bob Geldof & The Boomtown Rats
3. Daughter - Pearl Jam
4. Astronomy - Metallica
5. Don't Start Me To Talkin' - Sonny Boy Williamson
6. The Update - Beastie Boys
7. It's Summertime - The Flaming Lips
8. The Righteous & The Wicked - Red Hot Chili Peppers
9. D-7 - Nirvana
10. The New Maybe - The Tragically Hip

We just passed the anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death and the anniversary of the day we all learned about it. I had a couple of emails asking me why I hadn't acknowledged the day with a Nirvana-themed entry. There was the ten year anniversary entry in 2004 and the eleven year anniversary entry last year.

Truth be told, I didn't feel inspired to match what I wrote two years ago. Instead, I marked the day with a single lined entry on the SLS page for "You Know You're Right". I managed to sum everything up in three little words: "It still sucks."

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. For No One - The Beatles
2. Chinese Rock - The Ramones
3. Hobo Blues - John Lee Hooker
4. Be My Head - The Flaming Lips
5. Ten Percenter - Frank Black
6. Dammit, I Changed Again - The Offspring
7. Got The Time - Anthrax
8. Lucky Man - The Verve
9. Sunshine - Keane
10. Dear God - XTC

When you mention The Verve, everyone thinks of "Bittersweet Symphony". "Bittersweet Symphony" famously borrowed a loop from the Rolling Stones' "The Last Time" and blew up into a monster hit. I love the tune too, but if I can only spin one song from Urban Hymns, I don't go for that one. I prefer "Lucky Man".

For one thing, it takes me back to lazy summers of part-time employment. More importantly, it's a very pretty ditty that soothes everything. "Bittersweet Sympohony" is good, but "Lucky Man" is even better. A gem from the hey days of Britpop.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Rock N' Me - The Steve Miller Band
2. The Wars End - Rancid
3. Jesus Christ Pose - Soundgarden
4. You Will Be Waiting - Barenaked Ladies
5. Body and Soul - The Sisters of Mercy
6. You're Not From Brighton - Fatboy Slim
7. Six Feet Deep - Geto Boys
8. Summer Cannibals - Patti Smith
9. The List - Metric
10. Highway Star - Deep Purple

Some great rock voices emerged from Seattle in the late 80s and early 90s. Kurt Cobain had that wicked scream and Ed Vedder had that definitive angsty croon but Chris Cornell had that impossible range. He was the best of the bunch and "Jesus Christ Pose" is that song I first skip to when I'm craving some Soundgarden.

It's totally manic, loud and proud and everything I love about rock. The video was awesome too. I saw it on MuchMusic several times but it was actually banned by MTV and hasn't aired there since 1991. I'm gonna share this one on Wednesday because it's killer.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Position of Power - 50 Cent
2. Awake - Godsmack
3. Unexplainable Hunger - Classified
4. Magic Johnson - Red Hot Chili Peppers
5. Ball & Chain - Big Mama Thornton
6. Betterman - Pearl Jam
7. Beat It Upright - Korn
8. Woman From Tokyo - Deep Purple
9. Got To Get You Into My Life - The Beatles
10. ATWA - System of a Down

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I heard a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground" on Q107. It was by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a California band I knew nothing about. I picked up Mother's Milk and gave it a spin.

It was frenetic fun from the get go, it just made me feel good. It was a play through too, and one of my favourite tracks on the disc was "Magic Johnson". It was a manic tribute to the best player on their basketball team and it had spunk. Many point to Blood Sugar Sex Magik as their breakthrough disc, but I believe it's Mother's Milk behind such tunes as the Wonder cover, "Knock Me Down", "Taste The Pain" and "Good Time Boys".

I eventually saw them live and they didn't disappoint. This band's a keeper.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. International Bright Young Thing - Jesus Jones
2. Immortality - Pearl Jam
3. This Is Heaven To Me - Billie Holiday
4. Can It Be All So Simple - The Wu-Tang Clan
5. Fall To Pieces - Velvet Revolver
6. Coffee Stain - Sarah Harmer
7. Worried Now - Sloan
8. Vaccination Scar - The Tragically Hip
9. Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart - Stone Temple Pilots
10. The Messenger - New Funky Generation

I've always enjoyed hip-hop. From the cheesy rap of the mid-to-late 80s, to Public Enemy, Outkast and beyond, I dig a hard core rhyme over hard core drum beats. My brother Ryan and I often overlapped in this interest, paying our mutual respect to an artform derived from two turntables and a microphone.

In the early-to-mid 90s, Ryan was all about the Wu-Tang Clan. For whatever reason, I couldn't get into it. Perhaps it was because my bar for hip-hop dramatically raised after listening to the entire Public Enemy catalogue over and over again or perhaps it was because I just didn't get it. I wasn't down with the Wu-Tang Clan and I didn't own an ounce of their material until I scored their greatest hits late last year.

Throw on some Maestro, however, and we're both down wit it.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Ring The Alarm - FU-Schnickens
2. All My Love - House Of Pain
3. Energy - Kid N' Play
4. The Feeling - Joe Satriani
5. Relax - Frankie Goes To Hollywood
6. I Will Follow You Into The Dark - Death Cab For Cutie
7. Denied - Our Lady Peace
8. Ooh Child - The Five Stairsteps
9. Prick - Tripping Daisy
10. Shame On You - Hot Hot Heat

I think my personal record for going from hot to cold on an album belongs to F.U. Don't Take It Personal from the FU-Schnickens. I was totally into it at first, spinning the disc like crazy and dubbing it on to cassette for my Walkman. "La Schmoove", "True Fuschnik" and "Ring The Alarm" became mix staples for a brief period in 1992, but then, all of a sudden, I became so sick of their sound I couldn't listen. In fact, It took about a decade before I could enjoy it again.

From red hot to ice cold in approximately three months.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. American Jesus - Bad Religion
2. Bachelorette - Bjork
3. I Would Die 4 You - Prince
4. Little By Little - Oasis
5. When I Grow Up - Garbage
6. 74th Highlanders' - Ashley MacIsaac
7. Lively Up Yourself - Bob Marley & the Wailers
8. Rape Me (Live) - Nirvana
9. Go and Say Goodbye - Buffalo Springfield
10. Optimistic - Radiohead

When Nirvana released In Utero, I got myself to 333 Yonge Street that morning to buy a copy. I remember walking from HMV to Brennan Hall at St. Mike's College at the University of Toronto and soaking in the liner notes. To say I was heavily anticipating this release would be an understatement.

The entire disc was a litle more than 41 minutes but it was awesome. Upon first listen, I thought "Rape Me" borrowed a little too much from "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Over time "Rape Me" became an anthem unto itself and a mosh fixture at The Phoenix. Thirteen years later and it still sounds great.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Minus - Beck
2. Baby It's Cold Outside - Ray Charles
3. Highway Star - Deep Purple
4. New Slang - The Shins
5. Four Horsemen - The Clash
6. Ten Years Gone - Led Zeppelin
7. Hard To Handle - The Commitments
8. Manic Depression - Jimi Hendrix
9. Gangsta Story - Smokin' Suckaz Wit Logic
10. Children Of The Revolution - T-Rex

I've got a friend who is obsessed with T-Rex. In his defense, he was born and raised in Great Britain where T-Rex are a far bigger deal, but I'm still puzzled by this worship. He's got dozens of T-Rex cds he's trying to push on me but I'm quite satisfied with what's on the Billy Elliot soundtrack.

Watching Live 8 this past summer, I saw Elton John perform "Children of the Revolution". It was actually quite good and far better than Boland's version, in my humble opinion. As I've told him countless times, to really appreciate T-Rex you had to be there. I certainly wasn't.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. She's Leaving Home - The Beatles
2. Tell Me - Beenie Man
3. The Brother's Cup - Red Hot Chili Peppers
4. (Putting Up With) The Joneses - Spirit of the West
5. Vancouver Divorce - Gordon Downie
6. Bitches - Ice-T
7. Down - 311
8. Highway Girl - The Tragically Hip
9. Are You Happy - Iron Butterfly
10. Smash It Up - The Offspring

Is there a better way to kill 17:02 than to spin "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" by Iron Butterfly? From a very young age, I was a sucker for this song. I bought the album "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" for the one tune.

In 1995 with "The Simpsons" still in its prime, I sat down to watch episode 3F02, "Bart Sells His Soul". The opening scene featured Mrs. Feesh playing "In the Garden of Eden," by I. Ron Butterfly "fresh from God's brain to your mouth". I subsequently purchased "Songs in the Key of Springfield" which features the song and it remains one of my favourite Springfield parodies to date.

"I want you to clean every one of these organ pipes that you have befouled with your popular music."

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Running Scared - Roy Orbison
2. Go To Sleep - Sarah Harmer
3. Beaton's Delight - Ashley MacIsaac
4. Death - Ice Cube
5. Canary Bird - Muddy Waters
6. Rooster - Alice In Chains
7. Money For Nothing - Dire Straits
8. I Want A New Drug - Huey Lewis and the News
9. Kamp Krusty (Medley) - The Simpsons
10. Nugget - Cake

There's a great story that goes along with Huey Lewis and the News' "I Want A New Drug". The producers of "Ghostbusters" wanted to use "I Want A New Drug" as their theme song. Lewis said so so they asked Ray Parker Jr. to write a similar song. It sure was similar and Lewis ended up suing Parker.

Speaking of "Ghostbusters", Ivan Reitman, the director of the movie, was the keynote speaker at my convocation. Top that!

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Kalimba Story - Earth, Wind & Fire
2. Truckin' Thru Traffic - Peetie Wheatstraw & Lonnie Johnson
3. WCSR - Kid Rock featuring Snoop Dogg
4. Row - Rheostatics
5. Four Strong Winds - Ian & Sylvia
6. Day By Day - Doug and the Slugs
7. Friend of the Devil - Grateful Dead
8. Glory of Love - Otis Redding
9. Funny How - Custom
10. Vicious - Lou Reed

In the early to mid-80s, I was mainly listening to 680 CFTR. They played top 40 pop music which meant a lot of Platinum Blonde, Corey Hart, Bryan Adams, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince and acts like that. Hey, I was a kid!

I distinctly remember listening to the late Tom Rivers in the morning and hearing Doug and the Slugs on a fairly regular basis. Doug and the Slugs had three hits: "Too Bad", "Making It Work" and "Day By Day". I enjoyed all three. "Day By Day" was a catchy sing-along song that used to bounce around in my head throughout the day when I caught it in the morning. When lead singer Doug Bennett passed away in October 2004 I called them "the Canadian indie band of my youth". That sounds about right.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Flamenco - The Tragically Hip
2. Songbird - Oasis
3. Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black) - Neil Young
4. Delta - Crosby, Stills & Nash
5. Ezekiel 25-17 - Jules
6. Rock Me - Steppenwolf
7. Threat (Undone The Sweater Song) - Jay-Zeezer
8. Breed - Nirvana
9. Cupid - Jack Johnson
10. Sugar - System of a Down

I'm guessing most of you have never heard of Jay-Zeezer. Jay-Zeezer is a mash up of Weezer's Blue album and Jay-Z's Black album. I'm a fan of both discs, so I naturally enjoy The Black and Blue Album.

"Threat" fits perfectly atop "Undone - The Sweater Song". Even the talking at the beginning sounds as if it belongs. I've heard a number of bad mash ups, but the good ones are worth their weight in gold. Of course, they don't have any weight which makes the preceding statement moot.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Don't You Believe A Word - Sloan
2. Guitar Man - Elvis Presley
3. Creepy - Rusty
4. Blew - Nirvana
5. First Impression - Ice-T
6. Sweet Surrender - Sarah McLachlan
7. Ready To Meet Him - DMX
8. What's Going On - A Perfect Circle
9. Sweet Baby James - James Taylor
10. Not For You - Pearl Jam

It seems appropriate that "Sweet Baby James" would show up during The Monday Shuffle this week. My James isn't a baby any more, but he's sweeter than ever and as difficult as it is for me to believe, the little dude is turning four on Friday.

I've always loved this song. It is, after all, one of my ten tracks. I'm going to end this entry prematurely and give my boy a big hug and kiss.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Dust My Broom - Elmore James
2. Time Bomb - Rancid
3. Grandma's Hands - Bill Withers
4. Boneyard Tree - The Watchmen
5. Snowsuit Sound - Sloan
6. Been A Son - Nirvana
7. America - Simon & Garfunkel
8. Half - Soundgarden
9. W Balls - Snoop Doggy Dogg
10. Long Time Running - The Tragically Hip

On Sunday I'm married ten years. Yep, ten years. I still feel pretty young to be celebrating my tin anniversary, but it's true. Taryn and I were wed on January 15, 1996.

That afternoon, we shot down to Old City Hall in Toronto and got married. We told our loved ones about it after the fact, so for a while we flirted with the idea of having a little get together for close friends and family to help us celebrate our tenth. It's not really our style, so we quickly nixed the idea, but had we gone through with it The Tragically Hip's "Long Time Running" would have been our song.

It's been a long, long, long time running. It's well worth the wait.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Baby Won't You Please Come Home - Bessie Smith
2. Star Bodies - The New Pornographers
3. Box of Rain - Grateful Dead
4. Another Woman - Moby
5. Sons of 3rd Bass - 3rd Bass
6. Getting Off - Korn
7. Shitlist - L7
8. Mephisto and Kevin - Primus
9. Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland - Grandaddy
10. D.R.E.A.M. - Transplants

Is there something wrong with me for not getting the Grateful Dead? They're so honoured and beloved yet I really only know them for their "Touch Of Grey" video which got quite a bit of airplay on MuchMusic in the late 80s. Oh yeah, I know "Truckin'" too, but that's it. I even own The Very Best of the Grateful Dead but for all the wrong reasons. I don't own it because I enjoy their music or seek to hear Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and the gang. I own it because I feel I should own it and because I fear I'm missing something obvious.

People who love the Grateful Dead really love them. I suppose there is no middle ground with these guys. You're either a Dead-Head, or you're not. There are no casual fans.

I must be missing something...

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Bewitched - Brutal Juice
2. Last Kiss - Pearl Jam
3. Been There Done That - Dr. Dre
4. Fake - Korn
5. Stick 2 The Script - Jay-Z
6. Soldier - Neil Young
7. Caring Is Creepy - The Shins
8. Tears On My Pillow - Clem Snide
9. Logical Song - Supertramp
10. Awake - Godsmack

"Stubbs the Zombie" is a video game. I didn't know that when a friend told me to take a listen to the soundtrack. Video games, it seems, now have soundtracks.

The game takes place in 1959 and the soundtrack is a number of songs from the era performed some of today's coolest artists. Death Cab For Cutie, The Flaming Lips, The Raveonettes, The Walkmen, Rose Hill Drive and more. This stuff is solid gold for car rides with the kids. They love these sweet 50s ditties like "Tears On My Pillow", "My Boyfriend's Back", "Earth Angel" and "All I Have to Do Is Dream" and I dig it too. James is always asking for "Lollipop" from Ben Kweller.

Stubbs is a family friendly Zombie and welcome in my car anytime.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. My Life - Billy Joel
2. Green Onions - Booker T. & the M.G.'s
3. Down Another Day - Limp Bizkit
4. Young Offender - New Order
5. Antiquity - Spot
6. Slaves & Bulldozers - Soundgarden
7. Future - Leonard Cohen
8. It Takes Time To Build - Beastie Boys
9. Really Rappin' Something - The Kleptones
10. Silver Jet - The Tragically Hip

In 2004 I downloaded a collection of MP3s from The Kleptones entitled A Night at the Hip-Hopera. It's a mash-up of Queen songs with a number of rap songs and movie sound bites. They call it bastard pop, but when it's done right, I call it sweetness.

For over a year I've been returning to A Night at the Hip-Hopera just as I return to other favourites in my collection. The fact it's essentially an internet-only bootleg matters not, it's tremendous art and a brilliant blend of a good rock band with just the right amount of flavouring. All 23 tracks have found a permanent home on my iRiver. The track I heard today, "Really Rappin' Something", actually appears on their follow-up collection, From Detroit to J.A., also really good.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Open Your Eyes - Goldfinger
2. The Beating Of A High School Bus Driver - Adam Sandler
3. Bull In The Heather - Sonic Youth
4. Gun Control - Ian Hunter
5. Broken Gun - Beck
6. A Minute To Pray - Scarface
7. Don't Wake Daddy - The Tragically Hip
8. Bad, Bad Leroy Brown - Frank Sinatra
9. How To Kill A Radio Consultant (The DJ Chuck Chillout Mega Murder Boom) - Public Enemy
10. Sing - Travis

I'm looking forward to the weekends when I can tell James and Michelle "Don't Wake Daddy". Since James came around almost four years ago, Taryn and I have been following a rather fair and simple system. We each get one day during the weekend when we can sleep in.

James is almost four, so he's starting to sleep in himself until about 09:00. Michelle, however, is still waking up around 07:30 and that means somebody has to get up with her. When she's of an age when she doesn't need adult supervision the moment she gets out of bed, I'll be quoting The Hip. "You can drop the bomb that restores the calm then promises rebirth. Just don't wake daddy."

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Night of the Living Baseheads - Public Enemy
2. Code of Energy - Papa Roach
3. Call Me (Come Back Home) - Al Green
4. Spin The Black Circle - Pearl Jam
5. Don't Be Afraid To Sing - Stars
6. Santa Claus Is Back In Town - Elvis Presley
7. I Will Buy You A New Life - Everclear
8. Groove Me - Blues Brothers
9. Born Slippy - Underworld
10. Box Of Rain - Grateful Dead

Sometimes I miss the simpler times. For a couple of years in my early 20s, Taryn and I lived in a little bachelor apartment near Yonge and Bloor overlooking the Uptown Theatre and across the street from The Brass Rail. One of the CDs we listened to on a fairly regular basis was the Trainspotting soundtrack and one of our favourite cuts on that album was Underworld's "Born Slippy".

If you know "Born Slippy", you know it's a pretty heavy beat that needs to be loud to be appreciated. In our little apartment we'd blare the sucker so loud, you could hear it from down the hall. Those were the days.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Immortality - Pearl Jam
2. Zero - Smashing Pumpkins
3. Painkillers - Everlast
4. Breed - Nirvana
5. Little Terror - Matthew Good
6. Livin' On The Edge - Aerosmith
7. Cold Cold Heart - Norah Jones
8. Money (Dollar Bill) - Everlast
9. Apartment Song - The Tragically Hip
10. Dating Game - Handsome Boy Modeling School

I've always liked Matthew Good's music. During the Underdogs days, I took a lot of heat from my brothers for digging their sound. I think my brothers lumped them in with a series of run-of-the-mill Canadian bands that were getting undeserved exposure thanks to CRTC regulations. When I saw Pearl Jam at Molson Park in 1998, the Matthew Good Band played the small stage and it was a mosh paradise. Taryn will vouch for the fact I was right in the middle of this frenzy. I had the cuts and scrapes to prove it.

I recently had the chance to chat with Matt Good and I even interviewed him for this site. You can check out the interview here.

Oh be joyful!

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Tic - Helmet
2. Shadow Stabbing - Cake
3. Geek U.S.A. - Smashing Pumpkins
4. Go It Alone - Beck
5. Protect Ya Neck - Wu-Tang Clan
6. The Goat Song - Adam Sandler
7. Gravity Rides Everything - Modest Mouse
8. Money (Dollar Bill) - Everlast
9. Reckless Abandon - Blink-182
10. Ezekiel Saw The Wheel - Woody Guthrie

I saw Cake once at Molson Park in Barrie. They hit the stage and began slagging Canada, making jokes about how America might come up and annex our asses. The lead singer's tongue was no doubt firmly in his cheek, but that fact was lost on this particular crowd. This was a fiercely pro-Canada atmosphere as we anxiously awaited the headliners, Nickelback.

The crowd revolted in the only way a crowd like this can revolt. We began throwing plastic bottles at the band. After a couple of warnings and the hurling of more bottles, Cake said goodnight and left the stage. They were three songs into their set.

Sheep go to heaven, Cake can go to hell.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Soap - Eminem
2. Hold Your Head Up - Agrent
3. Heaven Can Wait - Meat Loaf
4. Helpless - Neil Young
5. Where Have You Been? - Jay-Z
6. Incarnate - The Watchmen
7. 9 Teen 90 Nine - Limp Bizkit
8. Autumn Shade II - The Vines
9. Goodnight Josephine - The Tragically Hip
10. Disclaimer - The Offspring

The Offspring... where do I begin? Over a decade ago, CFNY Edge 102 started playing "Come Out and Play" from their breakthrough album Smash. It was a cool song with a cool video and was soon followed up by an even better tune, "Self Esteem". I bought Smash and quickly labelled it a play-through, an album without a weak track you could spin on repeat without boredom. It was all good, from 1 to 14. Even the hidden track was good. Damn I liked that album.

Their follow up was good too, but it was no Smash. Subsequent releases disappointed me and today Smash is the only Offspring album I'll intentionally spin. Ya gotta keep 'em separated.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Wooden Ships - Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
2. Man Overboard - Blink 182
3. Philadelphia Freedom - Elton John
4. Orinoco Flow - Enya
5. I Want To Spend The Night - Bill Withers
6. Given To Fly - Pearl Jam
7. Sweet Revenge - John Prine
8. Blue Orchid - The White Stripes
9. A Flower Grows in Brooklyn - Positive K
10. American Jesus - Bad Religion

"Given To Fly" was the first single released from Pearl Jam's Yield. It's a splendidly catchy number that played well on the radio and has become a staple of their live performances. I love the tune, but that opening just before it starts to kick is virtually identical to Led Zeppelin's "Going To California". You can't hear "Given To Fly" without hearing "Going To California".

It's not surprising that "Given To Fly" played this afternoon. The song appears on eight different albums in my collection: Yield, Live On Two Legs, Rearviewmirror, and five official bootlegs, including the most recent three Toronto concerts I attended. That boosts the odds somewhat.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Don't Be Afraid To Sing - Stars
2. Hey Man, Nice Shot - Filter
3. Welcome To This World - Primus
4. Sweet Soul Sister - The Cult
5. Helpless - Neil Young
6. Warning Sign - Coldplay
7. Springfield Soul Stew - The Simpsons
8. Peace Out - Boogie Down Productions
9. Death Letter - Son House
10. Trouble - Coldplay

I've always really liked Filter's "Hey Man, Nice Shot". When it first came out, I used to sing it in my head every time I took a shot at the basketball net. The song because associated in my head with basketball, until I stumbled upon the truth.

In actuality, "Hey Man, Nice Shot" is a reaction to the public suicide of Budd Dwyer, a politician who shot himself on live television. I haven't associated "Hey Man, Nice Shot" with basketball since.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Floyd the Barber - Nirvana
2. Until the End of the World - U2
3. Woody - Hayden
4. Bells On - Sloan
5. Get Up Stand Up - Bob Marley & the Wailers
6. The Big Money - Rush
7. Happy Xmas (War is Over) - John & Yoko and the Harlem Community Choir
8. Red Barchetta - Rush
9. Suzanne - Leonard Cohen
10. Idioteque - Radiohead

I've been listening to Dear Heather, the latest release from Leonard Cohen. I've also been listening to Prairie Wind, the latest release from Neil Young. A friend of mine who is not from these parts but from across the pond recently called these two men the best singer-song writers in the world. They're definitely right up there, no doubt about it.

"Suzanne" from Leonard Cohen contains one of my favourite lyrics. "For you've touched her perfect body with your mind." I always thought that line was really, really cool. It's a great song and Cohen is a tremendous talent. He's no Neil Young, but he's special nonetheless.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Runaround - James
2. Piggies - The Beatles
3. Limo Wreck - Soundgarden
4. Old Time Rock & Roll - Bob Segar and the Silver Bullet Band
5. Tourette's (Live) - Nirvana
6. Real Niggaz - N.W.A.
7. Closer - Nine Inch Nails
8. Fair Xchange Remix - 2Pac
9. The Brothers Cup - Red Hot Chili Peppers
10. Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone) - Glass Tiger

In the early-to-mid-80s, I'd come home from school and watch "Video Hits" on CBC or "Toronto Rocks" on City-TV. Canadian rock always received preferential treatment, and that meant lots of Corey Hart, Bryan Adams, Platinum Blonde and Glass Tiger. "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" was Glass Tiger's big hit, and that video got plenty of airplay. Listening to some 680 CFTR at the time meant hearing more of this Cancon juggernaut which won Single of the Year at the Junos that year.

It may have been cheesy, but it was pure Canadian cheese, and that almost made it taste good.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Life Goes On - House Of Pain
2. Takeover - Jay-Z
3. Boys In The Trees - Carly Simon
4. Mother Earth - Memphis Slim
5. Sell My Soul - Our Lady Peace
6. A Face In The Crowd - Tom Petty
7. Panther Power - Paris
8. Trampled Underfoot - Led Zeppelin
9. Save Me - Aimee Mann
10. Man's Best Friend - Ice Cube

While working at the CNE in 1989, I met a dude working at another booth who had similar musical interests. We were each enamored with different rap discs and would debate which was the definitive such album for hours and hours. I was all about "It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back" from Public Enemy and he was all about "The Devil Made Me Do It" from Paris. We exchanged these discs for a night and I spun Paris over and over again. It was awesome. It wasn't ITANOMTHUB awesome, but it was something special.

The next day we traded back our discs and were each converted by the other. I went downtown after my shift and found the Paris disc for $10.99 on Yonge Street. Even better.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a personal story about one of them.

1. Walk Of Life - Dire Straits
2. I Feel Alright - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
3. High Priest of Turbulence - Terminator X
4. Silent Night - Frank Sinatra
5. Lonely As You - Foo Fighters
6. Possibilities - Weezer
7. Release - Pearl Jam
8. Down - Blink-182
9. Satan's Bed - Pearl Jam
10. Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones

Back in 1987, there was a television show about the conflict in Viet Nam called "Tour of Duty". The first time I caught this show I was blown away by the theme song, "Paint It Black". My dad had the double album Hot Rocks on vinyl and I went to this record and "Paint It Black" over and over again. As time went on, I lost interest in The Rolling Stones, but to this day I still love that one track. The long forgotten "Tour of Duty" provided the spark and the fire burns to this day.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a new spin. At the end of this list, I'm going to share a personal story about one of the ten.

1. Remote Control - The Age of Electric
2. Drinking in L.A. - Bran Van 3000
3. Respect Yourself - Robert Palmer
4. Unseen Power of the Picket Fence - Pavement
5. Teenage Lament '74 - Alice Cooper
6. Who Am I? - Lou Reed
7. About A Girl - Nirvana
8. Raspberry Beret - Prince
9. Again - Lenny Kravitz
10. How Does A Duck Know - Crash Test Dummies

Periodically, Taryn and I take a road trip to Ottawa. An album that always gets played during these trips East is Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits. "Teenage Lament '74" is always a favourite, demanding a sing-along. The reason Alice Cooper's Greatest Hits is in my collection at all is because of countless afternoon's at Joe's house blasting this record. There was much respect given to Vincent Furnier, all well deserved.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today with a new spin. At the end of this list, I'm going to share a personal story about one of the ten.

1. Whatcha Do To My Body - Lee Aaron
2. The Red Rooster - Howlin' Wolf
3. Runaway - Linkin Park
4. Black Steel In The Hour of Chaos - Public Enemy
5. Is This Love? - Bob Marley and the Wailers
6. Into My Arms - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
7. Get Me Outta Here - Jet
8. Play Dead - Bjork
9. Shoot First - Custom
10. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day

I was fifteen when I first became one half of a couple. It was your typical grade ten romance, full of peaks and valleys and destined to burn out after a year or so. She absolutely loved Lee Aaron's "Whatcha Do To My Body" and played that cassette all the time, lip syncing to the words and choreographing an entire dance sequence to the tune. It was one of two Lee Aaron hits that year, along with "Hands On". She was a rare Canadian rocker chick in a sea of Tom Cochrane's, Kim Mitchell's, Jeff Healy's and Geddy Lee's.

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today.

1. Lounge Act - Nirvana
2. Land of the Living - Bush
3. Fashion - David Bowie
4. Sibling Rivalry - The Simpsons
5. Stereo - The Watchmen
6. Worried Man Blues - Woody Guthrie
7. Ramblin' Man - The Allman Brothers
8. Bounce - System of a Down
9. I Got Shit - Pearl Jam
10. Steppin' to the A.M. - 3rd Bass

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today.

1. I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide - ZZ Top
2. Where I End and You Begin (The Sky Is Falling In) - Radiohead
3. Johnny, Kick A Hole In The Sky - Red Hot Chili Peppers
4. Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
5. Cassandra Geminni p5 - The Mars Volta
6. No Distance Left To Run - Blur
7. Crossroads - Homesick James
8. Bonus Track - K-OS
9. Killing Time - The Tragically Hip
10. Serve The Servants (Solo acoustic, 1993) - Nirvana

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today.

1. In A Little While - U2
2. Question - The Moody Blues
3. Rastaman Chant - Bob Marley
4. Death Letter - The White Stripes
5. Missing The War - Ben Folds Five
6. I Am Mine - Pearl Jam
7. Easy Rider Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson
8. I Am A Child - Neil Young
9. Come Back - Foo Fighters
10. Heaven Coming Down - The Tea Party

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today.

1. Nirvana - Downer
2. The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize??
3. 2Pac - Let Em Have It (Remix)
4. Our Lady Peace - Life
5. Pearl Jam - Nothing Man (Live)
6. Van Halen - Ice Cream Man
7. The Pogues - Fairytale of New York
8. Foo Fighters - Up In Arms
9. Queen - Radio Ga Ga
10. 311 - How Do You Feel?

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today.

1. Crowded House - Pineapple Head
2. Marcy Playground - Vampires of New York
3. Goldfinger - Vintage Queen
4. Public Enemy - Countdown to Armageddon
5. Beastie Boys - 3 the Hard Way
6. Linkin Park - Papercut
7. Alice in Chains - Grind
8. Ice-T - O.G. Original Gangster
9. Green Day - FOD
10. Johnny Cash - Personal Jesus

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in iTunes and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today.

1. Neil Young - Music Arcade
2. The Vines - Evil Town
3. Richard Cheese - Loser
4. Eddie Vedder - You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
5. The Killers - Andy, You're A Star
6. The Beatles - Dig A Pony
7. Public Enemy - Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos
8. Sugar Ray - Chasin' You Around
9. Mystikal - Shake Ya Ass
10. Radiohead - Street Spirit (Fade Out)

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in the Quintessential Player and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today.

1. The Tragically Hip - Scared
2. Pet Shop Boys - DJ Culture
3. Ben Folds Five - Steven's Last Night In Town
4. Bruce Springsteen - My Hometown
5. Keane - Untitled 1
6. The Kleptones - See
7. A Perfect Circle - Peace Love and Understanding
8. Smashing Pumpkins - Siva
9. The Living End - Read About It
10. Papa Roach - Time and Time Again

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in the Quintessential Player and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today.

1. 3rd Base - The Cactus
2. Janis Joplin - Cry Baby
3. Radiohead- Airbag
4. Pearl Jam - Sleight Of Hand
5. Powerman 5000 - The Son of X-51
6. Limp Bizkit - Red Light-Green Light
7. Gordon Lightfoot - Early Morning Rain
8. Soundgarden - Somewhere
9. Pearl Jam - MFC
10. Incubus - Mexico

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in the Quintessential Player and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today.

1. Pulp - Monday Morning
2. Lenny Kravitz - Can't Get You Off My Mind
3. Rusty - Friends
4. The Kleptones - Jazz
5. Metallica - Free Speech For The Dumb
6. Jay-Z - What More Can I Say
7. Otis Redding - Satisfaction
8. Katrina and the Waves - Walking on the Sunshine
9. Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box
10. The White Stripes - You're Pretty Good Lookin'

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in the Quintessential Player and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today.

1. Lighthouse - One Fine Morning
2. The Simpsons - I Love To See You Smile
3. Sloan - Sugartune
4. Queen - Now I'm Here
5. U2 - A Sort Of Homecoming
6. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Apache Rose Peacock
7. Ice Cube - I'm Scared
8. Queens of the Stone Age - God Is In The Radio
9. The Boomtown Rats - She's So Modern
10. Alice In Chains - Man In The Box

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in the Quintessential Player and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today.

1. Ray Charles - Wha'd I Say
2. Violent Femmes - I Held Her In My Arms
3. The Simpsons - Cool
4. Neil Young - Too Far Gone
5. Buffalo Springfield - Rock and Roll Woman
6. Pearl Jam - Insignificance
7. Richard Cheese - Baby Got Back
8. Leonard Cohen - In My Secret Life
9. Radiohead - Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was
10. Underworld - Born Slippy

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in the Quintessential Player and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today.

1. Blind Lemon Jefferson - Prison Cell Blues
2. Nirvana - Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
3. White Zombie - Welcome to Planet Motherfucker
4. Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - White Palms
5. Sloan - People Of The Sky
6. Brahms - Hungarian Dance No. 5
7. Billy Kippert - Levon
8. Limp Bizkit - I Would For You
9. Matthew Good - Weapon
10. Foo Fighters - Disenchanted Lullaby

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Every Monday I shuffle my entire MP3 collection in the Quintessential Player and list the first ten songs that play. Here are the ten tunes I heard today.

1. Bush - Float
2. The Strokes - You Talk Way Too Much
3. The Pretenders - Watching The Clothes
4. Bob Dylan - Like A Rolling Stone
5. DJ Danger Mouse - 99 Problems
6. Pearl Jam - All Or None
7. Eminem - Rabbit Run
8. Radiohead - Let Down
9. Mother Love Bone - Capricorn Sister
10. Aerosmith - Flesh

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