Blog Posts by Robert of the Radish

LasagnaMusic has the ability to make life better in so many ways. Case in point: The dinner party.

Whenever you host a dinner for friends, or create a meal for family, music can always add to the experience. The key is proper song selection and keeping the volume low to ensure it never competes with conversation.

The simplest rule of thumb is when serving ethnic food, use music from the part of the world where the dish originates. Having a sushi dinner party? Use Japanese music!  Mexican? Try Mariachi. French? Throw on some Edith Piaf.The extra effort will improve your meals dramatically and give you a big leg up in social circles.

With the advent of subscription music services like Rhapsody, it's now simple to go the extra mile and provide fitting music for any occasion. 

This particular playlist works best with immigrant Italian food.

Piles of spaghetti or lasagna, antipasti, meatballs, Italian bread and a big basket-bottle of Chianti, all served on a red and white checkered tablecloth.

Fake Beatles

If you're a digital music freak like me, you understand that The Beatles are absolutely, without a doubt, the largest gap when it comes to downloadable and streaming music content on the Internet.

I have built many playlists around this unfortunate fact.

Try doing a number one hits, or a most influential playlist without the Beatles. It's like going to a football game without the fourth quarter, or going on a date without a kiss. Sure it can be fun, but it's always incomplete.

The Beatles are, after all, the undisputed most important band to ever breathe oxygen on planet Earth. 

For this playlist I faced the problem head on. I looked at all 21 number one hits the Beatles had in America and then found the very best cover versions available on Rhapsody.

I have assembled these covers in chronological order, starting with the Beatles very first hit in America, "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and ending with their last, "The Long And Winding Road".

The end result is an interesting mixed bag

Today's playlist contains songs whose titles are palindromes. That is, a word or phrase that reads the same backward as it does forward.

My only requirement was that the word be at least 5 characters in length, with one exception. The song "Bob" by Weird Al Yankovic.

I chose this song to begin the playlist because the lyrics are all palindromic phrases. How cool is that? Sure, Weird Al is a total goof, but a song composed completely of palindromes called "Bob" sung in the style of Bob Dylan is simply brilliant.

And before the comments start, here are some reasons for songs that did not make the list:

They Might Be Giant's "I palindrome I" from the album Apollo 18 does not qualify. The title of the song is not a palindrome, so it is omitted.

"Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm" by Crash Test Dummies - I couldn't bring myself to include this as a palidrome, it's 16 characters, but only 1 letter, sorry.

 "Aja" by Steely Dan - Great song, but it's only a 3 character palindrome.

Please add any songs I

punklove.jpgWhile our parents reminisce about teenage love affairs when they hear Elvis Presley or The Beatles on the radio, a new crop of fat and balding 30-somethings are now feeling the same nostalgic tingling when they hear songs by Black Flag, The Ramones, Bad Brains, Flipper, The Dead Kennedys and The Buzzcocks.

Sure, real punk rock is anti-authority, anti-corporate and anti-government, but no one would ever say it was anti-love.

Who can forget classic tracks like "Slip It In", "Oh Oh I Love Her So", "Die, Die My Darling" and "Orgasm Addict"?

This 19 track playlist is the perfect soundtrack to remind you of that high school crush who had the guts to jam a saftey pin through their cheek.

When building the list I limited my choices to bands that were part of the first wave of punk rock, which started in the late 1970s and continued through the 1980s. Second and third wave punk was not included.

Sorry, but you won't find Rancid, The Offspring, Green Day or Anti-Flag here.

Back in the day

We all know that Morrissey has inspired generations of teenage mope-rock fans, so this playlist was inevitable.

It compiles songs by Morrissey or the Smiths, that are death-centric.

The end result is the ultimate Morrissey mix tape.

Stephen Patrick Morrissey is well-known for his dark and witty lyrics dealing with depression, isolation, insecurity and death.

This morbid curiosity has contributed to his huge following among maladjusted youth, and continues to find new markets, most recently in the Latino community. To the point where some refer to L.A. as Moz Angeles for the massive contingent of Latino Morrissey fans.

Morrissey has been a controversial figure throughout his career for his politics, his ambiguous sexuality, and his public fights with other famous musicians, but he is still very much loved by millions.

This playlist looks at the subject of death through Morrissey's eyes.

Death by guillotine, drowning, air disaster, 10-ton truck, serial killer and much more.

The

coffeepaper.jpgFor many Christians across the world, Sunday is a day for rest as dictated by God. For those of us in the western world, Sunday is the last day of the weekend. For those in school, Sunday is always a welcomed day off. In other words, Sunday is a great day for most, as it can be dedicated to leisure. It's the day we can wake up late, and enjoy a cup of coffee with the Sunday paper.

The name "Sunday" predates Christianity and comes from Egyptian culture, and any month beginning on a Sunday will contain a Friday the 13th. Sunday also holds significance here in the United States during this time of year for the NFL football games played during the season.

In music, you'll be hard-pressed to find songs that were written specifically about Sunday. However, the day is mentioned in thousands of great songs and can be used to convey many of the ideals associated with Sunday. For this playlist I have selected only the very best tracks that contain the word "Sunday" somewhere in the song title.

Popular music is filled to the brim with superficial songs about sex, drugs and money, but it can also be used to uplift, or present a philosophy lesson within the confines of a three to four minute song.

One of the best things music can do is to lift us up, or help us think about how to be better people.

For this playlist I wanted to select the top 20, positive "feel good" songs in popular music. Not just happy songs mind you, but songs that can be used much like a self-help book. The lessons contained in these 20 tracks can be viewed as enlightening, or sappy, depending on your point of view. But they all offer valuable lessons for life. 

rainbow.jpgI have tried to ignore the fact that some of these songs have been overplayed, or have not aged well, and instead focused on selecting tracks with an overwhelmingly positive message. Many of the artists who made the cut are worthy of more than one track, but I have chosen to limit the list to contain only one song per artist.

I have ranked the top

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