Blog Posts by Robert of the Radish

This playlist contains 18 songs whose titles are an acronym. That is, an abbreviation written using only the first letter of each word in a phrase.

For those of us who work in technology or spend more time than we should texting, acronyms have become popular to the point of being ridiculous. OMG LOL IHA!

Well, acronyms are not just for text-happy tweens and computer dorks. Musicians dig 'em too. And they have for quite some time.

In order to narrow the huge number of acronym songs down a bit, I've selected only tracks with big guitars and sizable cahones for this playlist. This filter helps make for a fine listen if you're into the heavier end of the musical spectrum. It includes metal, punk and hard rock by bands like System of a Down, Black Sabbath, W.A.S.P., Mudvayne, Sex Pistols, The Hives, MxPx, Megadeth, Twisted Sister, Smashing Pumpkins and more.

TTFN!

The Heavy Acronym Playlist

1. A.N.I.C. - Sum 41

2. B.Y.O.B. - System Of A Down

3. N.I.B. - Black Sabbath

4. F.T.W. - The

This playlist features 16 classic punk rock bands covering the music of others, and in many cases the covers are not-so-punk songs. (If you don't know what defines "classic punk", here's a hint: no Grammys or top 40 hits, pre-1990).

I went through a serious punk phase in high school and it seems many young people still do today. I caught the fever in the early 1980s and was hooked hardcore for a few years. At that time bands like The Sex Pistols and The Ramones had spawned a true underground explosion of punk rock in America with bands like Black Flag, Government Issue, The Dead Kennedys, The Germs and Agent Orange spreading like a venereal disease through the back alleys and high school hallways of America. This playlist contains all of these bands and more.

It's interesting to hear a collection of covers by the punk bands of the era. Many of them are surprisingly competent while others are complete disasters that capture the essence of what punk rock was before bands like Green Day

I've lived up and down the east coast of the US from New England to South Florida, but over the last couple years I've had the chance to spend a good deal of time in California.  I must say that California is a different world in many ways. Although there is a multitude of natural beauty to be found across America, some of the drives I embarked on in CA offered some of the most breathtaking views I've seen in the U.S.A.

One drive in particular went from Walnut Creek to Napa Valley, across Marin county to the coast, then down the Pacific Coast Highway, through redwood forests to Sausalito and finally across the Golden Gate bridge into San Francisco.

For an east coast boy whose only previous experience with California was L.A. proper, it was like being on a alien planet, or maybe Tolkien's Middle Earth. I was awestruck at every turn by the landscape, wineries, architecture and natural beauty. I wanted to celebrate my experience with a California playlist, and for the sake of continuity

As they say, there's a fine line between genius and insanity. Many inspired songs have been written about madness, sometimes from a first person perspective. The number of musicians stricken by mental illness is large enough to fill volumes, and just about every genre you can think of has touched on the subject in song.

This playlist includes only acoustic-based songs about, or inspired by mental illness. The acoustic instrumentation helps give the playlist a more laid back and reflective vibe, but the unsettling undercurrent makes for a mostly melancholy listen with a few exceptions.

Please add any acoustic-heavy songs about madness that I have missed to the comments.

And some other lists to consider are the Top 10 songs about mental illness and songs by artists with mental illness.

The Acoustic Insanity Playlist

1. River Man - Nick Drake

2. Sad Lisa - Cat Stevens

3. After All - Dar Williams

4. She's Losing It - Belle & Sebastian 

5. Vincent - Don McLean 

6. Out The Window - The

If you were in high school or college during 1984 this playlist holds a treasure trove of nostalgic bliss for you to peruse. It contains all 20 songs that made it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US that year.

This was the same year that Michael Jackson's head caught on fire during the filming of a Pepsi television ad, the legendary Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his own father, Tipper Gore founded the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) after hearing lyrics she deemed "filthy" on Prince's Purple Rain album, the first MTV video awards were broadcast and Madonna created an uproar when she rolls around on the floor suggestively in a wedding dress, Band Aid released "Do They Know It's Christmas?", Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil killed Hanoi Rocks drummer Razzle while driving drunk, the first Apple Macintosh went on sale, and Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen was involved in a car accident that took his arm.

So sit back, put this playlist on and reminisce about what you

George Clinton is one of the most influential Funk artists on the planet, second only to James Brown. In addition to his solo work, he was the leader of the equally impressive Parliament and Funkadelic. He worked as a barber before his musical success, which may explain the creative hairstyles he's known for. Although his hair may turn heads, it's his music that continues to inspire and turn up in multitudes of hip-hop recordings. Much of his music has been re-engineered, but the George Clinton song "Atomic Dog" is one of the most sampled tracks in hip-hop music history.
 
Originally released in 1982 on the album Computer Games, the track Atomic Dog hit number 1 on the Billboard R&B Charts and reached #101 on the pop charts. It became legendary to DJs across America and has been sampled in many successful songs over the last couple of decades.

This playlist starts with the original song by Mr. Clinton and is followed by 26 tracks that sample it. It's an absorbing exercise to try and

WARNING: This post has male chauvinist pig leanings!

Is there a nag in your life? Is it driving you crazy? If so, this playlist will help. It'll make you realize that you're not alone. You're just one of millions who are nagged by the woman they love.

I don't like to give into stereotypes, but let's face it, some women just can't stand to see their significant other enjoying pastimes like watching football, reading the newspaper, or playing video games. Unfortunately for us, many wives and girlfriends have no qualms about letting us know that we should be doing something better with our time. And they usually do so in the most high-pitched, chill-inducing voice humanly possible.

"Did you take out the trash? Walk the dog! Yakety Yakety Yakety Blah Blah Blah! Get off the couch, you gonna sleep all day? Get up and go change the air in the tires!" etc...

And the icing on the cake is the inevitable, "if you cared about me, you would do these things without me having to ask."

Argghhh...

On August 4th, 1958 the song "Poor Little Fool" by Rick Nelson became the first #1 song on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

The Hot 100 was designed to track the popularity of individual songs by looking at both the amount of airplay a song is getting as well as sales numbers. This gives good insight into what is popular at a given moment in time. Billboard has changed the weighting between airplay and sales many times over the decades.

In 2003 they started including digital downloads in the equation, and just this year they began including subscription music service streams. So when you click the little "Play" buttons in this post you'll be contributing to each song's numbers!

With 2007 now behind us I thought it a good time to look back at the small number of songs lucky enough to make it to the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

This year there were 18 songs that made it to the top, and every one of them is available for streaming.

The #1 hits of 2007 in chronological