The Y! Music Playlist Blog

  • BlackHoleThis, the third in our space-themed playlist series, is a collection of black hole songs. Black holes are one of those mysteries of science that can make your brain hurt. Black holes are points in universe that become so dense that they deform time and space itself. The gravity is so great in a black hole that not even light can escape once it passes the point of no return, also known as the "event horizon".

    As black holes grow larger by sucking in millions, of even billions of stars and planets, they can become what are known as "super massive black holes" At the center of our own galaxy, The Milky Way, is a super massive black hole and many scientists believe that one exists in the center of most, if not all galaxies. So, moons revolve around planets, planets revolve around stars, and stars revolve black holes.

    Black holes may be the center of our existence. But one has to wonder if our universe is unique, or could it just be one of many that revolve around something yet unknown. There are still many questions to be answered, but as of now, black holes are a really interesting mystery to research.

    What "black hole" songs did I miss?

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  • Illustrated-Big-BangThis, the second in our space-themed playlist series, is a collection of songs about the big bang. The big bang was the huge explosion that happened about 13.7 billion years ago, and created everything in our universe. We know the universe came from a single point because we have been able to track the movement of space objects, and they are all expanding away outward at incredible speed. If we could rewind the objects in space that we can see, they would eventually all converge at a single point in space.

    What existed before the big bang is a mystery. Theories include a super-dense ball of pure energy, the hand of God, or nothing at all. If the big bang was the beginning, what will be the end? Most astrophysicists believe that there will indeed be an end. Some think  the universe will just continue to expand, and that all stars will eventually burn out, leaving the universe cold and dark. Others believe that our universe will start to contract again (the big crunch) -- eventually returning to another super-dense, single point of energy, which will then explode again with another big bang.

    What do you think, was the big bang a single event, or is it cyclical, and what "big bang" songs did I miss?

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  • Gaspra_largeI've been watching a lot of space-related programming lately. I loved a few episodes of "Through The Worm Hole" with Morgan Freeman that I was able to catch on the Science channel, and so I looked for it on Netflix this past week.  Unfortunately, it was not available, so I soaked in "How The Universe Works" with Mike Rowe and "Into The Universe" with Stephen Hawking instead. Both of them were also excellent.

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  • There are more charts that rate, rank and classify music today than anytime in history thanks to the continued development of digital music and metadata. Traditionally, charts were driven by sales, airplay, or in some cases,  critical acclaim. Today, music can be measured in hundreds of different ways. For example, the All Music Guide chart ranks artists based on how much their name is being searched for in the All Music database. It's my view that this is a good measure of the current level of buzz a band is getting. Radio play will only tell you who the big money is behind, as will sales numbers. But which artists are currently creating the type of talk that makes people want to learn more? The All Music charts are a good place to start.  As I look at the current list of the All Music Guide's top 10 Artists, it seems that people are searching because of a long awaited new album, a mention in a tell-all book, or a tabloid-driven news item.

    Or could it be because these are some kick-ass bands?

    What do you think is making people search the All Music Guide for these bands this week?

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  • I have one final Halloween theme tonight after publishing playlists about black cats, witches, monsters, spiders, pumpkins, zombies
    and skeletons.  And I have saved the most repulsive monster for last -- the lowly troll. The troll is an unintelligent brute with no hygiene to speak of, and it comes to us from Norse mythology. However, during the age of the Internet, "troll" has come to describe someone who "trolls" for an emotional response by leaving insulting, or off-topic comments. Yahoo Music has a few of them, and they're not hard to spot when you read the comments. One in particular seems to spend hours each day just posting nonsensical drivel, which is continuously ignored. Trolls are just one of the unfortunate things that just come along with the Internet, like spam and viruses.

    This troll-themed playlist is dedicated to all the grotesques trolls, who really deserve our pity more than our hate.

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  • For this playlist I've decided to continue with the Halloween theme. Previous playlists have included songs about black cats, witches, monsters, spiders, pumpkins, and zombies, but for this list I have chosen the skeleton. The skeleton is an much used costume on Halloween. For one, it's pretty simple to pull of by simply painting white bones on black clothes, but the skeleton will always be creepy. It is, after all, what remains of a human being after all the flesh has rotted away. I will never forget a visit I made to an underground Capuchin labyrinth in Rome, which was filled with neatly stacked human bones from floor to ceiling. These were the bones of monks who had passed over the centuries. A hand-painted sign placed among the bones in this place struck me profoundly. It simply said, "Where we are now, you will one day be." No truer statement has ever been written. The reason for the sign was to make the viewer reflect on their mortality, and hopefully be inspired to live a better

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  • Last week, in preparation for Halloween, I published a playlist that included only songs inspired by classic monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman, The Invisible Man, etc. This playlist only scratched the surface. There are hundreds of thousands of songs inspired by monsters, whether they're the ones we see on the big screen, or the ones we fight within ourselves. So in keeping with Halloween I thought I would put together a playlist of songs by bands who have named themselves after monsters. I thought about vampires, witches, trolls, zombies and other evil incarnate, and before I knew it, the list was much too long. So, I decided to include only those bands who use the actual word "monster" in their name.

    Who have I missed?

    Monster Bands

    1. Bittersweet - Big Head Todd and the Monsters

    2. Dear God (sincerely M.O.F.) - Monsters Of Folk

    3. Space Lord - Monster Magnet

    4. Ready To Go - Monster Zero

    5. Psychof*ckindelic - Thelonious Monster

    6. Prey - Monster

    7. Bored -

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  • Satan-powered witchcraft, and more specifically, the Halloween-style witch, is a creation of man's imagination, and our propensity to place blame for our misfortunes on others. Outside of the Wicca religion, most people picture witches as nasty, spell casting, ugly women with green skin, pointy hats and warts. But in real life, they were mostly innocent women with some social oddity that led others in the community to brand them as "in league with Satan". Sickness, a poor harvest, natural disasters and all sorts of calamities could be blamed on a "witch", who would be put on trial and executed. "Witch hunts" have happened in many different cultures across the globe, including our own sad history here in America with the Salem witch trials.

    So when you see the witches this Halloween remember that the most terrifying monsters were the ones who burned innocents at the stake. This playlist includes 25 songs inspired by witches.

    What would you add?

    Songs About Witches

    1. Season of the

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  • When someone describes a piece of music as "autumnal", I hear something very specific in my head. Autumn music is not necessarily mellow, but it is never harsh. It is cool and calm, but never cold. It brings a sense of peace and well-being. And for me, no genre represents autumn better than jazz. One of the things I love about  jazz is the expressiveness of it -- how it can convey feeling without lyrics, or even without the sound of a human voice.  It's a communication that can be understood regardless of the listener's native language. For this playlist I've chosen 10 fantastic jazz artists, each presenting their own musical take on my favorite season - autumn. It includes some truly great standards, and some legendary artists. So get a cup of hot cider, a warm sweater, and spend some time outside with this playlist as you watch the falling leaves.

    What would you add to your autumn jazz playlist?

    Autumn Jazz

    1. Autumn Leaves - Miles Davis

    2. Autumn Serenade - John Coltrane

    3. Tis'

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  • If you were to ask a random group of people what the number one symbol of Halloween is, the responses may vary, but I can guarantee that you'll hear choices like the jack-o-lantern, the bat, the witch and the black cat. For this playlist I wanted to focus on the latter. In many cultures the black cat is a symbol of good luck, but during the middle ages they came to be viewed as evil - the devil himself in animal form, or the companion of witches. Black cats were killed on sight, and some historians believe this led to an increase in the rat population, which in turn caused the black plague to be all the worse. This black cat superstition was brought to the new world by puritanical pilgrims who would take no issue with sentencing a "witch" to death. This history made black cats synonymous with bad luck. And what genre tells the story of bad luck better than any other? Why, the blues of course. So, for this playlist I've selected 10 blues songs about black cats. 

    It's the perfect

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