The Y! Music Playlist Blog

  • The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, which is more well-known by the acronym ASCAP, collects royalties for songwriters from businesses that  license songs for commercial use. This includes broadcast television, cable television, background music services, restaurants, bars, theme parks, radio stations, and more. So when you hear songs on the radio, it's not free, someone is getting paid.

    During the holiday season, the airwaves become crowded with Christmas music. My wife turns to the "Christmas station" as soon as it becomes available. And there are millions like her. This means that copyright holders who are lucky enough to score a Christmas hit can look forward to a nice fat Christmas bonus year after year.

    For this playlist I've pulled together the top 10 most played Christmas songs according to ASCAP. These are the songs that you simply cannot avoid if you turn your radio on this time of year.

    Christmas is right around the corner. You WILL hear these songs.

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  • It's amazing how Christmas themed  television shows from the 1960's and 1970's, like those made by Rankin/Bass, continue to be such hits year after year. I think a big part of it is due to the fact that parents want their children to have the same kinds of Christmas memories they hold dear themselves. And television Christmas specials were a part of it.

    Even today, with the amazing computer graphics available, I haven't seen any modern Christmas television specials that I think will be around 40 or 50 years from now. The animations were much simpler in those days, but the stories and the music just worked, and they will always work, no matter how advanced our technology becomes.

    For this playlist I've looked for cover versions of songs found in many of the Christmas-themed television shows I grew up with. These are shows that I still look forward to seeing every year with my own children.

    What's your favorite Christmas television show?I'm  gonna go with "The Year Without a Santa Claus".

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  • Man, did four years fly by or what? Another Presidential election is upon us. This is a time when we get to see government for the people and by the people in action.  I'm one who takes my responsibility to vote seriously, but not too seriously. You won't hear me saying something like, "this is the most important election of our lifetime". We hear that every four years, and it's never true.

    This year, a young friend of mine made a decision to vote for a third party candidate and made the mistake of announcing it. He was promptly and harshly reprimanded by both republicans and democrats alike. "You've wasted your vote", they screamed! "How could you just throw your vote away in such an important election", they asked?

    I say bravo, young man! I for one, am proud of anyone who gets to the polls to take part in our democracy, no matter who they vote for. I don't care if you're a single issue voter, a party line voter, or someone who weighs every issue before making your decision. If you have voted, you're alright with me.

    If you don't vote. Keep you're mouth shut. You have no right to complain.

    This playlist includes a dozen election day songs. What would you add?

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  • sleepwalker1-2_thumbSomnambulism is a sleeping disorder better known to most as "sleepwalking". It's a real disorder that affects just under 4% of adults, but it's more common among children. Sleepwalking is clustered in families and is not necessarily linked with mental disorders. Most sleepwalkers do simple actions like sitting up in bed or walking into a different room. But there are reported cases of much more complex actions being done by sleepwalkers, like driving, having sex, or even murder. I suppose sleepwalking would be a pretty convenient excuse and it has been used as a defense for crimes, although not very successfully.

    Sleepwalking is certainly mysterious and it's been used a great deal in popular music. A songwriter can use a sleepwalker to describe someone doing something they're not consciously aware of, whether for benefit or for ill.

    In other words, it's a great theme on which to build a story.

    For this playlist I've pulled together an eclectic collection of songs that all use sleepwalking as a theme.

    What would you add?

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  • Halloween is not just for kids. Even now, when I find myself dressing up my own children to take them around the neighborhood for trick-or-treating, my wife forces me to put on some costume that she's  picked out so we can go to numerous costume parties.

    No matter how much I complain about having to do it (and I do complain every year) it's still always a great time. There's just something incredibly fun about taking on a role and seeing people's creativity come to life.

    Every Halloween party needs music. The biggest problem for me when selecting a Halloween playlist is not finding songs (there are thousands to choose from), it's deciding what genre to go with. Ambient spooky music is my personal favorite, but this is a better fit for greeting trick-or-treaters. If you're hosting an adult party, you may want to get people onto the dance floor to enjoy themselves.

    This playlist has been designed to do just that.

    It features a dozen songs with a Halloween theme that will make you want to move.

    What would you add?

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  • Yesterday I posted a playlist of heavy metal songs about mythological creatures. Since Halloween is right around the corner, I thought I would stick to the theme. But for this list I've gone to go straight to the power source that gives metal its dark power.

    I'm talking about demons!

    If you're a fan of metal music you know that the underworld is one of the genre's favorite subjects. If you're looking for songs about death, destruction, demons, horror and hell, heavy metal is the go-to guy.

    This playlist includes 24 heavy metal tracks that use the name of a demon in the song title. That's 24 different demons, and these are not pop metal, or glam metal songs, these are tracks that call on the fiery power of hell to deliver a blistering and horrifying aural assault. Listening to this playlist is like having all 24 of these demons in the room with you.

    I take no responsibility for your immortal soul if you choose to listen.

    What would you add?

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  • My son, who is 7, recently discovered heavy metal. Needless to say, he's a fan. He says it, "makes him crazy so he can run faster in his soccer games". Well, how can any parent disagree with that? The power of the metal is strong!

    Today, on the way to his last game of the season, I put on a random heavy metal playlist, so he could "run faster" during his game. The song that got him pumped up the most was "Medusa" by Anthrax. This was the championship game, and I'm proud to say that they won.

    Anthrax must get at least a tiny bit of credit.

    This got me thinking about how well Greek mythology and heavy metal go together. Greek mythology is filled with also sorts of freaky monsters who can lay waste to mortals in all sorts of nasty ways. And metal does basically the same thing. So in addition to Anthrax's "Medusa", I have included 10 more heavy metal songs, and each one is about a different creature from Greek mythology.

    What would you add?

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  • There are a lot of creepy songs around that are a good fit for Halloween. I've built at least 20 Halloween-themed playlists over the years, so it's getting increasingly difficult to come up with new lists. But Halloween demands music! My personal favorite for Halloween is eerie ambient music, which I like to play to create an unsettling mood around the house.

    But when it comes to popular music, the radio tends to play the same old stuff (is anyone really looking forward to hearing The Monster Mash again?).
    Back in 2007, I created a Hip-Hop Halloween playlist that included 18 tracks. This year, I decided to make it even more cohesive by slicing the list down further.

    To do this, I've selected only ten Halloween-themed, hip-hop tracks that I consider "old skool". You know, from back in the day when we though misspelling "school" was cool. Or, in other words, songs from the 1980s and early 1990s. The end result will bring you back in time, and if you have a nostalgic Halloween party planned, it's the perfect backdrop.

    What would you add to your old skool, hip-hop Halloween playlist?

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  • Blue is a popular color in music. It may even be music's most popular color.

    One of the most important genres in popular music  is called the blues, because of its melancholy themes, and bluegrass comes from a common meadow-grass in Kentucky that blooms with blue flowers.

    Blue is synonymous with sad. If you're faithful, you may be called "true blue". A "blue chip" stock is stock in a company considered consistent and stable. If you're "blue collar", it means that you're working class, but if you're a "blue blood" it means you come from privilege. A "blue ribbon" denotes something as being best in class. Blue can indicate vast distance, like the deep blue sea or the sky. Blue is also consistently voted the top "favorite color" in Europe and the US.

    Indeed, the color blue gives songwriters a lot to work with, and you can find thousands of songs that use it to make a point.

    But for this playlist I did not include "blue" songs, but "deep blue" songs.

    What would you add?

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  • When I can't decide what to listen to I usually put on some Steely Dan. They're a band that I never tire of, and their music works for me in almost any situation or mood. As I was listening to their compilation Show Biz Kids: The Steely Dan Story 1972 - 1980, up came the track "The Fez". It was a classic playlist moment, a spark that drives me to think of other songs with the same theme.

    Well, I couldn't think of another fez song to save my life, and that pissed me off.  So I decided to find some.

    In addition, I was not familiar with the history of the fez. So after doing some reading I discovered that the fez is of Ottoman origins, and it came into its own when Andalusian Arabs from the city of Fes, Morocco embraced it fully during the 17th century. The hat became an exotic symbol in the west, and it still turns heads today. Don't believe me? Put one on, walk around town and then come back and let me know how many comments you received.

    Anyway, there were actually more songs with the word "Fez" in the title than I thought there would be, and the resulting playlist is actually much better than you would expect.

    So if you own a fez, put it on and press play!

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