Wonderful Radio, Marvelous Radio

I really wanted to dislike the whole "random radio" phenomenon. "We play 70's, 80's, whatever we feel like." Supposedly it started when someone realized that everyone's got their iPods on shuffle, and decided to do a "non-format" formatted radio station.

Well, I don't shuffle. I don't have an iPod. But if I did, I wouldn't have it on shuffle. I would have carefully arranged playlists to match any mood. That's what I have set up on iTunes on my PC. Sorry, but I'm not going to mix the Wiggles with Eric Clapton, or Warren Zevon with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (on the other hand...huh. Maybe that would work).

I have made so many carefully mixed tapes in my life that it seems a travesty to use the shuffle button. I've thought long and hard about why I'm making a certain mix, which songs would fit on it and what order they should go in.

OK, so I thought I'd hate random radio, and here I am listening to it all the time. For one thing, the first time I tuned in, our local station was playing "Dancing in the Moonlight" by King Harvest which is one of my all time favorite feel-good songs that doesn't get enough play anywhere else. And you can't turn off "Brandy, you're a fine girl, what a good wife you would be," right in the middle of the song, cheesy as it is, and then what are you supposed to do when it leads into "Funky Cold Medina?"

And I'm a little embarrassed to admit that tonight was the very first time I actually listened to the lyrics of "Funky Cold Medina." So that's what it's about. I thought Medina was a funky, cold girl.

And, I love running spell check on my blog. It wants to replace "iPod" with "aphid," and "Nusrat" with "muskrat." That could keep me entertained all night.