Friday Five : |ˈfrÄ«dā – fÄ«v| : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button in iTunes and share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we’ll have a guest, but most of the time it’s just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up the media player of your choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments.

The Five:

“Talk Dirty to Me” by Poison (from Poison’s Greatest Hits 1986-1996, 1996)

“Hit it, C.C.” Yes my faithful readers, I’ve got my fair share of skeletons knocking around the library halls. My long-standing love/hate/love relationship with the Pop Metal of the ’80s is just as much a product of my age as my proclivity toward anything with a good hook.

“Braggin & Boastin” by Jungle Brothers (from Straight Out the Jungle, 1988)

That “Impeach the President” sample just blazes (heh, look at that) this straight up stuntin’ track.

“Little Twelvetoes” by Chavez (from Schoolhouse Rock! Rocks, 1996)

Between this record and the Saturday Morning: Cartoons’ Greatest Hits compilation, we had more than our fill of hip indie bands covering the soundtrack to our childhood. I’ll tell you, between Juliana Hatfield and Tanya Donelly’s take on “Josie and the Pussycats” and Buffalo Tom’s version of “Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here,” you’ve got yourself some fine mid-’90s alt-rock.

“Lotus Feet” by Steve Vai (from Real Illusions: Reflections, 2005)

Ah, the seventh tune on a Steve Vai record … you know what that means, time to slow down the tempo and rev up drama. I still contend that he hasn’t topped “For the Love of God” in terms of raw emotion.

“Transformer” by The Smashing Pumpkins (from The Aeroplane Flies High (disc 5: Thirty-Three), 1996)

You would think that with as vocal as I tend to be about my dislike of Billy Corgan that I wouldn’t have much, if any, Smashing Pumpkins in my library. You’d be wrong. Actually, it’s quite the contrary, which brings me to the heart of my issue: I quite love the Corgan / Iha / Wretzky / Chamberlin configuration of the band. So much so that I still harbor ill feelings towards Corgan for messing it all up. Hell, I even bought into the whole Zwan (ironically, featuring Chavez guitarist, Matt Sweeney) mess. I love that record! Again, Corgan can’t get out of his own way and create without all the drama. I don’t know, I tend to subscribe to the “separate the art from the artist” point of view; in Corgan’s case I just can’t.

What’s on your shuffle today?

About the Author

Michael Parr

Husband, Father, Writer, Musical Voyeur, Pop Culture Glutton, Gourmet in Training. I'm the tall guy behind all these short guys. You can find me on the Twitter.

View All Articles