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:

“Lady Strange” by Def Leppard (from High ‘n’ Dry, 1984)

For all their excess later in the decade, early-’80s Def Leppard was a straight up rock ‘n’ roll machine.

“You Never Miss a Good Thing” by The Miracles (from The Complete Motown Singles, Volume 2: 1962 (disc 7), 2005)

Oh, lay it on me, Smokey! The Complete Motown Singles is the gift that keeps on giving, never-failing to win me over with an unknown (to me) gem. “You Never Miss a Good Thing” is the b-side to “I’ll Try Something New,” the irony of which is only apparent when you play the two back to back.

“Oscillate Wildly” by The Smiths (from The Sound of The Smiths (bonus disc), 2008)

Another b-side, this time from Morrissey and the boys. Originally released as the flip to the Smiths’ song that everyone knows (“How Soon is Now?”), this is an instrumental tune largely built around Johnny Marr’s swirling guitar lines. Not everyone’s cup of tea, but I like it just fine.

“44 Minutes” by Megadeth (from Endgame, 2009)

A younger me might have loved this tune, but current day and age me finds it… redundant.

“Sphynx Gate” by Hiatus Kaiyote (from Tawk Tomahawk, 2012)

?uestlove was all over this acid jazz / nu-soul group from down under, which is about as ringing an endorsement as you can get. “Sphynx Gate” is a short instrumental groove that I’d normally skip over, but being that I’ve not had a chance to tell you all about them.

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.

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