The Friday Five: October 12, 2012

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:

This week’s Friday Five is brought to you courtesy of my trusty iPod, Fred, which currently is filled with the playlists: Five Star Tunes (Fred), Fresh Tunes!, 2012, Top 25, and Ultimate ’80s. Shall we begin?

“Ice Cold (feat. Omarion)” by Rick Ross (from God Forgives, I Don’t, 2012)

I can pretty assuredly say that I don’t care much for Ross as a lyricist. This purchase was inspired by his turn “Accidental Murderers,” from Nas’ 2012 release, Life is Good, which (outside of a reciprocal feature by Nas on “Triple Beam Dream”) outshines just about every track on this effort.

“1999” by Prince (from The Hits/The B-Sides (disc 1: The Hits 1), 1993)

It occurred to me while listening to the titular track from Prince’s 1982 release that the whole concept of a politically motivated pop tune is, by in large, a thing of the past.

“Big Poppa” by Notorious B.I.G. (from Bad Boy’s 10th Anniversary… The Hits, 2004)

As much as I love Hip-Hop; as much as I love Biggie; I never love this tune as much as the others on his debut. For no particular reason, either.

“Humans Being” by Van Halen (from Twister, 1996)

I’m pretty sure that “Humans Being” has shuffled up in the past (if I were to keep track of these sorts of things.) For all its dark, intense and stormy intent, the resolution to the major chords in the chorus is nothing short of magic. Its use in the film also stands as one of my favorite in terms of film utilizing a track to great effect.

“I’m Your Man ’96” by Wham! (from The Best of Wham!: If You Were There…, 1997)

“1, 2, 3, 4…” I’m not sure why George Michael felt the need to re-record “I’m Your Man” and tack it onto the already brilliant “Fastlove,” but I’m sure glad he did. As I recall, this one got a lot of play during the summer of ’96. It may sound a bit dated now—even more so than the original—but in 1996, it was my jam.

What’s on your shuffle today?