Let's Talk About Music, Shall We?

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

I think you have probably guessed by now that I am a true music fiend. I'm a big fan of 80s music, especially, and movie soundtracks. After my big sister Barb died in July of 2019, I ended up with a bunch of her CDs (which were mostly country, plus a bit of pop).

At the same time, I was pretty miserable, and so I gave myself permission to buy the music I wanted, and to make an awesome, top-notch "music to save my life" playlist. (See here and here.) I can't blame any of this on Barb, but my misery at the time needed the healing balm of sweet music.

In the past few years, I've been buying more music online through Amazon. The ideal scenario is to buy the CD and also get the auto-rip version of the CD digitally for free. That way, I get the best of both worlds. In cases where the cost of the CD is prohibitive, I've settled for digital-only.

And yes, in pursuit of single marvelous songs, I have on occasion purchased whole CDs I had pretty much no interest in actually owning. (Hello, awesome cover of Heroes by Jakob Dylan and the Wallflowers, from the film Godzilla; the rest of that soundtrack is total trash! Farewell to $12.70 for a single frickin' song, mea culpa.)

Anyway, here is a picture of all of the new CDs I've bought this year so far. I've either bought them with auto-rip, or ripped them myself, such that they are all now part of my digital library. Oh, and then for the second quarter of 2022, my one credit card offered 5% back on Amazon purchases. Since then, I've REALLY gone to town! I need to make a new playlist for all of this new music.

There are several artists that I have decided to allow myself to own EVERY CD they ever made (except usually the live albums; I'm not a big fan of listening to the CROWD singing, instead of my musical heroes): Pat Benatar, Stevie Nicks, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen.

Two-fors are even better! One day, I decided I needed all of the songs that Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks have done together. Hello, Pack Up the Plantation Live! Which got me Needles and Pins, and Insider. (I already owned Stop Draggin' My Heart Around, from Stevie's Timespace and Bella Donna; and I Will Run to You, from The Wild Heart.)

I can't tell you how many times I've had the experience of hearing a song I love on the radio and thinking, "Oh, I have that!" Only to discover that yes, I HAD it on cassette, but the cassette died years ago! Honestly, how many times, in how many formats, will I have to purchase Tom Petty's Damn the Torpedoes? (This is my second copy of the CD, by the way; I plumb wore the first one out!)

I have to add that one of the funnest bands I've discovered in the past year is Girl Named Tom, whose CD Hits from the Road doesn't appear here because I could only purchase it digitally. And then I had to fill in the cracks by buying The Voice performances to get the rest. (Hello, Dust in the Wind and The Chain.) Have you ever heard them sing Wichita Lineman? My gosh!

The Best of Bonnie Raitt got me everything I wanted of hers except for Angel from Montgomery, which I had to purchase separately, and I got it off a John Prine album. (And then I discovered a John Denver version of that same tune from the album Farewell Andromeda - wow. Had to have it!)

And one day I went to listen to Heartbreak Beat, but was horrified to discovered I owned NO Psychedelic Furs. NONE! My cassette of the Furs Midnight to Midnight "had issues," and my copy of Pretty in Pink was something I apparently owned on cassette only! I've fixed that now!

One day, we heard the song Kyrie on the radio, and I couldn't for the life of me remember who sang it. I was headed for Poison, or Night Ranger, and was absolutely humiliated to find out that I was wrong. It was Mr. Mister! And now I own their album, Playlist, The Best of Mr. Mister. Three lashes with a wet noodle for THAT one, chickie. And you call yourself an 80s girl!

In going through my CD collection with a fine-tooth comb in the past few months, I've also discovered really good stuff I forgot to digitize, and finally did. Hello, Devo Greatest Hits. And Hello, Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Volumes 1, 2, and 3!!!

And I'm always hearing great music on The Blacklist; yes, a TV show! You should see the list of songs I bought because of that one series alone. (But you can't BUY the Slow-Ass Version of Jolene from The Judge episode nearing the end of Season 1. Not on Amazon, anyway.)

I am always trying to expand my music base, and YouTube is a great place to do that. Any day of the week, you can find me perusing the musical offerings of YouTube, finding amazing things. Some of them, I add to my list of things to buy. (Hello, Maren Morris, Flag Day soundtrack - did you know Olivia Vedder and Eddie Vedder appear on it?, oh yes, Olivia is her father's daughter! - and Lauren Daigle.)

Anyway, that's a quick trip through my music purchases for the first half of this year. Let's see what the second half brings! Oh, and I've gotta have a soundtrack song for this, and here's a great one: Joan Jett, with I Love Rock 'n Roll!

In case anyone is interested, here is the list of CDs displayed above:
The Alarm, History Repeating 1981 - 2021 (would it surprise you at all to learn that Rain in the Summertime is one of my faves?)
Pat Benatar, Crimes of Passion
Pat Benatar, Tropico
The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night (my husband's favorite Beatles album)
Lauren Daigle, How Can It Be
Depeche Mode, Violator (Funny thing: I ordered the CD Violator; the auto-rip they gave me access to was Violator - the 12" singles! Thus I ended up with 29 songs digitally, plus the CD I wanted, which has 9 songs. Weird! The main song of theirs I like, Enjoy the Silence, has no fewer than 6 different versions on the digital set they gave me by accident.)
Bob Dylan, Blood on the Tracks
Flag Day soundtrack
Dan Fogelberg, High Country Snows
Dan Fogelberg and Tim Weisberg, Twin Sons of Different Mothers
Cyndi Lauper, At Last
Maverick soundtrack (no, not the Tom Cruise one; but I did also pick up the Lady Gaga tune Hold My Hand, from Top Gun: Maverick)
John Mellencamp, Other People's Stuff
John Mellencamp, Strictly a One-Eyed Jack
Maren Morris, Hero
Mr. Mister, Playlist, The Very Best of Mr. Mister
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Damn the Torpedoes
Tom Petty, Highway Companion
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Hypnotic Eye
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Last DJ
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Pack Up the Plantation: Live!
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, You're Gonna Get It!
Pretty in Pink soundtrack
The Psychedelic Furs, All of This and Nothing
Bonnie Raitt, The Best of Bonnie Raitt on Capitol 1989 - 2003
A Star Is Born soundtrack (the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper version; yeah, after watching that hot Las Vegas performance of Shallow over and over online, I HAD to own the song, though I've never seen the movie)