Playlisting your musical taste

If you had to summarize your entire musical taste in 10 songs, how would you do it? I'm not really asking for your favorite songs, but rather the songs that, together, better encompass your preferences. Of course, that might include one of two of your favorites =P Also, not needed to put the songs in a particular order, although you may if you feel like it.

I'd post mine, but I need to think about it first!

Interesting challenge. I'll think about this. Needs time.

THIS IS INTERESTING, I MUST TAKE SOME PENSIVE TIME BEFORE DOING THIS.

Okay, seriously (even though I doubt this will fully describe it):

1. The Beatles: Any song by them at all (though if I had to pick one, maybe "In My Life", "All My Loving", "Come Together", "Here Comes the Sun", "I Want to Tell You", YOU SEE I CAN'T DECIDE HERE AND THESE AREN'T THE ONLY ONES I'M CONSIDERING)
2. The Who: "Baba O'Riley"
3. Electric Light Orchestra: "Tightrope"
4. Simon And Garfunkel: "America"
5. Bee Gees: "Stayin' Alive"
6. They Might Be Giants: Pretty much anything from Mink Car, although I might be tempted to put (not from the same album) "When Will You Die?"
7. The Duprees: "There Goes My Heart" (a.k.a. the very essence of doo-wop...although I might be tempted to change it up for "Blue Moon" by the Marcels). Note: For "There Goes My Heart", Amazon has a 30-second preview of it here. Unfortunately, I've never been able to find a reliable site to stream this song from.
8. The Everly Brothers: "Wake Up Little Suzie"
9. Cage The Elephant: either "2024" or "Back Against the Wall"
10. Carole King: "It's Too Late"

There's plenty of others that don't fit into here I'd say, though. I listen to more or less anything, but a lot of these are some of my preferences.

Edited to add links

edited 15th Jun '12 5:31:48 PM by 0dd1

So, I finally put myself together and made my list. Shouldn't have been so hard since my musical taste is somewhat shallow, but it was tough...

• Scar Symmetry - "Ghost Prototype I: Measurement Of Thought"
• Sonic Syndicate - "Double Agent 616"
• Disarmonia Mundi - "Building An Empire Of Dust"
• Miseration - "Dreamdecipher"
• Caliban - "Life Is Too Short"
• Bodyjar - "Is It A Lie"
• Demon Hunter - "Driving Nails"
• Devin Townsend Project - "Sumeria"
• Zeromind - "Wish It Away"
• Toxic Grind Machine - "Amphetamines In Ghost City"

edited 16th Jun '12 9:16:26 PM by NEO

I kind of regret not putting a Velvet Underground song in my list.

Necroing because this idea is way too awesome for this thread to die.

Here's my list. I cheated and used 11 songs, can't narrow it down to 10.

• Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
• Son House - Death Letter
• Judas Priest - Tyrant
• Bruce Springsteen - Jackson Cage
• Slayer - War Ensemble
• Wilson Pickett - In The Midnight Hour
• Chuck Berry - Brown Eyed Handsome Man
• Johnny Cash - Daddy Sang Bass
• J.S. Bach - Prelude and fugue in A minor, BWV 543
• Pink Floyd - Time
• Ernst Busch - Stand Firm, Red Madrid

edited 5th Jan '13 9:58:02 AM by MidnightRambler

I never really liked how "top tens" tend to pan out, so I went with a solid thirteen tracks to illustrate what I love about music, in chronological order:

1. The Velvet Underground, "Sister Ray" (White Light/White Heat)
2. Roxy Music, "Do the Strand" (For Your Pleasure)
3. Throbbing Gristle, "Hot on the Heels of Love" (20 Jazz Funk Greats)
4. Wire, "Map Ref. 41ºN 93ºW" (154)
5. This Heat, "Paper Hats" (Deceit)
6. Bügsküll, "Flowers Smile" (Distracted Snowflake Volume One)
7. Swans, "Feel Happiness" (Swans Are Dead)
8. The Olivia Tremor Control, "Another Set of Bees in the Museum" (Black Foliage Animation Music Volume One)
9. Coil, "Tiny Golden Books" (Music to Play in the Dark, Volume Two)
10. Merzbow, "Cycle Part. 2" (Cycle)
11. Bloc Party, "Kreuzberg" (A Weekend in the City)
12. HEALTH, "Die Slow" (Get Color)
13. Arcade Fire, "My Body is a Cage" (Neon Bible)

An honourable mention goes to The Magnetic Fields' "100,000 Fireflies" (from The Wayward Bus), which I absolutely adore for somewhat atypical reasons. You may substitute it with "Kreuzberg", which I love for similar reasons, as you will.

edited 5th Jan '13 11:39:58 AM by JHM

I didn't think much on this, because I wanted to have a list that I didn't try to whitewash. Throwing songs out for other songs that might be "cooler" wasn't really my objective.

• 1. Fall Out Boy, "20 Dollar Nose Bleed (Call Me Mr. Benzadrine)"
• 2. Simon & Garfunkel, "Cecilia"
• 3. Carpenters, "Solitaire"
• 4. Elton John, "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting"
• 5. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, "The Game Gets Old"
• 6. Amy Winehouse, "Back to Black"
• 7. Gotye, "Thanks For Your Time"
• 8. Marilyn Manson, "15"
• 9. Billy Joel, "Sleeping With The Television On"
• 10. Dexys Midnight Runners, "Come On Eileen"

Honorable Mention: Nicki Minaj, "Come on a Cone"

edited 5th Jan '13 11:45:24 AM by LargoQuagmire

You're awesome for even having a Simon And Garfunkel song in your list.

I know most people hatehateHATE their parents' musical tastes, but my parents did such a great job at picking good music for us to listen to as children. Aside from John Denver and Bread, both of whom I can't stand, my sister and I grew up with Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, Carole King, Billy Joel, Elton John, Carpenters, and most of Motown, which is so much more than I can say for a lot of my peer group. I couldn't fit everything I wanted to in that list. I wish I had, like, thirty songs.

Holy crap, I think I'm in love.

Oh, don't be, I'm highly overrated.

Go get her, Romeo! You two would make a great couple, I'm sure.

...oh, wait, you have to ask your manager out first. Nvm.

Largo, will you be my manager?

(Side note: I'm not entirely sure what I'm even doing.)

I have no idea what I'm doing either, and I'm pretty sure my degree in Communications and Public Address doesn't prepare me to be a manager, but it could be fun, provided being a manager wouldn't get me in trouble with my girlfriend.

Well...you'd have to address people publicly and communicate as a manager, would you not?

(This is so freaking off-topic. ) I suppose. I just specialize in performance - I'm working in the theatre industry right now and looking to move into sports promotions - so I never really thought about managing.

(Indeed it is!) Hmm, well, that's a world that I don't really know anything about...

• Rush - YYZ
• Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart
• Sound Horizon - Norowareshi Houseki
• Oingo Boingo - No One Lives Forever
• Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers - Moanin'
• Queen - Somebody to Love
• Yoko Kanno - Epistle
• David Bowie - Suffragette City
• JAM Project - The Guardian
• Weather Report - Birdland

I feel simultaneously shallow and pretentious after examining this.

edited 6th Jan '13 10:23:29 AM by Sparkysharps

Give me some time on this one.

Aw, don't LEAN on me, man, cause you can't afford a ticket
Back from SUFFRAGETTE CITY!
Don't LEAN on me, man, 'cause you ain't got time to check it
You know my SUFFRAGETTE CITY
Is out of sight!

• Sonic Youth - Eric's Trip
• John Coltrane- Giant Steps
• Swans - Stay Here
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Mladic
• Fela Kuti - Iko Ele
• Wu-Tang Clan - Bring Da Ruckus
• Freestyle Fellowship - Everythings' Everything
• Aphex Twin - Xtal
• Hawkwind - Magnu
• Black Flag - TV Party

Nowhere near perfect.

edited 4th Mar '13 7:23:29 PM by Erock

Only ten songs? It will be always incomplete, but let's try:

- "The Robots" - Kraftwerk;

- "The Big Sky" - Kate Bush;

- "All Is Full Of Love" - Björk;

- "Da Funk" - Daft Punk;

- "Sketch For Summer" - The Durutti Column;

- "Wrote For Luck" - Happy Mondays;

- "Strings Of Life" - Rhythim Is Rhythim (aka Derrick May);

- "Tong Poo" - Yellow Magic Orchestra;

- "Little Fluffy Clouds" - The Orb;

- "Visions Of Johanna" - Bob Dylan.

edited 6th Jan '13 5:57:41 PM by Quag15

1. Orbital — "The Girl with the Sun in Her Head"
2. Duke Ellington — "Take the 'A' Train"
3. Lau — "Hinba"
4. Xera — "Zales"
5. Runforyerlife — "How Light the Moon"
6. Arkona — "Zakliatie"
7. Dick Dale & the Del-Tones — "Hava Nagila"
8. Starflyer 59 — "Minor Keys"
9. Sufjan Stevens — "Impossible Soul"
10. Woven Hand — "Kingdom of Ice"

edited 6th Jan '13 7:30:12 PM by MetaFour

Excellent thread idea.

This list certainly aims more for "characteristic" than "good"; it maps out the borders of my musical tastes pretty well ... for better or worse.

• J.S. Bach, Great Fugue in G Minor
• The Band, "Stage Fright"
• Kate Bush, "Cloudbusting"
• Garbage, "Vow"
• Gilbert & Sullivan, "If you want a receipt…[The Heavy Dragoon Song]"
• Iron Maiden, "Aces High"
• MC Frontalot, "I’ll Form the Head"
• Cole Porter, "Begin the Beguine"
• Queen, "Don’t Stop Me Now"
• Yes, "Heart of the Sunrise"