I completely sympathize! I played bass and then cell for three years in my high school's orchestra. We played the Canon in D every single year, and after the first 15 minues the first year, it was dreadfully dull. When he said, "eight bars repeated 54 times", I already knew those numbers-- they're embedded in my brain for eternity. Of course, he didn't mention the crescendo that's somewhere in the middle. I used to live for that crescendo.

One time, I staged a protest! When we started playing Pachelbel, I got all the bass, cello, and viola players to turn their stands so that they faced the conductor. I was such a rebel. Most amusingly, one of the cello players couldn't do it without seeing the music. After years of playing those same eight notes over and over and over and over, she still needed the music.

Pachelbel Rant

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If you're easily disturbed, especially by freakish musical tastes, you may want to stop reading this right now.  No, I'm not kidding.  I am not responsible for your reading past this point.

This morning I was doing the standard scan of my LiveJournal friends list, and I came across a note from a friend that Meatloaf was releasing a new CD today-- Bat Out of Hell III, The Monster Is Loose.  The friend's phrasing suggested that he was extremely horrified by this turn of events, but my response was entirely different.  "Oh!  I must pick that up on the way to work!"  I went to the Borders website and looked to see if any of the stores in my area had it.  Emeryville... DING!  I needed a gift card anyway, for my personal costume contest prize.  (Note to coworkers: be the first to identify the costume and win.)

Bat Out Of Hell III

In a lot of ways, Meatlof is like Andrew Lloyd Webber to me.  When I see something like Cats or Phantom of the Opera I know that it's pop kitch, and that it's cheap theatrical manipulation.  But I'm OK with that.  I'm willing to be manipulated, and I'll even enjoy it. I'm all about grandiose and theatrical-- it's one of the reasons I've been a Queen fan since I was old enough to feed quarters into the jukebox to hear Bohemian Rhapsody over and over and over and over again.

I'm only up to the fourth track, but the early review is that it's exactly what I expected.  The first track is a bit too metal for my tastes, but now it's settling into the groove I like.

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What's your musical horoscope?  (Put your music player on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up.)  Inspired by Stephanie.

Tenement Funster by Queen
Sing Along (featuring Dave Matthews) by Blue Man Group
Carousel by Cirque du Soleil
Starlight Express Megamix by Starlight Express 1993 London Cast
Nobody's Side by Chess 2001 Danish Tour Cast
Pussy's Boogie by Pussy Tourette
Hoaxing Yourself by This American Life (this is a TAL radio show... I have them all as MP3s)
Seedy Films by Soft Cell
Beverly Hills Blues by Bobby McFerrin & Robin Williams
Don't Stop Me Now by Queen
Once In Happy Realms of Light by Jerry Springer, The Opera London Cast

I picked 11, because TAL isn't music but an hour-long radio show.  Total music tally: two Queen songs, five showtunes, and three bits of random weird stuff.  Yep, that sounds about par for the course.

This is a weird way for me to think about music, though-- I would never ever put a player on shuffle.  I used to live in a communal household that had eight adults, and nearly a thousand CDs in the player.  My housemates liked it on shuffle, but it drove me batshit because the weird musical transitions were just too jarring for me.

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I just had a 20 minute, umm, discussion with my computer so that I could get it to play a piece of music properly.  The music?  The original Hampster Dance song.

Just fucking shoot me.

Originaldedodedo

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I don't really have a favorite album cover, but a friend just sent me this link today.

Umm, enjoy?

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On the day I was born, the number one song was Baby Love by the Supremes. How appropriate is that?

When I turned 21, the number one song was We Built This City by Starship.

I can't really muster strong feelings about either song, honestly.

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I was chatting with a friend about music earlier today, and I mentioned this song.  In particular, I mentioned this performance of it, and then went to YouTube on a lark to see if it was there.  It was!  Here, for your pleasure, Meryl Streep in Postcards from the Edge singing You Don't Know me.

Great Moments in Cinema: Meryl shows off...again.

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My CDs are mostly showtunes these days, and I'm not the least bit embarrassed by that. I have a reputation for (and a taste for) really appalling music, and I've been known to use it in some, err, unusual ways.  And honestly, I don't have the decency to be embarrassed about any of it.  Here are some extra special yummy things that I have laying around, though.

And if that's not scary enough, here's the playlist on the Shock and Awe compilation CD I put together a few years ago.  Funny story about that.  A few years ago when I was playing poker professionally, I was playing in a tournament at one of the local cardrooms. I had just put this CD together, and was telling a friend about it in between hands.

One of the songs on the CD is Indian Reservation by Paul Revere and the Raiders .  Unbeknownst to me, the player on my left was Drake Levin , former guitarist for said band.  Whoops!  What yummy shoe leather that was!

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Queen - Don't Stop Me Now

I never answer the question of the day, but I glanced at the screen and saw the question at the very same time that Pandora was playing the song for me, so I guess fate forced my hand.

Ironically, it also makes me sad for the music that Freddie died to young to give us, and extremely angry at the way the AIDS epidemic was handled (especially by the Reagan administration).

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