The Return of the Challenge Thread - March 2020

MadLucas

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Hello everybody! Welcome to the March Listening Challenge Thread! Thank you to @TenderLovingKiller® for the February thread, and for all who created these before :)

Also, thank you to Mrs. Mad Lucas for coming up with the cool ideas she did for days 3, 13, 15, 18, and 25.

I wanted to do something a little different, so you may notice that certain days of weeks have certain themes:

SUNDAY: Album-title related
MONDAY: Film/TV related spins
TUESDAY: Cultural/Historical appreciation related spins
WEDNESDAY: Instrument-specific spins
THURSDAY: Song-title related
FRIDAY: Music nerd show & tell
SATURDAY: Random idea

I thought it would be fun to reveal each of these on the day in question instead of giving them all up front, but I then immediately thought better of it. You're welcome.

The "rules"
  • This isn't a contest or competition. You can't win and won't be eliminated.
  • Interpret each topic in your own way.
  • Try to play something that hasn't been played for that day.
  • Catch up if you miss some days.
  • Don't be shy about telling stories about your selection, and yet don't feel you have to elaborate on anything you post
  • Have fun!
HERE WE GO!

DAY 1 – This Party Is Just Getting Started [album reference: Selector Dub Narcotic]

Play an album that gets you pumped for the month or the week ahead.

DAY 2 – The Soprano's.

The final scene of the final episode. Everyone knows it. But what would it have been like with a completely different song than “Don't Stop Believing?”
Spin an album with that song!

DAY 3 – Something's Gotta Change

Play an album that in its own way made or influenced history.

DAY 4 – Four-string masters

Spin an album with an incredible bassline or bass player.

DAY 5 – Here's Where The Strings Come In [song reference: Superchunk]

Play an album with a great string or orchestral section/arrangment.

DAY 6 – How'd This Get In Here?

Spin an album that, when you look at the rest of your collection, seems like it doesn't belong.

DAY 7 – Time Capsule

Spin an album that you haven't heard in a while, because either you haven't gotten around to it or you forgot about it.

DAY 8 – Rubber Soul [album reference: The Beatles]

Spin an album with an incredible vocalist... does not have to specifically be soul music.

DAY 9 - Say Anything

We all know the iconic scene where John Cusack holds up the boombox and blasts Peter Gabriel's “In Your Eyes.”
Now pretend there's a different song you would have played. Spin that album!

DAY 10 – I'm Going To Graceland

Paul Simon is not known for African pop music, the same way that Willie Nelson is not known for reggae music... yet they both made albums that fit those descriptions.
Spin an album by a band or artist that takes a stylistic or genre-bending turn.

DAY 11 – Beep Boop Boop Beep Beep

Spin an album with great electronic manipulation or programming.

DAY 12 – Two Of Hearts [song reference: Stacey Q]

Spin an album by a duo. Or, spin an album by a band that is led by a duo.

DAY 13 – I Hate It... But I Love It.

Play a guilty pleasure. Like, something you might hide from your friends before they come over.

DAY 14 – Happy PI Day!

In honor of 3.14, spin an album that features math in some way.

DAY 15 – No Coast [album reference: Braid]

East coast, west coast, Atlanta, Detroit... Play a rap or hip-hop album that is undeniably amazing, regardless of its location of origin.

DAY 16 – How I Met Your Mother

Spin something that your family made you love, or something that reminds you of them.

DAY 17 – Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Spin some music that can be traced back to Ireland. Barring that, then... something to drink to while celebrating.

DAY 18 – Mouth Music/Beat-Box

Play something that features the human voice as a main instrument.

DAY 19 – We No Speak Americano [song reference: Yolanda B Cool and DCUP]

Play something that is not in English. And, for our overseas friends, play something with vocals that is not in your most fluent language. [Sorry if I worded that clunkily.]

DAY 20 – Speaker Hugger

Juliana Hatfield once said in an interview that she loved Jeff Buckley's album Grace so much that she would hug the speakers to get closer to the music.
Spin an album you feel that way about.

DAY 21 – We're Gonna Have Words

Play any album where the words/lyrics are a focal point.

DAY 22 – Keep It Like A Secret [album reference: Built To Spill]

Play an amazing “underground” album that influenced others but stayed underground. Or, just spin a great “underground” album.

DAY 23 – Stranger Things

We all love that theme song. Don't act like you don't.
But spin an album with a song you would swap that theme song with... and still somehow make the show work.

DAY 24 – Those Were The Days

Play an album from an era you would love to visit for a day.

DAY 25 – What Was That?

Spin an album with “uncommon” western instruments, not typical guitars, basses, drums, keyboards, etc.

DAY 26 – I Know What I Know [song reference: Paul Simon]

I read somewhere that the lyrics of this song are about meeting someone and slowly realizing they are pretending to be something else.
Play an album that doesn't pretend to be anything other than itself.

DAY 27 – This One's For Me

Everyone, next month I turn 39. Play an album that you would be surprised if I made it this far in life without hearing already... that would make the NEXT 39 years a better place for me.

DAY 28 – Okay, EVERYONE OUT!

The party's over, and your guests won't take a hint. Play something that makes them want to leave.

DAY 29 – No Alternative [album reference: the 90's compilation]

Play any compilation of songs. No theme necessary.

DAY 30 – No Country For Old Men.

Spin a soundtrack to a movie, a TV show, your job... get weird if you want!

DAY 31 – The Voyager Golden Record

The Voyager Golden Record had been hurtling through space for 40 years. It contains many photographs and about 2-2.5 hours of audio recordings of music that we hope someday a non-Earth civilization will discover and learn something about Earth.
Play an album featuring a song you would want on the next Golden Record to represent our planet!
 
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DAY 1 – This Party Is Just Getting Started [album reference: Selector Dub Narcotic]
Play an album that gets you pumped for the month or the week ahead.

Prince - Dirty Mind

I don't listen to this one in the car anymore because whenever Uptown comes on I accidentally push 90. Definitely the most underrated Prince album. Easily my third favorite. Partyup is just the earlier, better version of Batdance.

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DAY 1 – This Party Is Just Getting Started

Jamie xx ‎– In Colour (Young Turks, 2015 First Pressing)


Super uplifting album, certainly more upbeat that the XX albums! The opening track, 'Gosh' sets the tone perfectly (it also has an incredible music video!)

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DAY 1 – This Party Is Just Getting Started

Jamie xx ‎– In Colour (Young Turks, 2015 First Pressing)


Super uplifting album, certainly more upbeat that the XX albums! The opening track, 'Gosh' sets the tone perfectly (it also has an incredible music video!)

View attachment 34847
I considered this one, too. I actually do play I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times) when I drunkenly take over an aux cord.
 
SUNDAY: Album-title related
DAY 1 – This Party Is Just Getting Started [album reference: Selector Dub Narcotic]
Play an album that gets you pumped for the month or the week ahead.

Yeah... Taking Narcotics to treat a Fever is probably a bad idea.

Better idea to party out with this...

Yeah Yeah Yeahs ‎– Fever To Tell

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DAY 1 – This Party Is Just Getting Started [album reference: Selector Dub Narcotic]

Play an album that gets you pumped for the month or the week ahead.

2C53F298-6300-4C78-AA6C-54191A0E979A.jpeg

Disco Forever The Sound of Underground Disco - compiled by Dimitri From Paris

Kicking off the month with music that you can't help moving to!
 
DAY 2 – The Soprano's.
The final scene of the final episode. Everyone knows it. But what would it have been like with a completely different song than “Don't Stop Believing?”
Spin an album with that song!

David Chase left The Sopranos about as open to interpretation as you can get. The one thing in my mind that clouds that interpretation - lyrics. By Journey.

I'm going instrumental with a song that can enhance your interpretation no matter which side it leans.

It's by a NY band. It's kinda happy. It's also got some epitaph qualities. It has a title - Ride Into The Sun - that you can interpret either way. That could be a happy trip into the sunset or a literal ride into the sun that burns you to a cinder. No wrong answer.

The Velvet Underground - Another View



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DAY 2 – The Soprano's.
The final scene of the final episode. Everyone knows it. But what would it have been like with a completely different song than “Don't Stop Believing?”
Spin an album with that song!
Chromatics - Kill For Love
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This choice almost feels like a cheat since every Chromatics record is basically a soundtrack to an unfilmed movie. I personally love the choice made by Chase however if I had to choose a different track I would go with the open cut from Kill For Love, the Neil Young cover of “Into The Black”...
 
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DAY 2 – The Soprano's.
The final scene of the final episode. Everyone knows it. But what would it have been like with a completely different song than “Don't Stop Believing?”
Spin an album with that song!

Simon & Garfunkel - Bookends

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Album title aside, the lyrics and the abrupt ending of A Hazy Shade of Winter would be a good fit for that final scene.
 
DAY 2 – The Soprano's.

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I thought of a couple different songs that could work (Aerosmith’s “Home Tonight,” Supertramp’s “Goodbye Stranger” or “Take The Long Way Home,” Bruce’s “Prove It All Night,” ...).

I kept coming back to this.
My song from the album for the day is “Do It Again.”
 
MONDAY: Film/TV related spins
DAY 2 – The Soprano's.
The final scene of the final episode. Everyone knows it. But what would it have been like with a completely different song than “Don't Stop Believing?”
Spin an album with that song!

I have not seen Sopranos (I know what it is, at least), so after watching some videos, I decided to spin this...

The Notorious B.I.G. ‎– Ready To Die

IMG_20200302_095910.jpgIMG_20200302_095845.jpg
 
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