As you probably know if you've been reading Those Who Dig over the past few weeks, I interviewed the seven bands that were playing the New Zealand showcase during CMJ. One thing I asked each was to give me songs for a collaborative playlist. Tonight I'm unveiling it for your listening pleasure.
The basic idea was this (and it sort of evolved over the course of the interviews): an alien spaceship is traveling the universe, collecting music from each planet. What do you want submitted from Earth? It could represent humanity, have personal signficance, or just be something that you feel has to be preserved. I didn't ask it so eloquently, but each group came up with at least song.
Here's what everyone said:
- Jimi Hendrix – Third Stone from the Sun
- Clutch – Burning Beard
- Blue Oyster Cult – (Don't Fear) The Reaper
- Captain Ahab [band]
- The Melvins – Youth of America [The Wipers cover]
- Fly Me to the Moon [song]
- The Gordons – Spic and Span
- You Are My Sunshine [song]
- The Talking Heads – Once In a Lifetime
- Portishead – The Rip
- Jay-Z – December 4th
- The Beatles – She's Leaving Home
- David Byrne & Brian Eno – Strange Overtones
- Sufjan Stevens – Come On! Feel the Illinoise!
- The Best of The Shangri-Las [album]
- Neil Young [back catalog]
- The Ronettes – Be My Baby
- The Beatles
- Phil Collins
I decided the best way to compile this for everyone to enjoy it would be to make a playlist on Spotify. I did make some choices about specific songs when only an artist or album was mentioned (like The Shangri-Las or Neil Young) or what version of a song to use (like "You Are My Sunshine" and "Fly Me to the Moon"), generally going with what was easiest to find. I also mixed the order up a bit from what you see above. Unfortunately, I was unable to find the Gordons on Spotify or anywhere else, and the Beatles are not on Spotify either.
Nevertheless, the final playlist is 16 tracks and quite cool. It's somehow even more eclectic than the acts themselves are and features a lot of great stuff. Check out the tracklisting below and click here to listen on Spotify.
- Blue Oyster Cult – (Don't Fear) The Reaper
- The Ronettes – Be My Baby
- David Byrne & Brian Eno – Strange Overtones
- Jay-Z – December 4th
- Neil Young – Heart of Gold
- Sufjan Stevens – Come On! Feel the Illinoise!
- Clutch – Burning Beard
- Norman Blake – You Are My Sunshine
- Phil Collins – In the Air Tonight
- The Shangri-Las – Leader of the Pack
- Portishead – The Rip
- The Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime
- Frank Sinatra – Fly Me to the Moon
- The Melvins – Youth of America
- Jimi Hendrix – Third Stone from the Sun
- Captain Ahab – Girls Gone Wild
Hope you dig it! Feel free to let us know what you would have submitted in the comments below!