So I returned to the Sputnik Music Song of the Day thingy this month. (You'll recall I dropped out last November when some particularly strange takes drove me insane.) It wasn't any big plan or anything. I just happened to glance at it, liked this month's theme, and wound up entering it. I don't know what will happen going forward. I (somewhat reluctantly) joined for April as well, but I make no promises beyond that.
I was almost sorry that I did get back involved this month. When I made a rec for the month, I didn't really plan on listening to all the songs. In fact, I was still on the 80's Cruise at the time. When I got home, I decided to start listening to and rating all the other recs, and discovered (to my horror) that most of the picks were ridiculously long. I think this was due to the theme of the month (see #1 below), but it made the whole thing kind of painful at times.
For new readers, this blog entry refers to the monthly Song of the Day list on the Sputnik Music website. Each month, one User hosts the list and names a theme. Everyone then recommends songs in line with this theme, and people rate the various song recommendations. The (partial) list of March songs can be found at Sputnik Music Song of the Day - March 2022.
If you go to that link, you'll notice a few days weren't filled in by the host at the end of the month. Sorry about that. We had a full month, he just didn't include those last few songs. They were "Walking" by Denzel Curry on March 28, "Suicide" by The Raveonettes on March 29, and "Romeo and the Lonely Girl" by Thin Lizzy on March 30. There was also a bonus pick of "Buenos Tardes Amigos" by Ween.
1. The theme of the month was Songs That Have a Narrative - those songs that have a specific story.
2. Participation was down this month - I gather that the last few months have been a little lean. (And the fact that so many of the songs in March were 15 minutes or longer probably didn't help to draw in any newbies.) Consequently, by the time the month was done, I (and several others) had three picks apiece. I went with three native Long Island artists, rec'ing "I Loved Annie First" by Tony Hightower, "What Made America Famous" by Harry Chapin and "Reason to Kill" by The Good Rats. Much to my surprise, the Harry Chapin song went over the best of the three. (I thought my fellow Users might find it a little hokey.) Tony Hightower - I Loved Annie First; Harry Chapin - What Made America Famous; The Good Rats - Reason to Kill.
3. My average score for the month wasn't that bad - 2.99 - although it was artificially inflated by a couple of songs that I rated highly. My highest rated song for the month was a classic by The Kinks - "Lola". The Kinks - Lola.
4. Unsurprisingly, "Lola" was also the song that was rated highest by the group at large. It's a classic for a reason. The Kinks - Lola.
5. I forgot until just this minute that I used to make a playlist for the entire month, so sorry about that. If you want to hear them all, you'll have to follow the individual links on the list in paragraph 3 above (and look the songs up for the 28th, 29th and 30th on YouTube. It's easy enough to do).
As I said, I'm in for SOTD for April, so I'll tell you about that next month. In the meantime, the blog is pretty up to date right now, at least until the results of this week's Prog Contest matchup come in next Saturday. So have a great week everybody, and I'll see you all soon.
