As I mentioned previously, I put together an album each year of my UC Davis friends’ favorite songs. Here’s last year’s album, as well as this year’s survey results and my 30 favorite songs of 2011. And here are the rules for this mix, copied from last year:
Refresher: the FC12 Music Project started when I wanted to gather favorite songs from my college roommates and their families and turn it into a CD. We lived in the 12th unit of a somewhat dingy apartment complex called Fountain Circle, hence the name of the project (FC12). So the final track listing mainly represents songs chosen by them but with some input from friends and even my students. Here’s the priority list:
- Number #1 song chosen by Fountain Circlers – 10 songs this year
- Any duplicates on top 5 lists of Fountain Circlers (meaning a song was on 2 lists) – this added 2 more songs
- 1 of the 3 most mentioned songs from all Friends – this added 1 more song (the others were already added)
- If only one song from a Fountain Circler’s list has been chosen–and they listed 5 songs–an additional song is chosen from #2 through #5 – 8 more songs, many overlaps
- 1 of the 3 most mentioned songs Overall (Friends + Students)
- Editor’s Choice (a song chosen at my discretion) – 1 more song
- Others at my discretion, based on fit, sound, smell. – 1 more song, for a total of 23.
I use #7 to kind of push the album somewhere thematically. I guess this year’s theme is Top 40, because we had a lot of entries that fit that category. Of course that’s normal, but it’s more pronounced this year than in the past. I think part of it is that I listed some prompts on the survey, including Top 100 lists that had many of the most radio-friendly songs this year. I also think this circle of friends leans more towards popular music than indie. I hang around a lot of academics now who pride themselves on finding the most obscure band or movie or book or theory or tomato breed. Not the case with my college friends. And I’m not saying one way is better than the other, because there isn’t a better way to listen to music. If you like it, and it makes you feel better, then listen to it.
One of the benefits of have popular songs on the list is that I don’t have to include the whole song. You’ve heard “Rolling in the Deep.” You’ve heard “Paradise.” So this allowed me to include a few extra songs by making a “radio sampler” of sorts–see song 7 below. Anyway, here we go!
1. Tune-Yards, “My Country” – Andrew #1
2. The Black Keys, “Howlin’ For You” – Nadia #2
3. The Head and The Heart, “Lost in My Mind” – Stacy #1 and Dan #3
4. Foster The People, “Pumped Up Kicks” – Diana #1, Evie #1, Stacy #5 and People’s Choice #1
We are now entering the “Radio Friendly” section of the mix. Evie loves this song.
5. Florence + The Machine, “Shake It Out” – Norris Family #1
6. Adele, “Set Fire to The Rain” – Heather #1
7. Radio Sampler
Black Eyed Peas, “Just Can’t Get Enough” – Blake #5
Britney Spears, “Till The World Ends” – Heather #2
Coldplay, “Paradise” – Stacy #3, Heather #4, Blake #4, Brian #6, and People’s Choice #4
Adele, “Rolling In The Deep” – People’s Choice #2 (tie)
Most of you have certainly heard these songs before, so I just included snippets to get more songs on the album. I made sure none of these songs were anybody’s #1 choice.
8. An instrumental version of the first 15 seconds “Let Her Cry” by Hootie and the Blowfish.
“But this song is so old?” Let me explain. Do you see those four songs above? Heather, my wife, likes to sing songs and get them stuck in my head. Those four songs (especially “Just Can’t Get Enough”) are merely a sample of her live earworm catalog. In addition, she likes to respond to…anything, really, by saying “your face.” As in:
“Heather, what should I get from the store?”
“Your face.”
“Heather, what should I put on Evie’s pizza?”
“Your face.”
“Heather, what time is it?”
“Your face.”
In order to respond to these habits, I started doing what I knew would annoy her more than anything in the world: singing post-alternative 90’s songs in a Darius Rucker/guy from Creed/person from Nickelback voice. Heather lumps them all together anyway. Really, “Let Her Cry” (cover version by Andrew Ishak), should be my song of the year. Putting 15 seconds on this mix gives me the chance to sing it often.
SHE SITS ALOOOOOOONE BY A LAMPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOST
9. Katy Perry, “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” – Brett’s “Guilty Pleasure” Selection
We’ve all given Brett a lot of heat for choosing Lady Gaga, Britney, and Katy Perry in the past. We actually like that he chooses those songs because it kind of fits the Brett narrative we all know, but he admits that he felt pressured to choose those songs for the very same reason. So this year would be different.
Look, Brett putting a song in the “guilty pleasure” category is like Paula Deen putting a recipe in the “Contains Butter” section of a cookbook. Like he must really secretly love this song if he put it in this category. Brett, I know where your secret garden is. This is the song you wanted on here. So it’s here now.
10. Maroon 5, “Moves Like Jagger” – Nadia #1 and Diana #5
11. Bruno Mars, “It Will Rain” – Brian #1 and Diana #4
Now seems like a good time to mention that this song is on the new Twilight soundtrack.
12. My Morning Jacket, “Holdin On To Black Metal” – Andrew #2
13. Foo Fighters, “Rope” – Dan #1
Right in the middle of the RAWK section. I LOVED the Foo in my younger days. I’m glad Dan chose this.
14. Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Brendan’s Death Song” – Brett #1
15. Teddy Thompson, “Delilah” – The Norris Family #2
We’re entering the love song section…
16. Amos Lee, “Flower” – Dan #4
17. Adele, “Someone Like You” – Blake #1, Diana #2, Stacy #4, and People’s Choice #2 (tie)
Who’s crying already?
18. Coldplay, “U.F.O.” – Andrew #3
Was going to be my Editor’s Choice but we had space for it. My selections were really short this year.
19. Justin Bieber, “Never Let You Go” – Brian’s Bieber selection
Heather and I were watching TV last night and noticed his voice is starting to drop. In all seriousness, good luck Mr. Bieber.
20. Brandon Heath, “It’s No Good to Be Alone” – Editor’s Choice
It’s not!