What's Not On Your iPod?

What's not on your iPod?

My friend Dave Murray has posed this question a few times. It would be a good subject for a poll of music fans, a chance to explore what seemingly essential artists one would elect personally to just skip entirely. I'd think the discussion should be limited to the plausible; you wouldn't expect a 58-year-old rockin' pop fan like me to have much--if any--current Top 40, country, metal, or hip hop in my listening queue, so that's not what we're talking about. It's also not about an iPod specifically, nor any other portable music player. It can be about the music in your head, the stuff you'd listen to when you call the shots and you make the playlist. For the sake of expedience, let's call that your iPod.

So. What's not on your iPod?

Dave and I have bounced the question back and forth for a good long time. For me, a lot of my expected pop bogeymen are on my iPod. I've got Bob Seger (I like "Get Out Of Denver," "Heavy Music," and "Hollywood Nights"). I've got The Eagles ("Take It Easy" and "Already Gone"). I've got Styx (I love both "Lorelei" and "Kiss Your Ass Goodbye"). I even have the hated REO Speedwagon ("Tough Guys"). I don't have a lot of Dylan or Springsteen, but they're there. The Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd, too. Amidst my preferred mix of Beatles, Kinks, Ramones, Flashcubes, Monkees, Chuck Berry, power pop, Motown, British Invasion, soul, bubblegum, surf, punk...well, it's all part of my preferred mix, up to and including Phil Ochs, Percy Faith, and Grandmaster Flash. It's all pop music, anyway.



What's not on my iPod? Well....

As I was listening to the radio the other day, the local airwaves reminded me of a popular classic rock act whose music always prompts me to change the station, every time. And that act is Lynyrd Skynyrd.

It's not that I hate Lynyrd Skynyrd. Lynyrd Skynyrd is in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, and it's a group that deserves to be in The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. I'm not hostile. I'm not exactly indifferent, but it's music that I just don't care to listen to. Ever. I understand its appeal. The audience for that appeal does not appeal to me.

There are, of course, many other acts whose records are likewise alien to the rich 'n' fertile playground of my iPod. There's no Frank Sinatra or Stevie Ray Vaughan. There's no Van Halen, though it's theoretically possible I would consider adding "Dance The Night Away" or "Runnin' With The Devil" someday. There's for damned sure no Dave Matthews Band; that one's probably a given. And I'd take a truncheon to the damned thing if it tried to play Kid Rock, whom I loathe. But, among worthy acts that just ain't my cuppa, Lynyrd Skynyrd tops the list of what's not on my iPod. Turn it up? Turn it off. Your iPod may vary. What's not on your iPod?




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