2020

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1H4Ebqa2tHLcN2TF7Q1I6H

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPXZHlD_pYLrGdBPg4HQINhZDx48F3u27   

Background: 

Roughly since Napster made it easy to find songs and CD burners made it easy to share compilations, I've been making playlists annually. Except of course I hadn't done so since December of 2019, and the list you find here was stuck in embryonic state since July of 2020 and was finally released in 2022 (with hindsight bias accordingly). 

So here is a catch-up version for 2020 -- the songs that caught my attention or that I shazamed as soon as I heard them. Most of the songs (but definitely not all) were released in 2019/2020. My sources range from Spotify (e.g., release radar, Daily Mix, etc.), to listening to various online radio stations (back then, a lot of Radio 1 most mornings), to stealing from other people's playlists. Every once in a while I'd read about a band and check them out, too.  

Editorial comments:

1. Obviously life dealt us a strong batch of heavy stuff in recent years, with the pandemic, with the passing of immediate family and those who were like family, and with my extended absence and all the distress it caused for my friends and family. In general, I am not a "thematic" person in my music - these are mostly just songs I liked, and mostly for their sound rather than for their lyrics. So if you go looking for connections or themes in the lyrics, titles, or choice of artists, good luck to you. And if you find something, please let me know, because it was certainly not intentional, but perhaps I can learn something from the result. 

2. Having said that, there are a few songs that definitely reflect the pandemic (particularly Benjamin Gibbard's Life in Quarantine), but no Johnny Cash despite thematic relevance, nor celebrities included because they died or hit the news in 2020.

3. Also no songs that evoke excessive feelings, e.g. because they were part of a recent memorial service - yes, I love the songs too, and thought they were great for the occasion, but hearing them on shuffle is still too much. Yes, I'm a bit of a coward that way.

4. Three of the songs are marked Explicit by Spotify. That's about average for my lists (even though I'm on my best behavior right now). I neither try to shock nor censor - but if you want to filter out explicit content, please follow the instructions here and Spotify will skip them during playback: https://newsroom.spotify.com/2019-10-04/how-to-filter-out-explicit-songs-on-spotify-in-a-few-quick-steps/ .

5. Still quite a few anthems. Yes, I know. 

6. Even though I'm a creature of habit, the list has only one appearance by a band I've seen more than five times (The National), and few superstars. For the record, the band I've seen the most is Nada Surf, which I've seen live 13 times, followed by Portugal. The Man (9 times), but neither one of those is on this playlist. Nor is Rush (8 times), Neil Diamond (4 times) or the Grateful Dead (5 times), which shows that my musical tastes have perhaps evolved a bit over time.

7. There are a few very-old-but-new-to-me songs on here - particularly, Fogo e Paixão by Wando (1988) and Rino Gaetano - Ma il cielo è sempre più blu (1975). 

8. This is not intended as a "greatest songs of all time" list, obviously. I like the classics as much as anyone, but I don't think I could ever settle on an ordering or even a selection. But if that's what you are looking for, NME's 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time is a decent and slightly less-than-obvious version: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ycsMKOg7CXaxcdNI36ogX?si=019f7ad213f144c3 

9. I originally had like three Jessie Reyez songs on there (first saw her at Outside Lands 2018, and loved her ever since). Despite 29 songs on the list, I did prune it down quite a bit.

10. I continue to subscribe to (and would recommend) Spotify Premium, as well as Youtube Premium (mostly so I can go "OK Google, play <song> by <artist>" while lying in bed). But no, I do not benefit from you playing any of these songs or lists.

11. Added tidbit: Google is quite good at multilingual speech recognition. So if you want a Spanish song, ask in Spanish; or if you want a Dutch song, ask in Dutch. Not sure if you need a Kiwi accent to get a Kiwi recommendation...

12. I did not make a 2021 list (as I skipped 2021 in real life). 

13. Before mix CDs and playlists, there was an occasional mix tape, but we rarely copied and shared those. But at least one recipient of this message had a thriving business doing so in high school.   

14. In case you wonder where the JXS on the list name came from: Back in the days when we put coins in video games and pinball machines, yes that was my tag in the high scores. And to further date it, the XS was because there was another Jaap who was much bigger than me (he was the XL). 

15. Feedback on the songs, list, anything appreciated.

General disclaimers:  

• Not sure how this works with digital rights in other countries - I've seen weird things on Spotify where all of a sudden songs disappear from my playlist when I'm traveling. Let me know. 

• Yes, it works fine with shuffle play. That's what I do most of the time 

• If there is a contribution that I obviously stole from you, please consider it flattery, not plagiarism

• Feel free to share with others, copy / improve / ignore / make and share your own list

• The choice of these songs does not mean that this is the only stuff I like - I have an annoyingly broad taste (not an omnivore, but definitely willing to try anything). I hope you like it, or at least discover a song or two you like through it! And I welcome your playlists, share away.