Show Me Your Playlist . . .

June 4, 2017
By: O. J. Cunningham

You can tell a lot about someone by just looking at their playlist -- whether it was created using either Amazon, Spotify or even Pandora.

Although I started with Pandora, I have been using Amazon Prime Music exclusively since I threw down the $99 for Amazon Prime 2-day shipping. It's been quite a few years now.

My first actual online experience with the music industry came during the NAPSTER era. I remember "burning" disks full of the Eagles, the Beatles, the BeeGees and Phil Collins for anybody ready to travel for an extended road trip.

The first playlist I ever made was a "walking" playlist that only included songs that played at exactly 122 beats per minute (BPM). I was using a treadmill to prepare to walk in the St. Pat's Parade in Bay City. And . . . 120 BPM was the perfect pace to walk (for me) to finish the 3-mile walk in under 60 minutes.

Tom Petty's "I won't back down."

John Mellencamp's "Lonely Old Night"

The Guess Who's "No Time"

Crosby, Stills Nash & Young's "Woodstock."

You get the idea.

I've got three other playlists that I listen to regularly . . . Either driving on long trips or just sitting in the sun on a warming summer morning.

Big Hair (Yup . . . All 80's . . . (Pour Some Sugar on Me)

Dylan (65 Bob Dylan Songs)

Girls, Girls (All-Girl Rock Groups)

Vail (SKI Colorado -- Years Ago)

Funny . . . How each of these lists seems to represent (for me, anyway) a specific "happy" period of my adult life.

Just to be clear, I grew up in the 60's and then listened to "Classic Oldie" station most of my life. I didn't make the leap to "RAP" and I never really got into Country until I started hanging around with Josh Sharrow and his online radio gig.

Your playlist says a lot about you.

If you know someone special, create a playlist for them.

And if you can't . . . Maybe you don't know them as well as you think you do.