Monday, June 11, 2007

The son of rage and love


My hesitation with jukeboxes is having to wait to hear the songs I select. You never really know how many songs are ahead of yours, and it irks me when I pick music that gets played after I leave the bar.

I love these (relatively) new digital jukeboxes that permit bar goers to pick from an extensive selection of music.

At Beantown Pub Saturday night, 2 bucks earned me 5 songs. I should have spent 5 dollars for 14 songs, but not knowing when my songs would have been played, I didn't want to make the additional investment if we left early. If I was guaranteed to control one hour of music at the bar I'm patronizing for just 5 dollars, I would do that. Honestly, it's quite an unnecessary dilemma (it is only 5 quid), but this is how my head works.

I am a snob when it comes to music. It's a very important part of my life, and my tastes are not always mainstream. Not that I'm seeking to push loads of Gregorian chants to an unsuspecting public, but I'm most certainly not going to select The Fray and Nelly Furtado when given the option. While I would prefer to pick songs that I truly want to hear, I hedge my picks with songs I wouldn't mind, plus that I know others are fine with as well.

So, in went 2 dollars, out came 5 songs within about 15 minutes of picking them - Black Betty (kind of a fun left field rocker), Starry Eyed Surprise (which should have been a massive hit), Don't Stop Believin' (always seems to be a pleaser when drinking), and two others I'm forgetting. I know that a skipped a bunch of options because I was afraid they would be too unfamiliar.
I almost picked Jesus of Suburbia by Green Day - a great song that I would have played for the sole reason of it being over 9 minutes, thereby giving me a good bang for the buck and longer audio control. I enjoy music control.

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