Toronto Mike

Music

Total 776 Posts

Duplicate Songs

When you've got 1275 discs ripped to MP3, you're going to have some duplicate songs.  iTunes makes it easy to isolate these dupes, so I can tell you that if I just played such songs I could could listen non-stop for eight days.  As a random example, I have The
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Nirvana? Nevermind...

Remember when Courtney Love sold 25% of her share in Nirvana's publishing catalog?  My greatest fear was that "Smells Like Teen Spirit" might end up in a girls deodorant commercial.  That's not happening yet, but a Nirvana track has been licensed for advertising purposes for the first time ever. 2K
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Remember Meryn Cadell?

Back in 1991, Meryn Cadell released an album called Angel Food For Thought.  An unlikely hit single came from that album and the video for "The Sweater" aired regularly on MuchMusic.  It's not your typical hit, it's a monologue over top a beat, but it worked. I haven't thought about
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The Exclusion of Drive

I'm not a completist, but I own a handful of R.E.M. albums.  I've always liked the band and enjoyed their radio singles.  I was happy to add In Time - The Best of R.E.M. 1988-2003 to my collection, but it's always bothered me that it's missing
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Chris Cornell Quits Audioslave

In my recent Edge analysis I referred to the upcoming Rage Against the Machine reunion.  The RATM reunion might be more than a one off for Coachella.  Chris Cornell has quit Audioslave. "Due to irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences, I am permanently leaving the band Audioslave. I
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Don't Stand So Close to Me

I've never liked The Police.  They're reuniting to open the 49th Annual Grammy Awards and I couldn't care less. I've tried to like their music, mainly because I love Sting's contribution to one of my favourite Simpsons episodes, Radio Bart.  He was so good in that amazing ep, I've been
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Crazy Mary

I've always liked a good cover.  There's something about a familiar song being interpreted by another band that I dig.  About five years ago we in the SLS committee threw together Cover Me Badd, 18 of our favourite new rock style covers of the day.  Just a couple of years
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Anna Molly Is A Megalomaniac

I'm have the same reaction to Incubus' "Anna Molly" that I had to their 2003 single "Megalomaniac".  Allow me to explain. I was fairly indifferent to both songs when I first heard them.  They sounded okay, but nothing special.  Then, after a certain number of listens, because 102.1 plays
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Jeff Healey's Guitar Gently Weeps

I was just reading that George Harrison's handwritten lyrics to "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" were sold for $300,000 US.  That's one of my favourite Beatles songs.  Heck, I even loved Jeff Healey's cover of that tune. I always liked Jeff Healey.  I had the 45 single for "Confidence
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Isn't It Ironic... Don't You Think?

The weekly quiz in yesterday's Star asked who had won more Juno awards: Alanis Morissette or Gordon Lightfoot.  The answer, unfortunately, is Morissette.  I got it right because year's of trivia have taught me it's always the harder to believe answer with questions like that. Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" was a
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Long May You Run

The older I get, the more I find myself listening to Neil Young.  I first really got into Neil Young in 1989 when "Rockin' in the Free World" broke on Q107.  Prior to that, I was only familiar with Neil Young's classic hits like "Heart of Gold", "Ohio" and "Old
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A Sampling Sport

My appreciation for James Brown comes directly from Public Enemy.  Sure, I dig a James Brown song or two, I own The CD of JB (Sex Machine & Other Soul Classics), but I prefer my JB sampled by PE. I mentioned yesterday the dominance of James Brown samples in the
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My Ten Favourite Song References to A Canadian Place

Yesterday I wrote about songs that reference Canada.  I promised I'd share my ten favourite musical references to my home and native land.  Here are my top ten with apologies to Stompin' Tom Connors. "Bobcaygeon" by The Tragically Hip - I'm starting this list with Bobcaygeon because it's a village
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Songs That Reference Canada

There's an interesting discussion going on at Ask MetaFilter.  Someone wanted to know "What pop songs mention Canada, or a place or city in Canada?"  That question was custom made for me. I piped in three times, suggesting tunes from The Tragically Hip, Rush, Neil Young, Guess Who, Barenaked Ladies,
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Who the Hell is Pete Doherty?

Sometimes you know someone but you're not sure why.  For me, that's the case with Pete Doherty. I'm always reading about this Pete Doherty and his drug addiction, relationship with models and troubles with the law.  If it were Shannen Doherty, I'd understand all the press, but who the hell
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Wonderful Walking Weather

I hope you got out today because I doubt we'll see a weekend as nice for quite a while.  The weather was just perfect, warm enough for the kids and I to go on a great walk through Etienne Brule Park.  Here's a photoset of pics taken on a journey.
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Chill Songs

My mom called me tonight to tell me it's going to be chilly on Sunday.  That's the day of the Santa Claus Parade and I'm taking the kids.  I'm hoping Mother Nature has a change of heart and it's balmy on Sunday because a long wait with a four year
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Not Ready To Make Nice

Over the years, I've been rather harsh on The Dixie Chicks.  Both my wife and mom are big fans and that's how their albums found their way into my collection.  I've had a little fun with this musical interest of theirs, I just don't dig their sound. Although I still
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Looking Up Underwhelmed

The second Friday Five I ever threw on this site was My Favourite Sloan Songs.  At the top of that list was "Underwhelmed" from Smeared.  When I composed Ten Canadian Tracks that I felt collectively epitomize the spirit of Canadian music, "Underwhelmed" was on that short list.  Clearly, I dig
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Everything I Long For

Driving home from Chudleigh's Farm the other day, I had the MP3 player on shuffle.  Back to back we heard Neil Young's "Cowgirl in the Sand" and Hayden's "Bad As They Seem".  Hearing these two Canadian artists back to back reminded me of a prediction I made upon hearing Hayden's
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