Look! Something genuinely useful on MySpace!

I soon discovered a frequent companion to my cigarette purchases when I tried the vitaminwater with the white cap on it. I'm not crazy about some of the flavors and I usually opted for the XXX flavor (acai, blueberry, and pomegranate) until the white-capped sync flavor (described as "berry-cherry") began showing up in the coolers at the gas stations.

Normally, there's some sort of throwaway copy on the bottles that's supposed to induce a chuckle, but one evening while sitting in a court-ordered group therapy session where one person was blathering on about whatever it was that struck them as an injustice, I actually read the thing and how the MySpace music promotion worked.

Now, I'm not exactly a serial downloader of music. And I certainly haven't spent as much on actual purchases of compact discs in recent years—at least not when compared to how I was a decade ago.

But I was almost always drinking vitaminwater—and as of late, more of this sync stuff.

So I decided that while the bottle caps just contained another alphanumeric code that I see on the bottom of every cap for every other beverage I consume and then throw away without a second thought, I actually began saving the sync caps.

Before I knew it, I had 10.

Now, while my initial hope was just to go and download many of the same songs I had at one time or another used for my profile, the site instead directs you to Amazon.com's music page. And while that initially caused a little bit of concern, it instead proved to be totally hassle-free.

Better yet, each cap earns you roughly a buck and a half in credit, while most downloads are priced at $0.99.

So before we get to how my trial run went, seeing as how I'm still drinking this stuff and still collecting caps, I'm also running low on ideas. Or maybe I'm just eager to ask for suggestions (E-MAIL: murtskered [at] gmail [dot] com). It's getting fun making new mix CDs, like I was in high school again or something.

That said, here's the initial playlist that made me giddy:


I think the track arrangement is pretty obvious; I simply went shortest to longest—and it actually worked out pretty well:

• "Blue Orchid" was actually the first song I downloaded because I for some reason still unknown to me do not own "Get Behind Me Satan." The White Stripes are a band I was slow to come around to, but I'll stand by my assertion that their more recent work is superior to the early material I wasn't as enthusiastic about—although both the video and the actual song, "Fell In Love With A Girl," were legendary, of course.
• The Strokes version of "Mercy Mercy Me" was downloaded mostly just because it's The Strokes and that's good enough for me. It's not my favorite cover song of the moment (and that would've been the first thing I downloaded had they actually had it), but overall, I think the band's version is effective.
• I haven't bought a Weezer disc since the green album, but I'm almost always a fan of their singles and "Troublemaker" is one that can rival the enthusiasm I had for "Buddy Holly."
• Keane's "Is It Any Wonder?" was one of the few songs I actually liked hearing at work. Initially, I related to the lyrics and applied them to my own failed relationship at the time, only to learn that it's actually about the Iraq War.
• The first song transition that made me smirk was the ending line from Keane asking, "Is it any wonder that I feel betrayed?" and led to the synth groan of "Shoulda Known" from Atmosphere that Robert Christgau called beatmaster Ant's "catchiest hook in years." Indeed. Another album I need to buy (just because the title alone is flat-out awesome), as evidenced by the other Atmosphere track I downloaded, "Your Glass House."
• Digitalism's "Pogo" has always been a song I've been a fan of since I first heard it on a year-end mix my friend makes every Christmas. I even made it the profile song for my website's own MySpace page and have no intention of ever changing it. Instant good mood, every time. Wolf Parade's "Shine A Light" also comes courtesy of the damaged year-end disc a friend made a few years back.
• The Chicago Blackhawks really couldn't have picked a better song to be played after every goal the team scored than "Chelsea Dagger." Jeff Cagle posted the Fratellis on his Tumblr each time the Hawks won in the playoffs and while I never once grew tired of hearing the tune, I'm hoping we can actually get it posted 16 times for next year's Stanley Cup.
• Much like that Wings cover by the Foo Fighters I linked to, I especially wanted to find Franz Ferdinand's cover of Gwen Stefani's "What You Waiting For?"—but no such luck. I did however manage to grab the band's version of Blondie's "Call Me," which definitely ain't bad.
• Death Cab For Cutie's "Soul Meets Body" mirrors the Keane tune in that I also discovered the song at work and the song leads into an Atmosphere selection—a transition also mildly amusing with the repeated "melody softly soaring through my atmosphere" leading to the band of that name.
• Another justification via title alone, this time from Hayes Carll: "She Left Me For Jesus"
• And lastly, the disc ends with T. Rex's "Jeepster," which was a tune I came across on Tumblr and just found myself playing repeatedly.
  

So obviously the first disc here was composed moslty of songs found through Tumblr, work and old mixes made by friends. The second disc took a little bit of a different twist, which I'll get to next time. And as for the third, well that, dear reader, is where you come in.

Until then, I'll just be sitting here drinking this damned pinkish-purple beverage, collecting caps and enjoying the tunes.