behind the curve

Long ago, I resided on the bleeding edge of music. I loved "discovering" artists well before anyone else had the good sense to recognize their talent (well, other than the record label that signed them). It wasn't just embracing alternative for the sake of being alternative. I loved finding an amazing pop song a year before it hit the airwaves, and trying not to be too smug when the whole world went "Wow! This is a great song!"

Maybe it wasn't so long ago. The difference now is that my sources of music have changed. So, even though I do listen to very new music by as-yet-unknown artists, sometimes I don't even find out about something great until after the general public has already come to appreciate it.

Also a contributing factor is the way in which I listen to my music these days. Before iTunes, I would buy a CD, put it in the player, and listen track to track. Sometimes, I'd listen to it over and over and over. Now, I put all the new music I acquire into the pool and hit "shuffle." I love this feature, and believe that iTunes and shuffle are among the best innovations of the last century. That said, it has drastically altered the whole concept of an album of songs that go together.

So, I found a song last night on my iPod while I was working. After listening to it once, I switched from "shuffle all" to "repeat one," and literally listened to it 75 times. It's a marvelous catchy tune. It has wonderful lyrics. And I had already determined that I love Michael Buble's voice (a couple years ago, thankyouverymuch). But because of my shuffle tendencies, I hadn't listened to the whole of "Call Me Irresponsible." That will change.

So, in doing a little research today, I found out that everyone else found it last year. The video was uploaded to YouTube in April. The song charted at #1 in the Adult Contemporary category. And it's just been nominated for a Grammy. Wow, I'm so far out of the loop. I also found out that this song was produced by Bob Rock -- someone whose wildly eclectic music career I've embraced for 25 years. At least I'm consistent, albeit in a new, squiggly path kind of way.

Without further ado, even though you've probably seen it a hundred times and know all the words by heart, "Everything," by Michael Buble.



Fun video, too.