7 Song Halloween Playlist LISTMANIA

Boo! 


Happy Halloween Gouhls and Boys! 

Today we are gonna keep it short and sweet with another Halloween music post that you can bump at all of your parties today and for the rest of the Halloween season! 

Herc has definitely pulled out all the stops for this playlist MANIA!  He's unstoppable.


Herc's Halloween Playlist MANIA
 
HALLOWEEN PLAYLIST MANIA


7 Songs with the word “DEVIL” in the title“Devil Inside” - INXS
“Sympathy For The Devil” - The Rolling Stones
“The Devil Went Down To Georgia” - Charlie Daniels Band
“Running With The Devil” - Van Halen
“Shout At The Devil” - Motley Crue
“Devil Woman” - Cliff Richard
“(You’re The) Devil In Disguise” - Elvis Presley


7 Novelty Songs from the 50s and 60s“Monster Mash - Bobby “Boris” Pickett
“Purple People Eater” - Sheb Wooley
“Haunted House” - Jumpin’ Gene Simmons
“Transfusion” - Nervous Norvus
“Frankenstein of ‘59” - Buchanan & Goodman
“They’re Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” - Napoleon XIV
“Witch Doctor” - David Seville


7 Songs about the Female of the Species“Evil Woman” - Electric Light Orchestra
“Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen” - Santana
“Maneater” - Hall & Oates
“A Girl Like You” - Edwyn Collins
“Season of The Witch” - Donovan
“Little Miss Dangerous” - Ted Nugent
“Spooky” - Atlanta Rhythm Section


7 “KILLER” Songs“Riders On The Storm” - The Doors
“Psycho Killer” - Talking Heads
“Night Prowler” - AC/DC
“Red Right Hand” - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds
“Killer Queen” - Queen
“Killer In The Home” - Adam & the Ants
“Murder By Numbers” - The Police


7 80s Songs“A Nightmare On My Street” - DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince [1988]
“Haunted House Of Rock” - Whodini [1983]
“Thriller” - Michael Jackson [1982]
“Ghostbusters” - Ray Parker, Jr. [1984]
“Cry Little Sister” - Gerard McMann [1987]
“Weird Science” - Oingo Boingo [1985]
“Somebody’s Watching Me” - Rockwell [1984]


7 Cover Songs“Abracadabra” - Sugar Ray
“I’m Your Boogie Man” - White Zombie
“Summer Breeze” - Type O Negative
“Last Kiss” - Pearl Jam
“Tainted Love” - Marilyn Manson
“Thriller” - Ian Brown
“Ain’t It Fun” - Guns N Roses


7 Sinister Sounding Songs“Gimme Shelter” - The Rolling Stones
“(Don’t) Fear The Reaper” - Blue Oyster Cult
“How Soon Is Now?” - The Smiths
“Mama” - Genesis
“Lullaby” - The Cure
“White Rabbit” - Jefferson Airplane
“Love Bites” - Judas Priest

Listmania! Spotify Edition!

Hey!  

Do you Spotify yet?  How can you be a fan of music and not know what spotify is?  Better yet, how can you read this blog and not spotify?

Herc puts a spotify playlist on all of his music monday posts and any of them that he thinks are worthy of a playlist.  Even my brownie post has a playlist.  You are missing out of half of the experience of his posts by not using the spotify links.

So, for those of you losers who aren't spotify-ing Herc has put together this Listmania! on all things spotify. Who's not on it, what to listen to, if its right for you, etc.  Join spotify, ya'll.  You'll thank us later.  For the rest of the post, I give you, Herc himself:

Image borrowed from here.

7 Questions To Help You Decide If Spotify Is Right For You

1)  Do you enjoy waiting to hear the music you want to hear, when and where you want to hear it rather than typing in a song title and hearing it immediately, anywhere within cell or wi-fi range?(Dev says: Think of it as try before you buy!)

2)  Do you enjoy trying to navigate buggy, difficult to use, resource intensive software rather than intuitive, familiar and easy to use programs and applications?(Your grandma could figure it out...)

3)  Do you prefer a limited selection of songs to listen to rather than a mammoth 15 million song library that adds another 15,000 songs each and every day?(Its almost too much music, I have maxed out my allotted time more than once...)

4)  Do you have an infinite amount of storage for your digital music collection rather than just a hard drive or smart phone?(No, Mr. Herc, I do not.  You have a valid point here.)

5)  Do you think the best way to share the music you are listening to is to drive down the street with your windows rolled down and the volume turned up rather than sending a simple link to an entire playlist?(My neighbors do!)

6)  Do you prefer to listen to music chosen by other people or computers rather than actively participating in your listening experience?(Don't encourage the machine takeover...)

7)  Do you think listening to music should be a complicated, mind-numbing hassle rather than a joyful, never-ending journey?(Music should not be work...)

If you answered “Yes” to any of these questions, Spotify may not be for you.  [Full disclosure: Herc answered “yes” to number 5 and he’s so Spotify.]  

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7 Artists Not on Spotify...Yet

The Beatles

John Lennon

AC/DC

Metallica

Bob Seger

Led Zeppelin

Pink Floyd has only a live album so it doesn’t count

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7 Reasons Spotify Sucks (Not)

• The commercials are jarring and disorienting. (It’s a choice you make - let the ads support Spotify or you support Spotify.)
• Your favorite artist isn’t on there. (Yet. But you own the CDs.) 
• There is no music discovery feature.  (There is no guided discovery.  If you can’t discover new music in a library of over 15 million songs, that’s on you.) 
• Difficult to use search. (Until you learn how.) 
• The artists don’t get paid enough.  (That’s between them and their label - Spotify pays the label.) 
• Free mobile app is useless unless you pay for Premium service.  (But it is pretty cool once you do.) 
• It’s not Pandora/Slacker/Mog/Rdio/Rhapsody/iTunes or some other program you’ve grown accustomed to using.  (It’s actually a little bit of all those and so much, much more.)

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7 Spotify Tips, Tricks, Hints, Hacks and Add-Ons

• Press Ctrl+G when listening to a multi-album or multi-artist playlist to display album art for each album. 
• When someone shares a playlist with you or when you import a playlist from outside Spotify and you want to keep it in your library for future listens, just press the Subscribe button.  And because the playlists are dynamic and eternal, all future additions will automagically appear as well. 
• Press Page Down one or more times after performing a search to fetch more results. 
• Go HERE to see how many tracks there are on Spotify.  As I type this, Spotify’s population is 15,643,093 which is roughly 16,000 more than yesterday. 
• Unhappy with the sound of your Spotify stream?  And a ten-band graphic equalizer and tweakify it.  Equalify. 
• Because listening to Spotify is best done with a playlist, find and listen to thousands of playlists at sharemyplaylists.com 
• Add your music, the music already on your hard drive, to Spotify by pressing Ctrl+P and selecting or adding sources under Local Files (when you first launch Spotify after installing, it attempts to do this for you automatically but it only looks in predetermined places)

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7 Super Sweet Spotify Playlists

Listening to Spotify is not like listening to Slacker, Pandora or any other radio station because you choose the music, you make the playlist, it’s all you - no scientific, demographic or robotic help.  And, after all, who knows what you like better than you?  No one.  Still interested but at a loss as to what you want to listen to?  Here are seven playlists made by others (Herc included) to get you started.  Don’t say Herc never did anyhting for you.  There may come a day, some day, when Herc may reach out to you for a favor.

New Releases On Spotify - USA

Girl Talk's Playlist for Vulture

The Biggest Chill - A Motown 100

Topsify US HOT 40

Yacht Rock

Feel Good - All About The Music

Probably The Greatest Year Ever In Music!!!

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7 Artists [You Might Not Heard Of Yet] To Check Out On Spotify

Herc’s not gonna try to paint you a pretty picture here, with facts and anecdotes.  He’s just gonna give you a playlist for each artist, let you wade in and see if you sink or swim.  Herc swims in the music of these artists.  He hopes you find something you can use as an audio floatation device.

Cut Copy

The Feeling

The Whitlams

Little Big Town

The Cool Kids

Lewis Taylor

Carney

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7 MORE Spotify Tips, Tricks, Hints, Hacks and Add-Ons

• Clicking on an artist’s name in Spotify takes you the Overview screen.  Most of them feature an Artist Radio tab.  What sets Spotify’s Radio apart from other services?  It always starts with songs by your chosen artist AND you can skip an unlimited number of tracks to find something you like, either forward or backward.  (Try that on Pandora.) 
• Playlistify allows to convert your iTunes, winamp, YouTube and other playlists into Spotify playlists. 
• Bringing up a shared playlist in Spotify gives you access to the list curator’s user name.  If you click on it, all of their published playlists will appear and you can subscribe to those as well. 
• To create a collaborative playlist, right-click on any playlist you’ve created (it won’t work on playlists others have created) and select Collaborative Playlist.  Then share the link with whoever (as many as you want) you want to collaborate with and watch the changes happen in real time.  Keep in mind that songs can be added AND deleted. 
• In Play Que view there’s a History tab.  This shows everything you’ve played in your current Spotify session which is helpful for those of us with short memories.  Similarly, in What’s New view, there is a Top List tab which you can view in a variety of configurations such as everywhere, a specific country or “for me”, your personal Top List. 
• “Starring” a song or an album automatically puts in the Starred playlist, which you can then review and create other playlists from.  You can easily unstar as well. 
• Library is basically the whole enchilada: all your imported Local Files, every song you’ve ever added to a playlist and all your Starred music.

There you have Herc's Listmania on Spotify!  Hopefully now you are signed up for Spotify and eagerly awaiting your invitation to join!  Any questions on Spotify?  Herc is the master and will answer them.  Ask away in the comments!

Listmania! Seven MORE Harry Potter Sevens

Welcome to my last Harry Potter Week post.  I had an amazing time coming up with these, and I got a little carried away.  I though about saving them for the future but eventually decided a listmania approach was the only approach.  Without any further ado, please enjoy Seven MORE Harry Potter Sevens:

#1 Seven Of My Most Hated/Least Favorite Characters In The Harry Potter Series:

• Percy Weasley.  He's a Weasley, so he should be a shoe-in for my love.  Not so.  He's a pompous know it all who fights from the wrong side too many times to count.  Boooooooo!
• Draco Malfoy.  Him and his father Lucius just look like slimy evil guys.  Used car salesmen come to mind...
• Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort/He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.  Ummm...duh.
• Professor Severus Snape.  What a mean teacher!  Never liked/trusted HP, just his late mother.  I'm still deliberationg on some of Snape's decisions despite his ultimate loyalties. 
• Vernon Dursley.  Made HP live in a closet under the stairs.  Made HP's life hell for most of his life.  Lied to Harry. Blamed Harry.  Also he's Dudley's father and that is almost unforgivable.
• Dobby & Kreacher the Elves.Yes, I know some people adore the elves.  Not me.  In the movies and the book I happened to find them SO SO SO annoying.  Dobby especially.  I get that he loves Harry and dies for him evntually.  For this I am thankful, but if he were 1% less annoying I might like him. 
• Scabbers/Wormtail/Peter Pettigrew.  A rat indeed! Lived life as Ron's pet for many years.  Responsible for helping Voldemort return to power that fateful night.  Jerk.

#2  Devyn's Seven Favorite Characters in the Harry Potter Series:

• Harry P.  Duh. He's the hero.  We travel through his teens and experience the highs and lows.  The happy and the sad.  If you can read these books and not feel attached to HP, you have issues.
• Hermione G.  She was like a sister to HP and their time alone in the forest proved that.  Plus the future Mrs. Weasley was just too smart to not like. 
• Ron W.  The sidekick to the hero is often the best part of any story.  Ron is the best dude!  I need a Ron in my life. 
• Oliver W.  Oliver Wood.  Cute, athletic, older.  I fell in love with him through JKR's beautiful, although brief, words.  The movies made my passion grow even further.  I sill have quite the soft spot for him...
• Neville L.  I always root for the awkward nerd.  Being one myself, I can relate.  Plus he's a perpetual ally to Harry and fights the good fight all the way!  A hero.
• Albus D.   Another Duh.  He is the greatest wizard that ever lived.  Period.
• Rubeus H.  A lovable teddy bear.  Literally the size of a bear.  Lovable all the same! 

#3  Seven English Words I Learned From the Harry Potter Series(and what I think they mean?):

• mate(friend/pal)
• bloody(general adjective)
• barking(mad/crazy/nuts)
• bogey(booger)
• bung(to toss or throw)
• starky(naked)
• git(jerk)

#4  Seven Spells From The Harry Potter Series That Would Make Life Easier :

• Alohomora.  No need for keys anymore, this spell opens locks and doors.
• Tergeo.  Scrubs things clean.  Tergeo car, kitchen, bathroom and shoe collection!
• Accio.  Brings things to you, the ultimate lazy spell.  I'd never get up.  Accio Remote.  Accio Cookies.  Accio Dr. Pepper.
• Incendio.  Starts a fire.  Got a wand? That means you also have a heat source, grill, and light!
• Point Me.  Compass broken?  You never had a compass?  Thank goodness you have a wand!
• Sonorus.  Like a magical bullhorn for your very own voice box.  Makes you loud!
• Wingardium Leviosa.  This one lets you levitate items.  One recent re-read of the books made me think to myself "self, this would really help when you vaccuum the house".  Nerd Alert.

#5  Seven Things The HP Movies Did Well(according to me!):

• Casting Ron Weasley.  His faces and expressions MAKE the movies.
• Music.  Captures Magic.
• Casting Harry Potter.  Spot on, as they might say.
• Hogwarts.  Castle on the outside, mansion inside, all done on a soundstage
• Faces to names.  Helped with the creatures and the lesser known characters.
• Pronunciation of all of JKR's made up words . Thanks!
• Casting Hermione Granger.  I bet she is just like her character...

#6  Seven Food Items From The Harry Potter Series I Want To Eat/Drink:

• pumpkin juice
• treacle tart
• bertie bott's every flavour beans
• chocolate frogs
• butterbeer
• crumpets
• mint humbugs  

#7  Seven Magical Modes Of Transportation I Want To Try:

• Hogwarts Express caught at platform 9-3/4.
• Apparating.
• Mr Weasley's bewitched car.
• Floo powder
• portkey
• brooms
• the Knight Bus

I could get lost on the HP wikipedia page. The infinite HP worlds online, and the numerous fan websites.  But for right now, I need to deal with the fact that the last movie is out and we still have a while to wait for Pottermore. 





And before you ask, of course I saw the movie at midnight last night.  Like you even had to ask.