Music Monday: Spotify Reveals My Failure to Evolve

Blogging, humor, lessons learned, music, passion, rankings 2 Minutes

Spotify recently released a top 100 playlist for each user, showing what songs that person listened to the most during the past year.

Here is a screenshot of the top 10 songs on my list. (Note – it is just a screenshot, you cannot click on any of the songs.)

With the exception of a comedy bit from Sebastian Maniscalco and the song FourFiveSeconds by Rihanna, Kanye West, and Paul McCartney, the rest of the songs are from the 1970s.

Six years ago I wrote a post about how my musical tastes are stuck in the 70s, and apparently, nothing has changed in the interim.

There’s nothing on the list that embarrasses me; to me, they are all classic songs.

The one song that it is likely that no one has ever heard of is Second Avenue by Tim Moore. I wrote a post about Tim, also six years ago, and here is an excerpt:

I was in high school when I first heard of Tim, and was lucky to see him perform a few times (including at the legendary Main Point in Bryn Mawr, PA). I brought all of his albums with me to college, and was able to introduce his music to my fellow swimmers and dorm-mates.

When I look back on things, I often wonder why he never became a household name; he obviously had the talent and determination.

My guess is that it comes down to the importance of luck/timing, or whatever you want to call it. Being in the right place at the right time or making the right connection at the right time, plays a key role in everyone’s success.

Tim was from the Philly area, and the house where he wrote Second Avenue is about 15 minutes from where I live. Of course, I have driven past it, hoping some of that magic will rub off on me.

One of the things I plan to do when I break Cal Ripken’s record is to start sharing some of my older posts, when nobody was following my blog. Since I only had 50 followers after four and a half years of daily blogging, that means I’ve got potentially over 1,500 old blog posts to share. The post about Tim will definitely be one of those…

Here is the song Second Avenue; you may have heard Art Garfunkel’s version of it, which is also a nice version. But I think Tim’s is much better.

*top image from Express

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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87 thoughts on “Music Monday: Spotify Reveals My Failure to Evolve”

  7. I’m familiar with all except Tim Moore and the comedy bit. I may have to investigate that. I take pride in having a few less popular favorites that everyone else is unfamiliar with. Hotel California would definitely be on my Top 10 list too.

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  10. Love #8 and virtually everything of Cat Stevens. I’m stuck in the 60s with a smattering of the 90s “House” music my kids loved during THEIR university days.

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      1. It certainly makes it interesting when I’m talking about The Prodigy with my 42 year old daughter witnessed by a few of our co-retired neighbours. It gets even more funny when I put on a YouTube video of them 😂😂

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    1. I guess that’s true. but there are a few people who seem to stay up with the current music scene. I’m just not one of them!

      and your list would probably have lots of country music in it after you took that course!

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  12. your list is solid and nothing to be ashamed of. i think we seek our certain music as our ‘go-to’s’ even as we dabble in new music. apparently, i am a late 60s to early 80s listener, pretty consistently, and accept my embarrassing favorites with pride, such a my monkees fandom all the way to my overindulgence in the flashdance soundtrack.

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  13. A good list – mostly! You introduced me to Tim Moore but I’m afraid I didn’t really take to him, sorry. I don’t know the comedy record but the real question for me is how the **** did Rihanna and Kanye West get in there! I think my own list might have a 60s and 70s bias too, if I used Spotify – Eagles and Beatles would feature a lot.

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    1. but Paul McCartney was with Rihanna and Kanye as well! I think it’s the only song I know by either of those two, but I thought it was quite catchy. I wrote a blog post about a while ago.

      by the way, I started watching the Beatles documentary on the Disney channel – so far, so good…

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      8. now I’ll be on the lookout for these hidden clues with all your comments. I have to admit that I did not see any in this comment, but I decided to search different phrases, and I discovered I’ve Got a Feeling was a Beatles song. Not one I was familiar with…

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  15. He has a beautiful voice. It’s a shame he didn’t make it big.

    My typical most listened to music list ranges from 60s to 80s, with a few contemporary titles. Over the past few years, I’ve added modern country to it (thanks to my son). My daughter keeps telling me I need to move on, but I’m happy with my choices. Good music never goes out of style.

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  16. I remember buying “Second Avenue” but it was the Art Garfunkel version. I had no idea it was Philadelphia, always assumed it was NY. But I’m a Brit, what do I know?

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    1. I’m not sure if Second Avenue was any specific spot, but I do know he wrote it while living in the Philadelphia suburbs.

      and I think as a general rule, it seems like Brits know a lot more about music than I do!

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  18. Eli got his list from spotify a couple of weeks ago. I was proud that his most listened to bands were 1) The Clash, 2) The Beatles, 4) The Ramones. These are probably my top 3. His #3 band was the Stones, which I can respect as well. I’d love to get a rundown of the music I most listen to. Surprisingly (and depressingly) for 2021 it’s probably the Sex Pistols. I went though a minor obsession this year. A book I recommend to anyone who has more than a passing interest in rock music is Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornsby. I really enjoyed it. The movie is excellent as well, but it doesn’t delve into music obsession like the book.

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    1. that’s a pretty good list, and I can see your influence!

      thanks for the book rec – I really liked your last one – Hearts in Atlantis – so I am sure this is a good one as well…

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  19. You do have some good songs on the list. The others ones I don’t know. But not surprised that your list hasn’t changed. I enjoy hearing new music but I still have a solid list of my favorites that don’t really change. Songs that are wrapped up with memories.

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  20. Spotify’s marketing plan is pretty on point. They really hit it out of the park with this ‘personalised year in review’ thing. I myself find my playlist evolving year after year. This year I’ve listened to a lot of Blackpink, even though I’m totally not a K-pop person, lol. I guess Spotify knows more about me than I do.

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  25. He is really good! Actually, he reminds me of James Taylor. What a shame he didn’t make it. Jim, I look forward to your old posts. I have many early on that I feel the same way. So, reblog those posts!

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