By David Gracey
For generations, scientists, politicians and Starbucks baristas have argued about which decade produced the best music. Any reasonable person would agree that the 1980s gave birth to the best mix of pop and rock music. Not only that, the ‘80s graced us with the mullet, parachute pants (I can still fit into my red ones if I fast for 40 days and don’t breathe) and break dancing.
But recently, the argument became “settled science” (don’t get me started) when my 16-year-old son (the definition of coolness) told me (the definition of coolness-less) that “the best music was from the ‘80s.” There you have it. Scientists around the world sighed in relief and have moved on. Alex had a new appreciation for me when I told him that every day was just like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” except for weekends, which were like “The Breakfast Club” when you got caught.
One recent Saturday, my 14-year-old daughter (highly combustible element) found me crying over my moth-eaten box of CDs from the 80s. I was sad that all that great music was trapped on those plastic discs and my new car (see “Intergalactic Spaceboat of Light and Wonder”) had no way to play them. Apparently no one buys CDs anymore, which explains why I couldn’t find the Tower Records store at Lenox Mall recently (apparently they closed in 2006). Gillian (stable when mixed with 2 parts chocolate and 1 part clothes shopping) suggested that I try an online music service where I could listen to any song, from any artist, anytime I wanted…for FREE! I assumed this was too good to be true, so I jumped at the chance and began my magical adventure into the land of Spotify.
Spotify is a music service that you can run (that’s “click twice”, Cynthia) from a computer or iPhone/Android app. Once you set up your free account, you can select pre-loaded playlists from any genre you want. Pick music by decade, mood, or music type. It’s fabulous.
But my favorite feature is that I can create my OWN playlists. Anytime I hear a song, I can quickly add it to my playlist. Duran Duran, Blondie, Men at Work, and The Cult are alive and well! I now have about 18 hours’ worth of MY favorite ‘80s music.
There are occasional commercials, but otherwise the free version works fine. There is a premium version which eliminates commercials and allows you to download all your playlist songs to your smart phone so you can listen on the airplane or without consuming data. Spotify Premium costs about $10 per month and you can cancel anytime.
So get your ‘cool’ back and revisit YOUR favorite decade of music by streaming music easily to your device.
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