Sports were cancelled, hangouts disappeared, live shows postponed, and exploring new restaurants and bars were all out of the question. So what were we supposed to do with all this time our hands during quarantine?
Some friends and I came up with something to stay connected and entertain ourselves during this season. We coined it "Music Madness."
This is how it started: 40 days, 40 songs, 1 playlist. As we continued to suffer through quarantine and get more creative with our genres and selections, it morphed into something bigger. At the end we went for 81 days with 109 songs on the playlist. As you can see by the later examples, we weren't able to just stick with one song per day.
It also turned into somewhat of a competition, with each member of the group vying to pick songs not just that they liked, but songs that they felt could give them the win for the day. We had more ties than we could count, and there was even a day where we had a 5-way tie and all the songs went onto the playlist.
Here are some examples of what a day would look like:
Day 1 – West Coast Rap
Next Episode – Dr Dre & Snoop (Winner)
California Love – 2pac
F*** the Police – NWA
You Can Do It – Ice Cube ft. Mac 10 & Ms. Toi
The Gangsta, The Killer, and The Dope Dealer – Westside Connection
Day 14 – Folktronica
Red Dust – James Vincent McMorrow (Winner)
Taro – Alt-J
Breathe, Desperately – From Indian Lakes
iMi – Bon Iver
Kids – MGMT
Day 41 – Electro-pop
Dancing on my Own – Robyn
Bad Guy – Billie Eilish
Gold Guns Girls – Metric
The Fear of Falling Apart – Geoffroy
Young Blood – The Naked and Famous (Winner)
There were a couple of days where we would pick our favourite artist as the genre and everyone would submit two songs for the vote:
Day 37 – Underoath
Reinventing Your Exit
Rapture (Winner)
In Regards to Myself
Its Dangerous Business Walking out You Front Porch
There Could Be Nothing After This
On My Teeth
ihateit
Wake Me
It Has To Start Somewhere
Writing on the Walls
Day 52 – U2
Where the Streets have No Name
Beautiful Day
Sunday Bloody Sunday
New Years Day
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (Winner)
Kite
Bad
Sometimes You Cant Make It On Your Own
An Cat Dubh
Staring at the Sun
Sometimes the genres weren't really genres at all, but more just a selection of music we liked:
Day 63 – YEG Bands
Curse the Weather – Royal Tusk (Winner)
Fine Shrine – Purity Ring
The Garden – July Talk
Never Have Time – Royal Foundry
All the World Shakes – Our Good Wolf
Connor McDavid – Cadence Weapon
Feeling Love Thinking Of – Faunts
Jesus Murphy – Peter Mol
Count Yourself In – Ten Second Epic
Cocaine Trade – Christian Hansen & The Autistics
Day 68 – Big Shiny Tunes Songs
Hash Pipe – Weezer
No Transitory – Alexisonfire
The Bad Touch – Bloodhound Gang
Anthem of the year 2000 – Silverchair
Sweetness – Jimmyeatworld (Winner)
Otherside – Red Hot Chili Peppers
One more Astronaught – I mother earth
Bawitaba – Kid Rock
Semi Charmed Life – Third Eye Blind
Hello Time Bomb – Matthew Good Band
I found "Music Madness" a great way to pass the time. Personally, it gave me something to look forward to each day. Not only that, but I listened to more music during quaratine than I ever had before (which is saying something). The best part was all the music I discovered along the way. Thanks to the four guys who committed to this project, there's a few bands in my library that weren't there before. And I listen to a decent amount of metal now, which isn't something I ever saw coming.
Interesting facts about the playlist: Radiohead has the most wins with 3, and a bunch of other artists including My Chemical Romance, Noah Gundersen, and Childish Gambino had 2.
You can check out the full playlist in all of its eclectic glory on Spotify here. And if you want to know more details so you can use this idea for yourself, just let me know! As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe out there!
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