…with spreadsheets!
I have been sort of working on a music project for my own personal and neurotic interests long before posting about music on FBG, but with the popularity of all the music threads and the fun I had doing the Allman Brothers thread, I figured I might as well share with everyone and maybe others will find some enjoyment in it. This inspired me to pick up the pace and actually finish the project.
The background:
I have an incredibly obsessive-compulsive personality and am fanatical about making sure everything is ordered absolutely perfectly. Many people describe themselves as OCD, but I literally have every moment of every day between now and the end of March planned out to 15-minute increments. I have always been passionate about music because for me it is the one aspect of life that isn’t completely ordered and serious, it is the one thing that appeals to me on an emotional rather than a completely logical level (this is why I like a lot of jam bands, because it is the greatest contrast from normal life for me).
I am also a little bit of a luddite and rather than consuming most of my music via streaming services, I treasure the digital library on my hard drive (and still get most of that music by buying physical CDs). Over the last year or two I have expanded that collection and my primary music library (I have a couple smaller side collections) is nearly 15,000 tracks.
(Aside: Because I like jam bands, I often have multiple versions of the same song, which is why in @krista4 's thread I was very focused on the distinction between “songs” and “tracks.” I have 42 versions of the song that appears most frequently in my library.)
Songs are assigned to various playlists based on things like genre but also based on how much I like them. My project has been to rank artists/groups (going forward I will consider these two words interchangeable) by a point system based on how many songs appear in my library and what playlists they are assigned to (along with other factors – I will provide more details on the scoring system in a subsequent post).
Before creating my list, I filtered out all classical music as well as some novelty songs and other stuff that didn’t really seem to fit.
The final project comprises 13,873 tracks from 879 artists/groups. Most of it is rock but a variety of genres are represented including blues, jazz, bluegrass, country, funk, and R+B.
My plan is to count down the list over the next few months. At the bottom of the list (artists with 1 point, 2 points, etc.) things are bunched up with in some cases dozens of artists being tied with the same ranking. For this part of the countdown, I will post the artists together in big groups with just a little bit of general commentary.
Gradually, I will expand write-ups to provide much more detail on individual artists and links to tracks for recommended listening. Once I get close to the top 100 rank positions (which coincidentally occurs around a point total of about 100), the artists will separate more, there will be less ties, and I will have more much more detailed posts with stats, more substantial commentaries, multiple recommended tracks, etc. It will be somewhat reminiscent of my Allman Brothers thread.
Hopefully those who follow along will find it interesting and discover some new music. I feel confident that the breadth and depth is such that almost everyone will discover something new. And hopefully it generates some good discussion. There is at least one artist in the top 20 that I imagine most here aren’t familiar with and at least a couple of artists in the top 10 I think most would consider dark horses. On the other hand, there is one artist many would probably have in their top 10 that does not appear on my list at all. While many of the rankings line up with what you might expect, there will also be some surprises (even I was shocked by some of these rankings).
I plan to start counting down the artists tomorrow night.
Before that, since Krista and others have done charity contests with some of these countdowns, I’d like to do that as well. I will donate $250 to the charity of choice for the person who comes closest to guessing the top 15 artists in my rankings. If two people tie, I will do $150 to the charities of each (if more than that tie, I will draw out of a hat to break the tie). I will also donate $100 to the charity of whomever comes closest to guessing the point total for the #1 artist on the list (absolute difference, no Price is Right rules). To be eligible for either contest you must send me your guesses and the charity pick before I get to the Top 100.
I have been sort of working on a music project for my own personal and neurotic interests long before posting about music on FBG, but with the popularity of all the music threads and the fun I had doing the Allman Brothers thread, I figured I might as well share with everyone and maybe others will find some enjoyment in it. This inspired me to pick up the pace and actually finish the project.
The background:
I have an incredibly obsessive-compulsive personality and am fanatical about making sure everything is ordered absolutely perfectly. Many people describe themselves as OCD, but I literally have every moment of every day between now and the end of March planned out to 15-minute increments. I have always been passionate about music because for me it is the one aspect of life that isn’t completely ordered and serious, it is the one thing that appeals to me on an emotional rather than a completely logical level (this is why I like a lot of jam bands, because it is the greatest contrast from normal life for me).
I am also a little bit of a luddite and rather than consuming most of my music via streaming services, I treasure the digital library on my hard drive (and still get most of that music by buying physical CDs). Over the last year or two I have expanded that collection and my primary music library (I have a couple smaller side collections) is nearly 15,000 tracks.
(Aside: Because I like jam bands, I often have multiple versions of the same song, which is why in @krista4 's thread I was very focused on the distinction between “songs” and “tracks.” I have 42 versions of the song that appears most frequently in my library.)
Songs are assigned to various playlists based on things like genre but also based on how much I like them. My project has been to rank artists/groups (going forward I will consider these two words interchangeable) by a point system based on how many songs appear in my library and what playlists they are assigned to (along with other factors – I will provide more details on the scoring system in a subsequent post).
Before creating my list, I filtered out all classical music as well as some novelty songs and other stuff that didn’t really seem to fit.
The final project comprises 13,873 tracks from 879 artists/groups. Most of it is rock but a variety of genres are represented including blues, jazz, bluegrass, country, funk, and R+B.
My plan is to count down the list over the next few months. At the bottom of the list (artists with 1 point, 2 points, etc.) things are bunched up with in some cases dozens of artists being tied with the same ranking. For this part of the countdown, I will post the artists together in big groups with just a little bit of general commentary.
Gradually, I will expand write-ups to provide much more detail on individual artists and links to tracks for recommended listening. Once I get close to the top 100 rank positions (which coincidentally occurs around a point total of about 100), the artists will separate more, there will be less ties, and I will have more much more detailed posts with stats, more substantial commentaries, multiple recommended tracks, etc. It will be somewhat reminiscent of my Allman Brothers thread.
Hopefully those who follow along will find it interesting and discover some new music. I feel confident that the breadth and depth is such that almost everyone will discover something new. And hopefully it generates some good discussion. There is at least one artist in the top 20 that I imagine most here aren’t familiar with and at least a couple of artists in the top 10 I think most would consider dark horses. On the other hand, there is one artist many would probably have in their top 10 that does not appear on my list at all. While many of the rankings line up with what you might expect, there will also be some surprises (even I was shocked by some of these rankings).
I plan to start counting down the artists tomorrow night.
Before that, since Krista and others have done charity contests with some of these countdowns, I’d like to do that as well. I will donate $250 to the charity of choice for the person who comes closest to guessing the top 15 artists in my rankings. If two people tie, I will do $150 to the charities of each (if more than that tie, I will draw out of a hat to break the tie). I will also donate $100 to the charity of whomever comes closest to guessing the point total for the #1 artist on the list (absolute difference, no Price is Right rules). To be eligible for either contest you must send me your guesses and the charity pick before I get to the Top 100.
Can't wait!
