Hi You Pathetic Screen Addicted Loser - Welcome To Spotify Wrapped!

Friday is about music. Playlists and links. Today, Spotify Wrapped…

As a country, we stink. We used to love Rugby, Racing, and Beer. And that was awful enough. But Spotify has replaced it with Taylor Swift, The Joe Rogan Podcast, and Prince Harry reading his royal white whine of an Audiobook. We are the Coldplay of countries. And Spotify Wrapped is the Coldplay of music services. And this, therefore, is the Coldplay of my music newsletters on Substack.

I wrote about Spotify Wrapped last year —

— because, well, why not. And so I’ll do it again this year, in some way. A chance for you to share your triumphs, and/or guilty pleasures. We don’t have music journalism anymore, there is only data. There is no Dana, only Zuul!

Last year when Spotify Wrapped dropped, Duncan from the Spinoff was bemoaning the lack of music journalism — having just shut down all music journalism from his website. Now he’s begging for more paying supporters. And that’s not a dig, just a sad reality. I did think it was lame he went all nostalgic on music journalism and lamented its loss of a place, only to be one of the people that knew it was not profitable, not even sustainable in any way. I don’t think it’s lame he’s begging for survival. The Spinoff writes and publishes some fantastic content. I really hope they hang in there. They’re doing some great stuff.

Chris Schulz was bemoaning the lack of music journalism a year ago when Spotify Wrapped dropped. And…he still is. He’s still hoping for the good old days.

I mean, sure, I am still hoping for the good old days in many ways too. I am listening to CDs —

— writing about how they make me feel; nostalgic, absolutely. But also the ‘where I was at’, and ‘the where I’m at now’ in regard to that same music, and how it might suddenly sound different, or better, or worse. Or maybe it’s still the same, as Bob Seger was fond to say.

I’m also writing about tapes, and listening to tapes, and loving tapes — and I swear I never (really) saw that coming:

But I ain’t mad about it at all. It fits in with my golden rule: It’s not hurting anyone. It’s giving something another go-around before it adds to landfill. And it’s fun! Does anybody remember laughter?

I bought more records this year than last year. I bought far more CDs. And I obviously bought more cassettes. Hell, I bought more stereos this year. A couple of walkmans, a brand new CD player/radio, a second turntable, and an old junker of a mini-system (for CDs mostly). Also a new Bluetooth speaker too. Fuck.

And I listened to a lot of music on YouTube. A fair amount on Bandcamp. Some download codes on my computer, and even took the old iPod for a stroll a couple of times.

Spotify was not my preferred medium a lot of the time. But also, it still was. And so my Spotify Wrapped wasn’t much different to 2023.

I am basically very demure, very ambient. (Plus The Beach Boys). I pointed out to more than one person yesterday that The Beach Boys fit into almost any category you want. They are most certainly original EMO. They are pop. They are rock. They were the precursor, possibly, to whatever the fuck yacht-rock is, and they’re soft-rock too. They’re everything. And then when someone else said “I’m surprised to see Beach Boys in your list” I very politely replied, “THEN YOU DON’T KNOW ME AT ALL!”

But obviously it went deeper than just some ambient/soundtrack stuff and The Beach Boys.

But one artist ruled supreme. And he has done so many other times in my Spotify Wrapped since 2016. And yes, that makes me some kind of fucking nerd. And gladly so.

I remain such a huge fan of Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno:

Funnily enough, this was the year that I bought three Eno albums on CD and played them a heap, and a couple of new records. I also dug out all the old Eno LPs I have and gave them another race or three around the track. So Spotify’s data is, as always, just data. Not the full story. Just a hint of it.

But there’s no denying I use Spotify a lot. And I love it. It’s awful — but it’s also wonderful. It doesn’t sound great, it doesn’t pay the artists (and you can blame the record companies there also — they saved their own bacon by just flogging their wares at Spotify, all but dropping their knickers) but it is convenient. And boy do we love convenience. Fast food over healthy food. Prince Harry’s audiobook over a quality listen, or actually reading, Taylor Swift over Doechii —

— and Joe Rogan over, well, the truth…

I have no shame about my Spotify Wrapped for 2024. Why have any shame over the music you listen to? Why listen to it if you have feelings of shame as a result? I’m a little surprised my Wrapped doesn’t feature Pink Floyd this year, I feel like I’ve hit them harder than ever — but maybe more on YouTube and physical media, I guess. Same with Phil Collins. Same with a few other things. None of them “cool” of course.

Anyway, I really just set this up for you to share your lists, your wins and losses, your bafflement at what your child/partner/flatmate has “ruined” on your otherwise perfect run of music.

And of course, as always, I’ll end this with a playlist — care of Spotify:

So, share your top song/s and artist/s below, and any other incriminating or glorious info from your Spotify Wrapped if you dare.

Happy weekend, thanks for reading. And for listening.