The two hundredth and sixteenth TV show: #8 Dragnet

Early TV is inspired a lot by several different sources. Dragnet takes from an early radio show and it is easy to see that as you're watching. While there are bits of action, often underneath narration, most of the show are static conversations. They manage to make them more interesting where it can, but you're dealing with quite static set ups, everyone sitting or staying the same place, and basically no other actions. Sure, it's the style of the show, but it gets pretty staid and boring. I like to think I have more patience than a lot of others for it, but it still is more an artifact than a really interesting show.

The six hundred and second album: #602 Ladysmith Black Mambazo - Shaka Zulu

It's a pleasant surprise to get an a capella performance in an era where most music seems intent on going bigger and louder. The traditional sounds are complemented by the multiple voices included, with a gospel feeling sitting behind it as well. It's an interesting diversion from the western version of these sounds, one that builds up quite pleasantly.

The eight hundred sixth song: Hurt - Nine Inch Nails

Dark and grim, this song really feels like it captures the depression that went through a number of rock bands at this time. Nine Inch Nails is known for it, of course, but it gets so low, with such harsh counter sounds, that it really enhances that feeling.

The eight hundred seventh song: Black Hole Sun - Soundgarden

And then we get Black Hole Sun, where the music, especially in the chorus, sounds more positive than it is. Clearly, the title and idea feels suicidal - a black hole sun is evocatively apocalyptic, and it's hard not to read this as a suicide reference. It's a feeling it pulls off so well that it really becomes that engagingly dark.

The eight hundred eighth song: Interstate Love Song - Stone Temple Pilots

Interstate Love Song doesn't feel as raw as the previous two songs, but there's still not much that feels happy about it. It's a song about relationship difficulties and it carries a similar sadness, even if not as fatalistic. It's closer to a normal rock song, doing well what it does.

The eight hundred ninth song: Waterfalls - TLC

There is a depth underneath this hip hop track, a contrast to the smooth chorus. The stories of crime and the problems of the day stand out as being quite effective when you listen, and the raw, hoarse vocals really add to the feeling more is going on here.

The eight hundred tenth song: Cornflake Girl - Tori Amos

There's a haunting sound at times to this pop rock song, with lyrics that aren't easily understood without digging deeper. It doesn't let you sit comfortably, creating an alt sound that I think I'm still trying to wrap my head around.

The eight hundred eleventh song: Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley

This is such a tender and soft cover of Hallelujah, the sadness really coming through. It feels like a story from the heart, one that just hits really close.

The eight hundred twelfth song: Red Right Hand - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

The dark, deep vocals that appear on this track add a blues feeling to a country rock twang in its music. It's a merger, a bit of a throwback, with gothic lyrics that create so much menace. Even lyrically it calls back to the old blues crime songs that were omnipresent in the fifties for some time. This is hypnotic in the way it grabs, dark and seductive while setting you up for danger.

The eight hundred thirteenth song: Sabotage - Beastie Boys

I've been enjoying the Beastie Boys in previous appearances, but it's hard to feel Sabotage isn't something special in its own right. There's a dark energy in here, samples that keep you on your tones and a lot of it seems almost deliberately off putting, but it feels like it sets up something more going forward.

The eight hundred fourteenth song: The Most Beautiful Girl in the World - Prince

After all that darkness, it's good to get a simpler, less complicated love song, done by the R&B master Prince. It's a poppy ballad, so smooth and straight forward that it's lovely in how it pulls you along. It's a simple message, but the whole song works.

The eight hundred fifteenth song: Sour Times - Portishead

A seductive electronic track, there's something foreign about it, the music varying quite a bit while the sultry vocals slowly overlay it to generate a love song that gives the song a different, slower momentum. It's completely its own thing, but in a way that plays it really well.

The six hundred and second album: #601 The Jesus and Mary Chain - Darklands

Although there are some faster songs peppered in, Darklands mostly has a number of slow alternative rock songs, not skimping on the guitar sounds but still having a more relaxed vibe to most of the tracks. The opening is usually more energetic, but it really settles into a groove.

The two hundred and seventeenth classical recording: #405 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Rococo Variations

The tenor of this piece is dark. It's not dreary, there's something happier in there, but it's deep and imposing, even when it's a cello solo, and the title's association helps form that feeling. It's interspersed with moments of lightness, which help cement that contrast and make it land, but it's all done in such a lovely way that the piece really works for its mood.

The one hundred and twenty-second book: #1019 The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby - Charles Dickens

Okay, I give up on this one. There are some books where getting through becomes a struggle. I know Dickens has a tendency to overdo his writing - writing for serialization, he had to keep people coming back, while editing doesn't always seem to have been the most important. Nicholas Nickleby was written shortly after Oliver Twist, and there's a similar build up that seems to get in the way. But where there was some more fun stuff, here it feels like there's more of the same that doesn't work as well. There's a core of some interesting scenes here, but I just never managed to get on board with the story.

The six hundredth album: #600 Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction

I think you know what you're going to get with this one - Guns N' Roses' glam metal is well known enough and Welcome to the Jungle and Paradise City are known enough that you don't need to guess much. It's raucous even if not always that raw, and it hits the exact beats you expect when you know these tracks. As long as you're into what this album gives you, it will satisfy you.

The seven hundred ninety-fifth song: It Ain’t Hard to Tell - Nas

While a strong rap track, there's something more mellow about it in a way that works quite well - the lyrics are aggressive enough, but the underlying beat quiet enough to compensate for that well.

The seven hundred ninety-sixth song: Inner City Life - Goldie presents Metalheads

The gorgeous soul vocals in this track contrast with the heavy electronic bass that comes through later, a slightly disconcordant mix where I'm not sure the two alway smatch up, instead often having them play as two tracks at a time. Both good, but I'm not sure it's a combination that entirely does what it wants to for me.

The seven hundred ninety-seventh song: End of a Century - Blur

This is a pretty standard pop song, a bit critical of current life and how everyone is aiming for safety, in a way that does feel familiar now but perhaps not saying as much as I could. It's fine.

The seven hundred ninety-eighth song: Connection - Elastica

This is a pretty standard punky pop rock song from the nineties, with a synth intro and some okay lyrics. It goes hard on the guitars, it has good female vocals, and probably serves mostly as a good example of the genre.

The seven hundred ninety-ninth song: Confide in Me - Kylie Minogue

The orchestral opening of this track takes its time to go into the more poppy follow up, a heavy beat sitting under some incredibly sensual vocals from Kylie that features her at her strongest. There's a bit of edge to it, a clear danger in the music, with middle eastern elements adding something seductive to it. It works on several levels, all amazing to listen to.

The eight hundredth song: Your Ghost - Kristin Hersh featuring Michael Stipe

A wonderful ballad, mostly featuring Kristin Hersh's perfect vocals for this song, Michael Stipe's addition feels like a perfect support - never overwhelming, but adding to the the effect and the story in a way that makes a lot of sense.

The eight hundred first song: Doll Parts - Hole

As a grungey love song, this is something that hits that beats quite well, and the build works well enough. 

The eight hundred second song: 7 Seconds - Youssou N’ Dour featuring Neneh Cherry

A Wolof-English duet is not something you'd expect at first, but the poppy ballad is gorgeous, everything perfectly placed, and the two voices work well together, the langage barrier suggesting a distance that builds on that. The chorus is one I've heard before and hits, but so does the remainder of this track. It's just worth being in here.

The eight hundred third song: Live Forever - Oasis

This is the next larger name coming in, and Oasis delivers on their anthemmy pop rock, a chorus to sing along to while having a simple set of lyrics. It's all straight forward, but that's also the thing that works here.

The eight hundred fourth song: Cut Your Hair - Pavement

This is a pretty straight forward rock song, making the point of society's expectations but also staying pretty light during it. It's pretty simple and fun, nothing complicated, but it works.

The eight hundred fifth song: All Apologies - Nirvana

Obviously notable as their final single, this track just fits the Nirvana feeling - grungey, angry, a bit depressed, and distancing themselves from life. It's doing its job really well, telling its story and giving you that grunge feeling to enjoy.

The five hundred and ninety-ninth album: #599 The Smiths - Strangeways, Here We Come

Strangeways is a pretty poppy, accessible album to listen to, the ballads and more upbeat song balancing quite well. The lyrics that follow are more interesting, focusing on the darker side a fair bit, with Girlfriend in a Coma not hiding the panic it wants to reference. It doesn't go over the top, either musically - where it's often quite pleasantly constrained - or lyrically, where it feels like it stays grounded. It has such a perfect mix of everything going on here, art without being pretentious, accessible without being dumbed down, that it is still a great album to listen to.

The two hundred and sixteenth classical recording: #795 Dag Wiren - Serenade for Strings

This is a short, joyous piece - a lot of fast violins galloping through the music as it goes through its climax. It works really well - it sets a tone and a feeling that I cannot escape.