Pick 5 Records You Would Love To See In A (Potential) Significant Other's Car

My Bloody Valentine - Loveless (we would both love it but try not to ever talk about it, as we both would know it's canonical status and would just end up gushing about it anyway. also, unspoken connections can sometimes be the most important.)
ELO - Greatest Hits or Essential (I would love to date a chick who was into ELO)
Shudder to Think - Pony Express Record (so we could sing along to the weirdest sing-along record ever)
Charles Mingus - Ah Um (I was gonna say Shape of Jazz to Come, but then I realized that liking this album = fun-loving person, to me)
The Band - Greatest Hits or any studio album (she is the real deal)

spost

That's it. I propose marriage in the car.

But the girl I will probably marry doesn't particularly care for Yes, so it's not an essential

Anyway:

De La Soul - Buhloone Mindstate
Brian Eno - Discreet Music
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Sparks - Kimono My House
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

That'd be some serious omigod conversation.

xpost, that's why I gave that whole "taste: make or break?" spiel in the opening post, i.e. only a fool would say it breaks things. at least in terms of not liking the things I like, as opposed to inverse (?), i.e. liking a ton of shit i hate/can't stand (but even then..)

WOULD THAT BE SO MUCH TO ASK???

a) i would hope that this person would eschew cars! cars are horrible. with the exception of cosmic cars.
b) this person would probably own mostly vinyl, not CDs, which would prohibit them from playing records in a car in the first place.
c) hopefully this person wouldn't care much for full-length albums to begin with. in which case the whole 5 albums thing wouldn't make much sense. i would hope that he/she/it had a cool collection of singles though.
d) if he/she/it had no taste/preference for music whatsoever (which is fine!) then that's even better, because it means i can dictate the music through the entire journey!

no, my post said "a 40GB ipod is bound to have something good on it." you're right though, i'd rather look at the vinyl -- like i give a shit about some dude's corny indie CDs from his college glory days.

Also, I have been missing a lot from this thread from being drunk, like pher's excellent post.

Finally, geeta (xpost), where do you live that 1) eschewing cars is even an option and 2) the word for doing such is "eschew."

I mean, c'mon, if a girl has explored Kraftwerk enough to have Ralf & Florian in the car, that's got to be a keeper, right?

she and i live in the big apple! we new yorkers eschew lots of things.

also..... myabe Discovery is high up there. although, "Digital Love" is totally the kind of song you can introduce a partner to which they will love. i know this happened with my last girlfriend, to say the least.

that said: if there was some kinda pompous glammy attitudinal synth disco art-rock in there, i'd ask him if he was gay and if not i'd give him a great big kiss.

The Killers!

what? i thought it was funny.

This is a cute question, but I'm struggling to find an answer, because I've learned from experience that shared musical tastes are not necessarily an indicator of good relationship potential. (Also, like Geeta, I dislike cars.) However, some things that would make me go "awwww" are...

1. Any kind of cheesey girly disco pop which is clearly used for singing along with in traffic jams. Spice Girls - Spiceworld is probably a really good example, though Girls Aloud or Sugababes would do, too. Shows he is not an Indie Snob and in touch with his feminine side.
2. Some kind of motornik driving record like early Stereolab or Neu! or Kraftwerk or something.
3. Boney M - see number 1
4. Boyrock for blasting out on the highway - Guns N Roses Appetite for Destruction or AC/DC or Steppenwolf or something. The Cult's Electric would be good, too.
5. Some shoegazing. You know, Medicine or MBV or Pale Saints or something that sounds good and woozy when slippy slidey driving in the snow. In fact, I'd probably marry any guy that had Medicine albums in his car.

However, I've just realised that I've described my own driving music, so I guess I'm going to end up marrying myself.

i gave them a shot, really i did...

1) Gary or other heavy-pose new wave synth stuff.

2) Always find Roxy Music sexy.

3) Something by Sonic Youth.

4) Something from the Factory Records canon.

5) Anything, I like finding new stuff.

BINGO.

(looks like I better stay with my wife for a while yet)

Manics - The Holy Bible
Elvis Costello - Blood & Chocolate (or Imperial Bedroom)
Roisin Murphy - Ruby Blue
Sly and the Family Stone - Greatest Hits
A homemade CD-R mix

As always, much easier to say what is more likely to make you cringe...

Shirley Collins - Anthems in Eden
Willie Colon (anything will do)
Pharoah Sanders - Karma
disc 9 of the Stax/Volt box
something I've never heard before

P.S. Geeta - I actually have a portable 7" vinyl player in the car - bring your singles round!

Shudder to Think - Pony Express Record (this is the only one I'm still keeping on there because I think it is perfect for this kind of list)

Heart - Dreamboat Annie (some of my best girl friends really like this record)

an album by Warren G or some other such smooth rapper from the '90s. (1: she likes rap (eek, almost wrote "rape" there accidentally), 2: she's a fan of the smooth/not totally uptight)

some kickass metal album I've never heard, although not any of the grindcore, etc. shit. probably something like Judas Priest, so I know it's classic and that she's down with metal. or any Slayer album, although I know and love them, so they don't count.

some early jazz album/collection, like Louis Armstrong (playing trumpet) or Ellington or something. (she's fun and classy and probably knows her shit. probably smarter than me.)

I must say I don't really understand the notion of having sex to music. It suggests to me a lamentable amount of split focus. If someone having sex with me was clearly paying more attention to the music that was playing I'd get annoyed.

Anyway, I suppose I might fall in love with the boy who had the following in his car:

1) Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits
2) The Blue Nile - Hats
3) Trick Daddy - Thug Matrimony
4) Talking Heads - Remain in Light
5) V/A: The Glimmer Twins - Eskimo Vol III

... then again, I actually fell in love with the boy who had the following in his car:

1) Westlife - Westlife
2) Sarah McLachlan - Surfacing
3) Megadeth - Countdown to Extinction
4) Chet Baker - Greatest Hits
5) Vengaboys - We Like To Party (The Vengabus)

loveless
electric warrior
birth of the cool
69 love songs
closer

instead i get in and see:

james blunt
keane
the amile soundtrack
postal service
jeff buckley - grace (there was a day when i loved this record.... and then i met a woman who loved it as well... and she played it so much i can hardly stand it, let alone appreciate it anymore.)

i still love her to death, and she gets really cute and giddy when i gift her with a new mix cd (which come often and stay in heavy rotation).

still, I'm a guy who loves gals, girls, women--there are so many roles and so many can be expressed so well thru the magic of music. Hey wow, you're into...

1--a nick lowe or dave edmunds or rachel sweet record, something on stiff, shows sense of humor. or kirsty maccoll's "galore."

2--jimmie dale gilmore or gram parsons record, soulfulness.

3--liliput/kleenex or adverts punk record.

4--aretha record. "spirit in the dark" is hippest of course.

5--sting or david sylvian or bryan ferry album. I mean it's been my experience that women don't usually like randy newman. but I find it cool that everyone has what they call "they personal sting" and mine is david sylvian, that civilized, george sanders-style savoir faire.
it could be a female equivalent, too, like...who? joan armatrading isn't quite glamorous enough. joni mitchell. shawn colvin. for that matter, put a chris isaak one in here or in the "americana" one above. as long as you can drawl, "He/she my personal Sting, yessir!" and still enjoy it in car or boudoir or wherever, that's fine with me.

:-(

OMG I had awkward fumbling making out to Steely Dan when I was 18. I just remembered that. The Steely Dan was her idea, too!

I think my "personal Sting" might be late Elvis Costello.

minutemen - double nickles on the dime
mudhoney - superfuzz bigmuff
ministry - land of rape and honey
pj harvey - four tracks
recording of soweto township radio station

gosh, picking 5 is brutal. i've gotta cheat; here's 6:
Tropicalia : Ou Panis Et Circencis
Umbrellas of Cherbourg Soundtrack (Complete Score)
Josef K - Young and Stupid
Mission of Burma - Vs.
The Way of the Vaselines
Nick Cave - From Her To Eternity

Though, to be fair, she likes Neil Young and anyone who likes Neil Young ain't bad. And I introduced her to Turkish psych and she loves it. Then, she says to me "Hey, that Turkish Delight comp is pretty sweet! My friend is going to Turkey next week and said she can look for some records for you in Istanbul!" - slowly, I reap dividends. :)

-- grady (goforgrad...), March 17th, 2006.

Ok I seriously think you may be dating my ex-girlfriend.

Girls into Amelie sndtrk should be left to boys with Nightmare Before Christmas bed sheets (these guys exist- I've met them).

Herbert
El-P (or Can Ox)
Dead Man Ray
Robert Palmer
Joni M

(some of my husband's fave records.)

1) Anything by Elliott Smith (hopefully she is not overly depressed)

2) Anything by The Kinks (hopefully not either of their "two songs")

3) Anything by Nas (not "Nastradamous") or Wu Tang (not U-God)

4) A good 60's psychedelic pop / rock record (a la "Family Tree")

5) A good 70's punk record (Ramones, Dead Boys, Avengers, Rezillos)

But really, if she's cool, I don't care.

But please, no Gwen Stefani, Black Eyed Peas, Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, etc).

1. Any Dresden Dolls CD
2. More than two NME approved bands, i.e. Arctic Monkeys + Babyshambles (kind of like the first Batman movie, where if you use the hairspray AND the toothpaste you're dead, but if you only use one or the other, you'll live)
3. Garden State soundtrack.
4. CD by the her ex-boyfriend's band
5. Bob Marley - Legend

- Dj Shadow, would love to find Endtroducing... there.
- The Stone Roses
- Pixies, I really think that it can't ever be that bad if she gets the Pixies. She can listen to the worst rubish ever but if she gets these perfect, short, distorted, catchy pop tunes then it'll turn alright in the end, at least there's a light.
- The Strokes, here i'm gonna stick to Is This It? -if we can listen to this one over and over and over and over again while driving around then it's just perfect.
- The fifth one is the most difficult one as usual... Maybe a Bowie's Best Of... Or something newer.. Lady Sovereign or i dunno.. something fresh and funny that can tell me that she'll also appreciate listening to new music.

Turn Off?
Anything by Pink Floyd, I always tend to separate from that point. Pixies or Pink Floyd? And it'll start or end from that point. It just tells so much about anyone if they have a PF album around. Not that it's a bad thing, we're just incompatible.

It just tells so much about anyone if they have a PF album around.

Oh come on! Not so. What if it's Piper? What about The Final Cut (never heard it)? Pink Floyd is such an accepted staple of mainstream classic rock, that I feel like this does the exact opposite of tell you about a person. Throbbing Gristle might tell you a lot about a person. Giorgio Moroder might tell you a lot about a person (still haven't heard him, either). But not Pink Floyd. Not to the point of immediately knowing if he/she is incompatible with you.

4. Spoon - Kill the Moonlight

Good choice.

1.) Radio presets recorded for interesting (ideally pirate) radio stations

Because girlfriend material has to be open to randomness and new unexpected stimuli. Actually totally acceptable for there to be no cds in car and just radio.

2.) Some form of utterly uncompromising dance music

This could be anything from gabber to disco, but the important thing is she likes to dance to instrumental music, and likes to listen to it even when not dancing to it.

3.) Some non-backpacker hip hop or dancehall

I actually don't care if she prefers Divine Styler to Young Jeezy, the important thing is that she occasionally likes to listen to Young Jeezy and won't make some embarassing quasi-racist comment when I put on Young Jeezy (or equivalent).

4.) Diana Ross - "Love hangover" on a self-made mixtape

Just because girls that don't like this song are not worth dating.

5.) Something that I really fucking hate

Because too much harmony and consensus is awful in a relationship. I don't miss my ex making me endure PJ Harvey but I love the fact that she did it.

Best answer yet.