I have declared today "Annoying Female Vocalist Day", or AFVD, for short.
It's all queued up in xmms -- I'm set for hours of uninterrupted AFV's.
Sidenote: That is a definite benefit of digital music; you can just queue up hours and hours of music and then not have to futz with it. It's pretty much the same reason that they came out with 3- and 5-CD players. But with digital music, you can queue up [more or less] an infinite amount of music -- you're not just restricted to 3 of 5 CD's worth. There's been many a workday where I've queued up move than 18 hours of music when I start working, and then don't bother with my music for the rest of the day.
Sidenote: I love my telephone headset. It has a noise-canceling mike; I can have my music on fairly loud in the background and the person I'm talking to on the phone can't hear it at all. It's also stereo -- it has 2 earphones, contrary to most headsets. I find this to be extremely useful. It also allows sounds to be piped in from my computer -- so I can play MP3s directly over the telephone. While not an amazingly useful feature, it has been practical once or twice.
Back to AFVD.
We're starting out with Alanais Morisettet; I've got about 1.5-2 hours of her queued up; Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie and Jagged Little Pill.
Then on to Bjork -- both Telegram and Debut. That voice; my God
-- how did that happen? Hearing these albums always makes me feel like I want to donate large sums to children's charities.
We pour salt into the wound by following up with Ace of Base. True, AoB isn't completely female, but they satisfy both requirements of a) having female vocalists, and b) being annoying. We've got The Bridge and The Sign from AoB.
Then Erasure. Ok, not female at all. But he sounds female, and is definitely annoying. I Say, I Say, I Say.
The pain stays alive with Jewel -- Pieces of You and Spirit. Annoying to the max.
The agony continues with Loreena McKennit, The Book of Spirits. There's that one cool song on there that has a really bizarre-o video with some midgets running around, but other than that, it's annoying.
Nina Hagen comes next. Just ask anyone in the LSC (particularly Dog) -- Revolution Ballroom is one of the worst albums of all time. This is why you're probably never heard of her.
P.J. Harvey's Rid of Me -- so aptly titled -- prolongs the horror. I think there's one song on the album with a few quiet parts so that they can pass it off as multiple cuts to the radio stations (after all, if you're not Floyd, they're not going to play 20-30 minute songs).
Suzanne Vega's 99.9F rounds out the mix. Just like P.J., I think there's one song on this album. Consider: monotone singing with a guitar. Need I say more?
So it's going to be a Very Long day. I'll have to rely on my coding skills and embroil myself deep in hackery to keep from having my spirit crushed. It will be a true testament to my abilities if I can come out of this day and still be sane.
See you on the other side...