My New Annoyance

So a couple of times, I've gotten into my car in a bit of a mood. Maybe a bad mood or a bored mood or an angry mood. And at these times, I really just want to listen to some music. And then it happens.

There's nothing on the radio.

Well, not nothing. There's Katy Perry and Ke$ha and Justin Bieber and a bunch of rap artists that I don't really have time for. And it's not like I don't have eclectic musical tastes. There's room in my heart for Lifehouse and Eminem. There's room for Pat Green and Green Day. Linkin Park and the Beatles. I also like a lot of music that I'd be a bit embarrassed to list here.

So it's not like I'm trying to find a single song. I'm okay with a lot of it.

It's also not like I'm working with five or ten stations. I have XM Radio in my car, and that means I have access to a bunch of radio stations. Pop music, mix music, rock music, indie music. There's a whole station of Top 20 popular songs, 90s grunge rock songs, acoustic "coffee shop" songs, and love songs. Do you like music from a single decade? XM offers a station devoted to the 2000s. And the 90s. And the 80s. 70s, 60s, and 50s. And, yes, if you're in the mood for big band music from the World War II era, there's a whole station for the 40s.

And if there's no music there, I have an entire set of presents dedicated to local Dallas radio.

How in the heck do I find it so hard to find a decent song? This morning, I went around looking for a song, and the best that I could find was "Sweet Home Alabama" - and I got to catch the last five seconds of that song. After work, the best song I could find was Phil Collins' "In Too Deep." And I can't hear that song without thinking of creepy Christian Bale.

And what's really sad is that I'll keep running into the same songs. XM should have some kind of program that prohibits the same song playing on two different stations. There are a billion songs to choose from - pick something different so that "Breakeven" isn't playing on three stations at once.

But here's the kicker. I'll be flipping around and will see a song all the time. It will be one of those songs that's playing at the same time on two stations, and I'll surrender and give it a shot. And because I'm a sucker, I'll think it's good. I have one of those stupid senses of music that means I like anything that's catchy.

And, literally, as soon as I start to like a song, it disappears from the radio. One day, it's everywhere, and the second I like it, it never existed.

So maybe I should just listen to all these pop songs so that they'll go away. But I probably shouldn't, or I'm going to walk around with "California Gurls" in my head. Ugh.