What's in the jukebox

I've mentioned before that Mary's has a jukebox rather than a DJ. It wasn't the first club I worked in with this setup, but it was the first place I saw it. We burn their own CDs for the jukebox. Other clubs in town allow dancers to plug in their iPods, which is better for having a massive playlist at your fingertips, but this is more revealing about other dancers. Like, "Wow, Zoe really loves the Black Angels," and "I didn't think that Juliana was such a huge hip hop fan," and "Who in the hell is going to dance to the Star Wars cantina band song?"

My CD rotation is erratic because I come in and out of town so much. Next weekend I'm leaving for two weeks in North Dakota and one in Montana. But I managed to slide a new disc in a few weeks ago, and I present the playlist and commentary for your amusement. I got to thinking about this last week in Texas, when a friend let me come on his KOOP show for an hour to promote the Texas Burlesque Festival, and I played several tracks from the list below.

1. "So Rich, So Pretty" Mickey Avalon
If this isn't a strip club cliche by now, I don't know what is.
2. "Biting My Nails" Renegade Soundwave
1989, baby! Straight from 120 Minutes.
3. "Pieces Of The People We Love" The Rapture
4. "Coke And Mirrors" Six Finger Satellite
In 1997 I was at a 6FS show at Emo's in Austin. I was wearing a very unbuttoned white shirt. Bra hanging out, community tittes on display. I think I was trying to get one of my fellow college newspaper scribes to pay attention to me. Anyhow, the singer did a very considered and purposeful faceplant into my cleavage. "I should really dance to one of their songs," I thought. "Too bad there's no way the DJ would let me get away with anything by them."
5. "Tribulations" LCD Soundsystem
Coincidentally, music from someone who produced 6FS.
6. "North American Scum" LCD Soundsystem
On first hearing this song I laughed, but there are bloggers out there who have done some in-depth analysis of this tune. Several. Here, here, and here are musings on its meaning and rundowns of the lyrics.
It's the "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue" for people who hate the President but are sick of having to explain that when in Europe.
7. "The Heinrich Maneuver" Interpol
Lead single off their latest. I like it mainly for the "How are things on the West Coast?" lyric.
8. "Uncontrollable Urge" Devo
9. "Sonic Reducer" Dead Boys
10. "Final Solution" Pere Ubu
I was feeling a little Ohio and wanted to put "Final Solution" on the jukebox, so I ended up with the above trio. Sometimes I play all three back-to-back as a set and ask the crowd if they can tell me what all three of those songs have in common. No one has yet, but I had the distinct pleasure of seeing one guy sing along to Pere Ubu, which will be the only time I see that at work.
11. "Perfume-V" Pavement
Another dancer has "Summer Babe" on the jukebox, which always made me want to hear this.
12. "Freak Scene" Dinosaur Jr
13. "Bastards Of Young" The Replacements
Gotta have some classic rock (oh, yeah! I may be old enough to have seen Pavement in 1992, but neither of the above in their prime).
14. "I Idolize You" Boss Hog
15. "Feeling Good" Muse
16. "Another Perfect Catastrophe" Firewater
The above three were also intended as a three song set. A pretty slinky, somewhat melodramatic set. Muse are the Styx of our generation; I've seen them twice; in Columbus, OH a couple of years ago, for about two minutes (I had been there to see Razorlight, who opened for them), and at Reading last summer. I would call them a guilty pleasure if I felt guilt. That reminds me of a new word my friend Jennifer is using, "scorny," which means the feeling you get when turned on by something you hold in low regard. I have decided that since I derive pleasure from their music, they are good and therefore worthy of my regard. Which makes a word like that useless to me unless it's applied to individuals rather than entertainments.
17. "The Man Don't Give A Fuck" Super Furry Animals
I wish that I could find an edit of this like the live version, where they play a video loop of Bill Hicks saying, "All governments are liars and murderers," over and over. This is the song that goes with my "This Machine Kills Fascists" Ass™.
18. "Never Win" Fischerspooner
19. "Heart Of Hearts" !!!
Well, those two are just good for shaking it.

As far as what I'm listening to at home, it's Prinzhorn Dance School and the first B-52s album. I don't think "You Are the Space Invader" is gonna make it into my work rotation anytime soon but "52 Girls" definitely will.