I sat down this evening to set up some smart playlists in iTunes. And I discovered the downside to being an ultra-organized person with an eclectic taste in music: what genre do I tag some songs with?
Take Enter Sandman for instance. The version from Metallica is easy: tag it as metal. The version from S&M is still metal, even though, with The San Francisco Orchestra played with Metallica for that concert, it could be considered classical. The cover by Iron Horse is a different story. That recording is straight-up bluegrass. And then there is the heavy metal-sounding cello quartet Apocalyptica.
How in the world do I tag these? They could all be considered metal. But having the bluegrass version pop up after a Bad Religion or Iron Maiden song would be a bit jarring. Yet having a screeching cello version play after listening to Brahm's Cradle Song wouldn't be any better.
Another example is Paul Simon's Graceland album. Nine songs he sang with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, making it World genre, one zydeco number with Clifton Chenier fits under my Cajun/ Zydeco tag and one pop/ rock song. Making this album, what? Singer-songwriter, folk, world, cajun/ zydeco, pop?
And then there's this genre-bending album. Gangstagrass!? Really?
Take a deep breath and relax, Todd. It's just music...
