Well, everyone except one person has submitted their track listing for the Power Pop GMMP Mix, so I am going to go ahead and finalize it.

01. Surrender – Cheap Trick [splotchy]
02. Twist Top – The Clean [splotchy]
03. Substitute – The Who [splotchy]
04. In A Big Country – Big Country [splotchy]
05. Life on the Line – The Raincoats [splotchy]
06. Go All The Way – The Raspberries [splotchy]
07. Boys Don’t Lie – Shoes [splotchy]
08. The Electric Version – The New Pornographers [splotchy]
09. Take Me Out – Franz Ferdinand [bubs]
10. Dreaming – Blondie [bubs]
11. Cruel To Be Kind – Nick Lowe [bubs]
12. Crawling to the USA – Elvis Costello [bubs]
13. Girls Talk – Dave Edmunds [bubs]
14. Everybody’s Happy Nowadays – The Buzzcocks [bubs]
15. Ever Fallen in Love – The Buzzcocks [bubs]
16. Basket Case – Green Day [bubs]
17. Ca Plane Pour Moi – Plastic Bertrand [domboy]
18. The Don – The View [domboy]
19. Crazy Taxi – Andy Hui [domboy]
20. Mr Brightside – The Killers [domboy]
21. Get Over You – The Undertones [domboy]
22. Baby Talk – Generation X / Billy Idol [domboy]
23. Go Square Go! – Glasvegas [domboy]
24. We’re All Going To Die – Malcolm Middleton [domboy]
25. Everybody’s Girl – Rick Springfield [allenl]
26. I Wanna Be With You – The Raspberries [allenl]
27. My Life Still Sucks (in a Bad Way) – The Andersons [allenl]
28. I Knew The Bride – Dave Edmunds [allenl]
29. Starry Eyes – The Records [allenl]
30. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend – The Rubinoos [allenl]
31. Where Have You Been All My Life? – Fotomaker [allenl]
32. Your Daddy Don’t Know – Toronto [allenl]
33. Town Called Malice – The Jam [tenaciouss]
34. Do Anything You Wanna Do – Eddie and the Hot Rods [tenaciouss]
35. Better Things – The Kinks [tenaciouss]
36. Cynical Girl – Marshall Crenshaw [tenaciouss]
37. Suddenly Cool – The Methadones [tenaciouss]
38. Terror Bends – My Teenage Stride [tenaciouss]
39. Rubella – Smoking Popes [tenaciouss]
40. You Made Me Like It – 1990s [tenaciouss]
41. Friday on My Mind – Easybeats [lulu]
42. I’ve Been Waiting – Matthew Sweet [lulu]
43. There She Goes – The Las [lulu]
44. Heart – Rockpile [lulu]
45. Less Than Zero – Elvis Costello [lulu]
46. Jailbreak – Thin Lizzy [lulu]
47. Girl of My Dreams – Bram Tchaikovsky [lulu]
48. Going Down to Liverpool – The Bangles [lulu]
49. The Box Tops – The Letter
50. Big Star – Don’t Lie to Me [beth]
51. Big Star – September Gurls [beth]
52. R.E.M. – Jesus Christ [beth]
53. Alex Chilton – Thing for You [beth]
54. The Replacements – Alex Chilton [beth]
55. In the Street – Cheap Trick [beth]
56. What’s Going Ahn – The Posies [beth]

Every participant has one or more songs that I am unfamiliar with, so this will be a righteous injection of power pop for me. I hope it will be the same for you, too.

There are also plenty songs that I know and are very happy to see included (hello, “Ca Plane Pour Moi”)!

I’m pretty confident each person is going to have to provide at least some of their selections to me — just have ’em ready to go, if’n you don’t mind.

UPDATE:
Not wishing to risk angering the mix tape gods, Beth has been added to the mix. Hey, she’s a big star in the world of mix tapes, and I am happy to have her participation!

Lately, I just feel like making a mix tape. Is there anyone else who wants to play?

Let’s go for Volume 11 of the Green Monkey Music Project!

The theme for this project is going to be POWER POP. If you need a refresher/tutorial/clue, please feel free to peruse this Wikipedia entry to get a basic sense of what constitutes power pop.

I am not looking to be extremely stringent about what falls into the category. For me, it’s up-front drums playing a mid-tempo beat, the guitars are loud and cutting, and the melody is catchy, even pretty.

For example, Cheap Trick’s “Surrender” is an absolutely perfect power pop song. And that’s going to be what kicks off this edition of the GMMP.

How about we have five participants, each allotted eight songs to play with? With me participating, that leaves four other people to sign up!

Please note: There is one minor though important change to this volume of the GMMP. Participants should be prepared to supply every song they submit to this mix (if I don’t have the song or am unable to obtain it, I’m going to be asking you for it).

Okay. I feel better now.

LET’S ROCK!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE:

Alright, alright, since the monkey has been gone for so long, I will let all people that have requested participation into the mix (besides, you can’t have too much power pop).

So, here are the participants:

Splotchy
Bubs
Domboy
Allen L.
Tenacious S
Westcoast Walker
Lulu

Just post your selections as a comment on this post, fellow monkeyers. Remember, if I can’t find the song, you’ll be expected to come up with it.

Volume 10 of the Green Monkey Music Project is completed and available for download!

Special thanks to supermixologist Beth, who came through like the hero she is, and provided a large number of the songs for the mix!

If the participants of this mix want to discuss their own selections, please feel free to do so! I’ll put a pointer on this post if you end up posting about it on your own blog (or you could always just add comments here, I suppose).

==========================
BATTLE OF THE SEXES!
==========================

Rules and Theme Details

The Participants Discuss Their Selections:
Beckeye!
Moxie!
Lulu!
Splotchy!
Allen L.!
Barbara!

The Songs:

Ladies
01 – Darlene – Led Zeppelin [beckeye]
02 – Vicky Verky – Squeeze [beckeye]
03 – Blue Jean – David Bowie [beckeye]
04 – Hey Julie – Fountains of Wayne [beckeye]
05 – Always Claire – Knockout Drops [beckeye]
06 – Eleanor Rigby – The Beatles [distributorcap]
07 – Chelsea Morning – Joni Mitchell [distributorcap]
08 – Walk Away Renee – The Four Tops [distributorcap]
09 – Sad Lisa – Cat Stevens [distributorcap]
10 – Suite Judy Blue Eyes – Crosby Stills & Nash [distributorcap]
11 – Jenny (867-5309) – Tommy Tutone [flanneryalden]
12 – Maggie Mae – Rod Stewart [flanneryalden]
13 – Candy’s Room – Bruce Springsteen [flanneryalden]
14 – Donna – Ritchie Valens [flanneryalden]
15 – Sarah Smiles – Hall & Oates [flanneryalden]
16 – Mustang Sally – The Commitments [moxie]
17 – Pandora’s Box – Aerosmith [moxie]
18 – Meet Virginia – Train [moxie]
19 – Jolene – Dolly Parton [moxie]
20 – Amanda – Boston [moxie]
21 – Valerie Loves Me – Material Issue [lulu]
22 – Sweet Jane – Cowboy Junkies [lulu]
23 – Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) – Edison Lighthouse [lulu]
24 – Cecilia Ann – Pixies [lulu]
25 – Jamie’s Crying – Van Halen [lulu]

Gents
26 – Charlemagne – John Cale [splotchy]
27 – Billy Two – The Clean [splotchy]
28 – Captain Lou – NRBQ [splotchy]
29 – Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing – The Minutemen [splotchy]
30 – Adam Green – Momus [splotchy]
31 – Paul Stanley – Hellacopters [allenl]
32 – St. Jimmie the Prankster – Dean Gray (Green Day Mashup) [allenl]
33 – Jonathan – Nerf Herder [allenl]
34 – Vincent – Don Maclean [allenl]
35 – Pablo Picasso Visitos Los Planetos de los Simios – Adam and the Ants [allenl]
36 – Can’t Con an Honest John – The Streets [barbara]
37 – Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner – Warren Zevon [barbara]
38 – Donald in the Bushes with a Bag of Glue – Ballboy [barbara]
39 – William, It Was Really Nothing – the Smiths [barbara]
40 – Our Retired Explorer (Dines With Michel Foucault in Paris, 1961) – the Weakerthans [barbara]
41 – Danny Boy – Hayley Westenra [j.d.]
42 – A Boozehound Named Barney – Maggie Roswell (as Sherry Bobbins) [j.d.]
43 – Alfie – Lily Allen [j.d.]
44 – Samson – Regina Spektor [j.d.]
45 – Hey Jude – Joe Anderson [j.d.]
46 – Stagger Lee – Nick Cave [bubs]
47 – Peter Gunn – Henry Mancini [bubs]
48 – Making Plans For Nigel – Nouvelle Vague [bubs]
49 – Jimmy Jazz – The Clash [bubs]
50 – A Boy Named Sue – Johnny Cash [bubs]
48 – Making Plans For Nigel – Nouvelle Vague [bubs]
49 – Jimmy Jazz – The Clash [bubs]
50 – A Boy Named Sue – Johnny Cash [bubs]

With the end of the Green Monkey Music Project, I know it’s more of a formality, but I would still like to congratulate the following people on attaining masterhood with this mix.

Bubs
J.D.
Lulu

Wear your Green Monkey Master Badge with pride!

Thanks also to Volume 10’s guest host, Beckeye!

J.D. asked in a comment what the most frequent artist across the monkey mixes was.

It turned out to be a 3-way tie. Here they are.

Pixies – 5 songs
Velouria (ABC) [tim]
Planet of Sound (Speed It Up) [tim]
Holiday Song (Total Absorption) [barbara]
Cecilia Ann (Battle Of The Sexes) [lulu]
Debaser (Snotty) [bigshoulders]

Radiohead – 5 songs
Go To Sleep (ABC) [barbara]
A Reminder (Speed It Up) [tim]
Pyramid Song (Speed It Up) [tenaciouss]
Let Down (Total Absorption) [barbara]
Optimistic (What’s In A Word?) [splotchy]

The Clash – 5 songs
Jimmy Jazz (Battle Of The Sexes) [bubs]
London Calling (Geography Pop Quiz) [gizmorox]
Guns of Brixton (Snotty) [bigshoulders]
Brand New Cadillac (Speed It Up) [johnnyyen]
Clampdown (What’s In A Word?) [beth]

If any of you stats junkies want to run any other kinds of numbers, I’ve created a comma-delimited file (CSV) for you. It’s very easy to convert to a spreadsheet format (MS Excel, for example).

Knock yerself out, and let me know of any interesting findings.

GMMP Songs Data

Here’s a discussion of my selections for the Battle Of The Sexes mix, Volume 10 of the Green Monkey Music Project.

In the initial round of the Green Monkey Music Project I did with some folks from work, one of the guys chose “Girls, Girls, Girls” as a theme (all songs had to have a female name), so I knew for this mix I would be opting to choose songs of the male persuasion.

I thought it would be difficult, but as I searched for songs I realized there was a helluva lot of dude name songs I liked as well.

Charlemagne – John Cale
From Vintage Violence, John Cale’s first solo album. Sure, the title and cover of this album may be a little unsettling, but it’s quite the lovely slice o’ pop. This song is really wonderful, though I could just as easily have included “Gideon’s Bible” from the same record. Check it out.

Billy Two – The Clean
This is just a straight-ahead, no-nonsense two minute pop song. I saw Yo La Tengo play this at the Metro in Chicago. Their guest guitarist touring with them sang the song, who just happened to be David Kilgour of The Clean. From the Anthology compilation.

Captain Lou – NRBQ
I never really knew a lot about NRBQ, despite their beloved status among many musicians and music-lovers. I actually saw them open up for R.E.M. on the Green tour, in the unfriendly confines of the Assembly Hall in Urbana, Illinois. I really didn’t dig them too much, but conditions were pretty much as bad as they could be for me to appreciate their music. I recently heard this song on Yo La Tengo’s very enjoyable half-assed covers compilation Yo La Tengo Is Murdering The Classics. I liked the song so much I sought out the original, which I liked even more. Hey, it’s got Captain Lou Albano. How cool is that? From Lou and the Q.

Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing – The Minutemen
A great song off a great album – Double Nickels On The Dime. Has some really choice lines, my favorite being “So dig this big crux”. This song clocks in under two minutes. It shows what a rockin’ song is all about, in my humble opinion. Pure, pure stuff.

Adam Green – Momus
This song was one of my entries in a lyrics quiz, but no one ever got it. Off the interesting album Stars Forever, where for US $1000 you could have Momus write a song about you. Supposedly, the songs-for-pay on Stars Forever was concocted to enable Momus to recoup his legal costs incurred by being sued for a song on his previous album, The Little Red Songbook. Songbook contained a song “Walter Carlos”, about the famous Switched-On Bach virtuoso now known as Wendy. Wendy no like the song. Wendy sue Momus. I can assure you that the song wasn’t that offensive. Harvey Keitel got much worse treatment on the same album. Anyways, I was hesitant to include this song because it has a couple offensive lines, too. But hell, if this is my last Monkey Mix, screw it, right?

Thanks to Beckeye for hosting this time around.

As promised, here’s the track listing to the aborted Volume 10 of GMMP, another could-have-been masterpiece that never-was-finished.

It’s like the long lost version of the Beach Boys’ Smile, except it doesn’t have “Good Vibrations” or a song about vegetables (at least I don’t think any of these songs are about vegetables).

Ladies
01 – Darlene – Led Zeppelin [beckeye]
02 – Vicky Verky – Squeeze [beckeye]
03 – Blue Jean – David Bowie [beckeye]
04 – Hey Julie – Fountains of Wayne [beckeye]
05 – Always Claire – Knockout Drops [beckeye]
06 – Eleanor Rigby – The Beatles [distributorcap]
07 – Chelsea Morning – Joni Mitchell [distributorcap]
08 – Walk Away Renee – The Four Tops [distributorcap]
09 – Sad Lisa – Cat Stevens [distributorcap]
10 – Suite Judy Blue Eyes – Crosby Stills & Nash [distributorcap]
11 – Jenny (867-5309) – Tommy Tutone [flanneryalden]
12 – Maggie Mae – Rod Stewart [flanneryalden]
13 – Candy’s Room – Bruce Springsteen [flanneryalden]
14 – Oh Donna – Ritchie Valens [flanneryalden]
15 – Sarah Smiles – Hall & Oates [flanneryalden]
16 – Mustang Sally – The Commitments [moxie]
17 – Pandora’s Box – Aerosmith [moxie]
18 – Meet Virginia – Train [moxie]
19 – Jolene – Dolly Parton [moxie]
20 – Amanda – Boston [moxie]
21 – Valerie Loves Me – Material Issue [lulu]
22 – Sweet Jane – Cowboy Junkies [lulu]
23 – Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes) – Edison Lighthouse [lulu]
24 – Cecilia Ann – Pixies [lulu]
25 – Jamie’s Crying – Van Halen [lulu]

Gents
26 – Charlemagne – John Cale [splotchy]
27 – Billy Two – The Clean [splotchy]
28 – Captain Lou – NRBQ [splotchy]
29 – Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing – The Minutemen [splotchy]
30 – Adam Green – Momus [splotchy]
31 – Paul Stanley – Hellacopters [allenl]
32 – St. Jimmie the Prankster – Dean Gray (Green Day Mashup) [allenl]
33 – Jonathan – Nerf Herder [allenl]
34 – Vincent – Don Maclean [allenl]
35 – Pablo Picasso Visitos Los Planetos de los Simios – Adam and the Ants [allenl]
36 – Can’t Con an Honest John – The Streets [barbara]
37 – Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner – Warren Zevon [barbara]
38 – Donald in the Bushes with a Bag of Glue – Ballboy [barbara]
39 – William, It Was Really Nothing – the Smiths [barbara]
40 – Our Retired Explorer (Dines With Michel Foucault in Paris, 1961) – the Weakerthans [barbara]
41 – Danny Boy – Hayley Westenra [j.d.]
42 – A Boozehound Named Barney – Maggie Roswell (as Shary Bobbins) [j.d.]
43 – Alfie – Lily Allen [j.d.]
44 – Samson – Regina Spektor [j.d.]
45 – Hey Jude – Joe Anderson [j.d.]
46 – Stagger Lee – Nick Cave [bubs]
47 – Peter Gunn – Henry Mancini [bubs]
48 – Making Plans For Nigel – Nouvelle Vague [bubs]
49 – Jimmy Jazz – The Clash [bubs]
50 – A Boy Named Sue – Johnny Cash [bubs]

UPDATE:

If any of the participants want to provide their own tracks to me for a (perhaps incomplete) publishing of this last mix, they’re welcome to email me the songs.

Okay, over and out.

Hi folks.

I am sad to announce the end to the Green Monkey Music Project.

I’m sorry to all the Monkey Masters who have not yet received the chance to make their own mix, and especially sorry to Beckeye, whose mix had just revved up. Once I get the song order from her, I’ll post the tracklisting for Volume 10 (but without the songs).

One thing I have really enjoyed in doing this bloggy thing over the past few months is the ability to connect with other people in interesting ways, whether it’s encouraging others to adopt a character actor, or making a mix tape with a variety of people across the globe.

Thanks everyone for your participation.

Love,

The Green Monkey What Lives In My Brain (deceased)

This post might just come across as an ego stroke to those who have been great participants thus far in the Green Monkey Music Project, and yes, that’s 45% true.

But the other 55% purpose of this post is to just to help me keep track of all the Monkey Masters running around.

So, Green Monkey Masters, I salute and keep track of you!

Masters With A Mix
Beckeye has contributed Battle of the Sexes (in progress)
Chris has contributed Geography Pop Quiz

Masters Yet To Mix
Manx
Barbara
Beth

Apprentices achieving masterhood with Volume 10
Bubs
J.D.
Lulu

Hi, music fans. BeckEye from The Pop Eye here, ready to show off my monkey mixology mastery! Since I’m a three-timer in Splotchy’s now-legendary Green Monkey Music Project, I’ve been granted the opportunity – nay, the right! – to take over his blog and helm the latest installment.

I’m pleased to announce that Volume 10 of the GMMP will be the Battle of the Sexes Mix. Since I’ve noticed that a lot of very enthusiastic people have been shut out of previous mixes, I’m going to be a benevolent ruler and allow 10 participants on this go-round. Each participant will offer up 5 songs each, all of which must include a person’s name in the title. Following the “battle of the sexes” theme, half of the songs will be about girls and the other half about boys.

RULE #1: Each participant must stick to one gender throughout his/her list. This is a battle, soldiers! You’ve gotta pick sides! If you pick boy titles, all five songs must be about boys. No slipping an “Oh Sheila” in there. (This is just to ease my highly anal-retentive mind and ensure that we end up with the same number of songs for each gender.)

RULE #2: Only one gender per song allowed. No ditties about Jack and Diane or ballads of John and Yoko.

RULE #3: All titles must include first names. No Misters, Misses or Doctors allowed. For example, Yoshimi is welcome to battle the pink robots, as long as Mr. Roboto is not one of them.

I’m not going to assign anyone a gender, so it’ll be a first-come, first-served situation. If you want to play, just enter your list of five songs in the comments section of this post and you’re in. Everyone will need to keep an eye on the comments to know how many slots for each sex are left. If anyone mistakenly posts a list for a gender that’s already reached its 25-song limit, either Splotchy or I will let him/her know that they need to revise or withdraw.

This should be a lot of fun, because there are a ton of these songs out there. I’m excited to see what you all come up with. Big thanks to Splotchy for hosting one of the best music-sharing programs on the Internetz. Let’s hear it for the boy! Let’s give the boy a hand!

*By the way…I kind of lied about letting 10 people play. There will be 10 slots available but I’ve already taken one and one is reserved for Splotchy, so there are really only 8 left. But that still leaves plenty of room!

UPDATE:

Participants are all signed up!

Ladies
Beckeye
Distributorcap
Flannery Alden
Lulu
Moxie

Gents
Splotchy
Allen L.
Barbara
J.D.
Bubs