Welcome to New Good Songs



Me listening to music in Antigua.

 Dear People,

I'm John. I am an obsessive fan of post-1990 music. I'm very knowledgeable about music trivia. I'm weird and kind of a dork, although I'm really handsome so not that many people realize it. I like songs but hate concerts, and don't much care for albums. I'm song loyal, not artist loyal. My tastes are not cool. I hate pretentious hipster nonsense about underground bands you've never heard of. I hate bad songs. I like songs that are good -- that are pretty, fun, sad, well-produced and musical. And those can come from any genre.

For example, today some of my favorite new good songs include "The Woman You Love" by Ashanti (R&B), "Warrior" by Kimbra (alternative pop), "Wade Awake" by Katy Perry (mainstream pop), "Always Summer" by Yellowcard (indie rock), "Para" by Calexico (indie alternative rock), "Satellites" by Catcall (indie pop), "Hard To Love" by Lee Brice (country), "Timebomb" by Kylie Minogue (dance) and "Ships In The Night" by Mat Kearney (adult Top 40). These are new good songs, in my opinion. But nobody handed me a mixed tape with these songs on them. I had to put in a lot of effort and wade through a lot of shitty nonsense to find them. Now they're safely locked in my iPhone and I can listen to them at my leisure. I think the reward is worth it.

I am always looking for new good songs, and they are increasingly hard to find. It requires proactive diligence to discover them.

Twenty years ago, in 1992, my sources for new good songs were FM radio, MTV and VH1. That was it. Almost always, these channels re-enforced each other to push out hits to me, the audience. Songs came to me, and my job was to react, by disliking them, liking them somewhat or possibly liking them enough to buy the single or CD. I'd then make mixed tapes.

In 2012, we live in a completely different world. Practically never do I listen to FM radio or VH1; never do I watch MTV. So where do new good songs come from? Apparently, it takes hard work to find them. I am a busy professional who lives in New York and travels for work, and my free time is limited. I was growing more and more disconnected from contemporary music. I was not finding and enjoying new good songs. Earlier this year, it occurred to me that this made me sad. So over the past few months, I've made a determined effort to navigate the resources available to me (e.g., iTunes, Wikipedia, YouTube) to find new good songs. I am now keeping a weekly list, like I used to do 20 years ago.

I'm starting this blog because I want document what I'm discovering, share it with friends and possibly strangers and -- fingers crossed -- receive some recommendations of new good songs and sources/channels to find them. My plan is to regularly share new good songs I find, and explain how I found them and why I like them. This is going to be cool.