"I'm sorry," the drunk guy at the bar said to his friends as the Kid Rock song came on the jukebox for the second, perhaps third time that night. "I just love this song so much. I can't help it." Then he stared off into space with a look of sheer ecstacy on his face as Kid Rock did whatever it is that Kid Rock does.

This really struck me, because I think Kid Rock is pretty stupid. I started to think about how even though he does nothing for me, people obviously like something about him, because they consume his albums like crazy. The same goes for so many others.

I've come to the conclusion that a person's chances of liking a particular song or not depend on two things: 1) the person's life experience, and 2) the person's previous exposure to, and appreciation of, other songs up until that very point in time. The variables and elements in this equation are too complex to pin down, exactly. I ask myself, why do I love Gary Jules' cover of the Tears for Fears song, "Mad World" so much? Part of it has to do with the excellent movie Donnie Darko (the Director's Cut was released today on DVD--mine is on the way!) and the scene at the end where that song appears. But I'd go nuts over the song anyway. Why? I have no idea.

I want to make a mix CD consisting of songs that completely grabbed me the first time I heard them, and continue to grab me throughout the years. Hm. This sounds like fun.
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