My 2024 Musical Confessional

In early December, my youngest son started quite a commotion (okay, he is 20 years old but still the youngest) when he started yelling, “Wrap is out, wrap is out.” Wrap refers to Spotify’s personalized summary of each user’s musical tastes and listening habits of the preceding year. Unlike my love/hate relationship with Spotify DJ and his insistence that I like Olivia Rodrigo, “Wrap” is a welcome guest in my household. My wife and all three sons love music, and our tastes cannot be more diverse.

Here are the highlights from my “Spotify Wrap” for 2024.

I listened to over 17,000 minutes of music. Good grief, where did I even find the time? It struck me how many hours of music I listened to while traveling to visit my son while he was studying away from home and how many hours I had headphones on while cycling or doing housework. I thought I had the title for most minutes in my household until one of my sons posted his summary with over 24,000 minutes. Good for him. The irony is he is a big fan of country music, and my tastes have a lot of 90s grunge/goth rock and even folk.

My top five listened artists to in 2024 were The Who (my original fave band), Faith No More (one of the most influential bands of the 90s), Sonic Youth (legendary to post-punk, early grunge fan), Sloan (a terrifically underrated Canadian band) and then there is Harvey Danger.

Who the f… is Harvey Danger? Well, you all know or have heard the song “Flagpole Sitta,” in the movie American Pie. So were they a one-hit wonder? No. They made some of the best music in the late ’90s’ and into the 2000s. Unfortunately, the music industry moved on from alternative rock, and their record label cut costs and didn’t support their album. But THEY MADE TERRIFIC MUSIC. Their lyrics are witty and profound. So, how did they end up on my Spotify list for 2024? Well, it is because they weren’t on Spotify until recently and because when they were making music, my twin sons were born. I was in the land of Teletubbies (the horror, the absolute horror) and reading Curious George to my kids. Suffice it to say, listen to their music, especially songs like “Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo” and “Little Round Mirrors.” I dare you to tell me they are not exceptional.

Tell me these are not great lyrics:

“The past stays in the past
But every time
You crash a little bit harder than the last
And every time you crash don’t you

Wanna find something you could love
Half as much as you love all your little round mirrors
See yourself reflected in one
There’s a hole in the middle you can’t seem to fill” – Little Round Mirrors.

I would love to hear about your music confessions. Don’t be shy. Reach out to me at mpoleksiw@gmail.com