YouTube 'Shuffleall' playlist, a history of my musical tastes 2006-2015

I'm not much of a historian but I do like two types of history: macro-history, the really big stuff and the story of me... fine I'll type it... me-story. The Me-Story of Eoghan Fallon, I'll write that after the Zodiac Trilogy and the Necut Chronicles. Maybe after I write a thesis on Babylonian bureaucracy or Neo-Heartland Theory and drown in all the political science.

Anyway, YouTube. And years. Time? 2015 is a good number. 2014 is OK, 2013 not so much. 2012 had a nice symmetry to it while 2011 was an unexpected delight. 2010 was pretty damn good all the way through and 2009 was definitely the start of something. My college years and now encapsulated in rambling text about a few numbers.

YouTube! I've been on it since 2006. I watched a few things before they were famous. Little Kuriboh, I followed his stuff up until the Noah arc. He quoted one of my comments in one of his extra videos - simpler times! I used YouTube to listen to music. I remember listening to Fire by Arthur Brown over and over again in 2007. I was entranced by the Ultimate Showdown (of Ultimate Destiny) in 2006. Using Google Videos (heh) and YouTube I managed to catch up on Red vs. Blue from 2008. Zero Punctuation - I hated it at first but then I grew to like the man behind the videos. YouTube!

It's interesting to look at my shuffle playlist and get a sense of time passing. It seems to start before 2009 with a host of wrestling theme songs, probably added for nostalgia's sake. That's certainly why I listen to them now, seeing as I only properly watched wrestling from 2002 to 2004. I was 10 when I started and 12 when it went off Sky on Saturdays!

Obligatory Linkin Park 'In the End' and Lady Gaga 'Paparazzi' aside further down we get into 2009 hits that I probably heard while out in 2010, like Florence + the Machine Lungs stuff and classic sexy stuff like 'Strutter' by Kiss. 'You've Got The Love', 'Howl' and 'Hurricane Drunk' are all there from Florence. I really liked the GTA San Andreas soundtrack so a lot of the K Rose and K DST stuff is there. Plenty of stuff from the heady 2010-2011 days before I left for Finland.

Not much was added in Finland 2011-2012 but some Irish nostalgia crap starts to come in like B*witched creeps in along with a ton of girl (-bands), prominently Girls Aloud (my Scottish room mates influence) and the rise of Katy Perry. I first watched The Wire in the snow of February-March in 2012 in Finland so all the seasons themes are present. Strong sprinklings of Kylie Minogue (all manifestations) are throughout the list, though more appear around this time.

Really new stuff that I might have seen in adverts and such start to appear, certainly Adele with Skyfall and Lykke Li in the camera ads bring along 2013. Carlae Rae Jepsen rubs shoulders with the likes of Bowie and ELO. Nicki Minaj and that catchy Radioactive song. 2013 was kind of steamy in a different way so Florence + The Machine appears again as we were back in the clubs and bars for a time.

Bond themes and nostalgia seem to pick up again in 2014 given the decline in my mood and supposed fortunes.A few Romanian classics and current stuff were picked up from my trip there in the summer - Delia A lu' Mamaia was playing EVERYWHERE in June 2014 in Romania, from the Carpathians to the Black Sea Coast. A big pile of oldies and Fleetwood Mac appear toward the last quarter of the playlist, probably just to include them in the shuffle. Woo! I was also writing my thesis/finishing the MA/not enjoying summer much/dying inside at this time, so probably good to cling to what's good.

Lorde and Taylor Swift seem to mark the post-thesis era, the long unemployment time. I was an Extra in Game of Thrones around here, so more Paul Simon and wrestling stuff appear for my Belfast trips. The winter of 2014 and early 2015 are when I watched and re-watched Reeling in the Years so a big pile of music from 1970's (John Denver) 1980's (Phil Collins) through to 1995 (Republica, though I first binged on them when I was leaving Finland in 2012) and so much 2000's junk appears. Coldplay good, others so-so and guilty pleasures like Avril Lavigne and t.A.T.u..Definitely a more upbeat collection as I sought to rebuild myself by travelling through time with music until I reached the present - then I stopped listening because oh gods current stuff.

We're doing better, getting better! I know how it feels to be in opposition in a parliament, almost 5 years on the sidelines, definitely making an effort to get back in control of my life recently (April onward).