In an effort to expand my horizons, I listened to one song in every genre in Spotify and The Guardian's 101 Strangest Records on Spotify.  Please note that the Spotify genres have grown quite a bit since I first started the list, and not all of the albums in the 101 strangest records were available.  Here's a quick recap of the two music challenges of 2016.  

All the Genres

My takeaway from going through all the genres is that I like the metals (duh).  The other genres I were drawn to were EDM, jazz, and hip hop (also duh).  I didn't have a revalation and find some new undiscovered genre that I've been missing out on.  It's important to note that with just listening to one song from each genre, I really don't have an accurate picture.  When I have the time, I do want to do some more digging in each genre that I enjoyed.   

I did this the really hard way and created my own playlists to play each day.  I might give this another shot, but next time using Spotify's playlist: The Sound of Everything.

101 Strangest Records on Spotify

The Guardian's 101 Strangest Records on Spotify I found a lot more interesting.  This time around i was able to listen to full albums.  The full album experience is the way I prefer to listen to music, concept album or not.

I'm already a fan of the strange and avant garde, so I anticipated that quite of a few of these would be right up my alley.  What I appreciated most about the list is how eclectic it was, which ranged from jazz, to electroacoustic improvisation, to folk songs, to gospel, and so on. Below are just a few of my "favorites:" 

• Chief Kooffreh - Doctor Viagra Hard Stone (talk/rap over casio keyboard beats)
• Mind Music & Milk – A Mother's Companion for Workplace Pumping (awkward)
• Aubrey Ghent & Friends - Can't Nobody Do Me Like Jesus (best album title ever)
• Double A - Aight (clean rapping with a positive message)
• Per Henderak Haetta - Lappish Joik Songs from Northern Norway (wtf)

Rolling Stone's 50 Country Albums Every Rock Fan Should Own

To kick off 2017, I decided to give this list a shot.  Unfortunately for me, my wife (somewhat) recently renewed her country fandom.  She became sick of hearing the same damn 10 pop songs played on the radio. Instead, she decided to reconnect with country and listen to the same damn 10 country songs on the radio. 

If it wasn't obvious, I am certainly not a fan of country.  I only listen to it because the wife does (happy wife, happy STFU).  I really feel like I have given country a fair shot.  Beyond hearing all the radio hits, I've listened to albums by such artists as Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert, and Maren Morris.  I've attended concerts such as The Eli Young Band, The Dixie Chicks, and the aforementioned Kacey Musgraves.  I've had a good time at these shows simply because I really enjoy live music no matter what it is.  

If this Rolling Stone list truly leans towards rock then maybe there's something I can appreciate about them, and maybe the wife and I can find a compromise.  The wife has agreed to go through these albums with me making this our first joint album challenge.  If I made a Venn Diagram of our musical tastes, the intersection would be fairly small.  I'm hoping that going through this list will expand that intersection. /end nerd