Kelly’s Unnecessary Blog

Chemistry class in college was not my friend. I squeaked by with a?? D-. ???Chemistry??? by Semisonic, on the other hand, is at the top of the class. When I sort my iPod by Play Count, that song comes out number one.

The other songs from ???All About Chemistry??? round out the rest of the top spots. I still listen to whole albums as a unit most of the time, but I also will put an artist on shuffle. Either way, I do sometimes skip songs I???m not in the mood for. So within this album, the play counts vary from 64 down to 45. I think Dan Wilson is a top songwriter.

After the ???All About Chemistry??? songs, the next most frequent is ???The Slacks??? by Trip Shakespeare, the precursor band to Semisonic. The album is ???Across the Universe.??? Trip Shakespeare also contained Dan Wilson???s brother Matt, and along with John Munson, a masterpiece was created.

Those of you who know me may be wondering, well where???s the Del Amitri and Queen? Del Amitri starts up after ???The Slacks, and begins a rotation with songs from the Trip Shakespeare album with songs from ???Change Everything??? and ???Can You Do Me Good???? The other Del Amitri albums work their way in, along with Justin Currie???s first solo album.

I have to say that now because he just released his second solo album. Dan Wilson seems to be getting recognition and writes for other acts, including the Dixie Chicks. Justin Currie is a completely underrated genius songwriter. With each new album, he only gets better, whether it was for Del Amitri, The Uncle Devil Show, or, now, himself.

At first, I was incredulous that it wasn???t a Del Amitri or Queen album that topped the list, but in a way it makes sense. Semisonic only have three full-length albums and ???All About Chemistry??? is by far my favorite. Del Amitri, Queen, and Elton John have more albums that I like more equally, so the playing gets spread around. But as artists, they probably have the most total plays.

I was a little surprised by the order of who else showed up. After the TripSonicWilson songs (as I fondly refer to the shuffle grouping of Trip Shakespeare, Semisonic, and Dan and Matt Wilson???s solo material) and Del Amitri/Justin Currie, we next have one interloping song by the Doves, ???Catch the Sun,??? then:

Scissor Sisters, Tears For Fears, Brazilian Girls, more Doves, Little River Band, The Adventures, All Seeing I, Cowboy Mouth, Gram Rabbit, Nickel Creek, Gino Vannelli, Cousteau, The Uncle Devil Show, America, Minnie Driver, October Project, Queen (finally, though I have so many albums by them, is it really representative that they???re this far down?), Robbie Williams, Shelby Lynne, Spacehog, Thomas Dolby, Babybird, Rhett Miller, Travis, ABC, Anna Fermin???s Trigger Gospel, The Cars, Chicago, Journey, Coldplay, Duran Duran, Elton John. Then the field gets more crowded, and by now you???re probably bored with the list anyway.