Shake It Off

Podify Wrapped

Week of June 8–14, 2026

328 Plays. 94 Artists. One iPod Lost Somewhere Between Pink Floyd and Jeff Foxworthy.

Welcome back to another edition of Podify Wrapped, where my iPod's listening history is carefully analyzed to answer one important question:

"What exactly was I doing this week?"

The answer, apparently, was listening to 328 songs from 94 different artists while refusing to commit to any single genre for more than twenty minutes at a time.

This week's playlist wandered through progressive rock, classic rock, hard rock, country music, video game soundtracks, comedy albums, 90s alternative rock, and whatever category The Presidents of the United States of America occupy.

In other words:

Business as usual.

By the Numbers

🎵 Total Plays: 328

🎤 Unique Artists: 94

📀 Unique Songs: 287

🎙️ Live Recordings: Approximately 52%

🎸 Classic Rock & Hard Rock: 57%

🤠 Country & Americana: 11%

🎮 Video Game Soundtracks: 8%

🤣 Comedy & Spoken Word: 4%

🎭 Miscellaneous Musical Chaos: 20%

📈 Playlist Consistency: Unavailable

Top Artists of the Week

🥇 Pink Floyd

35 plays (10.7%)

Pink Floyd didn't merely win this week.

Pink Floyd annexed this week.

At various points the playlist became a continuous exploration of mortality, memory, insanity, capitalism, and guitar solos longer than some television episodes.

If someone asked what your favorite artist was this week, the answer is simply:

"Yes."

🥈 Led Zeppelin

31 plays (9.5%)

The closest challenger.

Between "Whole Lotta Love," "Heartbreaker," "Black Dog," and enough live recordings to fill a small concert venue, Led Zeppelin spent the week reminding everyone why they remain one of the greatest rock bands ever assembled.

Also, three plays of "Whole Lotta Love."

Apparently moderation was not invited.

🥉 Blue Öyster Cult

14 plays (4.3%)

The surprise powerhouse.

Blue Öyster Cult quietly accumulated enough listens to claim third place while probably demanding additional cowbell the entire time.

🏅 Jeff Foxworthy

12 plays (3.7%)

This statistic deserves its own section.

Most music summaries feature Taylor Swift.

Mine features Jeff Foxworthy.

I feel this says something about me.

I'm not entirely sure what.

🏅 David Gilmour

8 plays (2.4%)

Apparently Pink Floyd alone wasn't enough.

🏅 The Presidents of the United States of America

8 plays (2.4%)

Still carrying the banner for musical unpredictability.

🏅 Styx and REO Speedwagon

8 plays (2.4%)

Arena rock remains undefeated.

Top Songs of the Week

🥇 Tie for Most Played

Money — 3 plays

Whole Lotta Love — 3 plays

Heartbreaker — 3 plays

Apparently the week's dominant themes were:

• Capitalism

• Love

• Aggressive guitar riffs

A surprisingly complete emotional spectrum.

🥈 The Two-Play Club

Notable repeat visitors included:

• Comfortably Numb

• Layla

• Fanfare

• Smooth

• Whiskey in the Jar

• Mountain Music

• Tubthumping

• Mmmbop

• Flaming Telepaths

• Shake It Off

This may be the strangest Top Songs chart ever assembled.

Genre Breakdown

🎸 Classic Rock & Hard Rock — 57%

This week belonged to classic rock.

Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Blue Öyster Cult, Aerosmith, Billy Joel, Eric Clapton, David Gilmour, Jimmy Page, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick, Metallica, and dozens of others accounted for more than half of all listening.

The playlist frequently felt like a radio station broadcasting directly from 1978.

🤠 Country & Americana — 11%

Alan Jackson, Alabama, Sawyer Brown, and Jimmy Buffett made regular appearances.

Every few hours the playlist briefly stopped contemplating the meaning of existence and started discussing pickup trucks.

🎮 Gaming & Soundtracks — 8%

Frank Klepacki and Nobuo Uematsu continued their ongoing campaign to sneak video game music into every Podify Wrapped report.

Mission accomplished.

🤣 Comedy & Spoken Word — 4%

Jeff Foxworthy somehow cracked the Top 5.

Again.

I cannot stress enough how unusual this is.

Most Surprising Transition Awards

🏆 Grand Champion

Pink Floyd → Jeff Foxworthy

From:

The pressures of modern life.

To:

Redneck jokes.

In approximately four minutes.

No further explanation required.

🥈 Runner-Up

Final Fantasy IX → Whole Lotta Love

From magical airships and fantasy kingdoms directly into Robert Plant screaming.

🥉 Third Place

Shake It Off → Comfortably Numb*

The emotional whiplash award.

Podify Achievement Badges

🏆 The Floydian Scholar

Listen to enough Pink Floyd that your playlist starts questioning reality.

🏆 Guitar Solo of the Week

Winner: David Gilmour

The judging panel fell asleep halfway through the solo and woke up to discover it was still happening.

🏆 The Cowbell Preservation Society

Awarded to Blue Öyster Cult.

🏆 Most Unexpected Country Detour

Winner: Alabama's "Mountain Music"

🏆 Commander of the Brotherhood of Nod

Awarded for repeated Command & Conquer soundtrack listens.

🏆 Live Album Addict Level III

More than half your listening came from live recordings.

At this point you're basically paying imaginary ticket fees.

🏆 Shuffle Goblin Lifetime Achievement Award

For creating playlist transitions that would cause modern recommendation algorithms to burst into tears.

Listener Personality Report

If Podify generated a personality profile, it would probably say:

"This listener enjoys classic rock, progressive rock, country music, video game soundtracks, comedy albums, and complete unpredictability."

Translated into plain English:

"User appears to use the shuffle button as a form of recreational gambling."

And honestly?

That's probably accurate.

One minute you're listening to Pink Floyd question the human condition. The next you're hearing Jeff Foxworthy tell jokes. Five minutes later you're commanding tanks in Command & Conquer before returning to Led Zeppelin.

Does it make sense?

Not remotely.

Did it make for a fun week?

Three hundred and twenty-eight plays suggest the answer is yes.

*The graphic has this going from Alan Jackson to the Safety Dance. I have discussed it with ChatGPT already, and the results of that conversation are below 

What A Long Strange Trip It's Been

Today's nonsense: The D40X with my Nikon Nikkor-Zoom 100-300mm f/5.6 manual lens from the 1970s.

 

One thing I particularly like about this combination is that it accidentally recreates the experience many photographers had in the late film era: long manual-focus glass, deliberate composition, and no safety net. The D40x's CCD sensor and the old Nikkor seem oddly well matched in temperament. Neither is especially forgiving, but together they produce images with a lot of personality.

I'm not underestimating the historical coolness factor here. A Zoom-Nikkor 100-300mm f/5.6 was introduced when Jimmy Carter was president. I'm mounting it on a DSLR from the mid-2000s and photographing flowers in 2026. That's nearly half a century of camera technology collaborating on a single image. 

I've Been Dazed And Confused For So Long It's Not True

I asked Chat-GPT to analyze my iTunes library. It went ahead and incorporated a lot of the nonsense that I've asked it to make for me over the last year, and honestly, I'm kind of okay with this. 

 

I should probably start compiling this annually. It would be interesting to see how my iTunes library evolves during the course of each year.

  

 Library by the Numbers

Based on the XML you uploaded:

• 19,180 tracks
• 426 artists
• 1,396 albums
• Roughly 5,350 hours of audio
  • That's about 223 straight days of continuous listening.
• Music spanning at least the 1950s through the 2020s.

This is not a casual collection.

This is a curated archive.

---

Your Taste Profile

The Holy Trinity

Your collection is built around three pillars:

1. Classic Rock

The undisputed champions are:

• Led Zeppelin (1,239 tracks)
• Pink Floyd (731 tracks)
• Queen + Paul Rodgers (644 tracks)

These aren't "I own the greatest hits" numbers.

These are "I own every concert recording I can get my hands on" numbers.

---

2. Live Recordings

The biggest revelation from your library is that you are obsessed with live material.

Albums like:

• Live At The BBC
• Live At Wembley Stadium
• Mirror Ball – Live & More
• Live 1978–1992

show up repeatedly.

Many music fans collect songs.

You collect performances.

You want to hear:

• alternate solos
• crowd reactions
• mistakes
• extended jams
• different eras of a band

That's a very specific kind of music nerd.

---

3. Soundtracks & Video Games

One of the biggest surprises:

Your collection contains substantial soundtrack material including:

• Super Mario Odyssey
• Super Mario 3D World
• Final Fantasy IX
• The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
• Command & Conquer
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert

This lines up perfectly with your retro gaming interests.

You don't merely play games.

You remember them.

---

The Biggest Plot Twist

Hanson

You have exactly what I'd expect from:

• Zeppelin fans
• Floyd fans
• Sabbath fans
• Rush fans

Then suddenly:

Hanson — 299 tracks

That is one of the funniest statistical anomalies in the entire library.

The musical equivalent of:

"I collect antique military rifles, classic muscle cars, and... Beanie Babies."

It's wonderful.

---

Genre Breakdown

Your top genres include:

1. Rock
2. Recording Of Independent Origin
3. DVD
4. Country
5. Pop
6. Classic Rock
7. Progressive Rock
8. Christmas
9. Soundtrack
10. Blues
11. Metal
12. Comedy

This is interesting because it means you aren't actually a pure rock listener.

You are a:

• rock listener
• soundtrack listener
• comedy listener
• concert collector
• spoken-word listener

all at once.

---

The Collector Archetype

Many people build libraries in one of four ways.

The Casual Listener

Owns 300 songs.

Not you.

The Trend Follower

Owns mostly recent hits.

Definitely not you.

The Completionist

Owns entire artist catalogs.

Partly you.

The Archivist

Collects weird versions, live shows, radio broadcasts, soundtracks, rarities, and forgotten releases.

This is overwhelmingly you.

---

Personality Indicators

If a psychologist looked only at your music library, I suspect they'd conclude:

High Curiosity

You don't stay inside one lane.

Classic rock fans usually don't also have huge game soundtrack collections.

You do.

---

High Nostalgia

Not "living in the past."

More:

"The past contains cool things worth preserving."

That attitude appears in:

• retro games
• classic rock
• vintage comics
• historical education projects
• older books

The library reflects the same tendency.

---

Strong Sense of Humor

The presence of comedy albums, novelty music, radio material, and artists like Weird Al Yankovic is completely consistent with your conversations.

You seem to enjoy things that are both good and funny.

---

Appreciation of Craft

Your favorite artists tend to feature:

• elite guitarists
• strong songwriters
• memorable live performers

You seem more interested in skill than fashion.

---

If Your Library Were a Museum

It would have four wings:

Hall 1: The Temple of Classic Rock

Led Zeppelin.
Pink Floyd.
Queen.
Rush.
The Beatles.

---

Hall 2: The Concert Vault

Bootlegs.
Live albums.
BBC sessions.
Rare recordings.

---

Hall 3: The Arcade

Mario.
Zelda.
Final Fantasy.
Command & Conquer.

Visitors spend far longer here than expected.

---

Hall 4: The Weird Stuff

Comedy.
Novelty recordings.
Oddball discoveries.
Things nobody expected to find.

Possibly guarded by ninja squirrels.

---

The One-Sentence Summary

Your library doesn't belong to someone who asks, "What's popular?"

It belongs to someone who asks:

"What's interesting, and do I have the live version?"

And after looking at nearly 20,000 tracks, that might be the single most accurate description of your musical personality.

Night Divides The Day

I did that thing again...That thing where I went looking for "Recordings Of Independent Origin" a.k.a. concert bootlegs.

I went and tracked down the Jimmy Page/Robert Plant show from 1995/04/01. Mostly so I could hear their interpretation of a couple of The Doors' songs.

I gave it a bit of a quick listen, but I'm going to have to put the album on an iPod and give it a proper listen through.

I also accidentally got their show from the same venue, but in 1998. I haven't converted that one from FLAC to MP3 yet, so I haven't listened to it. Mostly because I don't feel like changing Winamp output settings again right now. 

I really don't want to fall down that rabbit hole again...But my login info for The Trader's Den still works. 

Crap. 

I don't even know what happened to the last few things I snagged.  I want to say some Nick Mason shows in something like 2020/2021? I was still at The UPS Store when I did it, so I don't know. Maybe time to find those hard drives and check for some shows? 

She Will Feel Better In A Day Or Two

Here is my Last.fm listening summary for the week (Which runs from Friday to Thursday for some reason):

 

 

Life Is A Highway

Went for a walk around the neighborhood with the Polaroid Now camera and a questionable, old pack of black and white film.

 

Take One Bite Now Come Back For More

 I have the following things in my house, please make me a

 crock pot recipie peas, broccoli, green beans, chicken nuggets, 

ground beef, chocolate chips, sausage, butter, garlic bread, salsa, 

red potatoes, yellow onions, chicken, diced tomatoes, kidney 

beans, pineapple, unsweetened chocolate, tortilla shells, tortilla

 chips, garlic, shallots, diced jalapenos, hamburger patties, 

french fries,shredded hash browns

 

With that pantry/freezer situation, the best crock-pot meal is probably a Chunky Slow Cooker Beef & Bean Taco Stew. It uses ingredients that are actually crock-pot friendly and avoids things like chicken nuggets, fries, and garlic bread that would get sad and mushy.

Crock-Pot Beef & Bean Taco Stew

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2–3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can kidney beans, drained
• 1 cup salsa
• 2–3 red potatoes, diced
• 1–2 diced jalapeños (optional)
• 1 cup frozen green beans
• 1 cup frozen peas
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Water (1–2 cups as needed)

Instructions

1. Brown the ground beef in a skillet and drain excess grease.
2. Add beef to the crock pot.
3. Add onions, garlic, potatoes, diced tomatoes, kidney beans, salsa, jalapeños, and 1 cup water.
4. Cook on:
   • Low: 6–8 hours
   • High: 3–4 hours
5. During the last 30 minutes, stir in the green beans and peas.
6. Add additional water if you want it soupier.
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve With

• Crushed tortilla chips on top for crunch.
• Warm tortilla shells on the side.
• Garlic bread if you're feeling rebellious and don't care that it's crossing culinary borders.

---

Alternative: Slow Cooker Pineapple Sausage & Potato Bowl

If you want something a little stranger (in a good way):

Ingredients

• Sausage, sliced
• Red potatoes, diced
• Pineapple chunks
• Onion, sliced
• Garlic
• Salsa (½ cup)

Instructions

1. Put everything in the crock pot.
2. Cook on low for 5–6 hours.
3. Stir occasionally if possible.
4. Serve in tortillas.

The pineapple caramelizes into the sausage juices and salsa and ends up tasting surprisingly close to a sweet-and-spicy Hawaiian-style filling.

---

Chaos Option: "Everything I Found in the Freezer" Cowboy Hash

• Ground beef
• Sausage
• Hash browns
• Potatoes
• Onions
• Tomatoes
• Beans
• Jalapeños

Brown the meat first, then throw everything else in the crock pot with a little water and cook 4–6 hours. Serve in tortillas with crushed chips. It's not elegant, but it will absolutely feed a family and leave enough leftovers for tomorrow.

We Are Smoking In Front Of The Building

The Blue Light Special.

I should be sleeping. Not considering K-Mart. Why that store? There is a blue light plugged into the wall in my kitchen right now.

I cannot help but be a little sad by the world we live in. Each passing day I start to feel a little more like Spider Jerusalem living in the world of Transmetropolitan. I need to find and read those again.

So We Shot The Line And We Went For Broke

Here is the first in what I hope will be a weekly breakdown of the music I listen to, done up in a parody of a Spotify Wrapped report.

I'm uploading my weekly listening information into ChatGPT and having it analyze and write it up for me. Things might be a little flaky for the first few weeks while I get an idea of what I want it to look like, but once I have everything figured out, it will just be a matter of format the Last.fm spreadsheet, copy the prompt, add the two together, have it generate a cover and post it.

This first one will be very sparse, since I started working on it yesterday afternoon, but here we go!

Podify Wrapped 

Week of June 1–7, 2026 

88 Plays. 49 Artists. One iPod Experiencing an Identity Crisis.

Welcome to another edition of Podify Wrapped, the monthly (or in this case, weekly) report where my iPod gently reminds me that I don't have a favorite genre—I have favorite moments.

This week's listening history was less a playlist and more a cross-country road trip. Over the course of 88 plays, I managed to travel from Led Zeppelin to Final Fantasy, from Pink Floyd to Alan Jackson, from Metallica to Mystery Science Theater 3000, and somehow made all of it seem perfectly reasonable.

Would Spotify's algorithm approve?

Absolutely not.

Would it be entertaining?

The evidence says yes.

By the Numbers

🎵 Total Plays: 88

🎤 Unique Artists: 49

📀 Unique Songs: 70+

🎙️ Live Recordings: 52 plays (59%)

🎸 Classic Rock & Hard Rock: 46%

🤠 Country & Americana: 15%

🎮 Soundtracks & Gaming Music: 7%

🤘 Alternative & Modern Rock: 17%

🎭 Miscellaneous Musical Shenanigans: 15%

📈 Playlist Consistency: Missing, presumed lost.

Top Artists of the Week

🥇 The Warning

6 plays (6.8%)

The biggest winner of the week.

"MONEY," "Qué Más Quieres," "EVOLVE," and "Dull Knives" made repeated appearances, proving that while most of my library was built before the internet existed, I do occasionally acknowledge that modern music is being made.

🥈 Led Zeppelin

5 plays (5.7%)

If there is a default setting for my musical taste, it's probably Led Zeppelin.

"Bring It on Home," "Stairway to Heaven," "Nobody's Fault But Mine," and "In My Time of Dying" accounted for a healthy percentage of the week's guitar-based decision making.

🥉 Pink Floyd Universe

6 plays (6.8%) Combined

Combining Pink Floyd, Roger Waters, David Gilmour, and Nick Mason creates a Floyd Extended Universe powerful enough to rival Marvel.

Apparently existential reflection remains a favorite hobby.

🏅 Brewer & Shipley

4 plays (4.5%)

The surprise contender.

"One Toke Over the Line" and "Oh Mommy" quietly became recurring themes throughout the week.

🏅 REO Speedwagon

4 plays (4.5%)

Three separate versions of "Take It on the Run" appeared.

At this point I wasn't listening to a song.

I was conducting peer-reviewed research.

Top Songs of the Week

🥇 Take It on the Run

3 plays (3.4%)

The undisputed champion.

Not only was it played repeatedly, but multiple versions appeared.

Apparently I was determined to compare every available interpretation.

🥈 MONEY

2 plays

The Warning's live version continued its strong showing.

🥈 One Toke Over the Line

2 plays

A folk-rock classic that somehow became one of the week's most revisited tracks.

🥈 Oh Mommy

2 plays

Brewer & Shipley making another surprise appearance.

🥈 Wish You Were Here

2 plays

David Gilmour's live version reminded me that some songs simply never wear out.

Genre Breakdown

🎸 Classic Rock & Hard Rock — 46%

The dominant force.

Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Eagles, Aerosmith, Boston, Foreigner, Cream, Blue Öyster Cult, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Gary Moore, The Who, and Rush carried nearly half of all listening.

At times my iPod appeared convinced it was broadcasting from a classic-rock station in 1978.

🤘 Alternative & Modern Rock — 17%

The Warning, The Offspring, The Presidents of the United States of America, and Ningen Isu brought newer energy to the mix.

This category mostly exists to prove I haven't completely stopped listening to music recorded after 1995.

🤠 Country & Americana — 15%

Alan Jackson, Sawyer Brown, Billy Ray Cyrus, Dierks Bentley, Mark Chesnutt, Lyle Lovett, Paul Brandt, and C.W. McCall made sure every so often the playlist took an unexpected exit toward Nashville.

🎮 Soundtracks & Gaming Music — 7%

Nobuo Uematsu and Frank Klepacki represented the gaming division.

Apparently saving kingdoms and destroying enemy bases remains an important part of my listening routine.

🎭 Everything Else — 15%

This category includes Mystery Science Theater 3000, which deserves its own genre anyway.

Most Surprising Transition Awards

🏆 Grand Champion

Roger Waters → Sawyer Brown

One song explores mortality, memory, and the passage of time.

The next song is about driving a truck.

There is nothing that can be said here that will make any sense...Moving on!

🥈 Runner-Up

Final Fantasy IX → Kick Out the Jams

From fantasy airships and magical kingdoms to chaotic garage-rock energy in under five minutes.

🥉 Third Place

Mystery Science Theater 3000 → Alan Jackson

A sentence that shouldn't exist.

Yet here we are.

Podify Achievement Badges

🏆 The Live Album Addict
More than half your listening came from live recordings.

You are basically attending concerts from your couch.

🏆 Guitar Solo of the Week
Winner: "Stairway to Heaven"

The committee deliberated for nearly three seconds.

🏆 Most Unexpected Country Detour
Winner: "Convoy" by C.W. McCall

Because nothing says "Pink Floyd marathon" quite like CB radio chatter.

🏆 Hero of Gaia
Awarded for repeated visits to Final Fantasy IX.

🏆 Classic Rock Preservation Society
Successfully prevented classic rock from becoming an endangered species.

🏆 The Shuffle Goblin Award
Granted for creating playlist transitions that would terrify Spotify engineers.

Listener Personality Report

If Podify generated a personality profile, it would probably say:

"This listener enjoys classic rock, live recordings, progressive rock, country music, video game soundtracks, and complete unpredictability."

Translated into plain English:

"User treats genres like buffet options."

And honestly, that's what made this week fun.

One minute I was listening to David Gilmour quietly reflecting on life. The next minute I was blasting The Warning. Then came Final Fantasy. Then truck-driving songs. Then Led Zeppelin.

Was it coherent?

Not remotely.

Was it entertaining?

Eighty-eight plays suggest the answer is yes.

And that's really what Podify Wrapped is all about.

 

Feed Jake

I sometimes find myself wondering random things.

For instance, why did we decide to domesticate some animals for pets, and some for food. What logic went into figuring that out?

What if instead of someone looking at a chicken and saying "I bet that will be delicious!" and someone looking at a dog and saying "That would make a great pet!" why not the other way around?

I am, in no way shape or form, advocating eating dogs, but what if someone had said to themselves "That chicken looks like it would make a great house pet!" and people ran with it?