What the Sam Hain?

I started out by selecting a generic "punk" station that was already available on Pandora. That ended up driving me nuts. I seeded bands that needed to be added or just didnt get enough play time. That was better, but it didnt solve the problem. Some bands were getting excessive play time regardless of what I did. The basic problem was Pandora itself.

The generic punk station played Iggy Pop, the Ramones, the Clash, and some other bands. Thats a decent mix to start with. What was driving me apeshit was that Pandora seems to treat bands based on how large their discography is. AND Pandora was treating a band's live recordings as if the live band was a separate entity from the studio band. The Clash have a large discography and a great volume of live recording, and they were getting about four times the airplay of bands like Black Flag who deserve more air time, not less. I do like the Clash, but I've gotten so overloaded by hearing them 4 times an hour.

I tried to wrestle with Pandora to get the mix under control, but I eventually gave up and started from scratch. This time I started with the fundamentals; Iggy Pop, the New York Dolls, the Buzzcocks, and the Damned. Then I added my favorites; the Anti-Heroes, the Exploited, Naked Raygun, Black Flag, Bad Religion, Mission of Burma, Social Distortion, Monkeystrikes, Stiff Little Fingers, Go Betty Go, Reagan Youth, and the Dictators. Those were the important ones that I could remember at the time.

Pandora did a good job of filling in with other bands that I not explicitly add, and like the Sex Pistols they get played at about the right frequency. I've intentionally seeded some bands that Pandora casually threw into the mix. That way they get more airplay. I have removed others like Joy Division - 'nuff said. There are still a few bands that I haven't decided yet whether to keep or kick. I'll probably lose Johnny Thunders; he's not bad, but he's not really punk either. I think its a good idea to have girl bands like the Donnas, so they'll probably stay, though they are mostly rock and roll. Generation X may also be 'on the bubble'. I like them fine, but what seems to get played most is 'The Ballad of Phil Silvers' - or whatever that guys name is. Not quite the sort of song I'm looking for.

I'll keep a list of the seeded bands listed on the right. Let me know if somebody is missing from the list.