Harold alerted me to the back page of "EW", whereupon Stephen King holds forth on popular culture once a month. This week, he lists his REAL Top 20. Not what he thinks is hip, his posture for the community, which he recently did, but what his iTunes library says he played most.

Pretty surprising.

Especially number 13: "If You Wanna Get To Heaven". By the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. I bought that album, JUST FOR THAT SONG!

Number 2 is the original "Going To A Go-Go", by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. He downloaded it after hearing the Stones’ cover… SO DID I!

He’s got Ryan Adams at #16, with "La Cienega Just Smiled". And Pat Green with "Wave On Wave" at number 14… I love both of those too… Even though other tracks of theirs are my favorites.

And number one… TUBE SNAKE BOOGIE! By ZZ Top. I’m sure Billy’s gonna love that one.

But what was surprising was the low number of plays. "Tube Snake" has only been spun 59 times. "La Cienega" 25. I’ve got tracks played over 200 times… On my old computer. I made a playlist of those, my Top Fifty. My all time most played track was Eels’ "Jeannie’s Diary". Then Dido’s "Sand In My Shoes". But neither is the most played in THAT playlist anymore… Number one from the old computer, having wiped the slate clean and restarted the count on this Mac Pro in September 2006, is…Boston’s "Hitch A Ride".

I’d tell you I don’t need to hear "More Than A Feeling". That my favorite cut on Boston’s debut is "Foreplay/Long Time". But it’s "Hitch A Ride" I’ve played most. Shit, I’ve even played the DEMO 14 times, and it sounds like it’s being played on an AM radio three houses away… It’s just a bit different. Same tune, but different lyrics. It’s entitled SAN FRANCISCO DAY!

Why do I love "Hitch A Ride"? It’s the MOOD! It’s like someone’s opened a door to a room in your house you didn’t know existed, and Brad Delp is sitting on a couch in front of the stereo with a babe grooving on the tune. You could say I’ve played "Hitch A Ride" so much because he took his own life, but that wouldn’t be true… There’s no song I sing in my head more.

Number two most played from the OLD computer, with 46 plays on my NEW computer, is the acoustic version of James McMurtry’s "We Can’t Make It Here"… Funnily, I found out about it from Stephen King, in "Entertainment Weekly"! It’s all about a trusted source… And I’m not a huge fan of his novels, but I know Steve loves AC/DC… I’m always interested in what he’s got to say about music.

I could continue to cruise the old playlist, to show my bona fides, but I’m just gonna do what Mr. King did, list my Top 20. From this Mac Pro, starting on 9/11/06.

In case you don’t know, iTunes only registers a complete play. The icon has to go all the way from left to right. So, a partial play doesn’t count. And, of course, even though I sync multiple iPods to this computer, the plays on those devices don’t count either.

Here goes:

20. "Stay" Little Big Town" (44 plays)

From their debut, which got no traction. Oh, you’ll love this. The intimacy of a Stevie Nicks number without sounding like a Fleetwood Mac rip-off.

20. "The King Must Die" Elton John (44)

I used to say my favorite album was "Tumbleweed Connection". But I play the first more. Oh, what a sound… Like it’s cut in a CATHEDRAL!

18. "Cast Your Soul" Wendy Waldman (45)

I wrote about "Restless In Mind" on Friday… This is the other track that was on my Nano.

Doesn’t sound ANYTHING like what’s on the radio today. Sounds like MUSIC! What you’d expect to hear on a blustery day on your iPod at the top of a mountain.

17. Rascal Flatts "Still Feels Good" (46)

Oh does it feel good!

If you’re a sixties/seventies rocker, you MUST hear this. Crosby, Stills & Nash with optimism. Check it out!

17. "We Can’t Make It Here" James McMurtry (46)

From the aforementioned playlist from the old computer.

The BEST twenty first century protest song. Written for the 2004 campaign, it’s the essence of THIS campaign.

Unfortunately, now you can only get this version P2P. This acoustic take was cut in a hurry for release. The urgency and intimacy are superior to the studio take, which is good, but not BRILLIANT!

James used to give this away free on his site. But he likes the studio take better. Guess that’s his prerogative…

If you listen to ONE track from this list, make it THIS!

15. "Where I Stood" Missy Higgins (47)

14. "14" Paula Cole (49)

It’s almost like this album didn’t come out.

I wonder why people even make records. There’s no video play. AAA does not have the traction its adherents say it does… Check this out. Forget the underarm hair, what you’ve read in the press…this is more magical than anything on Bruce Springsteen’s new album.

13. "Secrets" Van Halen (50)

I binged and downloaded everything Van Halen had ever done with Dave. I didn’t know this.

Eddie is not a one note bludgeoner. This is lyrical, it dances. (And you will too when you hear it…)

13. "Raining On Sunday" Keith Urban (50)

My friend Eric Garland thinks this is sacrilegious. He can only listen to the rendition by the writer, Radney Foster…but I’ve only played that all the way through twice. Same song, different vibe. And I heard Keith’s take first!

11. "So Little Time To Fly" Spirit (51)

Just go out and buy "Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus". On faith. You’ll love that so much you’ll be dying for more. Start here!

10. "I’m With The Band" Little Big Town (52)

Wrong first single. This wasn’t made for country radio, this was made for CONCERT! When they hit the stage and start singing this a cappella, the world fades away, all you can do is point your head towards the heavens and sing along like a coyote!

9. "Wrapped" Pat Green (54)

I can’t tire of this.

9. "Stupid Boy" Keith Urban (54)

This is the track that single-handedly got me into country music. With the long, moody instrumental coda.

I love this, but I’m no longer sure it’s my favorite.

There’s the aforementioned "Raining On Sunday". The satellite radio country staple "You’ll Think Of Me" (number 25 with 41 plays) and number 22, with 43 plays, "Who Wouldn’t Want To Be Me". Download ALL of these and tell me you HATE COUNTRY!

7. "Boondocks" Little Big Town (56)

What can I say, I love ’em!

6. "Don’t Waste My Time" Little Big Town (58)

This is also from the ignored first album. I love the band so much, I had to download it. Funny to find such magical tracks.

I’m waiting for the kind of love
That is strong enough
To walk through anything
So don’t waste my time!

5. "Never Be Lonely" The Feeling (58)

Didn’t like the new album much, but the stuttering here will close you.

Meanwhile, sitting at number 23 is my favorite track from "Twelve Stops And Home", "Sewn", with 41 spins. THIS kind of shit should be played on Top Forty radio!

4. "Live With Lonesome" Little Big Town (61)

A bittersweet walk down a country lane. Utterly FANTASTIC!

3. "Bones" Little Big Town (63)

The Fleetwood Mac soundalike that got me into the band. It only took one listen, it’s THAT GOOD!

2. "Hitch A Ride" Boston (73)

1. "Wrapped" Walt Wilkins (90)

Yes, the exact same song as #9 above. Pat and Walt co-wrote it. But whereas Pat’s take is sung in a raucous bar, Walt’s is performed in an almost empty roadhouse deep in the heart of Texas where no one knows his name. He gets in his car, driving hours to the next gig, but as this song runs through his head, thinking of his love, he’s got a smile on his face, he’s in a good mood.

Now I’m gonna mention one more. Because I want to.

Number 21 is Jack Ingram’s cover of Hinder’s "Lips Of An Angel". This song is so good, it can be done in a country fashion and still be JUST AS EFFECTIVE! The Hinder original slid right by me… Now I know why that album was so big. Hell, I’ve played the Hinder original 23 times now too…

"It’s funny that you’re calling me tonight
And, yes, I’ve dreamt of you too"

Last week I fired up my e-mail after a long day at Musexpo and in my caffeine haze I saw a name I recognized. She was talking about Petty, who we got into together. Actually, she was writing to ask if she’d ever told me she’d seen him in Gainesville, before we lived together.

Years had gone by. But it was like we were still living together. Those memories fade away, but they’ don’t disappear.

Music when done right, is life itself. Doesn’t matter the style, when the writer nails it, it’s pure truth.

I just wanted to mention "Lips Of An Angel" because hipsters deride Hinder, they need to be into something edgier, more flavor of the moment, less meat and potatoes. But "Lips Of An Angel" is the best pure songwriting on this list (or off it, as the case might be…) It could be covered ten years from now, even twenty, and be just as poignant.

Not that any of these tracks are of the moment, soon to be forgotten. I can’t imagine passing on a gig by any one of these artists in the future. I need to go hear these songs that I know so well, that are part of my life, that are my life.

You want to hear about it from someone else.

The first thing I do each morning isn’t read the newspapers, or surf the Web, I check my e-mail.  Oh, the first time through isn’t in depth, it’s a cursory survey, to see if there’s anything important, to take the TEMPERATURE!  And today’s review told me…Trent Reznor was giving away the new Nine Inch Nails album, free, on the band’s site.

I heard mostly from people I didn’t know.  They weren’t telling me so I would write about it.  I didn’t get e-mail from Trent himself, nor Jim Guerinot or someone else at Rebel Waltz.  But from people who were just so damn excited, they had to spread the word.

And what is the word?  That Radiohead seems to be balking re the future (although the press has twisted Thom Yorke’s words, he didn’t exactly say they would never do a Web giveaway again…), while Trent’s moving headlong into the future.  While the majors are rushing albums into release before the leak, Trent’s releasing albums we’ve never even heard about…we’re finding out first from HIM!  Or his minions.

I’m not sure you need a publicity agent anymore.  Someone with relationships with newspapers and TV.  That’s fine if you want to be Mariah Carey…  But remember "Glitter"?  No one wanted to see her thereafter, until she was resurrected by L.A. Reid…  Whereas Trent’s not dependent on singles, not hits…he’s got FANS!

Mariah watchers may fill up the message boards, looking for recognition in their celebutard world…  But when someone posts to a Trent board, it’s not as simple as I LIKE NIN!, rather there’s something cogent being said or discussed.  Yes, fans like to dissect the music as well as every move of an act.

How do you get to be Trent?

Obviously not by creating radio-friendly music.  You’re better off doing something unique, that fans can grab hold of, and then spread the word on.  Then, you wait for serendipity to play a part.

With Trent, it was Woodstock ’94…  When he performed and the audience threw mud.  THEN the major press picked up on the story, not because they were fed the news by a press agent, but because THERE WAS A STORY!

And immediately, the usual suspects came ‘a calling.  You know, you become an instant star and you hear from not only CAA, but "The Today Show", Regis & whomever he’s paired with that day…  All the news magazines.  You’re fodder for them.  They want to chew you up and spit you out.  David Letterman talked night after night about getting Nine Inch Nails on his show…but the band never appeared.  Because NIN was owned by the FANS, not the SYSTEM!

That’s how you grow it…

Marketing is not an element.  Nor is hair and makeup.  The focus is on music.  And you can’t get people to believe in a Diane Warren/Clive Davis clusterfuck…  There’s no one HOME!  You’ve got to write the music yourself, as a band, or with band friends.  You’ve got to look like you came from nowhere, not owned by the usual Hollywood suspects.  If you’re good enough, and available enough (i.e. play live), maybe after YEARS you’ll have your serendipitous moment.  That you won’t even see coming.  You’ll put a lot of effort into one gig, thinking it’s the breakthrough, when something thrown off casually will make the difference.

And once you do make it, you’ve got to learn to say no.  The major media is not on your team.  They play for themselves, in their own league.

As for Trent dropping another album…  I wouldn’t do it this way.  Maybe he sees the record as a cohesive whole.  But the key in the future is a little bit on a regular basis.  Because this is what fans WANT!  New music, more info, they want to feed their addiction.  Rather than drop a load on them infrequently, give them something they can ponder for a few days or a week, then leave them hungry for a MONTH FROM NOW!

It’s not about free music.  And it’s not about piracy.  It’s about the democratization of access.  About the rising power of the audience.  Don’t pay attention to the mainstream pundits.  They’re just looking to save their jobs, no different from Universal Music or Sony BMG.  They want it the way it’s always been.  But it’s never going to be that way again.

Felice wants to buy a flat panel.  She was set on a Sony, but "Sound & Vision" said Samsung made the LCD with the best blacks.  So we drove down to Best Buy.

We didn’t see a salesman and couldn’t make sense of the inventory.  I don’t want to buy what’s available in your store, I want to see EVERYTHING and make the right choice!  It’s like you’ve got to shop with Web access, to check the veracity of the salesman’s spiel, assuming you can get hold of one.  And eventually we did, over at Ken Crane’s, where the dude neglected to tell us the 7 series Samsung was imminent.  But that’s not what I fired up Microsoft Word to tell you about.  I’m here to tell you about GTA IV.  That’s "Grand Theft Auto IV" for you snobs out there.  Those too superior to purchase a gaming console.

We needed another controller.

My friend Jeff bought me a second Rock Band guitar for my birthday.  And I found a TicketMaster giveaway USB hub, I think it came in the MusiCares goody-bag.  But the PS3 only comes with one controller…  If Felice and I want to compete in Gran Turismo, or in that skiing game we want to buy from the PlayStation store, we’ve got to have two.

So I hoofed it over to the video game department.  Where this inner city dude was monopolizing the sales clerk.  I needed to know, which controller should I buy?  The one with or without SHOCK?

And I’m waiting and waiting, as this guy quizzes this woman endlessly about accessories for his PSP.

Finally, they’re done.  And when I pop the question, HE jumps in.  Lord only knows why this dude was speaking to the clerk, he could run circles around her, she knew essentially NOTHING!  Whereas this guy LIVED TO GAME!

We needed the shock controller.  Soon, they wouldn’t even sell the one without shock.  Here, look at the back of this game, you see where it says: SHOCK?  The guy’s eyes started rolling backwards into his head as he waxed rhapsodic what a cool effect this was.

I was convinced, I picked a shock controller off the rack.

But what about games?  What did he think of the new Gran Turismo?

He was into shooting games, not driving games.  But he started pointing out his favorites, delineating their qualities.  I figured he was going to invite me over to play.  Thank god I HAD a PS3…otherwise, he probably wouldn’t have spoken with me at all.  But suddenly, I’m a member of the club, I’m a GAMER!

And what about GTA IV?  Had he played it?

No.  But they had it upstairs.

So we ascended the escalator…and it was nowhere to be found.

So, asking the cashier, he said it was behind the counter…  And it was SIXTY BUCKS!

I’ve never even bought a boxed set for sixty bucks.  And I was already in fifty five for the controller.  But if ever I was going to play the game, I might as well buy it NOW!

It’s kind of like going to the multiplex the first weekend.  You want to participate when everybody else does, when it’s still fresh in everybody’s mind, before the hoi polloi move on to something else.

And let me tell you, we’ve already earned cred.  Last night, at Felice and Monica’s birthday party in Malibu, when we let out to the twenty year olds that we had not only purchased GTA IV, but PLAYED IT, they looked at us completely different, we were hip, we were part of their posse.  Of course, the oldsters asked us what we were talking about.  We ignored them…how do you explain something to people who won’t get it anyway?

And I’m quizzing the cashier as he’s ringing me up…  He seemed to be waiting for this moment.  In a matter of minutes, I got a survey of the PS3 gaming landscape.  I knew what he liked, what was good…  ALL SANS ATTITUDE!

This wasn’t some longhair who’d rather be practicing guitar barely giving me the time of day.  This was a geek.  Probably on his way to Stanford, to change the world.  This was the modern record store.

I know, I know, all you indie store geeks are gonna e-mail me…  Tell me about Record Store Day or something…  That’s like going to the trolley museum.  Or a radio convention.  It’s just not where it’s happening.  And it’s not only me…  Consumers, people who lay their money down, they want to be where it’s HAPPENING!

I had to update the damn console.  Third time this week.  And it’s not like my Mac, it’s DAMN slow.  But you feel good.  This ain’t no toy…  The PS3 is speaking to the Internet wirelessly.  It’s keeping itself up to date.  It’s state of the MOMENT!

Turns out GTA IV can’t be played by two.  So we didn’t need the controller right away.  Oh, you can play with your brethren ONLINE, but we didn’t want to let on what newbies we were.  Which we are.  I SUCKED!

You see you get off the boat, in Liberty City…  And you’ve got to…

Who knows what the fuck you’ve got to do…  You know how video games are, THEY COME WITH NO INSTRUCTIONS!  And, unlike most baby boomers, I read the instructions, I like a heads-up, a leg-up.

Not that the DVD came with nothing…

It came with…  A map of the city.  That’s Liberty City to you.  With a bunch of boroughs…  Like New York.

And…an instruction booklet that told you what all the controller features were for.

So, I tried to drive off the dock…

I hit a concrete barrier.

Eventually, I got out on the main drag…  But I missed a turn, the car flipped over and we had to start all over again.  So I passed the controller to Felice…

FELICE IS AN INCREDIBLE DRIVER!  Not only did she make it off the dock without denting the car, or killing the headlights, like me, she got out on the freeway, she was driving from borough to borough.

We went to the airport…  Even stopped at the gas station.  But it was getting boring.  I told her to get out of the car.

And she’s walking around the deserted landscape and…  She can’t get in anywhere, all the GTA IV features, THEY DON’T SEEM TO WORK!

It was then that I figured out there is some linearity to the game.  That you’ve got to follow the instructions.  The map in the lower left-hand corner…  To ROMAN’S HOUSE!

But once we got there, I couldn’t find Roman again.  I kept bumping into walls.  Eventually I made it down to the street.  But I kept getting in fights.  And I couldn’t run away.  I ended up in the hospital, twice.  I was even shot by the police.  Things are rough in Liberty City.

And that’s when I figured out, despite its difficulty, I had to follow the map in the lower left-hand corner again.  EVENTUALLY, I could reach Roman.

And when I did, I passed the controller to Felice.  She drove to a card game.  Like I told you, she’s good.  Then she got Roman on the cell…  THE LOAN SHARKS!  They were here, they had to DRIVE AWAY!

Oh, what a shitty getaway driver Felice was.  She’s methodical, she doesn’t like to make mistakes.  She ended up getting cornered, shot to shit, she ended up in the hospital!

I did little better.  I was caught by the police and shot at.

Meanwhile, every time you get in the car, there’s a radio station playing…  And you can change stations, there’s more worth listening to than on the terrestrial dial (meanwhile, there’s TV too…but we didn’t have time to watch, we were on a MISSION!)

And although sometimes annoying, because it fucks up your concentration, what comes out of the speakers is UTTERLY HYSTERICAL!  It’s irreverent and hip in a way big time music is not.  Like an advertisement for health insurance that says after you reach a $10,000 deductible, all your future expenses are FREE!

The game respects the player.  It’s not dumbed-down like "American Idol".  It’s not two-dimensional like music.  It’s like "The Simpsons" or "South Park"…why is it only cartoon characters can speak truth in our country?

It’s everything music used to be.  A hip cult that the movers and shakers, the moneymen, the rich, the baby boomers, are unaware of.  While music industryites are lauding commercial possibilities, getting on "Grey’s Anatomy", tying up with the energy drink of the hour, RockStar Games has created an artistic enterprise that NO Fortune 500 company will tie up with.  It’s just too dangerous.  And you wonder why kids flock to it?  Hell, the more you hate it, the more they’re drawn to it!

Not that a record can’t be broken on GTA IV.  But there are many stations…  Repetition is not as incessant as it is on Top Forty.  The track’s got to be GOOD to catch on.

I invite you to the world of GTA IV.  Come on, shed your inhibitions.  You loved music once…isn’t it time to be stimulated again?

Go to: GTV IV

You’ll experience the dark vibe of Liberty City immediately.

Go inside.

Click on "Recreation & Entertainment" on top.

From the list on the left, click on "WKKT TALK RADIO"…  It’s almost not a parody, this is what the Democratic candidates only WISH they could say…about the right wing fear mongers on talk radio.

Check out some of the other stations along the left side of the screen…  You’ll get it…  If you don’t think this is hip, YOU’RE DEAD!

If you’re anti GTA IV, you were a member of the PMRC, protesting Prince lyrics.

Now Prince plays the Super Bowl, the ultimate in American wholesomeness.

Don’t criticize GTA IV…  This is what art is all about, challenging conceptions, speaking truth.  This is why GTA IV will outgross Mariah Carey, the Stones and Madonna…  Quite possibly COMBINED!

See you in Liberty City…

My iPod Nano only holds two gigs worth of music. Sometime two years ago, I synched it up with some smart playlists in iTunes, so I never know exactly what it’s going to contain. I just let it play. If I’m looking for something, it’s usually not there, after all, two gigs is just one thirtieth of my iTunes library.

Usually I just fire up a "recently added" playlist. I have them in multiple configurations, fifty, seventy and one hundred tracks. It’s a good way to familiarize myself with new music, what I’ve just downloaded, just ripped, just been turned on to. But sometimes that’s jarring. Sometimes I’m not in the mood for the unknown, I want familiarity, I want solace, I want comfort. So, I scroll through the artists’ names until something hits me emotionally. That’s how music is. What sounded good five minutes ago, now is like nails on a blackboard. Hell, this was supposed to be about the New Riders’ "Dirty Business", which blew my mind when I heard it on XM’s Deep Tracks earlier today. But, as the afternoon wore on, after a phone call with a friend, I was no longer in the mood to recall early summer days at my college roommate’s house on the Cape, I was kind of depressed.

What do you play when you’re at loose ends?

Well, when you’re truly down and out, nothing sounds good. But when you’ve got more questions than answers, what do you put on, what makes you feel rooted, what makes you feel good?

I don’t need to know. That’s just the point. It’s personal. We’ve all got acts that we own. We wish others joined us in the club, but somewhere over the years, we’ve given up on converting new fans. We’re just happy our favorites are still doing it, still making music, still playing live. We can’t explain it, but we need every track they cut, we need to see them in concert, it makes our lives complete.

Scrolling through the names on my Nano in reverse, from Z up, I came across Wendy Waldman. I wondered, which of her tracks were on the device?

Only two. From her album of lost tracks, that never made it to albums, entitled "Seeds and Orphans". And when I pushed the button, "Restless In Mind" started playing through the headphones.

When did the business become bastardized? Was it with corporate rock? Or the advent of MTV? Hair bands? Boy bands? When did it become about the hit? Sure, I love "I’m A Believer", even enjoyed hearing Backstreet Boys’ "Larger Than Life" on the satellite last night. But those are everybody’s tracks. And I don’t always feel like everybody, I don’t always feel like I belong. And when I feel this way, I listen to the artists that I own, like Wendy Waldman.

I thought she was going to break through. Her first album was a gem. It contained her composition "Vaudeville Man", which Maria Muldaur so famously covered. But none of the first four albums made a huge sales impact, and then after working with Mike Flicker, who made the exquisite Heart debut, Wendy Waldman was dropped by Warner Brothers.

Four years thereafter, she emerged from the desert on Epic. With a stellar cut, " Loving You Out Of My Life", but I’ve never found anybody else who’s heard it.

Then another chance in the late eighties on Cypress, with "Letters Home"… The title cut and "Renegade Side" are classics in my ears, but seemingly my ears only.

But Wendy Waldman is not making candles. She didn’t get her MBA, she didn’t become a lawyer. She kept making music. That’s what an artist does, an artist can’t help him or herself.

She went to Nashville and became a producer. Moved back to L.A. Even downsized to make sure she could cover her nut. But none of this is done out of frustration, there’s no angst… She keeps following the path. You could say it’s about dedication, commitment…but those are inherent, in anyone who’s ever achieved greatness. Raw talent is a small piece of the puzzle. It’s matched and trumped by raw desire. How bad do you want it? Not bad enough.

I’ll give it two years, and then if I don’t make it, I’ll go to law school. I get those e-mails.

Hell, I went to law school first. What a mistake that was. Other than becoming familiar with copyright law, which is so important in this Internet era. I don’t want to help you with your case, I just want to listen to music and let my mind drift, I don’t want to live for the bills.

Everyone’s focusing on theft. But that just obscures the underlying truth. That superstardom is dead. It’s a construct for a different era. When mass media herded all the ears and eyeballs, when you could create a ruckus, alert the press and get everybody to pay attention.

It doesn’t matter if you’ve had a facelift if you’re playing for 250. They’re there for your music, not your looks. And, as you get older…is it really about looks anyway? We don’t want our artists to stay forever young, we want them to get older, to continue to explore, to reveal more truth.

If you’re fighting aging, if you want to be young again, I hope you feel bliss in the resulting ignorance. I don’t want to give up the knowledge of years gone by. I want artists who can help me understand where I’m at now, who just don’t want to appeal to an evanescent audience of teenagers.

"Restless In Mind" changes my mood the instant it starts to play. It’s like I’m in a fantasy novel, I’ve gone down the rabbit hole, but it’s not scary, it’s a better place than above ground. And sometimes I need to be in that space.