It started before we even knew we started it, because Dan had posted a good bit of music with a dramatic feel on G+. We grew up using music as a way to energize, like a lot of people. Role-playing geeks even more so, you grow into the habit of making stories -- or, rather, stay in the habit, as many children do this naturally yet somehow it starts losing its cool during adolescence. Soon enough, though Jeff chimed in. With pretty much a cannon-shot. He keeps a playlist ready and loaded titled "All Out of Bubblegum". I didn't know the reference, but I sure do now.
The reason for the playlist?
Say you're dead damned tired, you have a deadline to meet, you have to deliver, you're uninspired, and you have to summon creative ammunition from your soul without time to pause. What do you do? Lock and load your playlist, blast your eardrums, and get the hell moving.
Sean then suggested we each make our own top-ten and report back in a week.
Yup.
That's right.
I brought some "ammo".
Some of these are already on the list of suggestions I'd already made, some suggestions made by one of the other three friends mentioned above as we tag-teamed one another, some are just here now as I'm compiling this -- because I wanted to bring a little bit more yet.
This ten list is in an order. Not countdown from least to best. Order in which used.
Borderlands: Smoking Out the Bunker Exceedingly short but meant to be played as a loop. Extremely good as a a loop. At high volume. Like an adreno drip.
Front Line Assembly: The Initial Command: Casualties It isn't until I'd played it for about the four-hundredth time that I realized that this song isn't actually one long crescendo, it just keeps increasing in tension the more intently you listen to it, and it suckers me into turning up the volume repeatedly as I listen every time.
DeusEx-HumanRevolution: Everybody Lies If it hadn't been suggested by someone else first, I'd have suggested this. Since the OST came out for DX:HR, this has been in my go-to kit.
Skinny Puppy: The Process: Death There's nothing quite like smelling the ozone coming off of Skinny Puppy chaingunning an electric guitar. Nothing. This song, in the kit, in it goes. Yes. Very nice.
Vangelis: Mythodea: Movement 1 Did you know NASA commissioned soundtracks for some missions as part of their public outreach. Did you know Mars Odyssey is acting as relay to Curiosity now? Science! [You may need to turn your own volume up, the uploader leveled it off a bit low. Trust me. I have the DVD. The original is quite loud.]
Combichrist: Sent to Destroy Sean dropped this bit of fun on us and I'd never heard it before. You know what? The video fits the playlist to a T, right down to the reference of the playlist. IN THE KIT.
UT3: Firestorm You know one reason I mine FPS soundtracks? Because they're made for playlists like this. No, seriously. They have the "do or die" built in.
Solar Fields: Reflective Frequencies: Blue Light... Red Vortex. Really, this is two tracks glued together, but they're parts A and B of a single song. It's all delicious lead-in for what happens at about 7 minutes in. Where upon you deliver whatever genius you are destined to deliver. Up to you.
Daft Punk: Tron-Legacy: Rinzler. There are so many good tracks to add to this mix. Really, though? This one jumps to the fore when I grab just one.
Ulrich Schnauss: Goodbye: Medusa Goodbye is uncharacteristically minor key for Ulrich. And this is the most dramatic track off of it. I annoy my fellow drivers sometimes blasting it in the car at top volume. Because I really, really do need to hear my ears ringing and stinging to it.
There's more I'd love to give, but in order to make this accessible we'd had to limit ourselves to tossing back and forth what's visible on YouTube. Also, the list is not stable. It never can be. It grows. New favorites get added and pounded in like pounding down those pots of black coffee needed at the same time. You can eventually graduate from there to just eating the coffee beans themselves and grinding them with your molars.
There's way more. Trust me, Jeff'd shared a screencap of the first 48 tracks in his list and I'm to understand the man has a huge music collection and may even restart his music podcast briefly for the sake of volleying out a bit more.
Do everyone a favor and tell Jeff, "Yes, please!"
I don't know when I'm going to be able to run out and fetch some bubblegum. Since I've decided "do things that have never been done before" is my new mantra that means a lot of ass kicking.
--random
[Also: Sean's list is up... right here.
And Jeff's compiled YouTube list of everything he managed to snag off of our discussion ... right damn here.]
Yes, there are #AllOutOfBubblegum and #AllOutOfBubblegumPlaylist streams on G+ still developing. Because we need more.