A friend of mine started reading my blog a few days ago and said, “Heavy stuff!” Hmm, this about a blog that has revealed that the creator makes bird noises? OK, something REALLY frivolous, then:
I arrange my CDs (and used to arrange my LPs, before they got moved around so often that they have no particular order) in this way:
Classical, by composer (and chronologically within the composer range)
Classical compilations, alphabetically by title
Pop, by artist (and chronologically within the artist range)
Pop compilation, by title
Of course, these are RULES, so it’s never that simple.
Classical means that the composer is more prominent than the performer: Beethoven, Gershwin, Scott Joplin- all classical
Pop is defined as “everything else”. I know some folks put their music in categories: folk, jazz, heavy metal, whatever. My problem is that I don’t think the labels really MEAN anything. Recently, I was in a conversation about “punk”. Were the Ramones punk? Was the Clash, or were they too competent? I’ve read the definition of “emo”, e.g., and STILL don’t know what it is.
Moreover:
Bruce Springsteen won a Grammy for contemporary folk. Am I to put that album in one category and, say, “Born in the U.S.A.” in another?
A more striking example is k.d. lang, who started off as a country artist and became a chanteuse. It’s much easier just to look under “L”.
Besides, an alphabetical list generates a more interesting shelf read: Bill Miller (Native American/popular), Glenn Miller (big band), Roger Miller (country), Steve Miller (rock). “Shelf read”: a librarian must have written that.
In the pop compilation category, I violate my own rules (but they’re MY rules, so I can do that), in the placement of tribute albums, mostly because I’m having an increasingly difficult time REMEMBERING what they’re called. So I’ve moved:
Common Threads from C to E (for Eagles)
Complete Stax/Volt Singles from C to S
Come Together (both of them, one country, one Motown) from C to B (for Beatles)
Enconium to from E to L (for Led Zeppelin)
For the Love of Harry from F to N (for Nilsson)
Till the Night is Gone from T to P (for Doc Pomus)
“Tribute to…” albums from T to the respective artists (M for Curtis Mayfield, V for Stevie Ray Vaughn, e.g.)
All the albums starting with “Concert for” under the next significant word (Bangladesh, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)
You may think this is anal. *I* think this may be anal. But I can FIND items in my collection, which is all a librarian can really want.
