A very specific mixtape
March 12, 2016 7:21 AM   Subscribe

Enter your name and birthday here, and you will get a personal Spotify playlist. (This is from a fathering site, so it prompts you to use your children's names/birthdays, but beware - the songs are not screened for child safety).
posted by Fig (41 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
Advisory: auto-playing audio (after you submit the name and birthdate). Also, "inspired by" apparently means "it finds some random pop songs, artists, and albums which contain the name you entered". I'm guessing that it uses the birthdate as a random seed or something.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 7:25 AM on March 12, 2016 [4 favorites]


It says it uses songs which feature the name plus Billboard charts from the birth week. I entered the English version of my name, and that combined with my birthday conjured up a quite interestingly shit playlist featuring both David Guetta and Bette Midler.
posted by billiebee at 7:42 AM on March 12, 2016 [4 favorites]


I'm guessing that it uses the birthdate as a random seed or something.

Or to access your bank accounts/home security system.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 7:43 AM on March 12, 2016


Okay, so born in the early 70s...

Getting Macklemore, Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, B.o.B (is that the guy from Twin Peaks), Notorious BIG, Drake... Oh, and at the end, the Carpenters and Elton John.

I think the algorithm needs some work.
posted by entropicamericana at 7:50 AM on March 12, 2016 [2 favorites]


There is a pleasing and surprising amount of Latin music, but given my name and maternal heritage, HOW UNCANNY.
posted by Kitteh at 7:50 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


It really should be a mashup of Billboard top 10 for the years you were between 13 - 21, right?
posted by maggiemaggie at 7:52 AM on March 12, 2016 [18 favorites]


On my list was "Silly Love Songs" by Wings which automatically puts this project in the "HELL NO" category.
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:55 AM on March 12, 2016 [4 favorites]


And what's wrong with that, I'd like to know?
posted by entropicamericana at 8:09 AM on March 12, 2016 [21 favorites]


Maggie, that would work much better than this, which I guess is designed exclusively for parents who like the Billboard top 100. Although I would keep the "search for name in title" part.
posted by Gaz Errant at 8:15 AM on March 12, 2016


Given my first name and the fact that I was born mid 70s, I'm shocked to report my playlist contained no Elvis Costello. On the other hand, they included the Slowdive song and threw in some Donna Summer, so hesitant thumbs up?
posted by thivaia at 8:24 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


Yep that is one perfect top 40 selection of the mid 80s. I feel like I'm in the backseat of a car with an unpainted hood driving to Wildwood.
posted by The Whelk at 8:39 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


As much as I enjoy popular music about Ireland, there's not a whole lot of variety in the "Erin" playlist.
posted by ChuraChura at 8:47 AM on March 12, 2016 [3 favorites]


Once again, those of us with non-standard names get shafted. Come along, Bort.
posted by BuddhaInABucket at 8:48 AM on March 12, 2016 [8 favorites]


Hrm. I used my username here and put in my birth month and year (May 1968).

I got a nice flow of Ice Cube, NWA, King Jammy, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, and... The Irish Rovers.

I'm pretty sure there's a joke to be made here about dropping a beat.
posted by jammy at 9:24 AM on March 12, 2016 [4 favorites]


I tried this before reading the comments and only discovered after reading through the absolutely horrible Macklemore-and-Eminem-heavy playlist that it was powered mostly by my first name. That seems like the worst possible criterion for a mixtape. I was expecting something more like maggiemaggie's idea. I'd rather just get my kid a personalized Captain Zoom album.
posted by ejs at 9:32 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


Okay. I had no idea there are so many pop songs/singers with "Irene" or variant in it. But Irene Cara is a must of course. What a feeling!
posted by ZeroAmbition at 9:51 AM on March 12, 2016


Oh god, no. Mine was so bad. Other Sarahs: just don't bother.
posted by dame at 9:53 AM on March 12, 2016 [4 favorites]


Just an observation that if you're over 58 (which I'm not, yet, but will be soon enough), it stops you with an insulting "That's an old kid ;)" comment. (No popular music was recorded before 1958.)

Anyway, my list is full of Eminem, whom I mostly have no time for, Robbie Williams, whom I definitely have no time for, something called UD Project that I've never heard of because yeah I'm too old, and the Beach Boys and Simon & Garfunkel. Meh.
posted by blucevalo at 10:02 AM on March 12, 2016


Coldplay?
no.
posted by From Bklyn at 10:02 AM on March 12, 2016


Warning: if you share a name with a character on Glee, you may get a ton of Glee.
posted by damayanti at 10:20 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


Wife's name is Italian. Got lots of Euro-dance music. She was not amused.
posted by grimjeer at 10:21 AM on March 12, 2016


My name is Neil and I was born in the mid-70s so I'm waaaay too scared to click that link.
posted by LionIndex at 10:30 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


I guess that I could have predicted that Pink Floyd's "Careful with that Axe ..." would be at the top of my playlist.
posted by octothorpe at 10:36 AM on March 12, 2016 [2 favorites]


I did it anyway. All Neil Diamond songs, Neil Young or Diamond covers, or songs/albums about Neil Young/Diamond. Surprising lack of Sedaka.
posted by LionIndex at 10:38 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


beware - the songs are not screened for child safety

Do the songs have a lot of sharp edges, or are they a choking hazard or something?
posted by RogerB at 10:49 AM on March 12, 2016 [4 favorites]


Wow, what a great tool for creating a list of random songs I absolutely hate.


Also, where's the damn volume control on this thing?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:52 AM on March 12, 2016 [2 favorites]


...that is a lot of Hamilton. And so many versions of Für Elise, which I should have seen coming.
posted by dogheart at 11:39 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


I guess being called an old kid is okay? That my birth was meaningless is something I just have to accept? Okay...<sniffle>
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:40 AM on March 12, 2016 [2 favorites]


Myron from 1973 here got a lot of R&B/soul/gospel, and Guided by Voices, natch. I think I may be the winner today.
posted by themanwho at 11:41 AM on March 12, 2016


Ugh,... I'm too old (by one year). Like I needed another reminder!
posted by cleroy at 11:43 AM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


I got nothing but songs of the 70s, probably because there just aren't any Jacquilynne related songs out there. I imagine the mix would be more eclectic for Jacqui or even Jacqueline.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:20 PM on March 12, 2016


100% suck.
posted by signal at 2:24 PM on March 12, 2016 [1 favorite]


Ditto.
posted by biffa at 3:08 PM on March 12, 2016


yeah what a weirdly random hodgepodge of songs. it was mostly songs by kate bush, two songs just titled 'kate', and then four seemingly random glee songs (???)

but lionel richie's 'hello' was in there which... i mean they got me pegged on that one
hello?
is it me you're looking for?

posted by suddenly, and without warning, at 5:00 PM on March 12, 2016


Blake Shelton?? Why should I be punished for my parents' choices?
posted by blakewest at 7:19 PM on March 12, 2016


A bunch of Andrew Bird, some hip hop, then "Billy Don't Be A Hero" and "T.S.O.P."

Okay then....
posted by anthom at 7:14 AM on March 13, 2016


Hall and Oats, with a soupçon of Ice Cube. Sure, why not.
posted by Optamystic at 8:08 AM on March 13, 2016


The first song I got was a song about Jesus. It's like the aptitude test I took in 7th grade that told me I should become a priest.

jammy: Hrm. I used my username here and put in my birth month and year (May 1968)

I hereby declare your new band name to be Smucker Punch.
posted by Room 641-A at 8:20 AM on March 13, 2016 [2 favorites]


There was a time in my life when "Billy Don't Be a Hero" and "The Night Chicago Died" would've been all that I needed. Of course, now all I need is Hamilton.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 1:32 PM on March 13, 2016


Ha! I got a bunch of Vietnamese pop songs from who knows when, plus American pop songs covered by English-speaking artists with Vietnamese names. And then some classics by Tina Turner, Prince, and Lionel Richie.
posted by numaner at 5:26 PM on March 13, 2016


Of course I got Barry Manilow's "Mandy". I hate that song with a passion. But The Spinto Band, "Oh Mandy"--I can get behind that.
posted by Fuego at 8:13 PM on March 13, 2016


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