A to Z Music Challenge

 An A-to-Z Music challenge was thrown out by Chris from the Collector. I'm pretty into music so I figured why not.

My music background is I listen to a lot of it. I have a playlist, currently with 4,524 tracks on it that I listen to most of the time, if not at work. It has a ton of different music, classical to rap, 50's to rock, christian to hip hop. It even has TV/Movies themes as well as a bunch of songs on the piano.

I do add to the playlist all the time. Monday's I go through Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify and on Friday's, I go through New Releases. When I'm working on my cards, sometimes I will random an artist list and listen to their top songs that I don't already have to see if I like anything else.

I don't claim to be knowledgeable of music, I just like what I like. My top 2 genres are Rock and Country. 

I actually have a music blog where I post the last song that I listen to that day. Nothing special, just an album cover, a YouTube video and the lyrics (Random Music) and you all know I love my stats so you can follow what I listen to on Last.FM.

I went ahead and picked a favorite as well as some honorable mentions when I had a couple of favorites.

# - 2Pac

There wasn't a ton to choose from. I don't really listen to a ton of 2Pac but he has a few songs that I like. Brings back memories of hanging out in my brothers car because he listened to gangster rap back in the day. Honorable mention - 38 Special

A - Avenged Sevenfold

I've always had a few of their songs on my playlist but I've added quite a bit more in the last year or so. Honorable mentions - Adele, Amy Grant

B - Blake Shelton

This one was really hard because there were quite a few that I liked for different reasons. I went ahead and picked Blake because I have more songs of his than the others. Billy Squier was the first album I purchased and I loved Boyz II Men back in the day. Honorable mentions - Billy Squier, Billy Joel, Boyz II Men, Breaking Benjamin

C - Chris Stapleton

I love his sound. Tennessee Whiskey is my favorite of the many that I like. I also really like his cover of Joy of my Life. Honorable mentions - the Choir, Colbie Caillat, Craig Morgan

D - DC Talk

This was pretty easy, I pretty much have every song from every album of theirs on my playlist. The only "new" christian artist I listen to is TobyMac, who was in DC Talk. I've seen them in concert a bunch of times.

E - Eagles

This was a toss up, I love the Eagles and have for a long time but I there are times when I just love to crank up some Eminem as well. Honorable mention - Eminem

F - Foo Fighters

I went with Foo Fighters because they have a bunch of songs that I really like but like the E's, I love to jam out to some Five Finger Death Punch as well. Honorable mentions - Five Finger Death Punch, Fleetwood Mac, Foreigner, 

G - Genesis

I'm going to throw Phil Collins solo career in with Genesis as well. If you played a song by either, you wouldn't know if it was part of his solo career or with Genesis because he's the lead in both. Honorable mention - Geoff Moore & the Distance

H - Halestorm

This one was tough as well because I really like both of these artists but I've listened to Halestorm longer. Honorable mention - Hollywood Undead

I - Ingrid Michaelson

My wife introduced my to her and I like some of hers. My favorite is probably You and I. Honorable mention - Imagine Dragons

J - Journey

How can you not like Journey? Don't Stop Believin' was the White Sox theme song during their 2005 World Series Championship run and they play it at every Michigan game, I assume because of the South Detroit line at the beginning. 

K - Keith Urban

Like all of the K artists listed here, Keith has a couple of really good songs and a lot of good songs. Honorable mentions - Kelly Clarkson, Korn

L - Lee Brice

I've gotten into Lee Brice the last couple of years. Really love the song Sirens. Honorable mention - Linkin Park

M - Michael Jackson

This was a tough one as well but I went with the King of Pop because his music was a big part of growing up. Honorable mentions - Matchbox Twenty, Michael W. Smith, Mylon & the Broken Heart

N - Neil Diamond

Neil Diamond reminds me of being at my grandparents house. They played his CD all the time. Honorable mention - Nickelback

O - OneRepublic

I don't think I realized just how many of their songs I really liked until I was compiling this list.

P - Prince

Prince was like MJ, big part of growing up. I remember hanging out with my cousins and listening to the 1999 cassette. Honorable mentions - Papa Roach, Petra, P!nk, Pop Evil

Q - Queen

Lots of great songs here. I think Crazy Thing Called Love might be my fave but Fat Bottomed Girls is up there, as well as the Highlander theme Princes of the Universe.

R - Russ Taff

He was my favorite Christian artist back when I listened to strictly Christian music. I've seen him in concert a few times as well. Honorable mention - REO Speedwagon

S - Skillet

I'm going with Skillet on this one. I didn't realize they were a Christian band until I really started listening to them. I originally heard them on the local rock station. It was tough to pick them over Styx though because they sing my favorite song of all time, Renegade. Honorable mentions - Saliva, Seether, Shinedown, Styx

T - Taylor Swift

I didn't really think she would be #1 but she just has a ton of really good songs. I like almost all of her country stuff, her hip hop stuff now a days is hit or miss, I either really like it or don't. Honorable mention - Theory of a Deadman

U - U2

There wasn't much to choose from, not that I don't like them as I have a bunch of their songs. My favorite song of theirs is Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me from Batman Forever.

V - Van Halen

A guy where I worked when I was just out of high school, gave me a 120 minute cassette tape of all Van Halen songs. I listened to it all the time, for a long time. Ice Cream Man is my fave.

W - Whiteheart

One of my favorite christian artists. I've seen them a couple of times in concert. They're one of those artists where each album they released was better than the last.

X - I have no artist that starts with a X.

Y - You + Me

I only had 6 artists that start with Y and they all have 1 song but 1 and he has 2, so I took the song that I liked the most out of those 6. The song is Capsized

Z - Zac Brown Band

It was between them and ZZ Top and I like a lot more songs from ZBB than ZZ so I went with them. Honorable mention - ZZ Top

That took a lot longer than I expected but it was fun.