I absolutely love music, but at the same time, I’m pretty lazy and forgetful. Which is why, ever since its debut, I’ve been a massive fan of the iTunes Music Store. Whenever I’m in the mood to hear a song I don’t have, I click on over to the iTMS, drop 99 cents, and start listening. It is so much easier than illegal downloading of songs that I don’t mind spending the dollar for the transaction.

I spent a lot of dollars in 2005.

So, without further adeiu, here is the list of music, ordered chronologically by purchase, that intrigued me (or my girlfriend) enough to earn the 99 cent click.

1. In Between Dreams, Jack Johnson
2. Real Gone, Tom Waits
3. Fallout From the Phil Zone, Grateful Dead
4. Live Wide Open, Martin Sexton
5. “Ballad of Bilbo Baggins,” Leonard Nimoy
6. “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” William Shatner
7. “Midnight Special,” Odetta
8. “Panthers,” Wilco
9. “Such a Night” & “Iko, Iko,” Dr. John
10. “Living for the City,” Stevie Wonder
11. “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” & “Looking Out My Back Door,” Creedence Clearwater Revival
12. Fodder on My Wings, Nina Simone
13. “Asphalt Groovin’,” Rolfe Kent (from the Sideways soundtrack)
14. Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk, Jeff Buckley
15. “Mother and Child Reunion,” Paul Simon
16. West Coast Boogaloo, The Greyboy Allstars & Fred Wesley
17. “Temptation,” Moby
18. A Love Supreme, John Coltrane
19. “Rex Kramer,” Gomez
20. Stand Up, Dave Matthews Band
21. “Father & Son,” Johnny Cash & Fiona Apple
22. “Cindy,” Johnny Cash & Nick Cave
23. “Long Black Veil,” Johnny Cash
24. “The Drum Battle,” Buddy Rich & Gene Krupa
25. You’ve Stolen My Heart - Songs from R.D. Burman’s Bollywood, Kronos Quartet
26. Sixty Six Steps, Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon
27. Retaliation, Dane Cook (not really music, but…)
28. Kind of Blue [remastered], Miles Davis
29. “Zebra,” John Butler Trio (this was actually a $1.99 video purchase made to test out the iTMS video feature)
30. “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” Procol Harum
31. “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” Annie Lennox
32. “The Last Trumpet,” Lyrics Born & Lateef the Truth Speaker
33. “He’s Back,” “Hell of a Hat,” “Don’t Know How to Party,” & “Dr. D,” Mighty Mighty Bosstones (and for those who know what I mean, “the leaving song” is not available on the iTMS)
34. “Bring the Noise,” Public Enemy
35. “Set Adrift on Memory Bliss,” P.M. Dawn
36. “Let Me Clear My Throat,” DJ Kool
37. “Motownphilly,” Boyz II Men
38. “Paul Revere,” Beastie Boys (I couldn’t believe that I didn’t already have this)
39. “Break Ya Neck,” “Dangerous,” & “Holla,” Busta Rhymes
40. “Ill Vibe,” Busta Rhymes & Q-Tip
41. “Fastest Rhyme,” Young M.C.
42. Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Last Forever, Explosions in the Sky
43. Pork Tornado, Pork Tornado
44. Shine, Trey Anastasio
45. Happy Endings (Music from the Film), Various Artists
46. “Jingle Bells,” Diana Krall & The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra (free download)
47. Cast Your Fate To The Wind, Vince Guaraldi Trio
48. The Office (Season 1), NBC (testing out the new TV show download service)

And that is it. Not a bad year of music, if I do say so myself. I think the only “questionable” part was the old school kick I went on in early November, and the two songs from the stars of Star Trek. In my defense, the former, I think, are classics of their times, and they should be in any collection simply for the sake of posterity; the latter, however, are simply the casualties of the impulse purchasing process: someone said to search for the songs when I had enough beers in me, and next thing I know, I’ve spent $1.98 on two songs I will never listen to all the way through.

Oh well.

As far as play counts go, of the 8180 songs in my collection, here are the Top 25 Songs I actually listened to in 2005 (not including iPod time, which would probably put Wilco in every slot):

1. “Handshake Drugs,” Wilco
2. “Better Together,” Jack Johnson
3. “The Man Who Played Too Slowly,” Baka Beyond
4. “Red Umbrella,” Kostars
5. “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” Deodato
6. “Central Park West,” John Coltrane
7. “Blue Rondo Ala Turk,” Dave Brubeck
8. “Space Odyssey,” Detroit Experiment
9. “The Grid,” Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon
10. “Once in a Lifetime,” Talking Heads
11. “At This Point in My Life,” Tracy Chapman
12. “Paper Tiger,” Beck
13. “A Summer Wasting,” Bell & Sabastian
14. “California Stars,” Billy Bragg & Wilco
15. “Elysium,” Branford Marsalis
16. “Ekta Deshlai Kathi Jalao (Light a Match),” Kronos Quartet
17. “Someone Else’s Song,” Wilco
18. “It’s Oh So Quiet,” Bjork
19. “That’s Life,” James Brown
20. “Don’t Know Why,” Kostars
21. “Fly,” Nick Drake
22. “Vous etes seuls, mais je desire etre avec vous,” Nina Simone
23. “Ether Sunday,” Trey Anastasio
24. “Baka Play Baka,” Baka Beyond
25. “Sweetest Decline,” Beth Orton

So, that’s the music scene as it existed on my Mac mini in 2005. I’ll be intrigued to compare this list to whatever it looks like at the end of 2006.