Making Your Own Playlist The Audacity

Making Your Own Playlist The Audacity

Fire and Fear: The Robot Apocalypse Prediction

In the summer of 1970, James Taylor released his iconic song “Fire and Rain,” unknowingly predicting the rise of artificial intelligence and the death of our collective imagination. Little did we know that our music teacher, Miss Molloy, with her bowl-cut hair, crochet sweater, and denim skirt, was onto something. Miss Molloy, either a visionary or a dedicated user of psychedelics, interpreted the song as a warning about the robot apocalypse. According to her, Suzanne’s fate sealed due to the computer chip in her brain, and humanity followed suit. Sweet Baby James, trapped in a world controlled by machines, couldn’t even remember who to send his song to because of his own implanted chip. As bizarre as it sounds, we embraced Miss Molloy’s interpretation without questioning it. She must have been really high!

Fast forward fifteen years later, I found myself sitting in a friend’s dorm room, reminiscing about “Fire and Rain” and its chilling undertones. Struck by a sudden realization, I blurted, “I love this song, as scary as it is… you know, with the robots and everything!” My friend stared at me, bewildered. And then it hit me: Miss Molloy must have been really high! Despite her questionable interpretation, here we are in 2023, living in a world where AI has taken over our jobs and robots even pick our entertainment. Algorithms dictate what we read, watch, and listen to. When we open Spotify, countless playlists await us, none of which we or anyone we know have created. It feels like we have surrendered our taste to the machines, forgetting the joy of curating our own experiences.

But let’s not forget Nick Hornby’s wise words from his novel “High Fidelity”: “What really matters is what you like, not what you are like.” Spotify and AI bring new questions to the table: What do we lose when we stop making our own playlists? If the algorithm decides what we like, then what are we like? Hornby fondly reminisces about the magic of mixtapes, where every song was carefully chosen in real-time, leading to the next with intention and thought. Mixtapes allowed us to express ourselves and change the world of the person receiving it. In the digital era, all we get are impersonal playlists generated by an algorithm. Gone is the art of curation, replaced by soulless recommendations.

Recently, I revisited the Boiler Room, a charming gay bar in the East Village that I frequented in the ’90s. Back then, the jukebox played a curated selection of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Stereolab, and Cibo Matto – the perfect soundtrack for a room full of guys in X-girl T-shirts. But now, the Internet-enabled jukebox offers every song ever recorded, with no curation. The individual bees have scattered, and the hive mind is lost. The magic of a well-curated jukebox or mixtape is slowly fading away, becoming nothing more than a distant memory.

Without curation, everything becomes nothing. This absence of curveballs in algorithmic playlists is noticeable, as Hornby points out. He doesn’t want something that sounds exactly like what he usually listens to, just as he doesn’t want book recommendations in a similar vein to his own writing. It’s reminiscent of the best mixtape he ever received from his college friend, Brady. Packed with pop songs, disco tracks, and a soul-stirring rendition of “Being Alive” from Stephen Sondheim’s Company, it became a life-changing gift. It reminded Hornby to be less aloof in the real world as he embarked on a new chapter of his life. It was an unexpected connection, an “I see you” from someone he didn’t even know was watching.

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The algorithm can never replicate what Brady’s mixtape did. While it can give us what it thinks we want, it lacks the human insight required to provide what we truly need. It cannot encourage personal growth because it thrives on predictability. Yes, the algorithm may know us scarily well, but it can never truly love us. So, let’s rebel against the machines. Let’s make a playlist for someone, pouring our care and thought into each song selection. Surprise them with curveballs and choose songs that make them feel seen. Give the playlist a clever name, and send it right away. Before it’s too late and the chip implanted in our brains takes full control.

In closing, I can’t help but wonder where Miss Molloy is now. I want to find her and let her know that I remember her audacious interpretation of “Fire and Rain.” I just have to figure out how to get to Burning Man, so if anyone has an extra ticket, please let me know!

Read More Essential Dave Holmes:

• The Two Weirdest Years in Music History
• In Defense of Choosing a Musical Era and Living In It Forever
• Why Is No One Having Sex Right Now?

Nick Hornby, who wrote the book High Fidelity (among many others), wants you to make a playlist. – John Phillips//Getty Images