Strike up the band

I know I go on and on about Deb and me like we were 100% compatible. For the most part, we were. We really were. We had our disagreements, but we never went to bed angry, and we had our areas where we agreed to disagree.

One of them was music.

We kept the radio in the car set on classic rock stations, a good safe middle ground. If I ventured to the hard rock station, she'd tune it out. If she ventured to the easy listening station, I tuned it out. Not that I dislike easy listening, but she had a better appreciation of it. Same with hard rock. She liked Guns n' Roses, but not so much Metallica. Let's not get started on the Beastie Boys, except to say I think they're geniuses and she didn't.

I figure the best way to know a person's music taste these days is to go through their iPod and see what comes up. Unfortunately, that won't work with her because I picked most of the songs on her iPod. She never got around to learning how to program songs on it. I bought her an iTunes card, but she never used it herself. After we saw "Wicked" she wanted the cast recording, so I used the card to get that. Otherwise, her only request was I put on the soundtrack to "Amadeus" so she could have some Mozart to listen to when she was getting her chemo. I filled the rest of it with 80s music, Pat Benatar and Bette Midler, because I knew she liked that stuff.

Here's some of her CDs. Maybe that will give some insight.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, The Best Of George Michael"
She still had a George Michael t-shirt when I went through her belongings. She saw him on the Faith tour and called it one of the best shows she ever saw. And she didn't care if he was gay, she still thought he was cute.

"Crimes of Passion," "Go" -- Pat Benatar
I think if she could have been somebody else, Deb would have been Benatar. We went to see her perform, and Deb didn't sit down for one song. I couldn't stop her if I wanted to. "Dance like no one's watching," that was her motto.

"Gloria Estafan Greatest Hits," "1's" -- Mariah Carey
Deb's not-so-secret wish was to be a diva.

"Jagged Little Pill," "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie" -- Alanis Morissette
After her first marriage, a little man-hating music isn't a surprise.

"Cracked Rear View" -- Hootie and the Blowfish
This one's in everyone's CD collection, isn't it? I think it's a law.

"Bigger, Better, Faster, More!" -- 4 Non Blondes
Is there a woman who lived through the 1990s and didn't sing along to "What's Up"? If there was, I don't want to meet her.

"Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics" -- George Carlin
This one surprised me. I think I only heard her use the F-word maybe five times. Go f----in' figure.

"Sheryl Crow," "The Globe Sessions" -- Sheryl Crow
I lent these to her when we was dating. She never gave them back. I married her so I could get them back.
OK, not JUST for that, but I can't deny it was a plus.