The 80-Year Playlist: The Absurd Arena Live Discussion Board

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Hey Useful Idiots,

For his 80th birthday, also known as his Joe Bidentennial, my Great-Uncle Bob created the most important playlist of his life: one playlist to rule them all and in the darkness bind them. His 80 for 80 Birthday Playlist.

The idea is a great one: create a playlist with the number of songs equalling the number of years you’ve been alive. Uncle Bob’s rule is No Skips. Imagine you’re on a 5 hour roadtrip driving through the desert. If you put on your playlist, you should never want to skip a single song; they’re all that good. And if you happen to get too into the tunes and crash your car into an oncoming cactus, the playlist will become your perfect funeral playlist.

So it’s not to be taken lightly.

But the hard part, Uncle Bob lamented, was how do you pick 80 songs that encapsulate 80 years of life? He had to sort through the early rock and roll from his youth, the protest music of the civil rights rallies, the songs he fell in love to, and all the new stuff he’s impressively keeping up with. His advice: start early.

So prepping for my quartercentennial this year, I’ve begun my much-more-manageable playlist…and it’s still really hard. And thinking about the perfect songs makes me want to learn all of yours.

What makes your Birthday Playlist? Songs from childhood, the tunes that got you into music, a song to cry to, or one to remind you of someone special. There’s no rules, you just can’t skip ‘em.

Join Katie and Wilson at 12pm est to start building your playlist. But how hard could it be? They’ll only listen to it after we’re all dead.