Playlist: Childhood Alternative

Source: Uploaded by user via Tori on Pinterest

Remember those posts I start and then never finish? This is one of them. I've been meaning to share with you my ultimate 90s rock-alternative playlist since I posted my first playlist back in January, but just hadn't gotten around to doing it. Finally, two things happened that convinced me to finally sit my butt down and finish this post: 1) I found this playlist on Spotify, which Thought Catalog called "The Best 90s Playlist Ever, Ever," and 2) I won an iTunes gift card from a giveaway at The Lovely Mist! Well, I did a little analysis of the 317 songs on the Spotify playlist, and this is what I determined:

Playlist: Workout Jams

Source: aslishka.tumblr.com via Duygu on Pinterest

The author of one of the blogs I follow, 25 Before 25, is hosting a fun workout music swap. I got paired with Meghan over at The Perfect Compilation Tape, and my mission is to share a 10-song (minimum) playlist for her to try out. First, two things:

Playlist: Road trip!

Today began my official move to Santa Fe! It's only a 15-hour drive from Columbia, so it's an easy drive over two days. It still gets pretty tiring driving though western Kansas by yourself, though. (I always thought Nevada was the ugliest state in the union, but now I think Kansas is giving it a run for its money! Although Kansas is more boring than actually ugly.)

Source: nataliemerrillyn.blogspot.com via Megan on Pinterest

Over my years of mini-road trips (mostly to and from airports), I've developed a list of songs that help keep me awake in the car. Some are upbeat, some are not, but they are all effective stimulants because I love singing along to them! Here's a sampling of my favorites. Try some of them out on your next road trip! Enjoy.

• Defying Gravity - Wicked (This is always my first wake-up song when I'm feeling sleepy. Let's just hope there's not a hidden microphone in my car somewhere; that is a sound the world does not need to hear.)
• I Woke Up in a Car - Something Corporate
• We Found Love - Rihanna
• On My Own - Les Miserables
• All or Nothing - O-Town
• Your Love is a Song - Switchfoot
• Send Me on My Way - Rusted Root
• Pumped Up Kicks - Foster the People
• It Only Hurts - Default
• If I Die Young - The Band Perry
• Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen) - Baz Luhrmann
• Heavily Broken - The Veronicas
• Desperately Wanting - Better Than Ezra
• Crack the Shutters - Snow Patrol
• That's the Way It Is - Celine Dion

If I decide to pay more attention to the road and not flip through my iPod for specific tracks while driving, I have two tried-and-true solutions:

1. Set my iPod to play all songs marked as the genre "Soundtrack" (all Broadway and Disney songs).
2. Hit play on the Love & Basketball soundtrack that's always in my CD player.

I also have an extensive playlist composed completely of '90s alt-rock tunes (titled "Childhood Alternative"), so there are many amazing songs I am not including on this list - including various tracks by Matchbox Twenty, Goo Goo Dolls, Fuel, Counting Crows, etc. - because they have their own special place on my iPod.

Do you ever use music to keep you alert? Which songs do you prefer?