My playlists (Spotify + YouTube)

Perun

His name struck fear into hearts of men
Staff member
I grew up in a time when unlimited online music streaming wasn't yet a thing and, if you wanted to introduce your friends or significant other to your favourite music, you made them mix tapes and later, mix CDs. These provided a bit of a challenge, because they had time restrictions (usually 90 and 70 minutes respectively), so you had to put effort into selecting songs, and if you really cared, you wanted to make them flow together well or even develop a theme or dramaturgy. Nowadays, Spotify and YouTube - the two services I use - are full of non-curated playlists in which huge chunks from artist's albums are copy-pasted into and you are just expected to use the shuffle option for variety's sake.

I felt like re-creating some of that old time's spirit and made some hard rock and heavy metal playlists on these two platforms that I want to share. They all follow common themes and have strict time limits: 50 minutes for audio playlists (to emulate an LP) and 60 minutes for video playlists (to emulate the idea of a TV show without ad breaks - wouldn't that be nice). The playlists are available both on Spotify and YouTube, although I still distinguish the audio and video formats, and obviously the video isn't on Spotify.

They are intended to be serialised, and I will add new episodes (i.e. new playlists) whenever I feel like it. I'm also going to add new series whenever I feel like it, at the first moment everything is very 80's in content.

So watch this space for updates and enjoy listening.

This is not intended to be anything super-original, just to arrange music in a new way for a bit of fun, and maybe make the one or other person discover something new here. I'm always open for suggestions, but ultimately, these really are playlists designed from my own preferences, and I'm just sharing them for the fun of it. If you feel inspired to create and share your own playlists, please do so!


The Gladiators (audio playlist)
The origin of this whole thing goes back to an attempt of mine to re-create a cheesy 80's compilation with a similar title on Spotify, only to find that half the songs weren't actually available, so I filled it in with other material. 80's hard rock (give or take a few years) and more edgy hair metal ranging from the second-tier to the obscure, as far as available on Spotify.

Spotify Playlist:

YouTube Playlist:


Neon Nights (audio playlist)
Best of classic 80's heavy metal, with a slight lean towards an occult atmosphere.

Spotify Playlist:

YouTube Playlist:


Midnight Hour (video playlist)
Metal, glam rock and hard rock music videos, carefully selected for the ultimate 80's overload.

YouTube Playlist (videos):

Spotify Playlist (audio only):
 
The Midnight Hour playlist is very similar to the one I use whilst running - the only artist not shared between both is Great White, which was an omission on my part.

Looking forward to giving these a proper listen when I have a spare moment!
 
It sounds like a really fun and unique way to share your music with others! I love the idea of using the time restrictions of mix tapes and CDs to curate and theme your playlists. It's a great way to bring back the nostalgia of those formats and add some personality to your playlist.
I think it's also important to remember that Spotify and YouTube are full of non-curated playlists, and it's great to see someone putting effort into curating and organizing their music in a unique way. If you feel inspired to create and share your own playlists, maybe check out https://songlifty.com/ music promotion services to help your playlists get more visibility and reach more listeners.
Keep us updated on new episodes and series, I'm definitely looking forward to listening!
 
Last edited:
My YouTube playlist is metal and 80s pop. Some with emotional baggage. Ones that remind me of happier times with all my family still here. Even got Emmerdale old theme tune on !.
 
It's so refreshing to see someone put thought and effort into their music curation rather than just throwing together a bunch of popular tracks.
I'm particularly excited about your Gladiators playlist - as a fan of 80's hard rock and hair metal myself, I can't wait to dive into the second-tier and obscure tracks that you've unearthed. And speaking of discovering new music, have you considered using a service like https://streamingfamous.com/buy-spotify-plays/ to help promote your playlists? They specialize in helping artists and curators like yourself gain more exposure on Spotify, so it might be worth checking out.
 
Last edited:
It's great to see someone taking the time to curate playlists with a specific theme and time limit, and it's especially interesting to see someone trying to recreate the spirit of making mix tapes and CDs from back in the day. It's also good to hear that you're open to suggestions and that you're doing this for the fun of it.
 
Here's my playlist called "Dishwashing Metal". Guess what I use it for?
But basically it's supposed to be heavy and fun music to do other things to.

Leans on the heavy side, and there's not a lot of Maiden, but I like it.

EDIT: it's designed to be shuffled, by the way. I don't really believe in ordered playlists.

 
Last edited:
@Perun I really like 80s Glam metal and your list is totally cool man (Wildside, Lizzy Borden, Sleeze Beez, just awesome choices!)

I haven't made a variety of playlists as of now but here's my Maiden mixtape. Pretty much my Maiden Top 25 (changes may vary in the future ;)):


Some of my favourites which are not available on Spotify, I have a YouTube playlist for them and even gave it a fancy title.

 
A Spotify list containing some of my favourite songs of all time, spanning across sub-genres of Metal/Hard rock. Some very common/obvious ones, some not so! For the sake of variety, I've kept only one song per artist.


Recently, I have started to discover other forms of music which aren't just Heavy or Thrash, as well. That is, songs from other, more "mainstream" genres. Basically my Pop list. Let's see if you find any good ones from here...

 
Being a big fan of Thrash metal, below is my playlist containing some of my favourite bands from the new wave of Thrash movement.

 
Back
Top