I am seriously considering buying a bunch of songs by The Offspring.  You know them.  They came on the scene in the grungy 90s, but never had quite the weightiness of a Nirvana or Pearl Jam or their ilk.  This is one of those bands that seems to linger, putting out a new album every couple of years, each one landing a single or two on the radio.  They are Green Day without ever making the transition to American Idiot.  There are probably five or six of their songs that I wouldn’t mind popping up in a full random mix on my Ipod.  Thinking about The Offspring made me realize that there is a specific subset of bands on the Ipod that I am now dubbing “filler bands.” (And being who I am, creating a new category makes me really happy.)

So what is a “filler band”?  First of all, it is not just a group that you have a handful of songs from.  That would be too simple a classification.  For a filler band, you don’t buy a single here and single there and wake up one morning and realize that, holy crap, you own five songs by The Flying Burrito Brothers.  No, a filler band is a group that you actively decide to purchase everything you like by them in one trip to ITunes.  You realized there is a gap and you’re actively trying to rectify the situation.  But you would never buy an album by them, even a greatest hits album (which is what makes this a new category distinguishable from my previous recommendations for worthy Greatest Hits albums).  But at the same time, the songs you do choose tend to span the career of the band in question.  When you like only one album (or at least part of it) that’s a different category.

Everyone is going to have different filler bands.  These tend not to be flash in the pans or one album wonders.  These are groups that grow on you, like a benign skin rash that you don’t notice until it gets large enough and starts to itch a little.  As you’ll see below, these can be bands that other people may follow fanatically, snapping up new work instantly, going to concerts, joining fan clubs, etc.  And these aren’t there for the kitsch value either.  You know that awkward moment where your Ipod goes from Fugazi to ABBA and you share a smile with your friends that says, damn skippy that’s funny, no?  (OK, you’re going to see Culture Club and others on the list below and wonder about that last point, but, um, damn skippy that’s funny, eh?)  But I digress.  Anyway, for whatever reason, I lack interest in these bands (which generally have a devoted following)  save for the handful of songs that tend to correlate more or less to the top sellers by the group on ITunes (though never exactly because in all these cases they have massively popular songs that I just don’t like).

Anyway, without further ado, here are my filler bands with commentary where deemed necessary:

1. Guns ‘n’ Roses (9 songs) — This one actually is pretty close to a greatest hits album, save for my unfortunate and enduring love for the song Used To Love Her.

2. Foo Fighters (8 songs)

3. Journey (5 songs)

4. Genesis (4 songs) - If anyone can explain to me why I like the songs Misunderstanding and That’s All, but not Abacab and In Too Deep, I’ll listen.

5. Guided by Voices (5 songs) - Calling all pretentious music hipster snobs.  Yes, your underground indie act can be a filler band too.

6. Weezer (3 songs) - I could listen to Islands in the Sun on repeat for 24 hours straight.  Ditto Buddy Holly and Say It Ain’t So.  The rest not so much.

7.  The Bangles (4 songs) - Have you ever heard Going Down to Liverpool?  That song, which was pre-superstardom, rocked.

8.  Culture Club (4 songs) - No comment.

9. The Kinks (6 songs)

10. Hall & Oates (5 songs) - See Culture Club.