The National Playlist

Last week I made reference to The National Playlist on CBC. I'm sure some of you were saying "What the heck (or expletive of your choice) is The National Playlist?" TNP, as it's often referred to, debuted in November 2005 and his hosted by Jian Ghomeshi. The idea is to create a weekly playlist that mixes old and new tunes rather than a chart of current favourites. This is by no means a definitive chart of the greatest songs, rather a constantly evolving list reflecting different tastes and opinions. Every week Jian is joined by three panelists who are usually affiliated with the music industry in one way or another. There have been musicians such as Jason Collett, Chris Murphy (Sloan), Ian Thomas, Sarah Slean, and Hawksley Workman; music writers such as Ben Rayner, Peter Goddard, and Jason Schneider; and former MuchMusic VJ's Christopher Ward, Rick Campanelli, and most recently Dalton Higgins (aka Master T). Each week each member of the panel will suggest two songs to be added to the list, one current and one classic, and give their reasons why the song deserves to be on the list. At the end of the week, there are eight newly suggested songs that could make the list. Meanwhile listeners can vote for songs on the current list, with the six songs receiving the most votes staying on the chart. The panel debates the new selections then vote for their picks, and the top four vote getters are added to the new playlist. On Monday they start all over again with a new panel.

Here are this week's new entries on the playlist:

When the Sun Goes Down , Arctic Monkeys
The Message, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
Cartridge, Shawn Hewitt
The Big Guns, Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins (right click, save as)

Among the songs that didn't make it this week were My Girl by The Temptations, and A New England by Billy Bragg.

The National Playlist can be heard weekday mornings at 11:30 on CBC Radio One, and the countdown can be heard Saturday nights at 9:00 also on Radio One. You can check out the current and past lists at their website (this link will also be up in the links section on the right side of your screen) and vote for your favourite on this week's list.