Step right up! This week we look into the psychology of selling and the heartbeat of bargains across our culture. Retail therapy to ripoff, suggest lyrics all about the intimacy and anonymity of commercial transaction
Read morePlaylists: great tracks to begin albums, mixtapes or radio shows
Is it best to set light slowly or start with a big bang? In what turned out to be topic of epic proportions and suggestions, this week's guest ParaMhor creates a superb selection of illuminating playlist openings
Read moreGrand openings: great tracks to begin albums, mixtapes or radio shows
Songs or instrumentals, suggest music that sets a tone, a pace, a mood or is a statement of intent, and makes a great start to an album, at the top of a radio show or any other work or event
Read morePlaylists: songs with great backing vocals
Aretha and her sisters to Ray and the Raelettes, Louis and Keely to Gladys and the Pips, this week's brilliant backing vocals came from a chorus of nominations topic, led by a masterful guest playlister magicman
Read moreSing out for unsung heroes: songs with great backing vocals
They're the brilliant singers who blend beautiful and really make the music. From Motown and soul to to church and gospel, barbershop to pop or even punk, suggest songs made backed brillliantly by the unknown or famous
Read morePaws and play: share your musical discoveries of 2017
How has your year been? Share your 2017 unearthed musical treasures, new or old, rediscovered or newly perceived, picked up here at the Bar or elsewhere, as well as favourite live music experiences
Read morePlaylists: songs about snow and ice
Clearlake to Cocteau Twins, Tchaikovsky to Jethro Tull, last week's topic included an avalanche of nominations, from which this week's guest takeitawayGuru has sculptured two of fine flakes and frozen shapes
Read moreSlippery people: songs about snow and ice
Flakes that meander down to frozen formations, beautiful and deadly, used literally or metaphorically in emotions or landscapes, let's explore songs that preserving this water in lyrics and titles
Read morePlaylists: songs with lyrical or musical onomatopoeia
Bees buzzing to cement mixers churning, Bowie's garden to Mingus hogging to Cramps' chickens clucking, enjoy two noisily evocative playlists picked by guest Severin from last week's nominations
Read moreWhizz, wham and wah-wah: songs with lyrical or musical onomatopoeia
Boing! Bash! Splash! Whoosh! This week it's time to get noisy with songs containing words that mimic the sounds they describe, but also those with conventional instruments that copy other sounds
Read morePlaylists: songs about reunions
Allman Brothers to Viv Albertine, Rolling Stones to Robert Earl Keen, Lene Lovich to Thin Lizzy, this week brings a wonderful wave of reunion and homecoming in playlist form, compiled by Ravi Raman from last week's topic
Read moreWe'll meet again: songs about reunions
Bumping into ex-lovers to family occasions, high-school meetups to friends reunited, tales of long-lost lust to saved revenge, it's time to catch up with those songs that capture all the emotions and ties of old acquaintance
Read morePlaylists: Songs about sitting and standing
Standing up to sitting pretty, benches to balconies to boats, this week's guest playlister treefrogdemon takes on a beautiful and poetic knee-bending tour, arranged after very long legs of nominations
Read moreIn the lap of the gods: songs about sitting or standing
This week's topic will not only bend your minds, but also your knees. From standing up to authority or reaching other heights, to staging a sit-in, suggest songs that refer to any associations in titles or lyrics
Read morePlaylists: songs about windows
Aphex Twin's wet windscreen to Sonny Boy Williamson escaping out the bedroom window, it's all going on here. Guest playlister nosuchzone is pure glass – giving us stunning sights and sounds from last week's topic
Read morePleasure and pane: songs about windows
Clear or stained-glass, from or into rooms, trains, windscreens or more, literal or metaphorical, from the soul to an opportunity, it's time to shine light through and suggest titles or lyrics with this theme
Read morePlaylists: songs about mythical beasts and creatures
If you go down to the woods today … then listen carefully. You will hear intriguing tales by guest playlister Suzi, and marvellous songs inspired last week's topic. Find out where the path might lead …
Read moreTroll! (but no trolling): songs about mythical beasts and creatures
Dragons to fairies, griffins to Godzilla, ogres to orks, this week it's time to troll (in the old sense) for songs that mention non-human, or part-human fictitious animals from stories, poetry, art and other forms in many cultures
Read morePlaylists: songs about guitars
The instrument as a friend, lover, a symbol of society, or something that sings? Beatles to BB King, Stillwater to Frank Zappa, this week's guest Marco den Ouden finds that they all hold narrative, inspired by last week's topic
Read moreDon't fret about the riff: it's songs about guitars
Thrum! This week let's pluck out out songs that mention guitars in lyrics or title, whether electric, acoustic or bass, and what role or meaning they have – companion, inspiration, religion, weapon, language or more
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