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My top 50 of 2025 according to Spotify, #1: Rumplestiltskin, “Make You Make Me,” 1970

Brian Leiter

I think I’ve finally exhausted the “great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll” that do not deserve their obscurity (arguably some I’ve posted also deserved it!). So for 2026, each Saturday, I’ll post the tunes Spotify tells me I listened to most in 2025; those who enjoyed the “obscure moments” postings will probably like many of these songs, since all are, more or less, in the blues rock genres I favor. Coming in at #1 (with 63 plays over the course of the year) is a number that was featured among the “obscure” gems way back in 2016, and which apparently I’m still rather fond of! This was a bunch of British studio musicians, who banded together to record one hard blues rock album in 1970. This is the most memorable number:

If you have other Rumplestiltskin favorites or other numbers by the musicians involved, feel free to add links in the comments.

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2 responses to “My top 50 of 2025 according to Spotify, #1: Rumplestiltskin, “Make You Make Me,” 1970”

  1. John Rapko

    I very much like the 2026 plan, and look forward to it unveiling one man’s canon. I would be very interesting in reading something from you, perhaps just a few sentences, as to what you particularly like about the posted piece.–63 times in a year might seem like a lot, but I’m pretty sure that in any four month period there are, changing by the season, a half-dozen or so songs I listen to 50-100 times. If you find yourself troubled by the seeming excessiveness of 63, I recommend applying mutatis mutandis Samuel Beckett’s rendering of Molloy’s mathematical analysis: “Even farts made no impression on it. I can’t help it, gas escapes from my fundament on the least pretext, it’s hard not to mention it now and then, however great my distaste. One day I counted them. Three hundred and fifteen farts in nineteen hours, or an average of over sixteen farts an hour. After all it’s not excessive. Four farts every fifteen minutes. It’s nothing. Not even one fart every four minutes. It’s unbelievable. Damn it, I hardly fart at all, I should never have mentioned it. Extraordinary how mathematics help you to know yourself.”

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    1. Brian Leiter

      63 is only about five times per month, or once every five or six days. Anyone listening to “classic rock” radio, will probably hear “Whole Lotta Love” more than that in a month. Like Zeppelin, the Jeff Beck Group, Humble Pie, and Free, this band has its roots in the blues, but with a rock sensibility. And unlike “Whole Lotta Love,” it hasn’t been overplayed to death over the decades.

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