If you picked up a copy of last week’s Centurion issue, you might have noticed my “finals playlist” in the Steve’s Setlist section.
I decided after making my own personal list that I wanted to see what my fellow Bucks students would listen to while preparing for the upcoming finals.
I’ll be honest, I was shocked with some of the answers I got. I thought for sure while asking around campus I would get the same few artists from each genre. However, you the students proved me very wrong, as I received a very wide variety of musical artists.
I’m not going to list every artist given to me because quite frankly, there may not be enough ink to print all the names out,  but I will list some of the most popular and unique responses I got around campus.
Led Zeppelin – How could this band NOT be mentioned? If you ever find yourself near a crowd, it’s almost guaranteed that someone in that crowd, no matter where you are, will like Led Zeppelin. If you ask anybody with a musical background who the greatest rock band is, if they don’t say the Beatles they will say Led Zeppelin. Heck, even Lady Gaga herself has mentioned a time or two that Zeppelin inspired her. So to me, it was no shocker people would study to these legends.
Jay-Z – Speaking of legends, why don’t we jump to a different genre, and discuss another popular answer; rapper Jay-Z. Rap isn’t exactly my genre of specialty, but I really thought Jay-Z retired. That is until I found out he is on tour with Kanye West (who stopped in Philadelphia not too long ago.) If you like rap, you like Jay-Z; plain and simple. He’s been known to throw a lot of words into single verses, so make sure while studying and listening you don’t get caught up in the massive flow of words.
Linkin Park – I decided to put Linkin Park and Jay-Z right next to each other on this list being as they have collaborated in the past. Linkin Park is a unique band, in that they are both a rock band and a rap group. If you listen to older Linkin Park, it was either hard rock, or a rap-rock mix. Their more recent music seems to be more rap than anything else. That musical range is what makes them very popular and made them a common choice for this survey.
Modest Mouse – I actually only got this band as a response once, however, the fact that somebody chose this band as their study band was the surprising thing to me. They are considered an indie band, so they’re not exactly mainstream or popular, so I wasn’t expecting them as an answer. The band formed in 1993, and arguably have two huge hits throughout their career. Sure, they have plenty of songs, but again, they’re in the unknown genre, so to speak so not many songs explode.
Matt Nathanson – …is apparently a ladie’s man. I’ll be honest; before my journey around campus for answers I had never heard of Matt. However, after hearing his name pop up a few times and seeing girls’ eyes light up as they said his name, I had to do some research on him. If he’s not touring with Kelly Clarkson or collaborating with Sugarland, this guy is winning the girls over with his acoustic guitar. I can see why people would want to study to his music; it kind of calms things down.
Other artists that were given as answers were: Aerosmith, Usher, Prince (yes, that Prince),  Childish Gambino, Pink Floyd, Bon Jovi, Green Day, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, AC/DC, Avenged Sevenfold, and many more.
What I found out from this is that Bucks is a very diversified campus when it comes to music and it’s a really good thing to discover. It shows that we all have our own personal tastes in music which makes us all unique.
You may see a student walking around with a Metallica shirt on but what you don’t know is that through his or her headphones blasts the music of Rihanna. True, it may seem like a stretch, but it’s thoughts like this that I had to accept after seeing the diverse musical interests our campus shares.
Finals are approaching and fast. If you need some extra motivation and the endless amounts of coffee and energy drinks just are not cutting it, try throwing on some music. The worst that can happen is you end up enjoying your favorite artist.