The perfect mixtape constructor

Boil the Frog

To create a Boil The Frog playlist, just type in the names of two artists and a playlist will be generated that takes you gradually, step by step, from the first artist to the second artist. You can click on any song to hear the song.

I have spent way too much time playing with this already.

"Sorry, Can't make a path from NWA to Skrewdriver."

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Current Music: Metric -- The Void ♬

50 Responses:

  1. pberry says:

    I've been trying to see how short I can get a playlist. Joy Division to Interpol in four is the current champ.

  2. Adam A. says:

    "Found a path from The Glitch Mob to Richard Thompson in 16 songs."

  3. toby says:

    Because the graph traversal favours artists with similar popularity, and there are far more unpopular artists than popular ones, I'd guess that the longest paths will be found between pairs of artists that are both dissimilar and similarly unpopular.

    Depending on the similarity metric, it might be fun to provide a service that takes a set of artists and finds the artist that is collectively most similar to them. Which leads to the question of what artist is most similar to every other artist in the graph? And does it/do they taste like chicken?

  4. Found a path from Chris Brown to X-Ray Spex in 23 songs.

    I am not proud.

  5. Elusis says:

    Tom Waits to IAMX in 15. I feel dirty.

  6. madopal says:

    Apparently, The Shaggs are a dead end. Sad.

  7. Jens Kilian says:

    The path from Mozart to Moonsorrow includes a recording of a thunderstorm 8-) (and doesn't actually start with Mozart, but close enough).

    Are you supposed to be able to listen to these songs? Clicking the prominent play buttons does nothing for me.

  8. Xyz says:

    I just attempted Led Zeppelin to Ladytron -- this takes 16 steps but I'm a little concerned because the Led Zeppelin track is an Audio Documentary and "The Necromancer" from Caress of Steel by Rush is in there.

  9. Pavel Lishin says:

    My first attempt had Creed in the middle. I give up forever.

  10. hep says:

    how can it not get from nwa to skrewdriver? copkiller is the obvious bridging song there, to consolidated.

  11. robotdad says:

    This has caused me to learn that Skrewdriver had a Peel session. NWA to Shabazz Palaces is 17. There must be more subgenres of that stuff than I thought if it only takes 13 to get from NWA to Macklemore.

    This is addictive. Longest path between people who've worked together? So far I'm at 20 for Current 93 and Andrew WK.

  12. Chris Davies says:

    I think the best use of this service is to definitively prove Ace of Base's entire back catalogue consists of remixes of the hamster dance.

  13. rozzin says:

    "Sorry, Can't make a path from Dire Straits to Animaniacs".

    But I'm pretty sure GJay did that for me once....

  14. I've found it useful for finding new artists. pick two similar artists that are in similar, but in different subcultures. Com Truise -> Shpongle

    An amusing one was "Miami Nights 1984" -> "Jan Hammer". It's starting with a band that makes music like you'd hear on Miami vice, eventually some acid house, then somehow leaps to Walt Disney himself singing with The Sherman Brothers, then Roger Rabbit and Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack before landing on the guy who wrote the Miami Vice soundtrack.

  15. NelC says:

    JS Bach to Madness in 23. Not bad, though I'm sure I could have chosen something more obscure.

  16. Leonardo Herrera says:

    Led Zeppelin to Clapton starts with an audio documentary...

  17. madopal says:

    Mussolini Headkick takes you some weird places. Somehow, Mussolini Headkick to Van Halen goes through Aztec Camera, Nik Kershaw, and ABC.


    • Tim says:

      Apparently Oingo Boingo to Mogwai involves passing through Sammy Hagar and Ted Nugent. Who knew?

    • ardgedee says:

      Huh. I'd have assumed it took a shortcut through Aztec Camera's version of "Jump" (come for the mopey British folk-pop, stay for the hilarious piss-take on an Eddie Van guitar solo), but it picks something entirely else from their catalog.

  18. "Found a path from Fairport Convention to Nurse With Wound in 13 songs."

  19. Oh come now:

    Sorry, Can't make a path from Jascha Heifetz to Three Mustaphas Three

  20. Phil says:

    I originally read this as "The Perfect Mixtape Constrictor." That may be more appropriate.

  21. JCurwen says:

    Dear internet...
    From Brahms to Dimmu Borgir via the Nyan Cat.

  22. Joe says:


    "Sorry, Can't make a path from Boil the Frog to Lady Gaga."