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My ipod crashed recently. Once I'd mourned the loss of my organised portable music library, I regained my composure, reset my ipod and went about re-syncing it to its former glory. It was then that I noticed it.

Now, not just ANY song can make it onto my ipod; songs have to go through and pass rigorous standards checks. For hours I selected, labelled and synced up. Only later did I realise that I had created an "ex-clusion" list. Let me explain.

Picture this: you and your other half are in a hip restaurant/bar, ambience is great you're enjoying good conversation, food and music. You both are chit chatting away when a familiar tune fills the air: you both stop mid sentence and look at each other, smiling knowingly. This is one of YOUR songs, a track which landmarks a defining moment in your relationship. You both continue to sit there, smiling, reminiscing in your own minds and enjoying the song you both love so much until the track changes. Only then, you resume the previous conversation...

Skip to sometime later... The situation is now somewhat different. You are home, on the phone with him.... Arguing. Again. Things aren't what they used to be and you're tired of it. Maybe we should just end this. Click. A phone is smashed against the wall.

Fast forward just a little tiny bit more. It's a nice sunny Saturday and you're getting your spring clean on. Your ipod is set to shuffle, playing THE finest tunes, when it happens. THAT song- YOUR song- begins to play. You are stopped in your tracks, and completely taken aback. What love you once had for this song is now replaced with contempt and sadness. What sweet memories were once attached to this song have now been tainted by ill feeling towards the person with whom you once shared them. You can no longer listen to this song.... Not now, not yet.... You need an exclusion list.

Back to my exclusion list.... Its contents are as varied as the reasons for the songs being there. For example, first song on the list is Destiny's Child ''Bootylicious''. An ex of mine used to sing that to me, because according to him I was that. it annoyed me at the time.  And, much like him the song still irritates me now so it doesn't even make it onto the ipod much less the ex-clusion list!

Then there's Eric Roberson's tear jerkingly beautiful ''Be with you''. And Jaheim's ''Forever''. Those two songs link to one person who tried to use them as some sort of tool for emotional manipulation. Once he got caught out and discarded, those songs had to get added to the list, which, is a damn shame really because I REALLY LOVE Eric Roberson and anything he produces. In time that track may make it back onto general playlist rotation.

Then there are a few which make the ex-clusion list for less emotionally linked and more trivial reasons. Destiny’s Child Survivor can't make it on because as Cedric the Entertainer mentions in one of his routines, the song sounds like thats ALL they're saying: “I’m a survivor, I been surviving, I’m a survivor, keep on surviving”.  Add to that anything done by Akon and the exclusion list starts to take shape.

By the time I'd finished this session, I'd counted at least 15 tracks that I could no longer enjoy for emotional reasons, and countless more that were just plain wrong! Turns out the spring clean had extended itself into my iPod, and I must say my ears are greatly pleased by the result.

Onyx Knight