AC/DC, Zeppelin, and. . . Carly Rae Jepsen: Investigating the Other iPods of ... - Vanity Fair

In his speech last night, Paul Ryan said that his iPod “starts with AC/CD and ends with Zeppelin,” and that his running mate, Mitt Romney, has an iPod full of elevator music. As if Mitt Romney’s auditory sensors can even detect the frequency of human music! Nonetheless, we’re going to assume the part about Ryan’s preferences are trueâ€"even though the congressman did spend the rest of the speech bending over backwards to distort his own opinions.

But will a taste for 70s rock seduce Republican voters? For clues, we interviewed delegates and conventioneers on Thursday afternoon about what populates their own iPods. Things started off well! Chris and Amy, who work for the conventions committee on arrangements, said they like both AC/DC and Zeppelin.

“What else?” we asked.

“LF. . .” Chris began.

“No!” Amy interrupted. “Don’t say that!”

“LFO?” we offered.

Amy laughed. “He’s trying to say LMFAO.”

Chris nodded. “‘Sexy and I Know It,’ we got that.” He then listed Eminem, Tupac, and George Strait.

Todd Welch, a delegate from Wisconsin, doesn’t have an iPod. He uses his Andriod to listen to Pandora. (Market research!) He listens to AC/CD and Zeppelin when they’re on the radio.

The very friendly Michigan delegate Brian Sommerfield was helpful enough to annotate his music library while he let us photograph his iPod. Aaron Shustâ€"“Christian musician”â€"AC/DC, Wu-tangâ€"“I bet I’m the only person here with Wu-tang!”â€"Suzanne Vega, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Miles Davisâ€"“About as old-school jazz as you can get”â€"Lil Wayneâ€"“That’s more for my son”â€"and 50 Centâ€"“Fiddy!” As for what’s on Romney’s iPod, Sommerfield guessed that it started with ABBA and ended with Gheorghe Zamfir, he of “the master pan flute.”

Exactly one-third of a group of three University of Pennsylvania studentsâ€"their class is traveling to both conventions this summer. . . as some sort of punishment, we assumeâ€"said they were into Zeppelin. “‘Kashmir’. . .” a girl named Angela offered. Her classmate Allison said she prefers Lady Antebellum, Madonna, and Maroon 5.

Thirty-somethings Trent Shores and Joe Lord, a delegate and alternate delegate from Oklahoma, respectively, were way more enthusiastic about Zeppelin than Angela and Allison.

“I’m a huge Zeppelin fan,” Lord said, and identified his favorite albums as Physical Graffiti and Led Zeppelin.

“You’re geeking out on Zeppelin right now, my friend!” Shores said, then offered to list his own iPod contents. “Johnny Cash. Give me any Johnny Cash and I’m a happy camper. Fun.â€"or should I say Fun period?” Finally! An issue than at last can unite both parties in rage: the punctuation in that band’s name.

“He’s also a big Carly Rae Jepsen fan!” Shores told us, gesturing to Lord.

“Who isn’t?” we said.

Lord laughed. “Should we do our routine?”

O.K. two things that can unite both parties.