When a red bump appeared on my crotch, I listened to Antony and the Johnson’s sad album about a dying tranny, “I Am A Bird Now,” while I waited to see a doctor at the walk-in clinic. Clearly, I’m a little dramatic and also, what I thought was the herp wound up just being an ingrown hair. Phew!  But next time I get an STD scare, I’m not going to sit around the doctor’s office like a Debbie Downer.  Instead, I’m going to listen to this bumpin’ STD Awareness Month playlist, made especially for the party in your pants.  So, kids, don’t forget to always use a condom, and headphones!

I just can’t emotionally or physically connect with a woman unless there is some kind of terrible music playing.

When it comes to love and romance, timing is everything. There is so little choice when it comes to the fickle demands of your heart. And it’s the same with the music that serves as the soundtrack of your life. The songs you fall in love with pick you, not the other way around. There’s a reason the mythical symbol of love is a creepy flying baby who capriciously shoots arrows at random people, coupling them up. He is a stupid, bitter man-baby eternally blighted with an infants diddle.

Fashion Week isn’t just an event for seeing next season’s clothes and spotting celebs sitting front row. It’s also one of the best places to hear new music (and remember songs that you’d long forgotten). While live music was a huge trend for Fall 2009—Zac Posen had the 5 Browns playing five Steinway pianos on his runway, and Lissy Trullie and her band rocked Phillip Lim’s show—there were still awesome tunes blaring as models stomped down the runways last week. After the jump, listen to 15 of our favorite songs playing during New York Fashion Week.

When you listen to the Postelles, you want to start dancing, and not in a bump-and-grind kind of way. I was listening to “White Night” as I walked home one night, and I almost starting doing the Twist right there on the sidewalk. I was able to hold back, but you might not be able to. Let this be a warning: Their songs will get in your head and make you happy. Here’s what the Postelles are listening to…

In case you didn’t get the memo, today is Halloween. You’re probably going to a party tonight (and taking a photo of your costume for us, which you will then send to tips@thefrisky.com), so while you’re finishing up your costume and applying your ghoulish makeup, listen to the playlist below.

We’ve already endorsed Ed Westwick, the lad who acts the role of playboy Chuck Bass on Gossip Girl. So, when we heard that he’s in a UK-based band called the Filthy Youth, he became too perfect for words. Ed aside, the Filthy Youth’s indie punk beats are the kind that make you want to drink Jameson straight up and not bathe for a few days (in a good way, of course). After the jump, the band’s list of breakup songs, which they described as, “a few soppy…and the others are for getting yourself back up!”

Girl Talk is a DJ with a misleading name—there’s nothing feminine or cutesy about him. He does, however, happen to be a handsome lad by the name of Gregg Gillis. Gillis’ songs are no less than genius. He manages to sample dozens of artists in a single track. On his latest album, “Feed the Animals”, you can hear Phil Collins mixed with Busta Rhymes and The Police in a way that first blows your mind and then makes you want to dance. We’ve had a bit of a crush on Gregg for the past few years, and his playlist (after the jump) gives us a ray of hope that there’s still a 2 percent chance that we’ll get married.
[MySpace: Girl Talk]

Politicians aren’t exactly known for having musical taste, but you would expect the people who throw big events like, I dunno, the Democratic National Convention, would do a better job of picking cool music to introduce some of their most important speakers. That’s why it struck me as an odd choice to have Hillary Clinton walk onto the stage two nights ago to the blaring accompaniment of Lenny Kravitz’s “Are You Gonna Go My Way?”, “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks, and “American Girl” by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Now, I have nothing against the latter two songs (I could take or leave Lenny), but the message of the songs themselves are predictable and a bit on the wimpy side considering the strength of Hillary’s campaign. That’s why we put together our own list of dream songs that should have played background to Hillary’s big moment. That list, plus what we hope Barack Obama will walk out to tonight, after the jump!

Nicole Kidman is getting ready to give birth, and she’s making preparations besides practicing her breathing. A source said Nicole has been putting together a music mix to listen to during her labor, and it includes songs by her husband, Keith Urban, and Irish flautist Sir James Galway. “Whenever you go to her house, she has Galway on,” said the source. “There is one Prokofiev sonata that is her favorite.” We’re not sure we’d want to enter the world listening to this, but we’re not the ones popping out the baby. [AHN]

Your musical tastes say a lot about you, blah, blah, blah, so it’s kind of a big deal that in the current issue of Rolling Stone, Barack Obama divulges some of what’s on his iTunes. Obama says he has “pretty eclectic tastes,” and his playlist includes the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Earth, Wind & Fire, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and Bruce Springsteen. He thinks hip-hop stars like Russell Simmons, Jay-Z, and Ludacris are “great talents and great businessman,” but wishes his daughters could listen to their music without having to worry “that they were getting bad images of themselves.” I poked around the internet to see whether John McCain has a playlist making the rounds, but all I could find were these from his daughter, Meghan. [Rolling Stone]

Boston-based band a’tris got their early musical inspiration from an unusual source—Sesame Street. Lead singer and pianist Mason Taylor started his musical career pounding away at one key on his Sesame Street keyboard, that of Oscar the Grouch, conveniently our favorite Muppet as well. Since then, the collaboration between music and what’s on screen has developed into songs that are really a soundtrack to life in general. That’s why it’s so fitting that a’tris’ playlist hits all the notes of love’s emotional rollercoaster. Check out their 10 picks, after the jump, and look out for their latest record, Lensing...

So, this week I decided to make an entire mixtape of songs with the word “cry” in the title, because I am a giant cry baby. I cried on Friday night! And on Sunday! Oh, and last night when I saw this Cheerios commercial that I love. Anyway, some of the greatest songs in the universe are sad songs and a handful of the songs I chose will tug at your heartstrings. Some of them are peppy too, like “Big Girls Don’t Cry”, which is, duh, clearly not true. Enjoy the playlist for the next week! [The Frisky’s Muxtape]

Chances are, you probably remember Nina Persson as the angelic front woman for the band The Cardigans—remember their hit “Lovefool”? That was some goodness. Nowadays, Nina is still a member of The Cardigans (who released Super Extra Gravity last year), but she’s also got an amazing side project called A Camp, described as “a minimalist fusion of eclecticism and Americana.” A Camp’s self-titled debut record won four Swedish Grammys and Nina is hard at work on a follow-up. Hopefully this one, thanks to the loads of critical praise the last one received, will be available stateside (without having to pay for an import). In the meantime, the melancholy wonderment which makes Nina’s voice so special is also present in her list of “Top Ten Heartbreak Hymns.” Enjoy her picks, after the jump!

The Frisky asked Secondhand Serenade to give us his picks for “The Top Ten Ooey Gooey Love Songs”, the second in our series of music playlists with a sexy twist. John Veseley is an emo singer-songwriter from Menlo Park, California, who got some serious buzz for his debut record Awake. He recently scored major label backing for his second album A Twist In My Story, out January 21st. His playlist, after the jump…

Who doesn’t love a power ballad and especially on the schmaltziest day of the year? Our picks, after the jump!