We're living in the era of the mix CD. Hell, if you're a serious music nerd with too much time on your hands, you're living in the era of the themed mix CD — all you need is your brain, Allmusic.com, a burner and a slow day at work.

We never have those, but we always manage to get a lot of music-related talk going over the cubicle walls anyway. Here's the result of one of those conversations: The Weekly Planet "No Sweat" mix. The only real criteria for inclusion was that the name of either the artist or the song had to evoke frigidity — it's not as if we actually like all these tunes, people. Check it out, then mix up your own batch of tracks.

Vanilla Ice, "Ice Ice Baby"
An irritating no-brainer that goes dun-dun-dun-dun-dudda-dun-dun, not dun-dun-dun-dudda-dun-dun.

Sarah McLachlan, "Ice"
Yeah, it sounds just like the rest of her songs. But it's called "Ice," for the love of God!

Medeski, Martin & Wood, "Ice"
Yeah, it sounds just like the rest of their songs. But it's called "Ice," for the love of God!

Steven Wright, "Ice"
Yeah, it sounds just like the rest of his jokes. But it's called "Ice," for the love of God!

Hall & Oates, "Ice"
Actually, it doesn't sound just like the rest of their songs. It's worse.

James Brown, "Cold Sweat"
Some truly funky shit. Turn the air up; you'll be dancing to this one.

Social Distortion, "Cold Feelings"
Mike Ness turns his whiskey-and-attitude voice loose on the subject of good lovin' gone bad.

Ice-T, "New Jack Hustler"
The best track from the best album from the pinnacle of Tracy Morrow's musical career — '91's O.G. Original Gangster.

Coldplay, "Shiver"
A song named after the body's ability to shake and generate warmth, produced by a little band named Coldplay. How could it not make the list?

Righteous Pigs, "Stone Cold Bitch"
All we ever want to know about this punk-thrash tune is that the song after it on the album Stress Related is called "I Hope You Die in a Hotel Fire."

The Rolling Stones, "She's So Cold"
How's this for a cold shower? "I'm so hot for her, and she's so cold."

Icicle Works, "Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly)"
An overwrought 1984 fluke hit for the comparatively obscure British New Romantic outfit.

Queen, "Stone Cold Crazy"
Queen delivered this short blast of rock 'n' glory, only to see their original outdone by, of all people, Metallica. Queen outdone by Metallica? That's cold.

Arctic Monkeys, "I Bet You Look Good On the Dancefloor"
A great rock song by this year's pop sensations out of northern England.

Paula Abdul, "Cold Hearted"
Back in the late '80s and early '90s, long before she was on American Idol, and long before she was certifiably crazy, Paula made extremely mediocre dance-pop tunes like this one.

Foreigner, "Cold as Ice"
What can we say? This tune makes us shudder.

Ice Cube, "It Was A Good Day"
Chill and bounce with one of hip-hop's finest voices now, while he's not thinking about busting a cap in your ass.

The Snake Corps, "Colder Than The Kiss"
How very, very, very, very, very Old Wave.

KISS, "Cold Gin"
A rare quality groove from rock's most universally overrated clown show.

The Velvet Underground, "Cool It Down"
One of the coolest bands ever lowers the temperature on this great tune from Loaded.

Judas Priest, "Out in the Cold"
An ironically still-in-the-closet Rob Halford brings it down for a rare power ballad from '86's Turbo.

The Capitols, "Cool Jerk"
A terrific '60s one-hit-wonder song.

Little Feat, "Cold, Cold, Cold"
Recorded very early in the band's career, this song finds singer Lowell George roaring, "That woman was freezin', freeeeeeezing cold."

Simon & Garfunkel, "Hazy Shade of Winter"
We even like the Bangles version, too. "I look around, leaves are brown now/ And the sky is a hazy shade of winter."

Coolio, "Gangsta's Paradise"
This one came out in '95 and was so abysmal it rekindled talk that rap was a fad.

Rainbow, "Stone Cold"
Typical watch-out-she's-a-devil-woman groover featuring Joe Lynn Turner's tight-ass jeans.

Gordon Lightfoot, "Stone Cold Sober"
Yep, he had more than just that one song about the boat.

Franklin, "Colder Than Dead"
Obscure '90s post-punk act Franklin settles into an upbeat groove with a disconcerting title.

Cold, "Stupid Girl"
This Jacksonville hard-rock/nu-metal act sucked with fervor, but they got Weezer's Rivers Cuomo to co-write 'em a hit in '03. This is it — it sucks, too.

Miles Davis, Birth of the Cool
From the early '50s, the jazz genius' first significant LP as a leader. Perfect late-night chill music.

Dirk Hamilton, "Colder Than Mexican Snow"
A guy named Dirk freakin' Hamilton. Doing a song called "Colder Than Mexican Snow." Seriously, what more do you possibly need?

This article appears in May 10-16, 2006.