Mix Tape Side I

"The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don't wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules."
-High Fidelity


Relics from middle school are usually full of things one would rather forget. I can't think of a better example than a mix tape. On an overly long trip through six states, Christian rock and country stations weren't really doing it for me, so I dug out a dusty mix tape from the side door of the car. With some unfortunate exceptions, (such as not one but TWO Smash Mouth songs), it wasn't as painful as I thought it would be, but it does make me wonder about my (non-existent?) thought processes when making this tape. This tape is more likely from freshman year of high school than middle school, based on the songs themselves and the quality; it was obviously made on a CD/tape deck combo, rather than holding a tape recorder up to the radio. Can't wait to find those tapes.

For your reading and listening pleasure, side 1:

The Monkees - Daydream Believer
Hole - Doll Parts
Ooof. I had a Hole poster and everything. Sorry, Mom and Dad.
The Wonders - That Thing You Do!
I stand by this movie and this song. However, I have no idea why I thought that The Monkees and The Wonders should bookcase Hole, or why Hole was a good idea at all. Two fake boy bands + Courtney Love do not a good mix tape make, and it's not exactly a smooth transition. This begs another classic High Fidelity quotation:

"What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"

Not sure, but I could have at least listened to better miserable music.

Smash Mouth - C'mon, C'mon
Nothing like listening to Gap ad music in your spare time. I could only find this as a disabled audio track on youtube, on a playlist titled "BEST SONGS U WILL EVER HEAR". I think it may have been mislabeled.
Bachman Turner Overdrive - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
A great song. I just happen to know it was off of my Drew Carey soundtrack. Ouch.*See footnote below.
Savage Garden - Cannonballs Pretty self-explanatory for the time, though nothing that you couldn't hear on the radio every two minutes
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Porcelain
I wanted to think that I was badass enough for the Chili Peppers, but I probably wasn't really, so I put on this slow song to make myself seem cooler than I was, but not have to listen to the scary songs with bad words.
Fastball - Fire Escape
I feel like Fastball got a bad rap as a one-hit wonder. I never disliked them. Also, they're out with some new music.
Garbage - Stupid Girl
I'm increasingly getting the feeling that I made this tape for other people. I don't know why else I would use the most popular song of one of my favorite bands (yeah, I said it) rather than something I actually wanted to listen to because I wouldn't necessarily hear it somewhere else. For more on awesome Scottish-ness, see Frightened Rabbit.
Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want
Actually an impressive song, albeit their only famous one. Go me. Nothing bad to say about this one. I get pretty excited whenever they play it on the local radio station.

I'll be adding more about Side 2 in another post, as I can only handle rehashing so much of my own painful dorkiness at a time. We'll see if it comes out to be something that John Cusack would be proud of. Right now, if we're being generous, it's on the fence.

*Footnote: "This item has been discontinued by manufacturer". Score! Collector's item!