Mixtapes of Yore #3

Mixtapes of Yore is a weekly feature where I pull out an old mix cd and give it a spin. It's a way to remember forgotten songs, laugh at my music choices, and usually stories and MP3s are connected to the mixes.

Yes I do also have Fun Stuff #1, #2, and #4, but this #3 caught my eye first. In the beginning of my mixtape making mania, I realized I would need to do a better job at classifying my mixes because I was making so many. So I started assigning mixes to one of three genres: Fun Stuff, The Hot Mixes, and Driving Mixes. I couldn't tell you the difference except "hot mix" was code for songs about sex, because I was 14 and that made sense at the time. They are also my oldest mixes dating from 2000-2003 before I started coming up with more creative names. This week I'll just refresh your memory on where these songs came from.

Fun Stuff #3
1. The Pimps - Sumpin' - This was from the Crazy/Beautiful movie with Kristen Dunst and I was obsessed with both the movie and playing this angry song really loud.

2. Our Lady Peace - Innocent I loved OLP, so angsty and depressing

3. Bad Astronaut - Jessica's Suicide this song was horrifying to hear again. I guess I was desperate to find a song with my name in it since all I had for Jessica was the instrumental Allman Brothers, and I wanted  a Jessica song with lyrics and ended up with this. I seriously hope your names have better songs to go with them than this one.

4. Steve Wariner - Katie Wants a Fast One I know I was looking for name songs because this is a country song and my best friend in high school (and now) is a Katie.

5. Dr. Evil - Hardknock Life Parody oh the years of quoting Austin Powers.

6. Counting Crows - Up All Night Counting Crows' songs are on most of my mixes for a six year period

7. Goo Goo Dolls - Big Machine Did anyone know they released a new album last August?

8. Ben Harper - By My Side too bad Ben Harper got cast in with the hippie pot head crowd because this song seems better than that.

9. Collective Soul - After All yeah they still make music and go on tour in April. Crazy.

10. Dashboard Confessional - Sweet Summer aww my first emo band

11. Rufus Wainwright - Instant Pleasure this song was my first introduction to Rufus Wainwright via Adam Sandler's Big Daddy movie, loved him ever since. Easily best song on the mix.

12. Nas - One Mic Yup I still know every word. I like how out of place this song is.

13. Pearl Jam - Crazy Mary

14. The Get Up Kids - I'll Catch You I forgot that I knew this band way back then.

15. The Getaway People - How She Gave Me Love they broke up in 2002

16. Goo Goo Dolls - Broadway I still kind of love this song

17. Pennywise - Every time horrible song


18. Along the Watchtower some crappy cover ripping off the Michael Hedges cover

What's scary is that I still know every word to 95% of these songs and I find it amazing how much of a connection we form with songs from our high school - college stages in life. While some of these songs are terrible based on my standards of today, they have become almost sentimental reminders of who I was ten years ago and are somehow deeply ingrained in my memory. What songs are you surprised you still remember?

Mixtapes of Yore #2

The instant I saw this one I knew it would be perfect for Mixtapes of Yore. As I flipped through my CD case I guffawed when I saw this one from 2005. Clearly the title "A random mix that has no hidden meaning!" must mean something. But what is it? I had to play it and find out. A few memories floated to the surface as I listened and I guffawed some more.

Mixtapes of Yore #1

Long before my music blogging days, I was a mixtape maker. It started with actual mix tapes when I was young, recording the songs I liked from my parent's vinyl. I would sit on the hard floor in a tiny space for hours with my finger on the record button, intent on getting the timing just right. I would even record from the radio, waiting for my favorite songs to come on for hours.
Technology progressed, and I still have the very first C.D. I ever burned circa 1999. Friends have asked why I save them all as if mixes were just a hoodlum group of songs that you could throw out your car window when you were bored with them, and the answer is usually because mixes are my scrapbooks and more descriptive about who I was than any pictures could be. I can't imagine throwing them out. When I play an old mix, I can recall exactly what, why, or for whom I was making the mix, in a freakishly vivid way. My chronological order of things is very dependent on the songs of the time. Some of the mixes in my arsenal are funny, some are pathetically teen-angsty, and the only way I can remember that I broke up and got back together with my high school boyfriend more than a dozen times is because there is a mix for just about every time. Instead of letting the hundreds of mixes sit in their many piles and cases I thought it was high time I shared them, because thats what mixes are for.

We'll start with one of the first ones from the year 2000, because what better way to start a new feature than with a 10 year old Bad Ass Mix?

Most of this was a copy of a mix my friend Kerri made. I wanted very badly to be bad ass and carefree like she was, but I was a freshman in high school so I just listened to this mix and thought I was awesome instead. In case you can't tell from the song choices, Kerri might have been so carefree because she smoked a lot of pot. But who else could mix classic rock, 90s hip hop, and stoner/hippie classics? It's like a teenage sex mix meets potheads. Bad ass indeed!
1. Steve Miller Band - The Joker
2. G. Love & Special Sauce - Kick Drum
3. Blackstreet - No Diggity
4. The Gourds - Gin & Juice (Snoop dogg cover)
5. Montell Jordan - This is how we do it
6. Warren G. - Time in the LBC
7. G. Love & Special Sauce - Gimme' some lovin'
8. Greatful Dead - Casey Jones
9. Dr. Dre - Xxplosive
10. G. Love & Special Sauce - Coming home
11. Lauryn Hill - Too Good to be True
12.  Sublime - What I Got
13. Salt-n-Pepa - Shoop
14. Sublime - Caress Me Down
15. G. Love & Special Sauce - When We Meet Again
16. Lauryn Hill - Killing Me Softly
17. G. Love & Special Sauce - Baby got sauce
18. Pearl Jam - Throw Your Arms Around Me


Can I get some fries with that shake shake baby?