The Collection Vol. 3 (Fall /Winter1997)

Side A
Smashing Pumpkins-Zero
Busta Rhymes-Dangerous
The Wallflowers-The Difference
Chumbawamba-Tubthumping
Paula Cole-Me
Silverchair-Tomorrow
Hanson-Weird
Madonna-Frozen
U2- Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
Sarah McLachlan-Sweet Surrender
Barenaked Ladies-Brian Wilson
Tracy Chapman-Fast Car
Paula Cole-I Don't Want To Wait
snippet of Nirvana's "Dumb"

Side B
Blues Traveler-Runaround
The Verve-Lucky Man
Beastie Boys-What Cha Want
R.E.M.-Everybody Hurts
Chumbawamba-Amnesia
Jane's Addiction-Been Caught Stealing
Madonna-Take A Bow
Luscious Jackson-Naked Eye
Metallica-The Unforgiven II
Ben Folds Five-Brick
Eve 6-Inside Out
Nena-99 Red Balloons
snippet of The Nixons' "Sister"

By this point, I had started to take recording songs off the radio more seriously than before. I went between both my cassette player and my alarm clock radio in order to follow two stations at once and keep track of everything. I would plug my headphones into the cassette player as it recorded so I could better listen to what was going on at other stations and to be ready at a second's notice whenever one came back from commercials. With 90 minute tapes, I quickly started to grab all the current songs that I had been anticipating, so I was frantically in search of something I hadn't recorded yet. I no longer wanted to catch a song in the middle or even after the first couple of lines anymore. I wanted it in its entirety and I now had the patience to let a song slip away if I couldn't catch it at its beginning.

When I got into these moments, I was very attentive and determined. I likened myself to a doctor performing surgery, working in a swift manner while still carrying on with absolute precision because of the multi-tasking that was going on. I also felt like a gambling addict being entranced by a slot machine, anxiously hoping that successive songs on the station would bring riches. If not, I would simply move on to the next one with fingers crossed that I would get lucky.

The Collection Vol. 3 was business as usual with the exception of the recording of "Weird." This was one of those moments where I had both radios going and I may not have been pleased with the reception of the station it was playing on. I badly wanted this Hanson song ("MMMBop" and "Where's The Love?" had somehow escaped my grasp), so I decided to record it from the alarm clock radio using the built-in mic on the cassette player. The sound quality made it the most atrocious thing I ever recorded. Everything sounded abrasive and muffled and there was no way that the dynamics of the song could flourish since I held the cassette player right up to the speaker of the alarm clock. I figured that I would get the highest volume if I held it closer. It being loud was about the only thing I got right. I used to listen to these tapes so much so that it always catches me by surprise whenever I listen to "Weird" in a clear quality.



It was pretty hard to escape "Tubthumping" around this time. To this day, I don't believe in a song being "overplayed." Either I liked it to begin with or I never did. My reasoning is that I'm always in the mood for a good song. Chumbawamba is now known as one of the most popular one-hit wonders of the decade, but their follow-up single, "Amnesia," was just as worthy of getting attention in my opinion. Whenever I listened to this tape, this was one of the songs I looked forward to the most since it had a short shelf life on radio.



Paula Cole is another artist that made two appearances on here. Oddly enough, I wasn't a fan of her first single, "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone?" since I had an aversion to most things AOR at the time (I had no idea how dark "Sunny Came Home" was until years later). I eventually grew to appreciate that song and the rest of the singles from This Fire. The thing that caught my attention most about "Me"—and why I think she resonated with most people— was the sincerity of her vocals. It was distinct while still fitting in with the trends at the time and I used to love how emotive nearly every syllable sounded. When she sang "I am walking on the bridge/I am over the water/and I'm scared as hell," I immediately imagined her looking down at racing rapids, wind furiously whipping her hair while defiantly singing because that's how much I felt how frightened she was.



"Inside Out" had one of my favorite song introductions at the time. Its minimalism helped it to stand out more to me, even if the rest of the song wasn't up to par. I'm not knocking the record, but that beginning and the part where the singer held out "I'm through with you" for the last chorus were the sections that got me the most excited. It still stands as a nice product of late-90s modern rock though.



The Collection wasn't just relegated to current songs—after all it couldn't be THE Collection without a sampling of pop music's past. I gained most of my exposure to older songs from my parents listening to the oldies station, all-time countdowns on MTV, random programming from VH-1 when they still played music, Time-Life compilation commercials and just plain discovering stuff through various forms of licensing from movies, advertisements, etc. Before, I'm pretty sure I had only heard "99 Red Balloons" through a clip of the video used in a commercial for some VH-1 show. What little I heard, I immediately liked, so I jumped at the chance to have it in full once I found it was being played. The way that pop music is etched into our conscious intrigues me in the way that if we had not lived during a certain era, it's very likely we won't have heard a song in its entirety, but become completely familiar with its chorus just by licensing. Just think of the millions of people who can immediately recognize "James Brown's "I Got You (I Feel Good)" or Aretha Franklin's "Respect," but probably never took the time to listen to those classic songs from beginning to end. Being able to record "99 Red Balloons" allowed me that honor and I'd like to think that I became a better person because of it.



As I mentioned before, working with 90 minute tapes allowed me to snatch up current songs at a much quicker pace, which allowed more room for songs from previous years that I had only seen on MTV. This volume seemed to be much heavier on those types of songs than previous editions, which is part of why I slightly favor this one over Vol. 2. The years of appreciation already built into "Everybody Hurts," "What Cha Want" and the like automatically gave those songs an added favor with me and made this mixtape a more pleasurable experience. Out of all the pre-1997 songs I recorded for Vol. 3, "Take A Bow" was my favorite. By now, it's no secret that I'm a fan of melodic romantic ballads that are heavy on the yearning and few could write one better than Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds. My little pre-teen heart used to melt to pieces when she sang "I've always been in love with you" during the chorus. It's still my favorite Madonna song.