Side A
Metallica-Enter Sandman
Lisa Loeb-I Do
Everclear-One-Hit Wonder
Ginuwine-What's So Different
Stray Cats-Rock This Turn
Chaka Khan-Ain't Nobody
Sublime-Date Rape
Will Smith-Miami
Alanis Morissette-Unsent
Juvenile-Ha
snippet of Ace of Base's "The Sign"
Cardigans-My Favourite Game
DMX-The Omen
Side B
Smashing Pumpkins-Today
Lenny Kravitz-Are U Gonna Go My Way?
Lauryn Hill-Ex-Factor
Britney Spears-...Baby One More Time
Limp Bizkit-Faith
Brandy & Monica-The Boy Is Mine
Lo-Fidelity All Stars-Battleflag
2Pac-Changes
Redman-I'll Bee Dat!
Redman-Da Goodness
Beastie Boys-Root Down
Jay-Z-You Must Love Me
Around the time that this volume was recorded, I don't think there were too many current songs on the radio catching my attention. I never thought about doing stats for previous tapes, but it's very telling that 56% of the songs here were not tracks that were in heavy rotation on radio stations in Chicago. With me buying 90-minute blank cassettes on a regular basis, it would only be a matter of time before I sapped the landscape dry of all the songs I desired within a certain period. In the past, this could have resulted in a weaker edition of The Collection, but with my new CD player, I had a wider palette to work with and I could afford to be more selective for once.
If you must know, this is my absolute favorite song on this volume: Smashing Pumpkins - Today
I sang this song a lot when I was younger, and whenever I got to the line "Today is the greatest day I've ever known," it used to fill me up with such happiness because I felt that the oncoming day would be actually be the greatest ever, even if I had been feeling down. That connection has eternally won "Today" a place in my heart, but I would probably be a huge fan regardless because of just how epic the guitars sounded and those soft/loud dynamics I'm usually a sucker for.
Song that furthered my appreciation for lyricism in hip hop: Redman - Da Goodness
It was much easier for a song to hold my attention if there was a consistent theme throughout, especially in hip hop. I certainly didn't mind artists flowing just for the sake of flowing, but my listening skills weren't as sharp as they are now, so I might have glossed over some things if I didn't have the lyrics right in front of me. There really isn't a concrete subject matter on "Da Goodness," but it was one of my brother's favorites from Doc's Da Name 2000 and he was especially impressed with Busta's verse at the end. He got excited one time while listening to it and replayed it for me to listen on his headphones. This wasn't the first time that he did this, but this was one of the main songs that stuck with me.
Song that was guaranteed to make me stomp around in my room: Lo-Fidelity All-Stars - Battleflag
The bass line was one of the most devious I had ever in my life until that point. I didn't have a mirror in my room, but I'm pretty sure I would scrunch my face whenever this came on while simultaneously working on a sweat. For me, the biggest release of energy was the part in the chorus where it went "I said Hallelujah!" and the bass dropped back in the song again. "Battleflag" only got airplay on Q101, but it made me move like WGCI.
Song that blew me away the first time I heard it, no lie: Britney Spears - ...Baby One More Time
The first time I had heard of Britney Spears was by looking at the Billboard charts. Her first single, "...Baby One More Time" had already lodged itself into the top ten for a few weeks, but I had yet to hear it. It wasn't unusual to see a song or two that I had never heard of pop up on the chart every now and then, seeing as how our main pop station, B96, was often slow to adapt to newer artists unless the demand was there. After a few weeks of seeing her name in the top ten, she cracked B96's nightly countdown at 9:00 and that's where I first heard "...Baby One More Time." I had no idea what she looked like or how old she was; I just know that the chord progression in the chorus was so alien to me that I finally understood why it was such a huge hit. It just kept getting higher and higher until I was forced to smile and I knew that it was worthy of being on The Collection. I cherish this time with the song because there were no outside factors influencing how I felt. No constant MTV airplay. No provocative Rolling Stone cover. It was just me and the music. I've always felt that this was the best way to listen to a new song for the first time, just letting it be you and the music and not paying attention to anything else. You get a honest reaction each time and there is no perception of the artist to taint how you feel.
Song that is a very, very close second for my absolute favorite on this volume: Ace of Base - The Sign
I remember getting very emotional sometimes when this song played on MTV. I think it might have been the shots in the video of the lead singer looking solemn in the beginning, but I was also touched by how slightly melancholy she sounded as well. No, I didn't have an ex-girlfriend when the song first came out and it didn't even matter, because dammit I felt all of her pain since I knew what it was like to have wanted someone. All those different hooks toyed with my emotions as well, since they so easily emoted heartbreak at one point and then defiance just mere seconds later. Now that I'm older, I still love it just as much and I'm practically convinced that it is one of the few perfect pop songs of my generation.
Side note: While I was recording this song, I was using my alarm clock radio to check on other stations. This is the only time I can think of where I switched the dial while it was recording in order to catch the beginning of a song. On tape, it sounded like it ran straight into "My Favourite Game" instead of the abrupt audible stops that were usually heard in between.
Given how much of a Mannie Fresh fan I am, this song took a surprisingly long time for me to get into: Juvenile - Ha
The first time I heard "Ha," I'll admit that I was thrown off. Everything about it felt so jagged that it was hard for me to connect with it. I was very used to a conventional style of rhyming where MCs made it a point to stay on beat, but Juvenile's cadence on this track was so foreign that I initially passed it off as lacking talent. I loved hip hop from the South, but this was too jarring. It also didn't help that I couldn't make out half what he was saying. It wasn't until I was in the corner store one time and heard someone rapping the chorus that I started to develop a bit of an appreciation for the song. Then I actually sat down and read the lyrics and realized how packed with imagery they were. It was actually nonstop imagery, just a complete barrage of observations, which gave it a poetic feel to me. Coupled with Juvenile's delivery, the song always had a vibe of Beat poetry from the Gulf region in my eyes.
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