The Collection Vol. 18 (Summer 1999)

Side A

Dave Matthews Band-What Would You Say
The Roots-The Next Movement
D'Angelo-Brown Sugar
Stevie Wonder-Isn't She Lovely?
Beck-Cold Brains
Beastie Boys-Threw MCs & One DJ
Beastie Boys-Song For The Man
Soundgarden-Burden In My Hand
Led Zeppelin-D'yer Ma'ker
Jamiroquai-Use The Force
Pearl Jam-Last Kiss
Beck-Nobody's Fault But My Own


Side B

Jamiroquai-Virtual Insanity
Red Hot Chili Peppers-Scar Tissue
snippet of John Mellencamp's "Jack & Diane"
Lauryn Hill-Everything Is Everything
Madonna-Candy Perfume Girl
Lenny Kravitz-American Woman
Ricky Martin-Livin'La Vida Loca
Stone Temple Pilots-Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart
Madonna-Beautiful Stranger
The Who-Eminence Front
Hole-Doll Parts
snippet of Portishead's "Sour Times (Nobody Loves Me)"

There are a few repeats on this volume, not because I had started running out of songs, but I just wanted to improve on the quality of some I had recorded before. Some of the beneficiaries of this were "Trippin' On A Hole In A Paper Heart," "Virtual Insanity," and "Burden In My Hand", where I didn't catch the songs in their entirety the first time around. In the case of Jamiroquai, I used the album version since I had recently bought Travelling Without Moving and saw this as my chance at retribution.

My CD collection (not counting my brother's) was now at a total of five with the addition of Beck's Mutations as well. One of the tendencies I had when I was younger was my anxiety about going into stores or restaurants I had never been into before, which would partly explain why I started so late in buying my own music. I became more comfortable with the K-Mart by our place, which naturally led to a few new CDs per month, as you'll probably pick up on as these posts go on.

The biggest change now was that my mixtapes also included album tracks from genres outside of hip hop and I like to think that it gave things a more intimate appeal. No longer was The Collection just solely dominated by radio, but it would also include little heard favorites from albums I bought with my own money. There were times I couldn't believe that I had as many five CDs in my collection. Every time I looked at them, I felt like a rich man.


Song that would make me incredibly giddy and try my best to imitate dances from the 1960s: Madonnna-Beautiful Stranger

It's no secret that I was a sucker for songs where the singer is pining for someone, so that would already put "Beautiful Stranger" up by a few points. On top of that, you got Madonna and William Orbit's take on psychedelia through a bouncy pop lens and it all came off as eclectic fun in the typical '90s way. It's still one of my favorite Madge songs to this day.




Song that made me go "Boo yah! That's why this guy's my favorite artist.": Beck-Nobody's Fault But My Own

By the time Odelay fell into my possession, Beck was absolutely The Guy in my world. Nearly every track from the album resonated with my ears and I was proud to call him among my favorites. I had seen him perform "Nobody's Fault But My Own" on Saturday Night Live before I bought Mutations and thought highly of it, but when I finally listened to the recorded version, it didn't just feel like one of the most beautiful songs that Beck had done up until that point, but just one of the most beautiful songs from 1998 in general. For the longest, I thought this was his greatest vocal performance until his cover of "I Only Have Eyes For You" came along a few months ago. I had yet to cause any kind of serious distress in a relationship, but every time I listened to this song, I felt like I had done somebody wrong.




Song that often makes go "Aww, how cute!": Led Zeppelin-D'yer Ma'ker

Why does "D'yer Ma'ker" always make me go "Aww?" For me, I think it's a pretty sincere stab at reggae, but the execution is not quite there because of the simple fact that it sounds like a hard rock band stepping out of their comfort zone by doing reggae, which is exactly what it is. With the drum breaks and the guitar riff, you can hear them trying so hard and although it's still enjoyable, it lacks any hints of the nuances associated with reggae. Try dancing to it and you'll see what I mean.




Another song that also gave me confidence in one of my favorite artists: Red Hot Chili Peppers-Scar Tissue

From about 1991 to 1999, the Chili Peppers were probably among my top 10 acts, even through the Dave Navarro experiment. Sadly, this hasn't been the case in recent years as I have gradually been able to find myself unable to defend their newer stuff. If I had known "Scar Tissue" was going to be the beginning of the end, maybe I wouldn't have been as happy. Back in 1999, I really couldn't help my excitement with this song, even if it was more laid back than what one would expect from a lead single. It was a bit of curveball because instead of just giving me something to mindlessly funky to bop around to, I became drawn into the story of the song and its imagery, which made me love the Chili Peppers that much more because they were still able to surprise me. Good times.




Song that showed me what true angst was about: Hole-Doll Parts

I remember watching this video with my sister in her room back in '94 and the one remaining comment from her that still sticks with me to this day was "She sounds like she wants to kill herself." When she said that, it somehow made Courtney Love seem that much cooler. When she sang "I am doll parts/bad skin," it was about as ragged a delivery I had yet to hear in my young life. Maybe it was the visual of how worn down and decayed she looked in the video, but Love and "Doll Parts" became the epitome of angst on MTV for me in the mid-'90s, which is saying a lot considering how mopey a lot of the hits were at the time.