The Collection Vol. 19 (Summer 1999)

Side A
Jordan Knight-Give It To You
Crystal Method-Busy Child
Paul McCartney & Wings-Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five
The Chemical Brothers feat. Noel Gallagher-Let Forever Be
The Guess Who-No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature
Puya-Oasis
Whitney Houston-It's Not Right (But It's Okay)
Trick Daddy feat. Trina-Nann
Moby-Bodyrock
Rammstein-Du Hast
Busta Rhymes-Gimme Some More
Busta Rhymes-Party Is Goin' On In Here

Side B
Outkast-Rosa Parks
Outkast-SpottieOttieDopalicious
Dave Matthews Band-Crash Into Me
Chamber Brothers-Time
The Beatles-Within You Without You
Rob Zombie-Dragula
Beastie Boys-Hey Ladies
Robbie Williams-Millennium
Limp Bizkit-Nookie
Sugar Ray-Someday
Bree Sharp-David Duchovny

I get a warm feeling whenever I look at the tracklist for The Collection Vol. 19, and not because of the season it was created in. It feels and sounds like home. My mind is so in sync with these tapes that whenever I hear one of these songs today outside of this context, I'm expecting the next tune on a certain mixtape to follow. Having said that, there were few surprised as I listened to this one because it was that big a part of me. The previous summer was defined for me by Vol. 6 and just by going off memory alone, I think this volume might have reigned over the summer of 1999 for me.


Song that introduced me to 2-step before I even knew what 2-step was: Jordan Knight - Give It To You

I never bought Jordan Knight as a convincing sex symbol. Especially held up with the video, I thought his dancing was a bit vanilla and his promises of "giving it to you" was just too obvious a come-on that it made me feel like he could make nary a bedspring squeak. Yet, the production itself was undeniable (Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, which I would later discover) and there's absolutely nothing wrong with the song. Knight is actually pretty serviceable here, but it's all about the Timbaland-lite beat during the verse and surprising switch to 2-step for the chorus, which sounded amazingly fresh to me back in 1999.




Song that made me realize that the Dirty South was probably going to be around for a while: Trick Daddy - Nann

Admittedly, I was a bit slow to warm up to the new wave of Southern hip hop. I had long been a fan of Outkast and The Geto Boys, but having grown up surrounded by the music of the East Coast, I was automatically inclined to reject anything that sounded like it was having too much fun. What I and many stubborn hip hop fans saw as silly or lacking lyrically was really just a new approach that was as innovative as some of the best stuff around at the time.




Song I didn't like until I realized how stalker-ish they lyrics were: Dave Matthews Band - Crash Into Me

At this point, I never had any issues with Dave Matthews Band and I was surprised as I got older that they were reviled in some corners. I had enjoyed each of their singles, but could not get on board with "Crash Into Me." This was usually the case with slower songs and it also sounded too much like an adult contemporary song for my taste, so it was quickly dismissed. Fast-forward to the summer and I'm watching the video on MTV on a show where the lyrics scrolled along at the bottom of the screen. It was the first time I had even really paid attention to the words and once I found out how creepy it was, I began to like it. Basically, if a song had anything to do with voyeurism, I was intrigued as a kid.




The song is fantastic and all, but seriously, it has one of the greatest music videos of all-time: Chemical Brothers - Let Forever Be

I missed out on "Setting Sun" the first time around, so the novelty of Noel Gallagher working with The Chemical Brothers was pretty mind-blowing to me at the time. Add to that, it sounded like a modern-day version of "Tomorrow Never Knows" and the buzz I felt was undeniable. Also, still my favorite to this day. Don't believe me, just watch.




Song that I didn't get why everyone hated it until I got older: Limp Bizkit - Nookie

To such an eclectic-leaning kid such as myself, the idea of mixing heavy metal guitar with rap was pretty exciting. I could now show some of my friends that not all rock music was weird. You can bob your head to it! He's not screeching on the chorus! This guy's wearing his cap backwards just like you! At the time, just about every review of Limp Bizkit I read was negative and I simply thought the critics didn't get it or were too afraid to embrace something with a heavy sound. Looking back, I can now understand how juvenile this song was, but I'll be damned if Wes Borland's guitar work to this day still doesn't bring out the goofball side of me.




Minor hit that I have to put a mandatory spotlight on because who else is going to keep the memory alive: Bree Sharp - David Duchovny

The first time I was aware that there was a song called "David Duchovny," I might have had a bit of skepticism, but also a good deal of excitment. After all, The X-Files was appointment television for me every Sunday night, so the fact that anyone else wanted to acknowledge the show outside of the two or three people at school I talked to about it was a big deal. But could a song called "David Duchovny" actually be worth my time? I wanted to believe. I fell in love with that chorus immediately because I thought it was just the most adorable thing what Sharp used to rhyme with Duchovny. It was catchy and she was obviously an X-phile, which earned the song an immediate place on The Collection.



Song that I was convinced was the coolest thing I ever heard in my life at the time: Outkast - SpottieOttieDopaliciouss

Aquemeni was another one of those CDs that I used from my brother, hence why there are two Outkast songs back-to-back on here. Since I had no idea of when the CD would be laying around the house next, I took whatever opportunity I had to get as many songs in as I could while making the mixtape still appear diverse. I obviously knew that "Rosa Parks" would be on there, but I also had to have track 12. That's how I initially knew "SpottieOttieDopalicious." Our school drama club was having another wrap party and I was helping out with the music. Kids left their CDs with us in the sound booth and we just played music from that selection. I think I had popped in Aquemeni to play "Rosa Parks" and midway through the song, one of my friends came up to the booth and motioned for me to play track 12. I obliged and proceeded to have my young mind blown. Stuff like this wasn't supposed to be on a hip hop album, but it made sense that a group as out there as Outkast would have a dub song with blaring horns on their album. I watched from the booth as people swayed and bobbed to the song and I knew that I had to listen to it in a proper setting.




Song I didn't know what the title of until this year: Puya - Oasis

Nowadays, it doesn't bother me as much whenever I hear a song on the radio and the DJ doesn't say its name. I know that now in the 21st century that there are enough resources around that all I need to do is either remember a few lines from the song or simply hold my phone up in the air. Things weren't so easy back in 1999. Add a song completely sung in Spanish and things get more complicated. For the longest I thought that this was some long lost Bradley Nowell song. Thank God for Shazam.