Side A
Juvenile-Back That Thang Up
Alanis Morrisette-So Pure
Chris Gaines-Right Now
Missy Elliott feat. Big Boi-All N My Grill
Red Hot Chili Peppers-All Around The World
Jamiroquai-Canned Heat
Metallica-Nothing Else Matters
Long Beach Dub All-Stars-Trailer Ras
LFO-Summer Girls
Mariah Carey feat. Jay-Z-Heartbreaker
Britney Spears-(You Drive Me) Crazy
Beck-Sing It Again
Side B
Radiohead-Airbag
Sublime-Garden Grove
The Beatles-Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
DMX-No Love 4 Me
The Roots-Table of Contents 1 & 2
Nine Inch Nails-We're In This Together
Lou Bega-Mambo No. 5
311-Come Original
Traffic-Dear Mr. Fantasy
Chemical Brothers-Music: Response
Limp Bizkit-Rearranged
I can easily tell this tape was made some time in August. With my birthday money, I went to North Riverside Mall and bought three CDs: Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californication, Sublime's self-titled album and Radiohead's OK Computer. Along with Beck's Mutations, Jamiroquai's Synkronized, The Chemical Brothers' Surrender, Limp Bizkit's Significant Other (which I didn't purchase, mind you) and The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, my CD collection was starting to grow. This became apparent in a big way, starting with Vol. 21 of The Collection.
Song that made me feel as if I had finally caught up to the kids at school: Sublime-Garden Grove
Sublime’s self-titled album was released all the way back in 1996. Yes, it was 1999 and there were no longer any singles in rotation at that point, but it didn't matter at all. Back then, if an album had three or more singles that I really liked, I wanted to buy it regardless of whether it was current or not. Sublime fit the requirements and although I was three years behind, I was content nonetheless. All the random lyrics and melodies I had heard sung in class and through the hallways were now starting to become familiar. I was not only happy to finally have the album in my possession, but to be in the loop as well.
Speaking of Sublime, here’s the spotlight on a long-forgotten song: Long Beach Dub All-Stars-Trailer Ras
If I recall correctly, this was the project that the remaining members of Sublime started after lead singer Bradley Nowell passed away. It unsurprisingly sounded very Sublime-y, which made me very happy whenever it came on the radio. I think they did his legacy proud with this song.
What the hell was I thinking: Chris Gaines-Right Now
I’m almost positive that this is the worst song on any volume of The Collection. Look through some past posts and some of you may disagree. I’m aware that I've championed some things that may not exactly paint me as the portrait of being hip (but then again, if you have indeed read some of these posts, you’d understand that clearly was never my goal), yet for the life of me, I don't think there is a single bone in my body that can defend this song. At the time, I was probably intrigued by the novelty of Garth Brooks doing pop and being on a radio station that I actually listened to. I also probably thought the whisper-rap thing was kind of neat. Now that I think about it, I was never that fond of the chorus back then either. I likely hit the record button because of just how unique the whole Chris Gaines thing was. That has to be it. I don’t understand how I could in my right mind place such a corny, abysmal attempt at being socially conscious on here. I'm sure Garth's heart was in the right place and I can respect that, but this song has absolutely no redeeming qualities.
Okay, Ivan. Not only are you being a hypocrite, you’re also being confusing: Lou Bega-Mambo No. 5
One thing you had to have understood about my listening habits was that I pretty much had the radio on nonstop, so I was able to latch onto songs right before they went into heavy rotation. My feelings toward “Mambo No. 5" were very sincere. I thought that it was a goofy song with a little bit of swagger and a catchy chorus. I didn't take it seriously and I was pretty positive that neither did Lou Bega. The 1990s were filled with quirky dance pop stuff and it's not my fault that I liked a song that would eventually go on to annoy millions. I simply refuse to apologize for that. It would be a while before I even the video for this, so the images that came into my mind during the first verse were just about the funniest, silliest and most outrageous thing my imagination could cook up at the time. They’re bouncing up and down! They’re going to the liquor store around the corner and buying life-size bottles of alcohol! There are lots of beautiful women clapping and swaying! And my goodness, the colors! I loved replaying those moments whenever this song came on. That's what “Mambo No. 5" did for me.
Song that confirmed all that reading about music had paid off: Traffic-Dear Mr. Fantasy
If you noticed in the image for the tracklisting at the top of this post, I wrote down Traffic, but not the name of this song. I really don't recall the DJ saying the name of the song, but just based on gut instinct, it felt like a Traffic song. I had never heard a Traffic song in my life, but I was aware of their existence from just reading magazines and finding their names on all-time lists. My knowledge of classic rock was by no means extensive at this point, but I knew enough to make educated guesses. If you had played "Whipping Post" for '99 Ivan and asked him who the artist was, he would have probably selected Allman Brothers after five or so tries based on the fact it sounded like Southern rock and he had read somewhere that they were known for playing that type of music. I didn't confirm that "Dear Mr. Fantasy" was a Traffic song until years later, but I'm sure I probably felt a little justified.
Song that reminds me the most of science class: Chemical Brothers-Music: Response
We had to split into groups of two for presentations and I was partnered with another guy. He was a good fella: bright, friendly, mostly quiet, had a sense of humor when he opened up. Since this was for science, my main contribution to the presentation was the idea that we have a song playing in the background. The presentation was to last five minutes, so I thought that "Music: Response" gave us enough time and provided enough pizzazz to keep our classmates interested. I played him the song from my mixtape and he was onboard. The presentation went well. I think the music gave us that extra bit of adrenaline and I had never seen him so confident and pronounced when talking about something. He became a new man through the power of The Chemical Brothers and for that I was grateful.
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