I found out pretty early on in our relationship that Aaron was a big music fan. We went to Ann Arbor for our third date, a triple-date with Mary/Drew and Heather/Garza. Aaron definitely tended to gravitate toward the record stores while we were there, and was bummed that he didn’t have more money to spend on records (especially since I was jobless and had made him pay for my lunch at Amer’s). So, naturally, I was curious about the music he was listening to, as I had never heard of ANY of it.
Before Spring Break, he made me a mixtape. The spine of the insert read: “For Diana’s Listening Pleasure: selections from Aaron’s CD collection.” On the tape were the following songs:
Side A:
- Wally Pleasant – Stupid Day Job
- Sugar – Your Favorite Thing
- Frank Black – Fazer Eyes
- Catherine Wheel – I Want To Touch You
- Pure – Lemonade
- Mighty Mighty Bosstones – Someday I Suppose
- Ash – Jack Names The Planets
- Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Blue X Man
- Pixies – All Over The World
- Man or Astro-Man? – Sferic Waves
- Sebadoh – Magnet’s Coil
Side B:
- Dirty Three – Better Go Home Now
- Folk Implosion – Lo-Fi Suicide
- Pavement – Give It A Day
- Clutch – Big News I
- Henry Rollins – Breaking Up Is Hard To Do
- Rollins Band – Right Here Too Much
- The Amps – Tipp City
- Afghan Whigs – Debonair
- Sentridoh – Perfect Excuse
- 24 Gone – Girl Of Colours
- Sugar – Explode And Make Up
I listened to this tape nonstop during my week of Spring Break in Parma, so much so that my step-Gary would often get up without saying a word and just hit the stop button on my boom box, then quietly sit back down again.
Over the years, I continued to listen to this tape. This tape was so much a staple of my listening repertoire that I frantically performed cassette tape surgery with scotch tape when it got caught in my aging boom box. After that, I hesitated to play it very often, just in case the Afghan Whigs would get caught in the heads of my tape player again. I eventually stored the tape away with my other tapes, listening instead to the follow-up tapes of Rollins spoken word and Sugar and 24 Gone and Afghan Whigs and Catherine Wheel.
A few weeks ago, I unearthed the tape from a box in the bottom of a closet, and spent a couple of days hunting down digital versions of the mixtape songs. And now, I’m sharing all 100MB of 90’s goodness with you:
[music_sampler.zip – 103MB]
I didn’t include the Rollins spoken word, but everything else is there, in the exact version I have on tape. (Note: Three files are in iTunes .m4a format; the rest are mp3s.)
I now have this set up as a playlist on my iPod. Funny how things change. Funny how all things old are new again.
Oh man, I had a mix tape in high school that was one of the first and best I ever made. I lost it 5 years ago and I really miss it! I’m struggling to remember the playlist… gah!
But Aaron’s list is filled with bands I’ve heard of thanks to dating indy rock guys and knowing music nerds.
I once had a roommate who’s claim to fame was that he had been in a band with a member of Pavement. Also his girlfriend sang the theme song to Daria.
That’s a pretty killer tape, Diana. I made Aaron one in High School(and we still hear about it…) that I would love to hear sometime.
My friend Brian was a recipient, or willing prisoner, to many of my mix tapes in H.S. and while he was still living in Toledo.
Making mix cd’s just isn’t as cool. What sucks is that you only get 80 minutes, and you “see” the result instead of hearing it first. Nothing was more killer than making a mix tape and having a vague idea what was on it, playing it back and being blown away. The only thing that topped it was getting the response from whoever it was made for.
Plenty were made, I have the worn tape heads to prove it!
I was gonna say, “Gee, I think I’ve heard /maybe/ two or three of those songs,” and then you busted out with a download link! How cool are you!
I once had a roommate who’s claim to fame was that he had been in a band with a member of Pavement. Also his girlfriend sang the theme song to Daria.
Whoa. Yeah, both of those things are pretty cool. I’d play that up if I had that in my past. 🙂
Speaking of claims to fame, that made me think of a friend of mine who is only one step musically removed from Jack White of the White Stripes. I guess this friend of mine was/is friends with and jammed with some people who were also in a band with Jack. I’ve met them, and they seem cool enough. I think my friend is a little embittered about the whole thing, though, being that the Detroit music scene is as popular as it is now, and he somehow missed the boat.