My Ultimate Mixed Tape

I totally stole this idea from one of the blogs I follow, Clever Girl Goes Blog. She did a post called 'The Art of the Mixed Tape' and it got me thinking about what I would put on my mixed tape if I had to pick thirteen (I only did 10) of my favorite songs.

It wasn't easy at all. There were so many I wanted to put on that I couldn't. Putting two great songs next to each other and trying to choose which one of them you like better is very hard, as I'm sure most of you know. It took a while, but after three nights of beer and swapping CD's in and out of my stereo, I came up with what I think would be my Ultimate Mixed Tape.

(The hardest part was finding some of these songs on YouTube.)

So, here it is, 10 songs that mean the most to me. Of course, if this were a different stage in my life, all 10 of these would be different songs. But for right now, these are the 10 songs that mean the most to me:


Better Go Home Now by The Dirty Three - This song takes me back to high school - early high school - when my friends and I had just discovered what music sounded like on various drugs. Drugs are bad, I know, but we were young. The single memory that comes to me when I hear this song is sitting in my Ford Ranger at a gas station, waiting for the other car full of friends to meet us for a night out. My friend Jim and I lied back in the reclined front seats, out of our heads on ecstasy, and this track was playing on my CD player. The world seemed strangely perfect for 3 minutes and 41 seconds

East Hastings by Godspeed You Black Emperor - I am such a sucker for dark, eerie, instrumental pieces, and this song epitomizes that description. When I heard it used in the movie 28 Days Later, I about shit myself. I couldn't think of a better pairing of music and film.

Dramamine by Modest Mouse - The first Modest Mouse song I ever heard. The raw sound and emotion in this track has stuck to me ever since that day, back in 9th grade. It reminds me of my first band and sitting in my basement all night with my friends, trying to imitate their style. We never could do it, but we did have a lot of fun trying.

Under The Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers - This track goes way back to my childhood and driving to the beach with my mom and two brothers, all of us singing it at the top of our lungs. It was my oldest brothers' favorite song, so it was also my favorite song. I rediscovered it later on in life, and it continues to be one of my all time favorites.

Love Song by Snake River Conspiracy - Besides being the best cover of The Cure's 'Love Song' I've ever heard, it's one of the sexiest songs I've ever heard. This song + slow, rough, steamy sex = WIN.

How Did This Room Get So White? by The Red Stars Theory - Another instrumental masterpiece. Chaotic and beautiful. This sounds totally lame, but I could imagine floating through sounds and lights with this song. It's mellow then loud and out of control. Just like Dramamine by Modest Mouse, it takes me back to 9th or 10th grade when I was just discovering music like this (I guess you could call it Indie.) I realized that mainstream music wasn't the only kind of music there is. It opened my eyes to the vast horizons of what was possible with sound and music. This song made me want to be a better musician.

Cat Faces by Ugly Casanova - Yet another throwback to my drug using days. On a high dose of a certain three letter psychedelic, this track - and the rest of the Sharpen Your Teeth album - contributed to a mind blowing trip that left me contemplating what my life was all about and helped me get a little bit closer to understanding who I am on the inside. Even when I hear it today, I think of that night and how profound it was. The lyrics have nothing to do with any of that, but something about the way it all sounded got me thinking about crazy things.

The Package by A Perfect Circle - Reminds me of who I was when I was hooked on heroin, and reminds me to never be that person again. The lyrics perfectly describe the thought process I went through all day, every day: always lying to get what I needed. This is the only song on this list that touches something in me that I don't like to think about, so I have nothing else to say.

Stinkfist by Tool - Along the same lines as 'The Package,' this song reminds me of my heroin addiction. The difference is, Stinkfist is almost like an internal dialogue I would have with the drug as I was falling into the addiction. The soft spoken parts are what the heroin would say, and the screaming is my pleading response. Besides all that, it's one of the best Tool songs. Musically and lyrically amazing.

Jesus Christ by Brand New - Perfectly portrays where I am at in life today: lost, alone, confused, and terrified of death. At this point in time, I have more in common with this song than any other.

There it is folks. Enjoy.