I never made more mixes than I did in high school. I probably made one a week senior year. Everything from mixes for friends, girls, soccer, baby-making, driving and eating, I made it all. I still find some of them kicking around old CD wallets and pop them in for a bit of nostalgia. They're usually scratched to shit, but who cares...Glory Days!
Allison said we should do a "Senior Year of High School" playlist. I got excited in ways that I'd rather not share. The rules are simple: pick songs from albums that were released while you were a senior in High School (for me, that's August 2001-June 2002). They don't necessarily have to be songs you listened to in high school, although most of mine are.
When we were talking this idea through, Allison asked "can we do the summer after graduation?" and I said "no way this is a challenge!" Still, it was pretty easy. After making sure albums fit into the date range, the only hard part was deciding which songs would make it to the list.
Also, I bent the rules a bit.
1 - andrew wk - she is beautiful
there's no situation where awk isn't appropriate. roadtrip to montreal after senior year to drink at 18? sure. afternoon pantsless dancing in your friends' NYC living room at 25? nothing could be more appropriate.
2 - wilco - i'm the man who loves you
arguably the best album to come out during this time period, but i'll never admit it. still...sick track
3 - death cab for cutie - blacking out the friction
for some reason, this one always reminds me of late fall / early winter in new england.
4 - the roots - the seed 2.0
white kids love the roots because they play instruments, and more recently because of their 2girls1cup reaction video. i like this song cause it goes well any time on just about any list. senior year of high school was the last year i kept up with hip-hop. phrenology is probably the last album of the genre i really loved. i'm sure some great shit has come out since, but you only have so much time.
5 - avril lavigne - sk8r boi
this was another fixture on the canada road trip mix. to this day, we sing along just as intensely as zach, brian and i did through the backroads of winchendon and southern new hampshire. so hardcore.
6 - hot water music - bleeder
this is a fantastic cover off the alkaline/hot water music split. can't believe i forgot it when considering the covers.
7 - thursday - understanding in a car crash
i never really thought this album was all that special, but "understanding" is legendary.
8 - blackalicious - blazing arrow
gift of gab is ridiculous. at least i think so. someone who knows better, please drop some knowledge on me. please.
9 - taking back sunday - cute without the e (cut from the team)
given the theme, this is one of those tracks that has to be on here.
10 - stephen kellogg - anthem of our discovery
yea this song is kinda cheesy, but whatever. i think stephen kellogg makes some great music, and this one made it to at least 2 girlfriends' mixtapes over the years, so there.
(can't find a good version of it...here it is off a later album)
Anthem Of Our Discovery - Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers
11 - aesop rock - daylight
you won't be laughing when your covered wagons crash!
12 - hey mercedes - a-list actress
can't find a decent version of this anywhere. hopefully imeem works and i don't get in trouble.
A-List Actress - Hey Mercedes
13 - the streets - weak become heroes
with his stripped down beats and talky-singy delivery, it's awkward to place any Streets song on a playlist. and that's what makes it so great.
14 - get up kids - overdue
i thought "on a wire" sucked when it first came out, but it's really grown on me over the years. overdue stands out.
15 - desaparecidos - the happiest place on earth
this deserves a place on any 4th of July mix. [note: i was checking the release date on this one (@www.saddle-creek.com) and it made me realize what a ridiculous run saddle creek had in the early 2000's]
16 - something corporate - cavanaugh park
this song always brings me back, but the nostalgia is short-lived. this song ultimately brings me down. some things never do change
17 - new found glory - forget my name
we've only done a handful of playlists, and some bands have appeared 2, 3, 4, 10 times. yea...we have favorites. however, some bands just make music that fits almost any playlist theme. NFG is one of them.
18 - jimmy eat world - get it faster
i'm kinda cheating on this one. "Bleed American" came out july 01', but on a technicality, I'll claim this is off "Jimmy Eat World" (re-titled after 9/11). This was the album of my senior year, so it has to be included. "Get It Faster" is the best track of the lot.
19 - brand new - soco amaretto lime
one way to stay 18 forever is to put together a "senior year of high school" playlist. dork.
20 - doves - pounding
allison usually likes to end with something mellow, and i could've ended with soco amaretto lime or cavanaugh park. that would've been pretty nice and pleasant and fucking depressing, right? there's nothing wrong with that, but i don't really like to do it. i'll stick to the mellow -> encore format. i prefer shows to end on a high note, and my playlists tend to follow suit. power hours are a different story, though. i especially like to end with the debaucherous "slow motion" to remind me that i'm a degenerate drunk and, more importantly, i'm a loser for doing a power hour in my bedroom by myself.
I can almost feel the pounds shedding, and the hair growing back.
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Bravo
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