Mixtapes

I was inspired to post this one up after seeing a mixtape post over at this blog here: http://sakuramab.livejournal.com/

I've always been sorta fascinated with the world of mixtapes - it's essentially how my dad got me into nearly all of the music I listen to today. Y'see, when I was about 13 or so, I listened to pretty much 3 bands - Green Day, The Ramones and Dr Feelgood. With a few odd exceptions here and there, that. was. it. It still beggers me just how limited my musical knowledge was! I hadn't even begun to start falling for my now-favourite band of all time, ever - The Clash! (shudders). By the time I turned 14, I had started digging up a few new bands - Queens of the Stone Age comes to mind - but otherwise, things were still painfully limited.

I'll be eternally grateful for my dad for doing this. What he started doing was taking loads of blank CD-Rs and burning random bunches of music onto them to create batches of mixtapes (yeah, I call them mixtapes even though they're CDs...I like the term mixtape a bit more :D) for him to listen to on long journeys to and from work (Which he frequently had to endure).

During the summer of 2006, whenever I was in the car with him, be it joining him going to work, or going out to race events or whatever, he would insist on playing these mixtapes rather than any CDs I had. And he would insist on one rule - no skipping tracks. If I'd never heard a song before, I wasn't allowed to skip it. I had to listen to it and give it a go.

What a revelation this was! The amount of bands I got into by doing this is endless. Chuck Berry, George Thorogood, Level 42, Thin Lizzy, The Clash, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, The Ruts...I literally cannot remember all of the bands exactly who I got into and have loved since then as a result of hearing them on Dad's mixtapes. The most famous example of this rule being used was when I happened upon Lizzy's 'Cowboy Song'. I've included it below for you to have a listen:



Listen to the intro. Really slow and quiet, right? The 14-year-old me instantly thought "what's this dirge?" and went to skip the track on. Dad refused..."no, no, give it a minute..."...he grins knowingly at me. I grudgingly let him play on...and then right on about a minute in, the riffs kick in and my face lights up - I'm instantly hooked. 'Man, what IS this?!' I am thinking! The irony is, nowadays I love the intro equally as much as the rest of the song!

So as a way of repaying my dad for a) having such AWESOME music taste and b) passing that all on to me, I started doing my own mixtapes for him on Father's Day. My logic being, every year you see those really corny Father's Day CDs - the 'World's Best Dad' ones. Now, I dunno about you, but my old man can take or leave Steppenwolf, Queen (or at least the clichéd tracks they put on the CDs), Deep Purple etc - in fact, these are frequently the bands he grew up loathing as a young punk rocker. His attitude to them has softened since - hell, he even digs Journey nowadays, although that's one music taste that hasn't bridged the generation gap in the Johnson family - but still, you get the point.

So instead, I make him my own alternative 'World's Best Dad' mixtape, comprising of some of his favourite tracks, plus songs of mine that I figure he will love. I've pretty much done it every year since 2006, with one year (think it was last year) being an honourable exception; I think I found him something up Camden Market, or perhaps in Rough Trade Records, instead. But this year, with the 'Haynes Dad Manual' hitting the shops, it's time to announce the return of the 'Alternative World's Best Dad Mixtape'! :)

I made the first mixtape of perhaps many tonight, with a few more to follow tomorrow on the day. Here's the listing of the first one:

1. Battle of Britain Theme - Ron Goodwin
2. Holidays in the Sun - Sex Pistols
3. Just Fade Away - Stiff Little Fingers
4. Burn Baby Burn - Ash
5. 1977 - The Clash
6. Walk Like An Egyptian - The Bangles
7. Could You Be Loved - Bob Marley & The Wailers
8. The Chinese Way (Live) - Level 42
9. Message In A Bottle - The Police
10. And Now For A Little Green Bag... - Steven Wright (Reservoir Dogs soundtrack)
11. Little Green Bag - George Baker Selection
12. Time is Tight - The Clash (originally by Booker T & The MGs)
13. Ain't Got A Clue - The Lurkers
14. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker - The Ramones
15. Nervous In The Alley - Less Than Jake
16. Government Lies - The Submission*
17. Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've?) - Billy Talent (originally by The Buzzcocks)
18. It's The End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - REM
19. Stranglehold - U.K. Subs
20. Crash - The Primitives

I'll post up the next mixtapes when I make them :)

* - an amazing underground punk band based out of Deal, down in Dover on the South-East coast. Listen to their stuff here: http://www.myspace.com/thesubmission99