Sunday, December 1, 2013

THE BEST MIX TAPE IN THE WORLD - 2001


   In our world of instant music over-sharing and having every song in the world at your fingertips, I still think the mix tape is important. It's small, breakable and tinny sounding. It's the long post-script to the handwritten letter you wrote to someone. It's all the things you were too afraid to say in person. It's the thank-you note to a house full of friends who let you sleep on the couch when you had nowhere else to go. Sometimes, it's just a plastic case of quarter-inch analog tape that gets thrown in the bottom of a milk crate until it's discovered by an unintended party 20 years too late. My friend, Lisa used to wear a mix tape on a chain around her neck and when any situation got boring, she would put it on the stereo and dance her troubles away.
    I made this tape (pictured above) for myself to take on tour in 2001 (probably). I found a busted 30 minute tape laying around the house and quickly made this mix. As soon as I finished making it, I took it out of the stereo and jokingly wrote "Best Mix Tape in the World" on it (since faded and rubbed away). Over time, those words rang true (tastes are subjective) and friends on tour with me would ask "Can we listen to the best mix tape in the world?" I never put it in a case, so it's beaten up, broken, warbly and fucked up. Also, it was recorded on a fucked up stereo and (I'll put this in caps for anyone just skimming this article) EVERY SONG IS RECORDED JUST A LITTLE BIT TOO FAST, which makes them better, in my opinion. I think I took this tape with me on every tour, hitchhiking trip or random travels for about 7 or 8 years until it just seemed like it would fall apart....yet, here it is, still playing as good as it did when I first made it....kind of.
   All of the songs are fairly well known (to punks), with a few curve balls thrown in, including the band of Ohioan mad man Yuri Garcia (I forgot the band name), who unwittingly offered up his ode to the late night booty call, "Crosstown Booty". Also included is (count 'em) three songs by the wild-ass Florida institution known as the TRASH MONKEYS. One of them is a confusing ballad about George Washington needing to put some clothes on if he's gonna be standing on "that sexy quarter". You should probably know the rest...and if you don't, there's info that is readily available to you via this internet box.


There is a part during the GEN X song where I accidentally leaned down and pressed "record" instead of "stop" on the boombox between the seats of the tour van. We were getting pulled over by the cops. If that disrupts your listening experience, that song is available for download elsewhere on the internet, as are many of the other songs. 

If anyone has extra info on the prank caller who closes out the tape, please get in touch. 

1 comment:

Ski said...

If memory serves me correct, "Crosstown Booty" is by a Florida band called The Blade. Cinque does the "Boota-ay" parts.