Mix CDs

I had a ton of mix CDs lying around, and most of them had either no labels whatsoever, or were helpfully labeled with titles like "Random Stuff", "Random Crap", "Totally Random", and "Teh Hawtt Winr Mix". So I decided to sit down and catalog them, and it turned out to be a fun kind of time-machine thing. Each mix CD ends up being kind of a snapshot of the time I made it, because my life is always intertwined with whatever music I'm into at the time. I'm just that special kind of geek. Anyway, here's my amusingly random mix CD collection, by year. I've had some pretty odd phases. Consider yourself warned.

2002

We begin with probably the first mix CD I ever made, when I was still in high school. Le gasp. And yes, this is PURE randomness. You gotta love the transition from Weird Al rapping about the Amish, to a 1950's Japanese lounge ballad.

Disc 1
1. White Queen (As It Began) - Queen
2. Take A Walk - Pearl Jam
3. Fastlove - George Michael
4. Nevermore - Queen
5. R-E-C-Y-C-L-E - Rocko's Modern Life
6. Parrot Fashion Love - Split Enz
7. Superstition - Stevie Wonder
8. Amish Paradise - Weird Al Yankovich
9. Sukiyaki - Kyu Sakamoto
10. One Night in Bangkok - Murray Head
11. I Wish I Didn't Miss You - Angie Stone
12. Never Tear Us Apart - INXS
13. Tracks of My Tears - Smokey Robinson
14. Nevermore - Queen [Wasn't paying close attention when I burned this, apparently]
15. Give In To Me - Michael Jackson


Tracks 1 and 5 on the next CD were two of our openers from my high school marching band. D'aww.

Disc 2
1. La Suerte de los Tontos
2. Exotic Ethnic - DDR
3. Ballroom Blitz - Sweet
4. Stayin' Alive - BeeGees
5. Land of Make Believe - Chuck Mangione
6. Space Oddity - David Bowie
7. Rebel Rebel - David Bowie
8. Lips Like Sugar - Echo and the Bunnymen
9. Burning Love - Elvis Presley
10. The Great Pretender - Freddie Mercury
11. Last Christmas - Wham!
12. Mad Season - Mad Season

And then we move into 2003. At this point in my life I had basically dropped out of school, and was hanging out on the internet, talking to weird people about weird things. Just for reference, yo.

Disc 3
1. Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division
2. Dragon Attack - Queen
3. Off the Wall - Michael Jackson
4. Some kind of weird African drumming
5. Phantom of the Opera
6. I Believe - Blessid Union of Souls
7. Cry Little Sister - Gerard McMann
8. Never Had A Friend Like Me - Aladdin

Disc 4
1. Arabian Nights - Aladdin
2. Boom Boom Dollar - DDR
3. Mustafa - Queen
4. Wallaby of the West - Rocko's Modern Life
5. A Whole New World - Aladdin
6. Friends Come in All Sizes - Death to Smoochy
7. Dark Black Forest - DDR
8. Princes of the Universe - Queen
9. Monkeywrench - Foo Fighters
10. Brighton Rock (live) - Queen


This next one is a possible contender for most random, if it were possible to objectively determine such a thing. I want a random-meter. Randometer.

Disc 5
1. Veronica - Elvis Costello
2. Song of the South - Alabama
3. Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz
4. Love Train - The O'Jays
5. Wonderwall - Oasis
6. In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel
7. The Devil Went Down to Georgia - Charlie Daniels Band
8. Little Black Backpack - Stroke 9
9. Istanbul - They Might Be Giants
10. One - U2
11. Into the Night - Benny Mardones [I don't even LIKE this song. What the hell?]
12. Particle Man - They Might Be Giants
13. Hashpipe - Weezer


Oh, now this one has some serious nostalgia value, because it's tied to history. It's from March of '03, when the US first invaded Iraq. I made the instant comparison to Vietnam (which is pretty good braining considering I was only 17) and went looking for some hippie music to listen to while I felt bad about the whole thing. Except I could only find a couple specifically peace-related songs (not remembering the names of the hippie songs I GREW UP ON *headdesk*) so I threw together, uh, randomness.

Also, my 3rd grade class totally sang "Sunrise, Sunset" in a school play. I like that we got a serious, profound, meaningful song from a real musical while the class next door was stuck with that stupid song about six ducklings or something.

Disc 6
1. Imagine - John Lennon
2. Blowin' in the Wind - Bob Dylan
3. American Pie - Don McClean
4. Some weird Chinese music
5. Sunrise, Sunset - Fiddler on the Roof
6. Golden Slumbers - The Beatles


And then for a long time nothing happened. Well, actually, I didn't make any CDs in 2004 or 2005 because I was in a relationship with an, um, unbalanced power dynamic. We'll call it that. And I just listened to whatever he liked all the time. So we jump to 2006, and the first CD here was one that actually made my ex all angsty because I actually wanted to listen to stuff that he hadn't introduced me to. Or maybe he was just uncomfortable because I was rapidly developing the musical taste of a gay British man. I don't know. (Incidentally, I have no idea how Ray Charles got mixed up in what otherwise comes across as a gay pride nostalgia mix.) But an ex getting all pissy over Depeche Mode makes for a pretty good "shitty ex" story, in any case.

Disc 7
1. Tiny Dancer - Elton John
2. Time Waits for Nobody - Freddie Mercury
3. In My Defence - Freddie Mercury
4. Suffer Well - Depeche Mode
5. Master and Servant - Depeche Mode
6. Strangelove - Depeche Mode
7. Georgia On My Mind - Ray Charles
8. Hit the Road Jack - Ray Charles
9. Chains of Love - Erasure
10. Breath of Life - Erasure
11. Oh L'amour - Erasure
12. Blue Savannah - Erasure
13. A Little Respect - Erasure
14. Purple Rain - Prince

Okay, and the next one was made right after I dumped said ex. And right after my first gay pride festival. And after I'd been watching NewNowNext on Logo A LOT. Did I say a lot? It was a lot. Also, I like that even if I didn't remember, I could easily date this CD to August '06 just from the Snakes on a Plane song. Awesome,

Disc 8
1. Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall
2. Blackbird - The Beatles
3. Come to My Window - Melissa Etheridge
4. Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
5. Dragostea din Tei - Ozone
6. I Run for Life - Melissa Etheridge
7. I Will Buy You A New Life - Everclear
8. #1 Crush - Garbage
9. I'm the Only One - Melissa Etheridge
10. I'm With Stupid - Pet Shop Boys
11. Just Can't Get Enough - Depeche Mode
12. Not Ready to Make Nice - Dixie Chicks
13. Snakes on a Plane (Bring It) - Cobra Starship
14. Teo Torriate (Let Us Cling Together) - Queen
15. Wonderful - Everclear
16. Enjoy the Silence - Depeche Mode
17. Closing Time - Semisonic

The next one is called "Clean favorites" and was thrown together so I could play music while decorating the Christmas tree with my mom without her encountering any lyrics that would cause her to drop a glass ornament in shockhorror. (Actually listening to Christmas music would've made too much sense.)

Disc 9
1. Take A Chance On Me - Erasure
2. Supermassive Black Hole - Muse
3. Wishmaster - Nightwish
4. I Don't Feel Like Dancin' - Scissor Sisters
5. Counting Blue Cars - Dishwalla
6. Shining Collection - Iceman
7. Breathe - Erasure
8. I Am the Walrus - The Beatles
9. Temple of Time techno mix
10. Must Be Dreaming - Frou Frou
11. Mary - Scissor Sisters
12. A Winter's Tale - Queen
13. Steady as She Goes - The Raconteurs
14. Paul McCartney - Scissor Sisters

I have no idea what happened with this next one, except that Spiffy and I were waiting for the Mika CD to come out (it came out in the UK a month and a half before here!), and, yeah. Oh, also we're in 2007 now.

Disc 10
1. Love Today - Mika
2. Lollipop - Mika
3. Billy Brown - Mika
4. Relax (Take it Easy) - Mika
5. Grace Kelly - Mika
6. Voulez-Vous - Erasure
7. Take Me Out - Franz Ferdinand
8. John the Revelator - Depeche Mode
9. Minimal - Pet Shop Boys
10. West End Girls - Pet Shop Boys
11. Spin Spin Sugar - Sneaker Pimps
12. Le Disko - Shiny Toy Guns
13. Shake the Disease - Depeche Mode


And this one is all slow songs. For sleepytimes. And I was firmly into my obsessive synthpop phase here, as you can see.

Disc 11
1. In A Submarine - Home Video
2. White Queen (As it Began) - Queen
3. Rock Me Gently - Erasure
4. Luna Park - Pet Shop Boys
5. More Than This - The Cure
6. More Than Likely - Boy George
7. Who Wants to Live Forever - Queen
8. Numb - Pet Shop Boys
9. Introspectre - Depeche Mode
10. If Only Tonight We Could Sleep - The Cure
11. The Crying Game - Boy George
12. Siren Song - Erasure
13. Waiting for the Night - Depeche Mode
14. Mr. Gribber and His Amazing Cat - Erasure
15. Across the Universe - Rufus Wainwright
16. Because - The Beatles
17. Return to Oz- Scissor Sisters

And then there was the time when I actually liked some relatively current music. For like, a couple weeks. (But I had to balance out the universe with some cheesy 80s stuff, too. I am me, after all.)

Disc 12
1. Your Woman - White Town
2. Mama's Room - Under the Influence of Giants
3. Steady as She Goes - The Raconteurs
4. Jerk it Out - Caesars
5. I Want You - Savage Garden
6. This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race - Fall Out Boy
7. Can't Get You Out of My Head - Kylie Minogue
8. Somebody's Watching Me - Rockwell
9. Hall Om Mig - Nanne Gronvall
10. Around the World - ATC
11. Peace^^v - BeForU
12. I Touch Roses - Book of Love
13. Float On - Modest Mouse
14. Naked Eye - Luscious Jackson
15. Strict Machine - Goldfrapp
16. Cruel Angel's Thesis - Yoko Takahashi
17. I Believe in You - Kylie Minogue
18. Glaring Dream - Seki Tomokazu
19. Somebody Told Me - The Killers
20. Tainted Love (Techno remix) - Soft Cell

And this next one was my "going off to college" CD. To go off to a college 30 minutes from my house, where I lived for about a month. Woo. I like how it starts out sickeningly sugary and upbeat, and gradually turns darker and heavier. I forget if I did that on purpose or not.

Disc 13
1. Such Great Heights - The Postal Service
2. Butterfly - Smile.dk
3. Honey Punch - BeForU
4. Love Shine - Riyu Kosaka
5. DARE - Gorillaz
6. Crystal Ball - Keane
7. Magic Dance - David Bowie
8. Savoy Truffle - The Beatles
9. Little Green Bag - George Baker Selection
10. Pidpunk - Home Video
11. My Sweet Lord - George Harrison
12. No Excuses - Alice in Chains
13. Everything for Free - K's Choice
14. I'm Afraid of Americans - David Bowie
15. Engel - Rammstein
16. Ghost Love Score - Nightwish

And here we have yet another CD designed to be acceptable in the presence of my mom. Assuming my mom wants to hear a gay party mix, that is.


Disc 14
1. I Sometimes Wish I Was Dead - Depeche Mode
2. My Fairy King - Queen
3. Dress You Up - Madonna
4. Drama! - Erasure
5. Strangelove - Depeche Mode
6. Return to Innocence - Enigma
7. Come to My Window - Melissa Etheridge
8. Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall
9. Breakthru - Queen
10. Alice - Cocteau Twins
11. Sleep Sweet - Home Video
12. Only You - Yazoo
13. Luna Park - Pet Shop Boys
14. Radio Ga Ga - Queen
15. Kiss You Off - Scissor Sisters
16. Mamma Mia - ABBA
17. Twentieth Century - Pet Shop Boys


And now finally we move into 2008, which becomes sharply less gay. And sharply more German. The next four CDs were all made pretty close together, around June, but I think this is the correct order. (And for the record, I don't even like E Nomine that much, but I had just downloaded these songs and my iPod was messed up for awhile, which is also why I suddenly became a CD-burning MACHINE. I do not handle iPod death gracefully.)

Disc 15
1. Mitternacht - E Nomine
2. Mann Gegen Mann - Rammstein
3. Das Omen - E Nomine
4. End of All Hope - Nightwish
5. Stella Maris - Einsturzende Neubauten
6. Der Exorzist - E Nomine
7. Crownless - Nightwish
8. Zwitter - Rammstein
9. Vater Unser - E Nomine
10. Dingsaller - Einsturzende Neubauten
11. Wishmaster - Nightwish
12. Das Tier in Mir - E Nomine
13. 99 Luftballons - Nena
14. Ghost Love Score - Nightwish

Disc 16
1. Closer - Nine Inch Nails
2. Cherub Rock - Smashing Pumpkins
3. Deutschmaschine - And One
4. Isobel - Bjork
5. Games Without Frontiers - Peter Gabriel
6. Only - Nine Inch Nails
7. Daysleeper - REM
8. The Hand That Feeds - NIN
9. Human Behavior - Bjork
10. Regret - New Order
11. The Perfect Drug - NIN
12. Together - Camouflage
13. Irish Blood, English Heart - Morrissey
14. Zero - Smashing Pumpkins
15. Sowing the Seeds of Love - Tears for Fears
16. Gollum's Song - Emiliana Torrini

Disc 17
1. Traumfrau - And One
2. Liebe ist Alles - Rosenstolz
3. Das Modell - Kraftwerk
4. Wherever I May Roam - Metallica
5. So Kling Liebe - And One
6. Das bin Ich - Rosenstolz
7. Rock Me Amadeus - Falco
8. The Unforgiven - Metallica
9. Panzermensch - And One
10. Wilkommen - Rosenstolz
11. Enter Sandman - Metallica
12. Es Tut Immer Noch Weh - Rosenstolz
13. Der Kommisar - Falco
14. Neon Lights - Kraftwerk

Disc 18
1. We Didn't Start the Fire - Billy Joel
2. Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
3. Suedehead - Morrissey
4. Mein Herz Brennt - Rammstein
5. Who Wants to Live Forever - Queen
6. Lovesong - The Cure
7. Human - The Human League
8. Tonight Tonight - Smashing Pumpkins
9. Computer Love - Kraftwerk
10. Cruel Angel's Thesis - Yoko Takahashi
11. Them Bones - Alice in Chains
12. Numbers - Kraftwerk
13. The Mountains Win Again - Blues Traveler
14. Lay Your Hands on Me - Thompson Twins
15. Autobahn - Kraftwerk

And here we see what happens when I forget to shuffle stuff around so the artists aren't all bunched up together.

Disc 19
1. Goodnight and Go - Imogen Heap
2. Ievan Polka - Loituma
3. Avundsjuk - Nanne Gronvall
4. Jag Maste Kyssa Dig - Nanne Gronvall
5. Om Du Var Min - Nanne Gronvall
6. Biko - Peter Gabriel
7. Shock the Monkey - Peter Gabriel
8. No Aphrodisiac - The Whitlams
9. Blow Up the Pokies - The Whitlams
10. Brother Can You Spare A Dime? - George Michael
11. Freedom '90 - George Michael
12. Kalluri Vaanil - Prabhu Deva
13. Our House - Madness
14. Wings of a Dove - Madness
15. Baggy Trousers - Madness

Finally, this last one is the most recent, 'cause I made it the night before posting this. The title I wrote on the CD is "Random prog rock, new age and other hippie stuff. And for some reason Oingo Boingo". I think it's rather snappy.

Disc 20
1. Street Spirit (Fade Out) - Radiohead
2. A Thousand Years - Sting
3. The Feeling Begins - Peter Gabriel
4. Adoramus - Libera
5. Scarborough Fair - Simon & Garfunkel
6. Tonight, Tonight, Tonight - Genesis
7. Weird Science - Oingo Boingo
8. The Musical Box - Genesis
9. Arnold Layne - Pink Floyd
10. White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
11. The Knife - Genesis