Secret Ingredient

I recently made a mix for a tape club I belong to--you make a mix tape on your month and send it out to other folks. The rest of the year, they send you their best music each month. I have gotten to know some cool bands this way and purchased their albums and even learned how to play some of their songs. The industry doesn't get it. Deeply doesn't get it.

I decided to make a concept mix tape called, The Secret Ingredient. I recommend these songs to you (complete with the liner notes from the mix tape):

Intro
What is the secret ingredient that makes songs into loveable brothers and sisters? A special adjective in the lyrics? The same producer? Length? Kevin Bacon? Listen and learn. Tunes are presented in chronological order for maximum obfuscation and to remind some of us how old we are.

1970 Sweet Jane
The Velvet Underground’s Loaded is an amazing album. I wanted my band to play this song but “Femme Fatale”—from their album with Nico—was a better fit so that’s the one we perform. Bonus note: my old guitar teacher told me that my life had not earned me the right to play “Sweet Jane.”

1975 Born to Run
Okay, Bruce Springsteen is an obsessive genius. I was mesmerized by the video about the making of Born to Run. This was the unofficial song of my high school cross-country team, which won six consecutive state championships no thanks to me. I think Bruuuce might have gotten a letter jacket out of the deal, though.

1977 Mr. Blue Sky
All ELO albums remind me of hanging out at my next-door neighbor Eric’s house, but Out of the Blue was the massive double-album that we just wore out—back when music media was wear-out-able. Can you hear the Beatles changing everything? Eric was the very first friend I made in Chapel Hill. He had excellent taste in music and is now an accomplished guitarist.

1980 And Through the Wire
Unlike Haircut 100’s eponymous album, Peter Gabriel’s Peter Gabriel was an awesome experience. Thank goodness he left Genesis and struck out on his own. This is not true for Sting, his fellow Englishman.

1980 Once in a Lifetime
Did Remain in Light change your life? No? Get in a time machine and go back and be 15 years old and try that answer again, mister. “Once in a Lifetime” is one of my all-time favorite songs by the Talking Heads – or by anyone for that matter. (Sometimes I think about how funny it would have been if Lloyd Dobler had played this for Diane Court on the boom box.)

1982 New Frontier
My youngest brother played the drums for a while and got interested in some cool jazzy bands. One day The Nightfly showed up (in cassette tape form, I think!) in his bedroom. I exercised temporary primo geniture and listened to it for a good long while. “New Frontier” seems to me to be a signature Donald Fagan sound. I have always felt fondly toward this man but that may be influenced by the fact that one of my best friends named her cat Steely Dan.

1983 Every Day I Write the Book
I recently got a bit peevish with my bandmates when they did not agree that Elvis Costello was the greatest lyric writer of the Rock and Roll era. Seriously. And none of that Best of Elvis stuff; go out and get a copy of Punch the Clock.

1984 The Unforgettable Fire
Can’t recall which album “The Unforgettable Fire” is from? Just remember that it is the title track from the album of the same name. U2 has, in fact, named three of their albums after songs. Dude, once in High School I went to an away meet for track and field instead of going to a concert being held by this new band headed by a guy named Bono Vox. In retrospect, the small red ribbon for third place just seems like a haunting reminder that I am a monkey in running shoes.

1989 Merely a Man
XTC. Need I say more? Sweet Betty Ford, these men are geniuses. Random fact: the album name, Oranges & Lemons, comes from a previous song lyric that comes from an English nursery rhyme. Not my ab-fab product by this Swindon band – that’d be the entire album, Skylarking – but this song is excellent and it fits.

1989 Hey Ladies
Remember when everyone thought that the Beastie Boys had fallen into the classic sophomore slump with the release of Paul’s Boutique? I myself was not a huge fan of the album originally. Now I see the error of my ways. When I was a boy I listened as a boy.

1990 Graveyard Shift
I never did get to see Uncle Tupelo live. They had broken up and become Son Volt and Wilco by the time I had heard of them. I deeply envy people who got to hear alt-county being established as they toured to promote the seminal No Depression. Missing them makes me want to open up a whisky bottle and walk out the screen door and wonder if I have a life worth livin’.

1994 Circus Envy
My favorite band is R.E.M. Let me say that again. My favorite band is R.E.M. Their 9th album, Monster, was reviled even by hardcore fans but I L.O.V.E. it. It rocks. And, in retrospect, the greatest American band would subsequently semi-blow until this year’s stunning return to form with Accelerate. Oh, and you should know that my favorite band is R.E.M.

1995 Drown
Hey, remember way back when I told you about how I missed that whole Uncle Tupelo scene? Well the birth of Son Volt is the anodyne for that pain. Trace is a phenomenal album. It might even be a Phnom-Penh-al album. Me lovvie.

1996 Free to Decide
Such a big voice for such a small lassie! The Cranberries’ To the Faithful Departed is just a great album and is home to my favorite song by them: “Forever Yellow Skies.” That is not on this mix. Sorry.

2000 Weapon of Choice
This song is included here for many reasons. One, Fatboy Slim is one mean musical mofo. Two, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars is really something you should listen to more regularly. Three, Bootsy baby! Four, it is a big but obtuse hint as to the secret ingredient that makes a mix tape tasty.

2001 Short Skirt/ Long Jacket
Take that David E. Kelley! Do you think this song has been driving Harrison Ford crazy for years? This is the big hit from Cake’s Comfort Eagle. Damn fine base line. I personally do not know people who want a white Chrysler Lebaron, and I do not want to know these people, but I love that line.

2005 Bigger Than Me
Let’s see. Last FM begat Tegan and Sara. Tegan and Sara begat hours and absolutely hours of listening to The Con. Then the sun begat it becoming a melted CD on my friend’s dashboard. Then Letterman begat Bell X1. Bell X1 begat the album, Flock, which begat this song, which begat the whole idea of a concept mix tape. And it was good.

PS - Can you guess the secret ingredient? Hint: check the post labels. Oh, and "Dark Come Soon" by Tegan and Sara is guh-hood, so guh-hood; now playing on iTunes.