1996
Download the 1996 mix.
I don't think you have to be from California to like "California Love," but it definitely helps. I stuck it up front, along with two huge Los Angeles songs, "What I Got," which broke Sublime nationally (and posthumously) and "Where It's At," the very successful (though not as big as "Loser," still Beck's biggest hit) first single off the now-classic Odelay. I also picked another lone representer: Squirrel Nut-Zipper's "Hell" didn't hit big nationally until early 1997 when the swing revival totally took hold, but the record was released in 1996 and was already pretty well-established in LA, certainly after Swingers was released that year.
What really comes through on this mix though is hip hop. Dr. Octagon exposed a huge population to the underground hip hop world, and Shadow's Endtroducing... is probably one of the best records ever. The Fugees hit huge, and NaS had a big hit with the female Fugee that sounded nothing like his previous record and basically ruined the next five years of his career. And Outkast was Outkast, making unique, brilliant hip hop that didn't quite sound like anything else of the time.
I'm particularly proud that I was able to fit "Born Slippy" on the mix. At ten minutes, it's one of the longer tracks included, and it's also a great dance song, one of the best of the decade, and a great indication of the style of the time. It was so difficult to leave off some excellent dance tracks, particularly because they were too long, so whenever I get the chance to fit one on I like to push it.
I also know I have to explain my Fiona Apple choice. "Criminal" was of course her big song. It was the hit that everyone knows and her label expects from her. It's also one of her weakest songs, and a great deal of Fiona fans (including one who has access to where I sleep) would be very upset with me if I included it. The other big singles from the album were "Shadowboxer" and "Sleep to Dream." I like both about equal, but the latter - along with being a minute shorter than the former - is a more representative track, thus its inclusion.
This was a really big year for catchy throwaway singles, here's some stuff I left off, throwaway or not: Busta Rhymes: "Woo Hah!"; Butthole Surfers: "Pepper"; Folk Implosion: "Natural One"; Photek: "The Hidden Camera"; Spice Girls: "Wannabe"; R. Kelly: "I Believe I Can Fly"; The Wallflowers: "One Headlight"; Rage Against the Machine: "Bulls on Parade"; Cake: "The Distance"; Everclear: "Santa Monica"; Collective Soul "The World I Know"; Space : "Female of the Species"; The Primitive Radio Gods: "Standing Outside a Broken Phonebooth; anything from If You're Feeling Sinister or Reasonable Doubt.
1. California love - 2pac - 4:01
2. Where It's At - Beck - 5:30
3. What I Got - Sublime - 2:51
4. Virtual Insanity - Jamiroquai - 3:45
5. Lovefool - The Cardigans - 3:18
6. If I Ruled The World (Imagine That) - NaS - 4:42
7. Ready Or Not - The Fugees - 3:46
8. No Diggity - Blackstreet - 5:04
9. Earth People - Dr. Octagon - 4:44
10. Hell - Squirrel Nut-Zippers - 3:12
11. El Scorcho - Weezer - 4:03
12. Down - 311 - 2:52
13. Novocaine For The Soul - Eels - 3:08
14. Stink Fist - Tool - 5:10
15. Sleep To Dream - Fiona Apple - 4:09
16. ATLiens - Outkast - 3:50
17. Born Slippy - Underworld - 9:44
18. Midnight In A Perfect World - DJ Shadow - 5:02
posted by bza @ 11/14/2005
19 Comments:
I don't know who this person who has access to where you sleep is, but s/he really made an excellent point regarding the Fiona Apple choice. Really stellar.
On another issue, though: What on earth is the rationale for not including anything from RATM's Evil Empire?
Basically it was a time issue. Since I have already put two rage songs and there is another one to come, I felt it could go.
I also am somewhat biased against really solid full albums, because I am more likely to listen to them and therefore not need a mix with that song on it. Thus "No Shelter" and not "Bulls On Parade."
That is a reasonable response. I would still like to point out however that Evil Empire, in my opinion, was the most important Rage album, as it was the album that showed the greatest leap of intellectual and musical maturation. No other album in the history of albums that I am aware of has packed so many well-placed and poignant historical references, so much quality political theory, hyperbole, and, well, rage alongside one another to such effect. I too have difficulty picking the "strongest" song from it, as it does work so perfectly as one giant paradigm-toppling whole.
This is a good one, and kudos for getting Born Slippy on there. Its really good and really important.
I'm bummed that Belle and Sebastien didn't make it, although that's almost eclisped by how glad I am that Primitive Radio Gods didn't make it either. That song is a soul-fuck in a number of ways, and a really uncooth use of BB King.
Back to B&S for a second, they really blew up in 96 with two genre defining albums. Tigermilk was basically a sensation due to the lack of copies, and totally ended up as collectors item, leading to their signing to matador and all.
I know this one is tight, but I'll throw this concept out. In hindsight, I see Tool's legacy more and more represented by Sober and Undertow, even though I liked Aenima. I'm being partial, because I like B&S more, but to have say, "The State That I'm In" (which would be my pick to rep them this year) over Stinkfist would represent their growth and scope from 96 to 2004's amazing "Your Cover's Blown". I don't see that sort of growth between Undertow and Aenima, nor does Tool's legacy resonate as strong to me, as they are my favorite band of a genre I generally don't like.
This is all assuming that Sober is on an upcoming mix, but I see the project as a whole better served by an early Belle and Sebastien song.
oh yea, and california love rules. Was that off the same album as How Do You Want It? That's my favorite tupac song.
again, "24" is amazing. Thanks dude!
Why did you not use the remix of california love where I kill it on the vocoder for 2 minutes at the end and talk about Earthquakes and Richter scales and stuff and yell "COMPUTA PUTA PUTA puta puta...."
Well, Roger Troutman, while I love your version the most, the one I included was the one that got play on radio and television.
And yeah, Jules, How Do You Want It and California Love are both on All Eyez on Me. I'm thinkin on your B&S argument.
I disagree about the lack of growth between earlier Tool and Aenima. Aenima is a high concept album in a genre with very few done so artfully -- I think it goes even further into a rip-up of religion, pop culture, gender, geological phenomena, and psychology & is even darker than Undertow -- and I think successfully played more with a slow building 'wall of sound' kind of thing than earlier stuff. I think most Tool fans like Undertow the best, but I personally think Aenima was much more ambitious. Stink Fist was a good single, and a very cool video, too. But H. and Third Eye were my favorite tracks.
Thanks for the kind words BZA. I'm dead so it means a lot,
Jules is right about Belle and Sebastien by the way. I know because I played a killer Vocodor part on the title track of Boy with the Arab Strap but after much consideration and debate, Stuart Murdoch thought it might not quite fit.
Wow... 311 really brings me back to 8th grade carpool.
bza,
i've been silently monitoring your progress...godspeed little doodle, godspeed.
i gotta give it to you, you know a ton of stuff, and we should teach each other about some genres less familiar to each of us ya know?
ok, enough buttering up...here's my beef...why not 'building steam from a grain of salt' from endtroducing? i know that's one of your all-time favorite records and there are many reasons why, but that seems like the iconic, haunting, much-used song that represents that record so well.
esplain.
on a related note, there's this:
http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2681741
shadow
no cuttin n pastin
Yeah, I've seen that. Pretty cool.
Well, aside from that song being two minutes longer than "Midnight In a Perfect World," and therefore being too long to fit onto the mix, "Building Steam With a Grain of Salt" was never released as a single. I also have to say, that wouldn't be my favorite track on the album at all.
I much prefer "Stem/Long Stem," which I think is the real revolutionary track, and even "What Does Your Soul Look Like."
These mixes are really starting to take me back in the day.
California Love ... El Scorcho ... Novocaine for the Soul ... No Diggity, no doubt, uh.
I do like the way you work it my friend.
But the ultimate inclusion is Hell by Squirrel Nut-Zippers. I have a very visceral memory of that song on my sweet 16.
That memory also led me to another song I think should have been considered (I think it's 97) - White Town - "I could never be your woman ..."
This is such a great project, and I agree with the one who shares your bedchamber, that Sleep to Dream was an excellent choice - although First Taste might help the sharer of your bedside to recount the unfortunate days of women's college a-cappella.
One more thing - although this may not be true for the majority of your blog readers, many of the songs on this mix helped hopelessly uncool high school students feel like it was hip to be square. Specifically, "Where it's at." I definitely remember buying that album and thinking, "this is a cool song, and I am cool for liking it."
i'm going to flipflop on underworld. I still think it's important, but I can't listen to it past 4 minutes anymore. it reminds me of being places I don't want to be... sad.
These mixes are so great. You have a great span of musical knowledge and it's clear you have an open mind. Thanks for sharing them!
Hey, thanks for the compliment. Hope you enjoy the rest of em, and tell your friends!
Hey, the link is expired. Would you mind reposting it and I promise to be more punctual in checking your site from now on (to avoid being expired-out!)?
Thanks!
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