You meet this great girl (or guy)

I sent her a disc of My Bloody Valentine EPs, because she wanted to hear them. Bliss. :-)

A horrible cliche of sorts, but This Mortal Coil's rendition of "Song to the Siren" seemed to make it on every tape I've ever made for a girl. I suppose it finally worked.....I'm getting married next week.

Aw. But a very good choice indeed, sir. Congratulations!

The compilation I just made for the girl of my dreams is entitled "White Boys Can't Rap- Misogyny". Featuring such songs "Just Don't Bite It" by N.W.A., "99 Problems (and a Bitch ain't one)" by Ice-T, "Goin' Down" by Scarface, and "Fuckin' You Right" by Xzibit, it is sure to win her for me. Sadly, I was unable to locate any 2 Live Crew for inclusion, or my all time favorite song of this type, "Givin' Up the Nappy Dugout" by Ice Cube. For what it is worth, the last song is "Brown Skin Woman" by KRS-One. I think part of the reason I like this girl so much is that she shares alot of my sense of humor. Anyway, I gave it to her yesterday, and haven't talked to her yet to see what she thinks of it.

jacques brel, maria calas, some bran van 3000, a dash of unwound, some Ballbusters and a Patti smith song like Pissing in the River to let them know how bad love can get.

Some secret admirer of mine gave me a tape of comedy / novelty stuff about Christmas - this was last year. It was all funny or fun, mostly 1940s-1960s stuff. I liked that way better than romantic shit. I got a baffling phone call from an anonymous individual trying to claim responsibility for it, but he never called back. Whoever you are, show yourself for god's sake. Even if you're a creep, I could do with more with these sorts of tapes.

I make a compilation of the Blue Nile... it just seems a cool way to get started... loved if it began with MBV, as Ned pointed out, but I would not complain if it was MEZZANINE (which acutally happened, though not someone of my dreams) and Underworld

Scott, how could you forget Kool G Rap's shocking "Talk Like Sex"? Rhymes 'playa' with 'I'll leave you in a wheelchair, dear, after I lay ya"

i believe it was j-live who said, after a particularly nasty breakup, 'now my favorite songs are 'wildflower' and 'truly yours'. good recommendations, both. also, funkdoobiest's lovely 'pussy ain't shit'.

I know that in the eye's of the law, ignorance is no excuse for breaking it. Sadly, that is all I can claim concerning Kool G. Rap. For a long time, while I truly liked hip hop, I was *very* narrow in what I listened too. It is not that I disliked what everyone else was doing. I was just very close minded and would not listen to anything else. As you can probably figure out, that led to a pretty long period of music stagnation. Now that I have finally lifted that small problem, I am having a lot of fun finding not only everything I missed, but all the good stuff coming out now. Anyway, I will definitely get a hold of that song for vol. 2. And I'm always looking for recomendations.

So this post isn't comepletly off topic, two songs that almost always seemed to make there way onto tapes were Suicidal Tendencies "How Will I Laugh Tomorrow...When I Can't Even Smile Today?!?!" and Adam Sandler's ode to Tantric sex "A Medium Pace".

The question is moot as I am never making anyone a mixtape again.

The tapes I've made for my girlfriend evolved from apalling to barely listenable to OK to the last tape I made for her which she loved. This came about through me finally realising that trying to impress somebody with a compilation tape was a mug's game, and that actually listening to what they liked and trying to find more stuff like it was much better.

SCOTT: A co-worker [and I, personally] want to see the whole setlist!

The song "I'm Straight" off the Modern Lovers would go on there, because it's strangely romantic (despite my utter lack of straight- edge-ness).

Also, "Orgasm Addict" by the Buzzcocks. OK, not really, but that song f*ing rocks!

I find 'American Friend' by Baxendale works wonders. Hmmmm.

Bad choice - Shellac's 'Prayer To God'.

If a prospective partner made me a tape with Baxendale on I'd never go near them again.

George Michael " I Want Your Sex" works EVERYTIME

I think I accidentally played "Fist Fuck" by Nine Inch Nails for my wife very early into our relationship. There was a three month period where I think she thought I wa a homicidal barbituate freak. Once I actually got some sleep, she warmed to me considerably. :)

JM, here is the setlist-

1. Warning / Ice-t 2. Parental Discretion Iz Advised / N.W.A. 3. Stil Talking / Eazy-E 4. The Iceberg / Ice- T 5. I Ain't Tha One / N.W.A. 6. Goin' Down / Scarface 7. Me and My Bitch / Notorius B.I.G. 8. What These Bitches Want / DMX 9. Fuckin' you Right / Xzibit 10. Rape / Pharoahe Monch 11. Just Don't Bite It / N.W.A. 12. Bitchs Ain't Shit / Dr. Dre, Snoop 13. Ho / Ludacris 14. We Luv Deez Hoez / OutKast 15. Brown Skin Woman / KRS-One 16. Raleigh Soliloquy Pt. I / Sublime

Oh that's rad.

Tom E: allow me to say that your last sentence is too alarmingly identical (not even close, but identical - I think) to The Hornby Version for me to be able to accept it. I'm not saying the view you express is bad in itself: just tainted forever by Hornby.

Surely there's a middle way between trying to impress someone and giving them stuff like what they already like? What about - giving them stuff YOU like?

Almost all of my earthly possessions are packed up in boxes right now, but somewhere amongst them is the tape I made for my wife shortly after we first met. It was an Xmas tape, an Xmas e.p. I'd made, plus a bunch of other holiday songs. I've always suspected she never played it.

Do people still make tapes? Is everything all on CD now and made out of kryptonite or internet or whatever?

Pinefox speaketh the truth. A mix-tape should probably be 30% them / 70% you. Surprise them. Catch them off-guard. Keep them on their toes. Sure, throw them a few bones, but not at the expense of yourself. (A personal example - throwing in Sun Ra's "Disco 2000" for a synthpop fan.) And if they don't like the tape, so what? Such things shouldn't be given more importance than they actually possess.

To wit - if someone makes you a mix-tape that you don't play all too often, you shouldn't be made to feel guilty that you don't play it, and any threatening arguements that start down this path should be diffused ultra-fast. (Note that "mix-tape" can be exchanged with any other sort of gift, and this strategy is still sound.)

I cannot even consider making a "mix tape". Laser, man, laser! Anyway, I am quite predictable at this little game...

"New Rose" by the Damned (being blunt), "Seductive Barry" (being sexual), "Your Charms" by Cinerama (being condescending yet drooling), "I Want You More Than Ever" by the Clientele (being charming), "Mysteries of Love" from Blue Velvet (being Lynchian), "Crazy Love" by MJ Cole (being way past reasoning), "One Track Mind" off LAMF (being a beautiful loser), "All This and More" by the Dead Boys (being cocky), Danko Jones's "My Love is Bold" (being, erm, bold - you can have me for a day, but baby take me for the weekend...), "Because You're Frightened" by Magazine (being a pervert), "Be My Baby" (being honest).

I'd toy with the idea of putting "Mistakes + Regrets" by ToD, but I'd probably abandon this possibility rather quickly. There's ironic and just plain wicked...

Tom, you have been with your girlfriend for a while, so it's different than "you've just met the girl / guy of your dreams"... Whom one does want to impress, actually...

This will not be happening. The guy of my dreams is slightly imperfect...he is a conservative Christian who doesn't like rock music, jazz, or anything apart from classical. There goes just about everything I enjoy, save some loud symphonic stuff (which I wouldn't have even tried if I hadn't read A Clockwork Orange) and my dear Bach fugues.

If the situation was different, the tape would have some In Flames, the louder Velvet Underground songs, several Momus songs, "Friggin in the Riggin," "The Whole Shebang," and "My Iron Lung." Nothing romantic about it, oddly enough.

"The Desperate Things You Make Me Do" by The Magnetic Fields.

It features a chorus of: "I'd like to beat you black & blue for all the agony you have put me through."

No joke. =:'-(>

'Pop songs your new boyfriend's to stupid to know about' by Tullycraft, cos' they are already gone...