the ultimate mix tape songs

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by "ultimate" i mean songs that are not only good songs for mix tapes, but songs that, for some reason, uniquely stand out in a mix of all your favorite songs. they likely have a quality which makes them sound unique even in the contexts of their original albums. do not clutter this thread with merely your favorite songs.

two recent examples i can think of:
langley schools music project - desperado
low - point of disgust

― ted, Monday, 27 October 2003 17:42 (twenty-three years ago)

marquee moon - television

i think i put that on all my mixes, as boring and predictable as that might be ... it's just a really good song and is so long and perfectly structured that it can be a real cornerstone .. plus it still rocks at such a long length. CAN YOU ROCK A LONG LENGTH?!!?!?

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Monday, 27 October 2003 18:00 (twenty-three years ago)

perfect for mix tapes (but not CDs):

stan freberg's "the ol' payola roll blues", because it's in two parts and at the end of the first part, the main character says the story carries on on the other side. so works perfectly for end side 1 and beginning side 2 of the tape. it's also great in its own right: shows up the rest of your record collection for what it really is...

...unless of course the rest of your collection consists of things like Marquee Moon.

― zebedee (zebedee), Monday, 27 October 2003 18:27 (twenty-three years ago)

X "Adult Books" - It always stands out unexpectedly.
Notwist "Pick up the Phone" - Classic mixtape vibe.

Lately:
Modern Lovers "Government Center" - So catchy.

― scott m (mcd), Monday, 27 October 2003 18:41 (twenty-three years ago)

ouch! music geeks have sharp teeth.

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Monday, 27 October 2003 18:51 (twenty-three years ago)

(i wasn't biting you, Dean. i've never heard a note of Television, if that helps)

― zebedee (zebedee), Monday, 27 October 2003 19:14 (twenty-three years ago)

well, television is sort of a name-dropping cliche now i guess. thanks, strokes. and to think i almost suggested "heroin" ...

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Monday, 27 October 2003 19:21 (twenty-three years ago)

Outkast - Bombs Over Bagdhad
Joan Jett - Crimson and Clover
Lungfish - Friend to Friend in the Endtime

All amazing songs, all have a way of overwhelming everything around them. You can put "Crimson and Clover" after "Purple Rain" and it still upstages.

― Tom Breihan (Tom Breihan), Monday, 27 October 2003 19:30 (twenty-three years ago)

Long Neck Goose-Detroit

― thomas de'aguirre (biteylove), Monday, 27 October 2003 19:53 (twenty-three years ago)

"The Rock" by Delakota is made for mixtapes.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 27 October 2003 20:15 (twenty-three years ago)

As has been said elsewhere, "Dad! I'm In Jail" by Was (Not Was) is great for mixtapes.

The second song on every mixtape should be by the Jesus & Mary Chain.

― adaml (adaml), Monday, 27 October 2003 20:23 (twenty-three years ago)

no one ever lost
with 'monie in the middle'
starting off side B

― Haikunym (Haikunym), Monday, 27 October 2003 20:26 (twenty-three years ago)

ive always thought 100% by sonic youth is a great way to start off just about any mix tape. that was the song playing when i first turned on the radio in my truck, so maybe there's some kind of personal psychology behind my feelings, but regardless, it's lighthearted and it fuckin rocks.

― Felcher (Felcher), Monday, 27 October 2003 20:46 (twenty-three years ago)

I just started a mix with "Feel the Pain" by Dino Jr.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Monday, 27 October 2003 20:58 (twenty-three years ago)

A friend used to end all his tapes with the Prodigy's "Out of Space". And proper order.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 27 October 2003 21:07 (twenty-three years ago)

WTF? Since when is "100%" lighthearted??????

― adaml (adaml), Monday, 27 October 2003 21:08 (twenty-three years ago)

"Arnold's Dead" by Karen Mantler goes on almost all of mine. There's really no other song quite like it, and it's really pretty wonderful.

― dlp9001, Monday, 27 October 2003 23:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Lately I've been into:

The Minutemen "Cohesion"
Jackie-O-Motherfucker "Go Down, Old Hannah"
Palace "I Am A Cinematographer"
Mammal "Fog Face"
Captain Beefheart "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles"

― Ian Johnson (orion), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 01:03 (twenty-three years ago)

David Bowie's "Sound & Vision" should be on every mix tape ever made.

― Charlie Rose (Charlie Rose), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 02:23 (twenty-three years ago)

That is entirely correct, Charlie. Uilab's "St. Elmo's Fire" is another winner, can follow almost anything...

― Conor (Conor), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 04:27 (twenty-three years ago)

for some reason i always have three things on my mixtapes:
1) the smiths
2) the cure
3) stockholm syndrome by yo la tengo.

― scout, Tuesday, 28 October 2003 06:02 (twenty-three years ago)

"Alex Chilton" by The Replacements. How can you beat a terrific pop song that's an ode to terrific pop songs?

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 06:58 (twenty-three years ago)

I've said it before, but Tricky's "For Real", Barry Adamson's cover of "Girl" and lately Lydia Lunch's "Champagne, Cocaine, Nicotine Stains" all rock my mixtape world.

― Baaderist (Fabfunk), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 11:41 (twenty-three years ago)

I seldom make mixes that don't have any Wire on them, and I think the Wire song that fits this thread best (aside from Map Ref) is Ex-Lion Tamer.

― Damian (Damian), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 11:56 (twenty-three years ago)

"WTF? Since when is "100%" lighthearted??????"
the lyrics may be violent, but the music's sunny.

― Felcher (Felcher), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 19:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Sean Lennon "Photosynthesis"

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 20:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Diamanda Galas "Gloomy Sunday"

― Siegbran (eofor), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 20:53 (twenty-three years ago)

for awhile, i kept putting Saint Etienne's cover of "Stormtrooper in Drag" (the long version) on every mix i did.

what do i really love, however?

Konishi Yasuharu's remix of the Jackson Five's "I Want You Back." this mix is crack that must be imbibed by EVERYONE.

― janni (janni), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 21:19 (twenty-three years ago)

four years pass...

In the 80-some mixtapes i've made over the years i don't think I've double-dipped on tracks more than once or twice (and those were due to time constraints). Re-using tracks is an unnecessary shortcut that would just make me feel like i was being lazy. I'm pretty bad -- for the longest time i even refused to cull tracks from certain "perfect" albums (like Pink Moon or Abbey Road) as they were somehow sacrosanct. Everything's become fairgame since my craft's developed, but i still find it difficult to willfully re-use tracks no matter the circumstances.

I have, however, dipped into The Residents' Commercial Album on far too many occasions as my perfecto-constructionist penchant for no dead tape at the Side ends requires it's eminently applicable 60-second soundscapes.

― christoff, Monday, 14 July 2008 16:41 (eighteen years ago)

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