I started to spin Kim's Challenge #2 mix and Morissey's voice just transported me. It's been so long since I've really listened to him, really connected with his voice, and it took me straight back to 1984.
Some of you might be looking at all this posting I am doing and thinking "Jesus, what's got into this guy?" Well, this is exactly what I did with my head for a whole bunch of years as a young person: fetish over music, write about it, and make mixtapes.
Michele floated the idea of a "What I was listening to when I was 16" theme for a mix challenge. Well, I cannot wait. Morrisey took me straight back there; the 12 songs on this mix just came into my head. Most of them were on various "driving tapes" I had with me in the car.
Joshua wondered if we were ready for Challenge #3. What about Michele's idea? I think we could be flexible with the actual age (but it should be YOUNG, don't you think?). Because I do so much stuff with the blog, I don't want to make the decision. Just tell me what to do: I am your humble servant.
Still, here's my mix. So here's a mixtape from the era when the term meant something... a real mixTAPE for a cassette deck. I thought it was rather dramatic to add the artists and titles little by little last time, so I'll do that again. One other note about the music: this is all stuff I was listening to regularly in 1984; much of it came out that year, though some a few years prior. You'll recognize most of it. My lifeline for music in 1984 was a WDET radio show called Dimension. This show replaced the program that got me hooked on "new music," which was called Radios in Motion.
There's only one major stumper here: Track #3. You're going to need something bigger than Google to figure that one out. One hint: it's the only non-UK track on the mix, and it's from the US ca. 1983.
By the end of 1984, my ears were taking me away from tightly constructed pop tunes like this; still, I wanted this mix to be unified. Brian Eno and Laurie Anderson pulled me away into other things as I got closer to 17, but I came back.
ABOUT THE PICTURE: That's the cover of a painful-to-read teenage journal. It's a self portrait in the mirror. The first place I drove alone as a 16 year old was the bookstore; I bought a book of Diane Arbus photographs. I have loved her large format, square photographs ever since. I think my self portrait captures teenage narcissism and self aggrandizement fairly well. Actually, it's not a bad photograph (without the silly hat, it would be really boring).
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