Mixology: Sounds Like a Mix, Feels Like a Sneaker

Mixology is a recurring feature in which I take a look at one of the many mix tapes I made over the years. Some are better than others, but all of them are fun to revisit.

Sounds Like a Mix, Feels Like a Sneaker (5/31/92)

Ah, '92. It was a pretty good year. Certainly turned out much better than the crapfest of '93. I was working as a reporter for the Peabody Times (RIP) and living with my girlfriend in this very house, albeit in the downstairs apartment.

I don't remember the exact circumstances around the making of this particular tape, other than the fact that there was a lot of cool music out at the time and I was making a fair number of mixes. The name came from the cheesy Easy Spirit shoe ads with the tag line "Looks like a pump, feels like a sneaker." That whole Seattle explosion was happening: Nirvana had totally blown up on MTV and "Nevermind" was selling like crazy. I was a little late to the party on Nirvana; I was certainly aware of them and liked them, but I actually got into Mother Love Bone first, back in 1990 when their one and only album came out. Then I picked up the Temple of the Dog CD in the spring of '91 and then Soundgarden's "Badmotorfinger" later that year. It was only after getting that sludgier stuff that I bought "Nevermind" and Pearl Jam's "Ten." The first Lollapalooza tour brought the Rollins Band to my attention.

At the same time, I was still listening to a lot of blues rock, which is reflected on this mix by acts like Stevie Ray Vaughan (who had died two years earlier but had a posthumous CD out, one of about 3, 862), Gary Moore, the Arc Angels and the Eric Gales Band. On the other end of the spectrum was the alt-rock I was listening to from U2, Matthew Sweet ("Girlfriend" was and is a monster album from '91), Red Hot Chili Peppers, and newer acts like Teenage Fanclub and the La's. Hell, I still liked Live at this point, before the band's pomposity drove me away. The one outlier on this tape is from a band called White Trash, which was a metal band with a horn section and an MTV hit called "Apple Pie." Pretty entertaining song, but they dropped off the radar fairly quickly after that.

All things considered, this is a decent mix. In the months after I made it, I bought a new Hyundai Elantra, Bill Clinton beat George H.W. Bush in the presidential election and a young Jon Stewart started showing up on Comedy Central and MTV.

Side A
Remedy - The Black Crowes
The Sky is Crying - Stevie Ray Vaughan
Cold Day in Hell - Gary Moore
Living in a Dream - ArcAngels
Sign of the Storm - Eric Gales Band
Does She Talk? - Matthew Sweet
The Concept - Teenage Fanclub
There She Goes - The La's
Operation Spirit - Live
Give It Away - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Side B
Apple Pie - White Trash
Even Flow - Pearl Jam
Searching With My Good Eye Closed - Soundgarden
Wooden Jesus - Temple of the Dog
Low Self Opinion - Rollins Band
I Could Have Lied - Red Hot Chili Peppers
December - Teenage Fanclub
Ultraviolet (Light My Way) - U2
Little Wing - Stevie Ray Vaughan




Classic:



Heavy: