Mixology: Tryptophan Junkie

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.

Tryptophan Junkie (11/28/99)

This cassette is the very last mix tape I made before my Teac double cassette deck bit the big one. It was the fall of 1999 and Deb and I had just moved in together after getting engaged. We were living in a cool apartment near the ocean, but also a 10-minute walk from our favorite Irish pub. A month earlier, I had started working at a new job in Stoneham, as an editor at a dotcom called Webnoize. The Internet economy was booming. Things were good.

Most of the mixes I had made featured songs I was listening to at the time, but for this one, I wanted to collect a lot of my favorite indie rock and punk tunes. Side A kicks off with a few newer songs and then delves back into an exploration of great songs over the previous 25 years. The title reflects all the turkey gorging I did that long Thanksgiving weekend.

It's a pretty rockin' collection. About a month or so later, the tape deck, which I had picked up in 1988, stopped working. I didn't make another mix until 2002, when I got a CD burner for our PC.

Side A
Losing California - Sloan
Hum - The Sheila Divine
Who Was Around? - Bob Mould
Electricity - Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Chupacabras - Chixdiggit
Human Torch - Rocket From the Crypt
Id Slips In - New Bomb Turks
That's How I Escaped My Certain Fate - Mission of Burma
To Hell With Poverty! - Gang of Four
Something's Gone Wrong Again - Buzzcocks
Magnificent Seven - The Clash
We Want the Airwaves - The Ramones
David Watts - The Jam
Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell - Iggy and the Stooges
The Stonecutters' Song - The Simpsons

Side B
Gouge Away - The Pixies
Come Anytime - Hoodoo Gurus
Killed by Love - The Pursuit of Happiness
Nirvana - The Cult
FFF - Public Image Limited
What's Going On - Husker Du
Bastards of Young - The Replacements
Eric's Trip - Sonic Youth
Lake of Fire - Meat Puppets
Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More - Mudhoney
Half-Ass Monkey Boy - Mother Love Bone
Negative Creep - Nirvana
Gun - Soundgarden




The Jam:


Hoodoo Gurus: