Mixology: Sweet Tapeage

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.

Mixology: Sweet Tapeage (Fall 1986)

I just went up to the eaves in our bedroom that we use for storage and dug out a whole pile of old cassettes, including this chestnut from my sophomore year at UNH. It was technically the second mix I made that fall, but the other one was taped over at some point. It was called Totally Intense Tunes and was all hard rock stuff like Zeppelin, Whitesnake et al. I'm guessing I was embarrassed by it and recorded something over it, but I wish I hadn't.

Anyhoo, I made this tape (and other one) on my roommate Steve's stereo. He was a good guy, but pretty stressed out because he had a lot going on: He was an engineering major, on the swim team, in a frat and had a hot girlfriend. As a result, he was either out doing something related to one of those things or in the room studying. Meanwhile, here I was, a carefree English major staying up late partying and generally just enjoying myself. I was doing well in my courses, now that I had switched majors from chemical engineering. I liked to stay up late and watch Letterman until 1:30 a.m. and on certain nights, I'd join the guys next door playing quarters, cranking tunes and just making a lot of noise. Which of course bummed out poor Steve, who was trying to get his homework done. The following year, I ended up living off-campus with a couple of the guys who lived next door.

Everything on this tape was recorded off vinyl. I recorded over another cassette; I was able to just now look under the inlay card I had used. It was over a homemade recording of Elton John's Greatest Hits and the handwriting looks like my buddy Chris, who must have given it to me because he didn't want it anymore. I was more than likely flat broke at the time and couldn't afford to buy a new cassette.

Some good stuff on this one that you don't hear much anymore: U2's "Like a Song...", VH's "Women in Love," Rush's "In the End." Some classics: The Who's "Young Man's Blues," Zep's "Trampled Underfoot," The Beatles' "A Day in the Life," Pretenders' "Precious," the Stones' "Hang Fire." Some WTF choices: Henley's "Drivin' With Your Eyes Closed" (didn't get sick of him until '90), Dweezil Zappa's "I Feel Like I Wanna Cry." The Neil Young song was from his '86 album Landing on Water, which was universally panned because of all the synths and stuff, but I kinda liked it. Dug that Plant song a lot, too.

It was '86, the Sox were about to lose the World Series to the Mets in horrific fashion, and life was pretty damn good for the most part.

Side A
A Day in the Life - The Beatles
Distressed - Max Webster
Invisible Sun - The Police
Drivin' With Your Eyes Closed - Don Henley
Like a Song... - U2
Do You Know, Do You Care - Phil Collins
Hippie Dream - Neil Young
Big Time - Peter Gabriel
Women in Love... - Van Halen
In the End - Rush

Side B
Flesh Wound - Robert Palmer
Change It - Stevie Ray Vaughan
Precious - The Pretenders
Gone Hollywood - Supertramp
Little by Little - Robert Plant
Wind Him Up - Saga
Hang Fire - The Rolling Stones
I Feel Like I Wanna Cry - Dweezil Zappa
Young Man's Blues (live) - The Who
Trampled Under Foot - Led Zeppelin





In the End:


Little by Little: