I have a lot of really specific memories from the songs on this mix, more so than most of my mixes. While all of them give me a sense of a period of time, not all of them make me think of exact moments in time, but I think perhaps this is all due to the fact that the final year of the 20th century (and those who argue that the first year of the new millennium is 2001 should consider the fact that hitting 1 marks the end of the first year, so ’99 was actually the 100th year of the 1900’s — just like birthdays, people, it’s not science) and, being the sentimental sort that I am, everything seemed amplified.
There’s also the simple fact that 1999 marked the end of a lot of important things for me, from the end of my last, full fledged band, the end of my first, long term relationship, the start of my last year of college. In other words, this mix is kind of mushy in spots, which is funny, given that next year I would start an entire series of mixes featuring only slow songs (but I will spare you those, unless you’re a sadist).
“Clarity” by Jimmy Eat World
“Breakfast of Champions” by Rainer Maria
“Coffee and TV” by Blur
“Carnival” by Burning Airlines
“Generator” by the Foo Fighters
“Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck” by Prong
“Wear Two Eyes (Boom)” by June of ’44
“Atlantic” by Rainer Maria
“Devil You Know (God Is A Man)” by Face to Face
“Virgin State of Mind” by K’s Choice
“I Don’t Care For You” by Action League
“Disappear (Version Chula Vista)” by J Church
“Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” by Cake
“With or Without You” by U2
“Days Were Golden (live)” by Sunny Day Real Estate
“Goodbye Sky Harbor” by Jimmy Eat World
Buffy continue to have an influence on my life, as the Face to Face and K’s Choice songs are from the soundtrack. The two songs after that are from the “Songs for the Broken Hearted” compilation that I actually bought well before being broken hearted. While that Sunny Day Real Estate song is from the album they released the previous year, this was a live recording they’d release in 1999, and it was a song that I really, really loved when I saw them play it live.
That Prong song might be the best example of how one person can work a song into my life; my friend Jay used to play that every night before parties. I still can’t hear it without returning to the living room at 18 Oak St., expecting to see Jay with a cigarette in one hand and a bottle of whiskey in the other.
Sadly, those days were numbered after the century ended. My mixes, however, would continue on undeterred.
KyleGarret.com 