Beastie Boys - “So What’cha Want (Soul Assassin Remix)” 1992 - RIP MCA
Winter 2003 Power Pop Mix
I made this mix in early 2003, right before Q And Not U left on a tour of Japan and, upon returning to the U.S., a short tour up and down the west coast. Clearly, my love of power pop and punk was in full bloom, as well as the influence of the “DIY” series of compilations that Rhino had put out in the mid-90s. I had bought a few from the cutout bins at various truck stops and record stores and they (along with all of the other records they led me to) soundtracked much of the next few years for me. They were particularly important in that they led me into the discographies of lesser-known bands. I already loved Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, The Jam, XTC, Joe Jackson, etc. but I had no idea who The Squares, The Jags, The Boys, Kursaal Flyers, etc. were. From there, I went to pretty ridiculous depths to find great, lost songs and still keep coming across them to this day. Anyway, this mix distills much of what I was loving at that time. Many thanks to my friend Ben Boyer for rescuing this mix and sending the playlist along to me. For the record, “Rock and Roll Girl” (which starts the mix), may be my choice for Song To Send Into Space To Represent Humanity. What a perfect song.
1. Rock and Roll Girl - The Beat
3. Color Me Impressed - The Replacements
4. The High Party - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
5. Walking Out on Love - The Breakaways
6. Everybody’s Happy Nowadays - Buzzcocks
7. Don’t Push Me Around - The Zeros
9. Brickfield Nights - The Boys
10. Dancing the Night Away - The Motors
11. You Tore Me Down - Flamin’ Groovies
12. Love Comes in Spurts - Richard Hell and The Voidoids (The link goes to a Heartbreakers’ version of the clip, which I don’t like as much as the Voidoids version, but all of the Voidoid versions were removed from YouTube due to copyright issues. You’ll still get the idea.)
13. Television Generation - Kursaal Flyers
14. I Can’t Stand My Baby - The Rezillos (This link goes to a clip of the original single version of this tune, as opposed to the slightly faster LP version, which was the one I used on the original mix. Not a huge difference but I couldn’t find the LP version on YouTube)
15. Black and White World - Elvis Costello (Sorry, I couldn’t find any good clips of this online — just some mediocre fan footage shot on his latest tour. This song is from “Get Happy!” which, if you don’t have it, is a must.)
16. Soldier’s Requiem - Naked Raygun
17. Understand - Government Issue
18. We Got the Neutron Bomb - Weirdos
20. Someday Someway - Marshall Crenshaw
21. Forget All About It - Nazz
22. On Top of the World - Cheap Trick
