What You Should Have Heard #29

My Mix CDs

I’ve got a lot of music but limited space to hold it in, especially in my car. So I’ve gone the old tried-and-true way of making mix CDs to have access to as many bands as possible while driving. I’m going slightly old-school since I’m a bit backwards and have no iPod.

Most of the songs will be more upbeat, with probably only the occasional ballad or slower song included. I like to sing in the car, and the more upbeat songs are more fun to sing.

I’ll be going in alpha-numeric order with these, so if you’re wanting to argue with me about what Weezer songs should be included, you’re going to be waiting for a while.

My only limitations are that I use 80 min. discs, and I’m only going to use one disc per band/artist. I will make exceptions for only my most favorite bands with huge playlists (Foo Fighters and Self, off the top of my head), but I’d really like to boil everything down to just one disc.

Here’s the list guide:

Track # - Song Name - Album Name [Artist if album is by a different artist]

Cardigans Mix CD

1. Blah Blah Blah – Been It
2. Burning Down the House – Best Of
3. Deuce – Best Of
4. Been It – First Band on the Moon
5. Happy Meal II – First Band on the Moon
6. Never Recover – First Band on the Moon
7. Lovefool – First Band on the Moon
8. Losers – First Band on the Moon
9. Iron Man – First Band on the Moon
10. Choke – First Band on the Moon
11. Erase Rewind – Gran Turismo
12. My Favourite Game – Gran Turismo
13. Carnival – Life
14. You’re the Storm – Long Gone Before Daylight
15. For What It’s Worth – Long Gone Before Daylight
16. I Need Some Fine Wine and You, You Need to Be Nice – Super Extra Gravity
17. The Boys Are Back in Town – The Other Side of the Moon

A lot of times pop music gets a bad rap. It’s bubble gum. It’s cookie cutter. It’s lowest common denominator. But really, that can be said of any genre. For every AC/DC or Aerosmith, there’s a Creed or Nickelback. For every Backstreet Boys or N’Sync, there’s a Bleu or Cardigans. Pop with talent and creativity. And lead singer Nina Persson is pretty darn cute.

I don’t have much to say about this group. The ballads are soft and nice, and the up-tempo stuff is catchy and fun to sing along with. They’re also a great cover band. They took Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” and Thin Lizzy’s “The Boys are Back in Town” and made them their own. And their cover with Tom Jones of Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House” is almost classic.

Cardigan’s Wikipedia entry

Cardigan’s AllMusic entry

Cardigan’s Official Site

Cardigan’s MySpace page

Cardigan’s Facebook page

Cardigan’s YouTube page

With all the mash-up videos on the web, I’m very surprised that there’s not a good quality video of clips of the Iron Man movie with The Cardigan’s cover or Sabbath’s “Iron Man” backing it. I’m sad.

Here’s the video for “Burning Down the House.”