So, you are here about the Mix Tape slash List

I can't say I blame you. I didn't want to include a track listing for a couple reasons. One is that it would be difficult to do with 2 cds and no place for an insert. But the more important reason is that given the ridiculous amount of time I spent on this project, I decided to talk here for a while, and plus it's better if you just listen to the songs first without a preconceived notion of what they are going to be. So you care enough to come here. Good. Tracklisting with annotations is below.

First a couple prefatory notes. Obviously my definition of pop here is pretty loose. I looked for songs that exhibited a pop sensibility in retrospect (though they may have been popular or not at the time), and songs that didn't seem to drink as deeply from the Rock decanter. If one can drink from a decanter. Moving on.Of course many of these are debatable. And I would totally like to hear your thoughts on the subject. Onwards: I tried to have one song per year represented, and the tracklisting is done in roughly chronological order (by album release if not by single release, if the song even was a single). Rule: I couldn't include more than one song by a band. Exception, obviously, is Joy Division / New Order which are demonstrably different bands like the Pixies / Breeders decision. Rule: I didn't include any covers. Rule: I didn't include anything by a so-called one-hit wonder (though this rule seems a bit iffy in retrospect, since there is a long history of pop one-offs). If including one-hits, well, there's certainly Len's "Steal My Sunshine," which I am especially tempted to include since I heard a great mix of this at the Gap recently, dork that I am. So:

 

DISC ONE, 1980-1993

  • 1. Joy Division: Love Will Tear Us Apart (This song, while arguably rock/goth/punk/etc., begins the era of modern pop that I think about when I think pop. Look at how many covers there are of this. And listen to the last few bars, the almost Sixties-era pop riff. That's what makes this pop. And that's what makes this an excellent gatekeeper song to the compilation. It sets the motherfuckin' tone, y'all.)
  • 2. Billy Idol: Dancing with Myself (Shockingly non-dated, this is one of the best pop songs ever made.)
  • 3. The Go-Go's: Vacation (Top of their oeuvre, I'd argue, and they were one of the most pop bands ever.)
  • 4. New Order: Temptation (#1 pop song ever recorded. This is the version on Substance, though I thought about the 7" too. The production here is a lot tighter, I'd argue.)
  • 5. Prince: Little Red Corvette (Obviously there are several close runners-up for Prince Songs. "Kiss" would be an obvious choice, but the Art of Noise feat. Tom Jones cover is superior, and "Let's Go Crazy" would have been good too. Maybe even "Raspberry Beret." He loses points for the Jehovah thing (and the Artist Formerly Known As thing: not very pop at all, but regains points for "Cream.")
  • 6. Talking Heads: Burning Down the House (Arguably the Cardigans feat. Tom Jones cover is better, here too, but there's the rule. And that makes two songs that Tom Jones has covered possibly better than the original.) ALTERNATE: As my friend Emma pointed out, a probably better choice, and one I am leaning towards making, is: "Once in a Lifetime."
  • 7. The Cars: You Might Think (The Circuit City commercial has killed "You're Just What I Needed" for me, and the mark of a Great Pop Song is that it should stay listenable after thousands of listens.)
  • 8. U2: With or Without You (Argued by many to be the perfect pop song.)
  • 9. The Cure: Just Like Heaven (Maybe too obvious of a choice, but they've got such pop action happening, and this is a great song, and besides it should be obvious, no?)
  • 10. Michael Jackson: Smooth Criminal (Best MJ song ever, totally bizarre, with a great video, and it's more interesting of a choice than "Billie Jean," though that's phenomenal, too. This is further out there but still totally genius. Did you ever play one of my favorite arcade games of all time (after Bubble Bobble and Gauntlet, and maybe Golden Axe): Michael Jackson/Moonwalker? Awwwwwwesome.)
  • 11. Pet Shop Boys: It's a Sin ("Always on My Mind" is a great cover, but no covers.)
  • 12. The Smiths: There is a Light That Never Goes Out Previously I had chosen "Girlfriend in a Coma" which is totally defensible, but I've phased it out now. (Also, possibly, "Panic," or "Ask")
  • 13. Madonna: Like a Prayer (Certainly the best Madonna, and the beginning of her better period as a pop star, I think.)
  • 14. The Pixies: Wave of Mutilation (You can't include "Here Comes Your Man," as my wife argues, because it's the least representative Pixies song, which is true, and besides this song is probably better, even if it does fondle the rock teat a bit.)
  • 15. The Stone Roses: Elephant Stone
  • 16. Erasure: A Little Respect (Could have been "Chains of Love" or "Oh L'Amour," but the latter has really dated a little to my ear.)
  • 17. The Jesus & Mary Chain: Head On (Maybe the most rock song on here, but it's sufficiently danceable and summeresque to qualify. The Pixies cover is precluded.)
  • 18. A Tribe Called Quest: Scenario (You know when the Barenaked Ladies reference you in a song this is pop—consult the Busta Rhymes rap, re: chippity choco, the chocolate chicken....)
  • 19. Sugar: If I Can't Change Your Mind (runner-up: "Believe What You're Saying.")
  • 20. Bjork: Big Time Sensuality (Note—this is the edit found on her Greatest Hits (2002) CD, which is superior, and which she has obviously self-selected as the best version.)

 

DISC TWO, 1993-2007

  • 1. The Breeders: Cannonball
  • 2. James: Laid
  • 3. Pulp: Common People (I always used to like "Disco 2000," which is great, but this is an excellently divergent idea for a pop song, and damn has it aged well. No Shatner, though. No. Stop talking.)
  • 4. Smashing Pumpkins: 1979 (High point of their oeuvre, and very fine indeed.)
  • 5. Imperial Teen: Pig Latin (Certainly one of my favorite really pop indie pop acts ever.)
  • 6. Blur: Song 2 (Whoo-hoo!)
  • 7. Hanson: MMMBop [Radio Version] (I would go down defending this song as a stone-cold classic, though it's probably the most disliked-by-others song on this list, I would wager. Still, the sentiments expressed—and so catchily, say what you will—are perfect for pop.)
  • 8. Spice Girls: Spice Up Your Life (Better than my original choice, which was "Wannabe," more recognizable but crappier. This is the most Spice Girls Spice Girls song in its weird, half-assed super-peppy postcolonialism. They have songs I like better, but they're much less Spice Girlsy, genre exercises like "Stop," for instance, but this is the perfect choice. Go me.)
  • 9. The Sundays: Summertime (I debated adding the DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince song by the same title, but did not do so in the end.)
  • 10. Wyclef Jean: Gone 'Til November (thus possibly eliminating Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" feat. Wyclef from 2005. Also bonus points for being an unusual pop song. I couldn't go with Fugees because their best song is certainly the cover.)
  • 11. Belle and Sebastian: Dirty Dream Number Two (Many options here, especially off Tigermilk)
  • 12. Eels: Last Stop: This Town (On an exceptionally depressing album, no less.)
  • 13. Saint Etienne: Sylvie (Very hard to pick just one of their songs, but this is the best, and the least attached to the technopop they're sort of known for.)
  • 14. The Magnetic Fields: I Think I Need a New Heart (Also exceptionally difficult to pick just one. "100,000 fireflies" would have been good, also "Take Ecstasy with Me," but the !!! cover of the latter is better, and I wanted to include a song with Stephin Merritt on vocals.)
  • 15. Basement Jaxx: Where's Your Head At? (Disturbing video, insanely catchy song.)
  • 16. Kylie Minogue: Can't Get You Out of My Head (Totally. My friend Tom forwarded me a live version of this that merges it with New Order's "Blue Monday" which kicks ass.)
  • 17. Superchunk: Late-Century Dream
  • 18. Tegan and Sara: Underwater (Great track, obviously. "Verse, chorus and such.")
  • 19. Fountains of Wayne: Stacy's Mom (I would have preferred, actually, to have included a track from Ivy, the main songwriter from FOW's other band which is much superior, but they've gotten sort of dull, and this is a classic track. Very Cars.)
  • 20. Outkast: Hey Ya!
  • 21. R. Kelly: Ignition (Remix) (Especially hilarious that this song knows it's the remix, and is self-referencing it. Very catchy. Disturbing guy. I can't believe he wrote that atrocious "I Believe I Can Fly" which makes me want to tear myself apart every time I even think about it.)
  • LCD Soundsystem: All My Friends (classic track—I had specifically avoided including anything post-2005, thinking that the songs had not set sufficiently into the psyche, but I have reneged because it's a great song, and one that encapsulates the others in a pleasing way. There is a great discussion of it in a piece from Slate and in a Pitchfork review.)