Greatest Hits (A Muxtape Game)
I recently went through an old leather CD case, purging old burned CD’s to make room for audiobooks - which I’ve been listening to more and more on my semi-daily commute. While doing this, I came upon a CD titled “Tim’s Greatest Hits.” Curious, I decided to leave it in the case and listen to it the following morning en route to work. The next morning, I popped in my greatest hits CD and prepared for the worst…and got it.
Here’s the playlist in the original order (with release dates in parentheses):
1. Matchbox 20 - Push (1997)
2. Creed - With Arms Wide Open (1999)
3. Dave Matthews Band - Crush (1998)
4. Dave Matthews Band - Crash (1996)
5. K-Ci & JoJo - All My Life (1997)
6. R. Kelly - I Wish (2000)
7. Kenny Wayne Sheppard - Last Goodbye (2000)
8. The Verve Pipe - Freshman (1997)
9. Tom Petty - Free Fallin’ (1989)
10. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge (1991)
11. Tupac - Changes (1998)
12. Lil’ Troy - Wanna Be a Baller (1998)
13. Pearl Jam - Last Kiss (1998)
14. The Notorious B.I.G. ft. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - Notorious Thugs (1997)
15. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - Tha Crossroads (1996)
16. Three 6 Mafia - Late Nite Tip (1997)
Obviously, my musical tastes have changed since I was 15. But what really struck me about this CD was that I was able to commit to disc 16 tracks that at the time were my favorite songs. 16 songs that I preferred over all others. What would I include on my current greatest hits CD?
After days of thinking it over - I’ve posted to my Muxtape what I consider my latest greatest hits. The criteria I used:
The songs I enjoy most
regardless of the artist’s other work
ignoring “cred”
forgetting about music critics
and knowing I could change my mind again in eight more years
or less
The game: Update your Muxtape to reflect your current greatest hits. And if you don’t have a Muxtape - go get one…and update it to reflect your current greatest hits. Send them to me or blog them and I’ll repost them here. Ready, set, go!
This was fairly difficult for me. In light of the masive amount of new music I’ve been listening to lately, I tried hard to stay away from songs I’m really into right now and find stuff that has never left my CD player or iTunes playlists. Narrowing it down to 12 from the first cut proved even more difficult as I had to leave out some of my favorite bands.
I, like my friend Tim at Youth and Young Manhood, have my fair share of mixes from high school I am embarrassed to mention. Featuring artists like Nelly, Bush, 112, and Fastball, I sincerely wish I could go back in time and slap 16 year old Matthew in the face for his idiocy. At the same time, some of the songs on my latest greatest hits are fairly old but infinitely better choices than I made when I was still way into rap. My picks may still be relatively lame, but I stand by them wholeheartedly (right now anyways). So, without further introduction, allow me to present my current favorites of all-time, which I predict will never change again…
