Is this pointless? Or just wrong?

I've just got the urge to put "(I Don't Want to Go To) Chelsea", "Redondo Beach", and "Police and Thieves" all on the same mix, but I'm wondering if that would be almost like putting "Satisfaction" or "Lola" or something onto a mix. Just seems like something I shouldn't do.

Or are those particular songs (the first 3 I mentioned) not that familiar? Like I don't think they ever get played on the radio around here.

This is for a mix to give/exchange, btw. I know it wouldn't matter if it were just for me.

If it works better than any other song, use it.

"Saving All My Love For You"

Probably not going on my next mix.

I think it depends on the intended recipient. Most of the people who ask me to make them a mix know dick about music, so I could easily slide those in because they almost certainly haven't heard them. But if the person is obnerish in their musical knowledge, then maybe it might be like putting 'Satisfaction' on a mix and hence, should be avoided.

i agree, i've introduced too many people to the clash to think "police and thieves" is well known to everybody. "rock the casbah" maybe.

what is the difference between putting a well known song or an unknown song on a mix?

if a person is already ultra familiar witht e artists, then go withthe obscure....

but if the mix is for a music novice, why not give them the songs that the masses already love, instead of trying to be all indie and picking an obscure favorite....

In my opinion, if the song fits the theme or idea, use it. Plus with some of my mixes I give to novice music lovers, I try to throw at least one famliar song or artist on there so they don't toss the cd in the trash with an exasperated, "Oh, that Dana and her obscure bands..."

Yeah, these were being considered for part of a second mix for the Obner mix exchange thing. I didn't really have an overall theme (there are more like 4 themes over the course of the disc), but it's just kind of a jumble of what my favorite stuff has been lately.

I suppose my excuse for using those songs would be that they're an honest representation of what some of my favorite stuff is at the moment. I could probably come up with something else just as easily, though, that might not be quite as familiar, but I'm really not trying to impress anybody with this. I just don't want to bore them.

Also, would Steely Dan - "My Old School" be the same sorta thing? I just started listening to them recently, but that song seems really familiar. I can't remember if I used to hear it on classic rock radio or not.

Sorry to break the news, but my mix for the exchange will have "familiar" songs on it, but it fits.

I think it's a cool idea for people to make mixes of their favorite stuff for the exchange so I have no problem getting songs from people that I already know really well. It's the mix as a whole that gives it personality.

From the classic rock radio I've ever heard, that's not one that typically pops up "Rikki Don't Lose that Number" "Reeling in the Years" and "Do it Again" would be the holy trilogy of CR radio.

I guess it all depends on your exact aim. Whenever I make a mix for the musically ignorant, I try to throw on a few songs that I think they might like and then I'll dig for something they probably know but haven't heard in forever.

"My Old School" is definately an FM Classic Rock song. A good song, though.

I think that if the converse is to put on a less than stellar, yet obscure song in place of a great, well-known one, go with the good song. Not everybody has the obscure yet decidedly awesome. music libraries of animals like Dr. Radcliffe.

Although, I think that most of you know that I would put a bunch of fucking well known songs on a mix because I gotta go with what I know.

And I'm a poet and dont even know it.

Yeah, but this isn't for the "musically ignorant". I should've clarified that in my first post.

Anyway, I think the gist of what you all are saying is that I can use popular songs if they fit really well. And that's kinda hard to say at this point. I've tried to build a mix around a bunch of really unrelated stuff (although those first 3 fit together really well), and I could just as easily substitute something else for those songs. That's probably what I'll do.

Steely Dan stays, though.

I eschew things I suspect folks will have heard.

I may have not ever heard this word spoken in plain conversation, to be honest.
mix worthy, then?

I see no problem with it myself. is "Redondo Beach" the Jimmy Webb song? I'm not sure I've ever heard it, and I actually lived a few blocks from Redondo Beach for almost ten years so I'd think somewhere along the way I'd have heard it.

I find myself with a similar dilemma. I've been picking out a lot of 70's soul and jazz with very overtly political themes. It seems almost wrong not to include Curtis Mayfield and Gil Scott Heron if that theme takes over but at this point I don't plan to.

you mean the point to make a mix is to put UNFAMILIAR songs on their?

i think you and i make mixes in 2 completely different ways.


i mean, i don't make a mix with the intent of people KNOWING the songs. i go more for the flow.

"Redondo Beach" is Patti Smith. What connects those 3 songs I mentioned is that they're all punkish-type bands playing reggae-ish stuff. Those three songs are probably my favorite examples of that sort of thing, but I couldn't really come up with anymore I wanted to use so I took them out of the mix.

Anyway, the mix has changed pretty drastically now, and even Steely Dan got axed. There's still songs on it by XTC, Gary Numan, Kraftwerk, and Frank Zappa that a lot of people might know, but they're not the most popular or most played by any of those.

Yeah. And one of the great things about mixes is, they can reveal a song in a totally different context.

Go with what moves you.

It's definitely a point to take into consideration. I am less likely to use a familiar song, but that is weighed against its appropriateness. If outweighed, I still use it.

Appropriority.

Appropriator.

if its a good song, its a good song. if it fits the theme or fits well with the mix, go for it

That guitar line in "(I Don't Want To) Go to Chelsea" is unfuckwithable. I say use it.