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Cool and Collected

Collecting pop culture toys, comics, and collectibles collections

August 13, 2012 By 34 Comments

“Remember Yesterday” — my High School Mixtape

This week, the League was asked to list the songs that were forever looping in their tape deck back in high school.

vw bug

I got my driver’s license back in the late 80’s, and on Friday nights you would find me cruising the streets in my VW Bug. I’m a firm believer that every teenager’s first car should be a VW Bug. When something goes wrong with a VW, you hop out and fix it. No lie, I once went three months using a long piece of twine as my accelerator cable.

My Bug was one sweet ride, and it rumbled loud–you knew when I was on your street–and since the car was so loud, the stereo had to be even louder. I had mixtapes for every occasion, but you can bet every one of them was filled with hair bands. The 80’s produced some amazing music, but for this article, I’m going to focus on my late night cruising tunes–you know the ones, those songs that you’d play while driving your date home, all the while hoping it would get you a little something to think about on your ride home.

I could probably write a full blog post on each and every one of these songs and the memories that they each bring to mind. It really surprised me at the wave of nostalgia that came over me while watching each of these videos after so many years. Well, without further delay, here’s the list.

Warrant – Heaven

Journey – Faithfully

Cheap Trick – The Flame

Motley Crue – Home Sweet Home

Skid Row – I Remember You

Bon Jovi – I’ll be There for You

Van Halen – Love Walks In

Bad Company – Feel Like Making Love

Scorpions – Still Loving You

Guns N Roses – Swet Child O’ Mine

White Lion – When the Children Cry

Brian Adams – Heaven

(You didn’t think I’d leave out my namesake did you?)

I thought this was going to be an embarrassing post, but after writing it up, I can honestly say that I’d still fire up any of these songs on a Friday night on my iPod–and hey, no pencil required! (10 points to the first person who understands that reference.)

 

———-

league logo This is the latest post in response to the weekly blog challenge presented by the League of Extraordinary Bloggers. My fellow League members have also been posting their high school mixtapes, so head over to Hobgoblin, TL, Goodwill Geek, and Bubba Shelby for their tunes (and more!).

———-

Filed Under: Other

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. brothermidnight says

    August 13, 2012 at 11:28 pm

    Got to love Skid Row!

    Reply
    • Brian says

      August 14, 2012 at 9:34 am

      Well, with a lead singer named Sebastian Bach, how could you not?

      Reply
  2. ShezCrafti says

    August 13, 2012 at 11:30 pm

    All of these songs are great. Too bad I can no longer listen to that Bryan Adams song, though. It was my wedding song and conjures up all sorts of painful memories (I am divorced). Now Sweet Child of Mine on the other hand… That is my favorite song of all time and it never gets old. \m/

    Reply
    • Brian says

      August 14, 2012 at 9:31 am

      Songs can really have an impact–positive or negative. “Faithfully” was the theme song for my senior prom and I can’t listen to it without being transported back to that night. And the opening sequence of “Sweet Child oMine” is an unbeatable flashback device.

      Reply
      • Iok says

        August 14, 2012 at 8:45 pm

        I hated Guns & Roses but I have to admit that Sweet Child O’ Mine has a killer opening riff . I remember Appetite for Destruction being THE album all the metal kids had and there being a bit furor about the alternate/banned cover.

        Reply
  3. Memoriesoftoymorrow says

    August 13, 2012 at 11:37 pm

    The Scorps!! Still Lovin you!! Nice 🙂 I forgot about that and just downloaded it! No pencil? Wasn’t that a fact book??

    Reply
    • Brian says

      August 14, 2012 at 9:36 am

      I used to love the Scorpions — glad to see a fellow fan here. 😉

      Reply
      • Dex (@Dex1138) says

        August 14, 2012 at 9:52 am

        Their last few albums have been really good.

        Reply
  4. Shawn Robare says

    August 14, 2012 at 7:11 am

    I know I reeled in plenty of tapes guts with pencils back in the day. I also remember stuffing the open tab on the tape top with a wad of paper so that I could record over some tapes when I got tired of them too.

    So many of these songs were recorded off of MTV onto my boombox back in the day, when I was too cheap to buy the singles and had plenty of my parents Hall & Oates tapes that needed to be recorded over…

    Reply
    • Brian says

      August 14, 2012 at 9:32 am

      10 points!

      I miss cassingles. (not really.)

      Reply
    • Dex (@Dex1138) says

      August 14, 2012 at 9:53 am

      Stuffing it with paper? Scotch tape!

      Reply
      • BubbaShelby says

        August 14, 2012 at 1:14 pm

        Yup, scotch tape was always my solution too!

        Reply
  5. TL says

    August 14, 2012 at 7:52 am

    Your mention of White Lion makes this entire topic worthwhile!

    Reply
    • Brian says

      August 14, 2012 at 9:33 am

      Ha! Salt n Pepa just missed my list. 😉

      Reply
  6. Dex (@Dex1138) says

    August 14, 2012 at 8:32 am

    Great mixtape! This is exactly the kind of stuff I was listening to in high school.

    Reply
    • Brian says

      August 14, 2012 at 9:37 am

      I’m looking forward to seeing your mixtape Dex!

      Reply
  7. kngfu says

    August 14, 2012 at 10:09 am

    I have all those albums too (cassettes and cds actually, did have the Crue album on vinyl though) and saw many of those groups in concert way back when. Great mix tape selection.

    Reply
    • Brian says

      August 14, 2012 at 7:16 pm

      You obviously are a man with good taste.

      Reply
  8. Fong Sam says

    August 14, 2012 at 10:16 am

    Damn awesome car. You are one cool cat, Brian. If we had known each other in high school, I would have hated you. Hahaha. And secretly wanting to steal your mix-tape.

    Reply
    • Brian says

      August 14, 2012 at 10:25 am

      Ha! These topics are so much fun to write about because we get to see how far (or not) we have come. In hindsight, high school was such a strange and funny time.

      Reply
  9. Paxton Holley says

    August 14, 2012 at 10:29 am

    I listened to the majority of these as well. More specifically, Van Halen, Motley Crue, Skid Row, Guns N Roses and Journey. Great track list, Brian.

    I’d stuff the holes with paper and then cover them with tape. Just to be sure. I recorded over many of my mom’s Streisand albums. It was my civic duty.

    Pax

    Reply
    • Brian says

      August 14, 2012 at 10:34 am

      And we thank you for your service. 😉

      I remember recording Sam Kinison’s album over an old Asia tape, hoping my mom would not find it.

      Reply
  10. BubbaShelby says

    August 14, 2012 at 1:16 pm

    Your Beetle would have fit in the back of my station wagon 😉

    Great song selections!

    Reply
    • Brian says

      August 14, 2012 at 7:20 pm

      I don’t doubt it for a second. That’s actually one of the few stunts we never did try with my bug. 😉

      Reply
  11. Jon says

    August 14, 2012 at 2:28 pm

    That car is amazing. What became of it?

    Reply
    • Brian says

      August 14, 2012 at 7:18 pm

      It literally fell to pieces around me and was sold off to another naive kid with big dreams a few years later. (It was awesome for a while though!)

      Reply
  12. Jonathan Mayne says

    August 14, 2012 at 5:03 pm

    Awww mate! My favourite compilation on the list by far. You and I clearly went to the same school of music. We’ve got 3 bands in common and the only reason we don’t have more is that I ran out of songs. Well played!

    Reply
    • Brian says

      August 14, 2012 at 7:18 pm

      Another man with impeccable taste.

      Reply
  13. The Goodwill Geek says

    August 14, 2012 at 8:00 pm

    The Aquanet is getting pretty think in here guys. Just sayin’.

    Reply
    • Brian says

      August 14, 2012 at 8:44 pm

      Hey, if you didn’t empty the can in a week, you were doing it wrong. 😉

      Reply
  14. kngfu says

    August 16, 2012 at 9:35 am

    check out SLIPPERY WHEN WET, a great station on iHeart Radio

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. The Class of ’99 Mixtape | ShezCrafti says:
    August 14, 2012 at 10:03 pm

    […] what this is all about? This week’s assign­ment from The League of Extra­or­di­nary Blog­gers was to cre­ate a 12-song mix­tape from the […]

    Reply
  2. I listen to one of my old mixtapes from 1996 « Cavalcade of Awesome says:
    August 16, 2012 at 8:01 am

    […] mixtapes from around the League: 1. Brian at Cool and Collected talks about his high school mixtape 2. Tim over at Flashlights are Something to Eat also unearths one of his original high school […]

    Reply
  3. The League has spoken: Mixtapes — Cool and Collected - collecting pop culture memories and memorabilia says:
    August 20, 2012 at 10:23 am

    […] Cool & Collected […]

    Reply

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