Supermix 4

Created late 1990

Side 1:
Sunshine of Your Love – Cream*
Mayor of Simpleton – XTC
These Days – R.E.M.
Allentown – Billy Joel
Jungle Love – The Steve Miller Band
Purple Toupee – They Might Be Giants
Children of the Revolution – Violent Femmes
More Than a Feeling – Boston*
Blitzkrieg Bop – The Ramones*
Shock the Monkey – Peter Gabriel
Handle with Care – The Traveling Wilburys*
Don’t Do Me Like That – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Raspberry Beret – Hindu Love Gods*
Behind Blue Eyes – The Who

Side 2:
Drive My Car – The Beatles*
Long Distance Runaround/The Fish – Yes
Solid Rock – Dire Straits
King Horse – Elvis Costello and the Attractions
On Any Other Day – The Police
Lola – The Kinks
I’m Still Standing – Elton John*
Wild Child – Lou Reed
Pretty Pink Rose – Adrian Belew*†
Misadventure – Squeeze
Bad Moon Rising – Creedence Clearwater Revival*
Leave or Stay – The Cars
I’m a Man – Spencer Davis Group*
The Spirit of Radio – Rush*

*Artist’s series debut †Unavailable on Spotify

I kind of think of Vol. 4 (created sometime midway through my first year in Montreal; I didn’t record specific dates of completion for many years) as the first mix that qualifies as one of series’s all-time best (although any list of the A-list would have to include Vol. 1). I definitely found this edition to be an improvement over Vols. 2 and 3, neither of which qualify as bad by any stretch. (Yes, there have been some “bad” Supermixes; we’ll get to those soon enough.)

As for why Vol. 4 is one of the best, it’s hard to pinpoint—I suppose that’s inevitable when dealing with such a personal project, one that was never intended to entertain anyone other than the person who created it. (Come to think of it, the vast majority of Supermixes have never been heard by anyone other than myself. I’ve certainly been eager to share them with friends and girlfriends over the years, but rarely seem to have had opportunities.) One way or another, this mix conjures up positive memories, which is ironic, because that first year in Montreal was extremely trying for me. I had a terrible time trying to fit in at that school, and found myself completely unable to make friends for a painfully long time after I’d arrived. I did manage to discover some extracurricular theater (scoring a bit role in a teen production of the musical Into the Woods at the local synagogue), but even that was a bust, with most of the cast barely hiding their lack of respect for me. It seems move to Canada came at the worst possible time for me, just after I’d finally started building a personality I could be proud of, and the confidence that comes with it. The rug had been pulled from under me, and I didn’t have the emotional equilibrium to handle with much grace—I got snippy, and more annoying than ever. Looking back on who I was that year, I wouldn’t have wanted to be my friend either.

So I suppose I took comfort in Supermix 4. And there’s still a lot to love here—the series debut of the Beatles (a band that, like music in general when I was younger, always just seemed to be in the background of life); a song from my newly declared all-time favorite album, Dire Straits’ Making Movies (more on that a few mixes from now); and a cover of a Prince song by Hindu Love Gods, a brief project by members of R.E.M. (whom I already loved, of course) and Warren Zevon (whom I’d grow to love in a few years). “Raspberry Beret” remains one of my two favorite Prince songs (along with “When U Were Mine,” a cover of which shows up on a later mix), but it’s interesting to note that, for all his titanic presence in the pop music of my lifetime, not one Prince proper song has ever appeared on a Supermix. There are reasons for that—a major one of which is a bit of a thorny topic, as you might be able to guess—and I’ll get to those soon enough.

Thinking about it now, it makes sense that I hold Vol. 4 in such high regard. Even though I didn’t like who I was, where I was, and what I was doing at the time, I still really loved my taste of music. If nothing else, I could be proud of that, and I could take both comfort and joy in that. I was realizing that rock & roll—my rock & roll preferences, more to the point—could be there me when it felt like not much else could.