MAKE ME A TAPE, AS FAST AS YOU CAN: KHATE RESPONDS

Only electronic artist and Voguing To Danzig reader Khate dared to take me up on this challenge. Thanks, Khate!

1. Ramones, "Rockaway Beach"
While not my favorite Ramones tune, it was marvelously apropos to be bouncing along to it in the passenger seat of Alex's Ford Tempo as we headed for Jones Beach (which is just a hop and a skip from Rockaway Beach). It was one of those early April days when, after a long NY winter, 60 degree weather was an occasion for wearing shorts and cutting class.

2. Metallica, "Damage, Inc"
"This SATURDAAAY! LIIIVE, at the Cayuga County Fairgrounds! It's Metallica (...tallica ...allica)! Showtime 7:30, gates open at six, tickets just eighteen dollars! You know it's summer when they're rockin' in Weedsport!"
That last phrase was heard endlessly on 95X FM in Syracuse. Pennsylvania can keep Puxatawny Phil; we had Weedsport to let us know when the seasons were changing.

3 & 4. Morrissey, "Alsatian Cousin" & Skinny Puppy, "Convulsion"
It was no surprise when my best friend in high school came out to me in the men's underwear department of Kauffmann's; even at the tender age of 16, I knew what listening to that much Morrissey meant. We had gone to see "Fantasia" at Fayetteville Mall, and when we came out, there were six unexpected inches of snow on the ground. We crawled home, doing 25 mph on I-81, listening to the tapes we just bought. My new Skinny Puppy tape only lasted one song before it drove him nuts, so it was his new Mozz on repeat as he white-knuckled it down the unplowed highway.

5. Primus, "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver"
It's taking far to long to come up with this list, because it's not enough to merely reminisce about lost loves anymore --- not with Google around.
Jesse, where are you? Can you believe I still have a tape of one of your high school radio shows, when you dedicated not only a Primus song but a McGruff the Crime Dog PSA to me? Can I believe that cassette is now 17 years old? (Load of bricks indeed, Ray.)

6. The Doobie Brothers, "Black Water"
This is perhaps my first musical memory: getting down with the Doobies with those giant 70's headphones (with the curly cord, natch) slipping off my head. I've surprised many people by cranking this song if it should happen to come on the radio. Usually this happens in a car, which means they get the dubious (Doobious? sorry) pleasure of hearing me sing.

7. Djs Glenn Friscia/Hex Hector/David Morales, et al., [???] I apologize for breaking the rules by not picking one song. Trouble is, I have no idea what they are. I've got hours upon hours of house music taped off of Hot97 FM in NY back in the late 90's. For a while, every Saturday night I was home I'd line up a few 120 minute tapes and fetch the fresh sounds. Sunday mornings, I'd treat myself to an egg and bacon bagel from the bodega and listen to last night's booty while I puttered around making art or beading or whatever my hobby du jour was. If I need to recreate that lazy Sunday morning bliss, I turn to these mystery tapes.