Mixtape Monday: "L"

Greetings and welcome to a very special 

Wednesday episode of Mixtape Monday!

The rather unassuming mixtape "L" features a decent blend of Eighties pop, R&B, new wave, hip hop, metal and dance music just like most of the other mixtapes featured thus far. And that's just Side A of the tape.  Side B is a whole 'nother thing as HERC turned back the clock 20-30 years to feature those jukebox oldies his parents had listened to when they were hormone-crazed, music-loving teenagers.

There are a total of seventeen songs on Side B of mixtape "L"; So many songs, the poor girl had to use an additional panel of the J-card to write the titles and artists.  Maybe you like 'em, know 'em and love 'em, maybe you don't. If this isn't one of the oddest Eighties mixtapes ever dubbed by a nineteen year old then it is certainly among the Top 5 don't you think?  

Side A kicks off the New Order's "Blue Monday", quite possibly the most-played-in-clubs, sold-in-stores and influential-post-disco track of all time.  Followed by some R&B and some Devo, then comes the so-called Heavy Breather Subversion of Thomas Dolby's aptly named "Hyperactive!".  Some solo Jagger, some early Idol and then the righteous riffage of "Fast" Eddie Clark and his supergroup, Fastway.  This side of the tape keeps up its jarring lack of continuity by going from metal to Hall Of Fame hip-hop and then seedy synthpop before ending on the funk tip with The Time's "My Drawers".  The one track HERC and the Mrs. hadn't heard in forever and a day was the Grandmaster Flash track from 1985's They Said It Couldn't Be Done.  Very Run-DMC-ish.  And that album title could very well describe this mixtape.

Side B is well Side B.  HERC can't explain it and MRS. HERC has no memory of requesting an oldies tape.  Songs from 1954-1968, ripped form what few oldies albums HERC had back then.  What was agreed upon was that this tape was most probably made in late February or early March 1985.  And there will never be another one like it.

		SIDE A		45:57
1982		Blue Monday	New Order	07:26
1984		Hold On Tight (Don't Let Go)	Dreamboy	04:13
1982		That's Good	Devo	03:25
1984	*	Hyperactive	Thomas Dolby	05:07
1985		Lonely At The Top	Mick Jagger	03:49
1981		Baby Talk	Billy Idol	03:14
1983		Say What You Will	Fastway	03:19
1985		Rock The House	Grandmaster Flash	06:05
1981		Sex Dwarf	Soft Cell	05:10
1984		My Drawers	The Time	04:09
		SIDE B		42:39
1965		Help!	The Beatles	02:15
1959		Running Bear	Johhny Preston	02:38
1959		Sea Of Love	Phil Phillips	02:22
1963		It's All Right	The Impresssions	02:47
1963		Surf City	Jan & Dean	02:27
1963		Pipeline	The Chantays	02:19
1963		Wipe Out	The Surfaris	02:38
1957		School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell)	Chuck Berry	02:41
1962		Let's Dance	Chris Montez	02:15
1954		(We're Gonna) Rock Around The Clock	Bill Haley & the Comets	02:10
1963		(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave	Martha & the Vandellas	02:43
1957		At The Hop	Danny & the Juniors	02:32
1961		Runaway	Del Shannon	02:20
1955		Tutti Frutti	Little Richard	02:27
1962		Duke Of Earl	Gene Chandler	02:28
1957		Little Darlin'	The Diamonds	02:09
1968		Born To Be Wild	Steppenwolf	03:28