6. Goo Goo Dolls - Iris
7. Jesus Christ Superstar: Jon Stevens - Heaven On Their Minds
8. Susanna Hoffs - No Kind Of Love
9. The Thompson Twins - Hold Me Now
10. The Corrs - The Right Time
11. The Police - Every Breath You Take
12. No Doubt - Don't Speak
13. Wendy Matthews - The Day You Went Away
14. Green Day - Time Of Your Life
15. Shawn Mullins - Lullaby
16. Crowded House - Don't Dream It's Over
17. Temperance - Forever Young
What Missed Out: My quota of songs was only just reached. A fair few songs
were sacrificed to make the feel of the music more authentic to the theme. Picking
a Jesus Christ Superstar song wasn't easy, and Everything's Alright missed
out because it became a little annoying and repetitive after a while of listening
to it, despite it being a great song. One theme I had to miss out was when I was
in Venturer's, Touch and Go's Would You..., which was only connected to it
because I heard it on the radio so often whenever I drove there. Real McCoy's
Runaway got a mention as an early dance song, and Blink 182's Dammit
is on my list, although I don't remember hearing it, so someone probably just
recommended it to me. Some closer calls that got scrapped only minutes before
the burn were The Lighthouse Family's High, and some Corrs songs - I
had serious trouble deciding between several, including Radio, Someday, Say
and Give Me a Reason.
Favourites: Iris, Lullaby, and Heaven On Their Minds.
Why I Chose Them:
1. I'm told Graduation didn't actually come out till the year after I
graduated, but that's okay. This song introduces the story, thinking about the
times of what happened way back when. What we heard, what we said, what we felt.
I love the bridge where the music gives off a feeling of fear. Fear of the future.
2. One of the first songs I ever downloaded, Beautiful Life was a really
addictive song despite the fact it was so old, and when I heard it, I thought it
pretty good. When I first got into music, I was a bit behind with the times, and
I started listening to some 80s music in the late 90s. This is no exception. This
was probably around the point I started realising that it really was a beautiful
life. It was the beginning of realising my potential as a person.
3. Ricky Martin's first really groovy song, Livin La Vida Loca did some
damage whenever there was a dance on. Probably one of the most played dance songs
at the time, Wade asked me to sing it with him at his semiformal in late '99.
I *really* wish I'd known the words to it at the time. Otherwise, I would have
not hesitated in accepting his offer.
4. One of the three first CD's I ever liked, Kim Wilde worked magic on me with
The Singles Collection. I chose You Keep Me Hangin' On because of it's
relevance. I was almost being tortured in the second last group I was in. It
got to the point where I couldn't say anything or I'd get paid out in some way,
so I kept quiet day after day. My mind was screaming, but saying much about it
was worse. I knew it wasn't going to last forever. I just didn't know how long
it would last.
5. Things weren't that bad though. I did drama all through high school while
I was in Mackay, and any form of performing arts drew me in like a magnet. After
hearing about Gary's Rock Eisteddfod performance the year before, hearing about
my school's entry made me very excited. By this point, I'd learned and liked
dancing, and this was my first (and only) chance to learn to do it choreographed.
The theme was Fashion: Torn Apart At The Seams. We did everything from funky,
to creative, to suave, to plastic, as well as the importance of knowing who
you are. We came 3rd, in 1998.
6. Performances didn't stop there. In early 1999, it was announced that we were
going to perform Jesus Christ Superstar, and I desperately wanted a major part.
I selected Iris for my audition, partly because of the way it was originally
sung, and that I felt like I could really associate with it at the time. Nothing
could be more relevant. This song earned me a second audition, so long as I managed
to get a hold of Pilate's Dream, the first song for the character I was
auditioning for. I couldn't get it, so I didn't get it. Instead, I got chosen to
play Annas, a high priest. I got a lot of shit for it because people kept calling
me anus for most of the time it was on. It was all good though...
7. ...especially when it came to performance time. Probably my favourite song from
the musical, Heaven On Their Minds is Judas' first song, sung by Andrew
Simpson at ours. The song itself also symbolised a lot of lack of listening, which
coincedentally was happening at the time. The performance on the final three nights
was stunning. We got a video, but it certainly didn't do it justice, being taped
from too far back.
8. Another one of the three first CD's I ever liked, I couldn't stop listening to
Susanna Hoffs over and over whenever I was designing Duke3D levels, and listening
to them now makes me remember the careful planning I was doing, letting my
creativity do whatever it felt like doing. I chose No Kind Of Love because
it symbolises the lack of friendship I kept feeling whenever I thought I was alone
and the fact I broke my promise that I'd have a girlfriend by the time I'd finish
school - a promise I think I broke for the right reasons.
9. Continuing from the last song, my image of what love was was clear, despite the
fact I wasn't feeling it from anywhere else. The ideal world. How far will I go?
Hold Me Now connects to just about every event I can think of that happened
in some way, making it relevant for the CD. Probably one of the more significant
events was my first venture onto the online world. I discovered a BBS called
Reflections where I met a lot of people and expanded my personality (an expansion
that I started when I left primary school and had had enough of who I was). A lot
happened on that BBS, which later got renamed to Orion, and my life wouldn't be
the same had it not been there. It's where love began to be defined.
10. The amount of trouble I went through choosing The Right Time amongst
the other Corrs songs was insane. I chose this one, remembering Kate Eyles singing
it in drama one time when we were rehearsing to perform at the local shopping
centre. Not to mention this song being one of the first corrs songs I heard,
making them my favourite music. And this time was definitely the right time. Our
Year 12 camp was at Magnetic Island. One of the most important experiences of
my life happened there, which I commonly refer to as the Enlightenment. It
brought the whole grade closer together, and for the first time I felt like
we were not only going to be friends among the grade, but like we always had been.
11. Then the inevitable happened. Mark Camilleri and Lauren "Lol" Fraser died in
a car crash on October 4th, 1999. I'll never forget the silence as we walked up to
the usually-noisy area we used to meet up at in the mornings. It stung, badly. Our
formal was meant to happen in a couple of days, and it was postponed because nobody
was going to have a good time so soon after this. Every Breath You Take was
the song sung by Helga Manthey at the funeral. They said the grieving period would
last six weeks. I tried to say to myself that that would be it after the funeral.
I'm still not over it.
12. It hurt us. Badly. I tried to tell my friends that I was glad that they at
least got through the camp while they were still with us. But there was nothing
I could say. He put his argument before me very simply. They were gone. Nothing
could change it. Don't Speak had more relevance than just that though; while
we were in IT one day, I remember Megan McBow using it in her project. It was the
first time I heard the song, and I really, really liked it.
13. Backing up a little, I started working at coles in late '97. The meat dept
was lonely, I was working three afternoons a weak, cleaning the meat hall on
my own. All I had to keep me company was the music that repeatedly played every
day. The Day You Went Away was the one I remembered most, even though it
was one of the quietest ones that played. I was in the frame of mind at work that
it was a decent job, there wasn't much I really hated about it. I got to do a lot
of thinking whenever I was at work, and songs like these made me think about what
was happening around me, be it my friendships, my family, the work I had to start
doing when I got home, and the work I had to do when I got to school.
14. The guys in music did a lot with Mr Michael Oldbury, the music teacher. They
liked to play dance versions of Time Of Your Life as one of their songs,
and for my final year, it was great. Nothing could be more uplifting. We were
definitely having the time of our lives, and we knew we would.
15. The mocktail wasn't half as much fun as I'd hoped it to be. I met up with a
who's life I was in the middle of trying to destroy. Not a fun story, but she
asked me to dance. I was warned not to get into a relationship with her - rumour
had it she was a compulsive liar and someone who used people. When she asked me
to dance, the song that was playing was Lullaby. You could almost call it
our song, because that's exactly what it would've been if I'd agreed. I didn't,
and I think they ended up playing it twice that night. It didn't stop me thinking
about having a real relationship and dancing with her to this.
16. Don't Dream It's Over was meant to be sung at our graduation as our
song. For some reason, we didn't, and I don't think anyone particularly cared.
Nevertheless, it's still a reminder of the final days, and it still remains our
song as far as I'm concerned. The song was a paradox in itself. It was over,
but it was also just beginning.
17. Things didn't end on a depressing wave. Hopes and dreams always perservere.
Forever Young marks the end of the story. Would I go back to who I was
then and do it all over again? Definitely. For now though, I'll continue living
my life using everything I learned back then, making the most of everything.
Present
Make: Made in March 2002, using my burner in my computer (Boris).
More coming soon.
Listing:
1. Aneiki - Superhero
2. Bomfunk MC's - B-Boys Fly Girls
3. Shaggy - Dance And Shout
4. Geri Halliwell - Scream If You Wanna Go Faster
5. No Doubt - Hey Baby
6. Leah Haywood - Summer Of Love
7. Gloria Estefan - Everlasting Love
8. Belle Perez - The Way You Are
9. Michelle Branch - Everywhere
10. Joanne - I Don't Know
11. Vertical Horizon - Everything You Want
12. Natalie Imbruglia - Wrong Impression
13. Lisa Loeb - Stay
14. The Corrs - Somebody For Someone
15. Jennifer Lopez - Promise
16. Jill Sobule - Bitter
17. Aaliyah - Try Again
18. Tina Arena - Something's Gonna Change
19. Mike And The Mechanics - All I Need Is a Miracle
20. Billie Myers - Am I Here Yet? (Return To Sender)
21. Alanis Morrisette - You Learn
Future
Make: I first made a preview of Future because I was urged to for a party, sometime in mid to late 2001.
Remake: The real future reburned at around 5am on the 25th February, 2003, using my burner in
my computer (Boris).
Description: Coming soon.
Listing:
1. Cosmic Gate - Somewhere Over The Rainbow
2. Jennifer Lopez - If You Had My Love [dance]
3. Spice Girls - Wannabe [dance]
4. Leah Haywood - We Think It's Love [dance]
5. Amber - This Is Your Night
6. Belinda Carlisle - Summer Rain [justin strauss]
7. Rollergirl - Eternal Flame [remix]
8. Pulsedriver feat. Fragma - Cambodia
9. Riva ft. Dannii Minogue - Who Do You Love Now
10. Aurora - Ordinary World
11. Filter - Take A Picture [hybrid]
12. Novaspace - Time After Time [radio]
13. Ace of Base - Everytime It Rains
14. DJ Sammy & Yanou feat. Do - Heaven [s'n'y radio]
15. Madhouse - Like a Prayer
16. Tina Cousins - Mysterious Times
17. Interactive - Forever Young 2001 [radio]
What Missed Out: I was wrestling with trying to put Sophie Ellis Bextor's remix of Murder On The
Dance Floor, but I was about 30 seconds over my allowable 80 minutes. Ordinary World was almost gone,
but removing Murder, I managed to fit on both Ordinary World and Like A Prayer at the last
minute.
I got a lot of different remixes and dance songs to put on this, some which included Naked and Sacred,
Crush's Jellyhead (which we'll see on a future compilation for certain), Mel C's I Turn To You,
Darude's Feel The Beat, Brit Spears' Baby One More Time, Aqua's Barbie Girl, Cher's
Believe, Vitamin C's The Itch, Lighthouse Family's High, J. Lo's Waiting For Tonight,
Unique II's Break My Stride, Baha Men's Who Let The Dogs Out, Natalie Imbruglia's Torn,
Gabrielle's Out Of Reach, Bomfunk MC's Freestyler, among a few others. Madonna's calderone mix
of Beautiful Stranger was another one I missed just because there wasn't enough room. As you can see,
there's enough to make almost a second compilation for a Future Mark II.
