Jamie normally writes a very straightforward music column about very straightforward music things, but for the next few installments he will be exploring a childhood mixtape, recently found in a box in his closet. This is part two.

I stand in my kitchen at two in the morning, furiously cramming two AA batteries into my old walkman. For some reason they don’t want to fit. This shoddy machine is the only thing standing between me and my recently-rediscovered childhood mixtape. A tiny misshapen piece of plastic is ruining my beautiful moment. I stop, take a breath, and carefully fit them in.

I flip the tape to side B. I throw it in, I hit fast forward, and I wait. And I wait. And I wait. After 30 seconds I tell myself I appreciate the delayed gratification. A minute passes and the optimism gives way to rage. I start to remember why everybody was so eager to switch to CDs.

The tape finally stops. I pull it out, flip it over, and slide it back in. I press play.

The sound crackles warmly in my ears. Tiny, barely audible wisps of noise pop in and fade out–little pulses of electricity running across the weary tape. Then, suddenly, as if from behind a bush, Steve Harwell’s iconic voice jumps out and starts yelling.

“Walking out of the door I’m on my way can you tell me just where I’m going / Occupational skills would you give me a clue what to do ’cause my mind’s in motion!”

A huge smile spreads across my face. Oh, Smash Mouth. I remember them so well. They were one of the first bands I ever truly loved. Running down the track list, I see the love was not forgotten on Jamie’s Mix 1999. It includes not one, not two, but six songs by the short-lived pop/rock legends. But each song is a gem, in some way, to my strange 11-year-old self.

The whole track list, handwritten on the insert in pencil, looks like this:

Side A
Come On Come On
All Star
Can’t Get Enough of You
Walkin’ on the Sun
The Fonz
Padrino
One Week
Never is Enough
Who Needs Sleep
Come Out and Play
Pretty Fly
Jump Jive an’ Wail
Zoot Suit Riot

Side B
Semi-Charmed Life
Save Tonight
The Way
Whip It
Satisfaction (Devo)
Satisfaction (R.S.)
Working in the Coal Mine
Jocko Homo
Tubthumper

As the tape winds on the memories start flooding back. They sweep me up and carry me away, leaving me a helpless bystander to the past:

Continue reading [Hype Hype Hooray] The Mixtape, Part 2: The Weird Kid From Portland →