Mix Tape of the Day: May 24, 2015 - Let Us Give Franks!

It is the best holiday of the year, Franksgiving! So let us celebrate all the wonderful Franks in our lives.

1. All I Ever Do - Frank (2006)

2. "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow" Suite - Frank Zappa (1974)

3. Joyriding - Frank Iero from frnkiero andthe cellabration (2014)

4. Los Angeles - Frank Black (1993)

5. Thinkin Bout You - Frank Ocean (2012)

6. Got the Time - Frank Bello and Anthrax (1990)

7. Little Charmer - Frank Gambale (1994)

8. Hell March - Frank Klepacki (1996)

9. Dragonfly - Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush (1976)

10. Recovery - Frank Turner (2013)

11. All by Myself - Frank Edwin Wright III, a.k.a. Tré Cool of Green Day (1994)

12. My Way - Frank Sinatra (1969)

13. Cottleston Pie - Frank Oz as Fozzie Bear (1977)

Mix Tape of the Day: March 14, 2015 - Pi Day

How am I going to do a Pi Day mix?  Why, by choosing a bunch of songs with a runtime of 3 minutes and 14 seconds of course!  I'm going by official album track listings, so while the links may be off by a few seconds, there was still good intention behind each choice.  This is going to be a strange one.

1. Stay with You - Lemon Jelly (2004) To get us ready for this eclectic mix of songs, it's only fitting that we start with this electronic house music.  Just endlessly repeating the same phrase over and over, like a circle.

2. My Number One - Luv' (1980) More like "My Number Pi," amirite?

3. Waiting - Green Day (2000) Green Day just keeps popping up!  Can't keep them down.  Just like pi...

4. NYC Beat - Armand Van Helden (2007) How do you like them apple pi?

5. There's No Other Way - Blur (1991) This is to make up for the day that I skipped out on making a Blur mix.

6. Light Up the Night - Boyzone (2013) Can a 20-year-old boy band still call themselves "Boyzone"?

7. Bad Boy - Cascada (2004) This is the first song that comes up when you search Wikipedia for songs with a length of 3:14.  So It must be historically significant.

8. Bigmouth Strikes Again - The Smiths (1986) I'm going to have to wean myself on to the Smiths.  I know that they are supposed to be the band you list as your favorite if you want to call yourself a music critic, but it's daunting to go into their work unfamiliar with their catalog.

9. Let's Work Together - Canned Heat (1970) Hey! A song that I actually knew before starting this endeavor!  Since pop songs are required to be between 3 and 4 minutes for radio airplay, I thought I'd encounter many more familiar songs.

10. Celebrate - Three Dog Night (1969) Oh, right, we are here to celebrate pi!

11. Time is Tight - Booker T. and the MG's (1969) If you're thinking to yourself, "This sounds like the intro for the Blues Brothers," you are not alone.  It was influenced by "I Can't Turn You Loose" and the Blue Brothers would pair the two similar instrumental pieces together to make an extended epic intro.

12. Horny as a Dandy - Mousse T. vs. The Dandy Warhols (2006) Here's a mashup of Mousse T.'s "Horny" and the Dandy Warhols' "Bohemian Like You."  Had it not been 3 minutes and 14 seconds long, I would have never discovered it.  And my life is all the better for that random time code.

13. Invincible - Lemar (2012) Like Lemar, pi is invincible.  It'll always go on forever and ever.  And this song is just an incredible feat, worthy of infinity.

Mix Tape of the Day: March 13, 2015 - The Best of 2005

Time to go back to 2015.  We are now 10 years in the past, and things look...not really that different.  Most of these artists are still going strong today, even if things have died down a bit.  Once again, it was a bit tough coming up with 13 favorites.  And I'll warn you now, I didn't include "Feel Good, Inc."  It just doesn't click with me.  I'm sorry.

1. Beverly Hills - Weezer (2005) I was always kind of aware of Weezer, but it wasn't until "Beverly Hills" that I really began to take notice.  I knew they were clever, but now I felt they had a more enjoyable quality than before.

2. Sugar, We're Going Down - Fall Out Boy (2005) Fall Out Boy's back with their first hit,  "Datahwhenyerinoryeround."

3. Wake Me Up When September Ends - Green Day (2004) I left this one off my Green Day mix, but everyone seems to like it.  I still hear it on the radio all the time.  So, I'll admit, it's good.  Not great...but good.

4. I Don't Want to Be - Gavin DeGraw (2003) Ah yes, a song for the high school senior who was tired of following the rules and just wanted to be him/herself.  At least, that's what it was for me.

5. Just the Girl - The Click Five (2005) Um, I do not remember this band at all.  They feel like every boy band past, present, and future.  So that means that this song is going to be quite...average.  But, like, good average.

6. Listen to Your Heart - DHT (2004) I know this is a cover of an '80s song, but for some reason, I was always under the impression that this was the original version.  Then I went and listened to the original and realized that this one is slower and more introspective.

7. Photograph - Nickelback (2005) Sorry.  Too many memories associated with this one.  I hope they finally figured out what the hell was on Joey's head.

8. Daughters - John Mayer (2003) I always like it when a John Mayer song makes the charts.  It's like one of those "restored faith in humanity" moments.

9. Behind These Hazel Eyes - Kelly Clarkson (2004) Here's more from Clarkson's Breakway album.  She really crafted a work of art with that one.

10. Cool - Gwen Stefani (2004) This song is "Cool."

11. Speed of Sound - Coldplay (2005) Yay, more Coldplay!  I'm glad we're entering Coldplay territory.  The next few yearly mixes should be fun.

12. You and Me - Lifehouse (2005) Here's one of my hopeless romantic songs that I listened to all the time in high school.  Probably the one I listened to the most.

13. Collide - Howie Day (2003) But even better than "You and Me," was "Collide."  It's just so perfect.  I imagine it playing every time I bump into somebody.

Mix Tape of the Day: February 17, 2015 - Green Day

Ah, this came sooner than expected.  It's Billy Joe Armstrong's birthday, so let's countdown some great Green Day tracks!

1. American Idiot - Green Day (2004) The best Green Day might just be American Idiot.  It spawned a Broadway musical!  It does have a lot of great tracks for a concept album, so it makes sense.  Coming right out of the gate with "American Idiot," the album is fun and dramatic and...rockin'.

2. Welcome to Paradise - Green Day (1994) Going back to their Dookie days, Green Day made a name for themselves in the alternative rock scene of the '90s.  I didn't include "Longview" but it did manage to capture the general Green Day sound.  I just happen to like "Welcome to Paradise" more.

3. Basket Case - Green Day (1994) Yay, 4 chords!  That makes this one the best automatically.

4. Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day (2004) Thanks to many popular mashups and remixes, I've probably listened to this track more times than I could count during my early college years.

5. Brain Stew/Jaded - Green Day (1995) I never realized this was two songs, thanks to the radio always playing both together.  They blend together so seamlessly.  At least with Queen's "We Will Rock You/We are the Champions," it's easy to tell that they are different songs.

6. Hitchin' a Ride - Green Day (1997) Something about that Stray Cats sound pulled me into this one.

7. Holiday - Green Day (2004) Hmm, I probably should have saved this one for my vacation mix.

8. Warning - Green Day (2000) Yes, it sounds exactly like "Picture Book" by the Kinks.  That's why I kept it.  Some may call it theft, I call it repurposing.

9. Know Your Enemy - Green Day (2009) Along with "21 Guns," this song was included in the American Idiot musical.  I guess, Green Day wasn't through picking apart today's generation of American idiots.

10. Jesus of Suburbia - Green Day (2004) American Idiot set out to be an epic, so of course there had to be some epic songs on it.

11. Let Yourself Go - Green Day (2012) Hey, Green Day's still got it!  There were many choices from their Uno! Dos! Tres! albums I could have included in place of this one.

12. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day (1997) I was saving this for my graduation mix, but it fits well for any sort of era coming to an end.  I always listen to it at the end of a particularly memorable event.

13. Whatshername - Green Day (2004) This is the last song on American Idiot, and it's also the finale for the musical.  It's one I nearly overlooked, but I'm glad I stuck through the album the whole way.  A perfect conclusion.