Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape, a podcast that
takes the classic mixtape approach to building
a modern playlist. I'm your host, Brian Colburn.
Joining me tonight as guest curator is Jamie
Detringo, lead guitarist and vocalist for The
Seas. Jamie, thank you so much for joining me
on My Weekly Mixtape, man. Thanks for having
me, Brian. Excited to be here. Well, I'd like
to start by asking you the same question I ask
all of my first -time guests, and that is, what
does the word mixtape mean to you? That is such
a good question of decades of actual mixtapes
from physical tapes to CDs to MP3 mixes, but
anything is just a collection, a smorgasbord,
if you will. It could be different songs, artists,
genres, types, filling up a side A and a side
B and then so on and so forth as in the parlance
of our times into technology of CDs. But yeah,
just a random collection of material most of
the time. And tonight will fall under that random
-esque nature because we are talking number one
hits of the 1990s. So this is very similar to
episode 48, number one hits of the 1980s with
Patreon mixtaper Ben Checkness. There's going
to be no deep cuts tonight. We're only talking
banger after banger after banger. Remember, the
deepest of cuts we can pick tonight are number
one songs that only lasted. One week on the chart.
So even then, it's still a number one hit. So
trivia time. Something everyone out there can
use next time it pops up on Jeopardy. How many
songs reached number one throughout the 1990s?
Jamie, do you care to even wager a guess at that
one? Let's say number one songs to the 90s, nine
years. Let's call it 105. You are actually pretty
close. The answer is 140. Okay. But that's really
close. Tonight, you and I are tasked with whittling
down 140 songs to 20 of the best. How do you
feel about that? I'm into it. I love to go back
to the impressionist years of the 90s of the
growth of myself through the proxy of music and
MTV and radio. Fantastic. Well, tonight, as I
mentioned at the top of the show, Jamie and I
will be curating a number one hits of the 1990s
mixtape and we'll use the old cassette deck approach.
Jamie, as my special guest, will begin Side A
with his first song choice, and then I'll add
a song that I feel best follows up that choice.
We'll then flip -flop choosing songs until we've
mapped out 10 songs for Side A. We'll then give
our mixtape a proverbial flip and then we'll
map outside. Be only this time, I'll kick things
off with Jamie choosing second. Our overall goal
for this episode is to craft the best number
one hits of the 1990s mixtape possible through
only 20 songs. And at the end of the show, you
can take our conversation to the next level by
visiting the episode page at myweeklymixtape
.com where you can give our final mixtape a listen
via the embedded playlist. And if you like what
you're hearing on the show, you can help me out
by either telling a friend, leaving the show
a five -star review wherever you're tuning in,
or becoming a Patreon mixtaper at patreon .com
forward slash myweeklymixtape. And a few Patreon
mixtapers chimed in with what they think we should
kick off our playlist with, and I want to give
a shout out to a few of those. Tom Hutchinson
said One Week by the Barenaked Ladies as it was
number one for one week. in 1998, which I immediately
replied to him. Isn't that ironic? Don't you
think? However, that only reached number four
on the charts. So that killed my joke. Chad LaMassa
first expressed his shock that Nirvana's Smells
Like Teen Spirit never made it to number one,
along with the fact that not one of the big four
Seattle bands, meaning Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice
in Chains and Soundgarden had a number one hit.
In the 1990s. So instead, he went with Coolio's
Gangster's Paradise. Ben from the Too Vague podcast
feels like he should have used his pick for this
episode for next week's 90s Canadian artists
episode. And that is Snow's Informer, which spent
seven weeks at number one, something he calls
mind boggling. But then he proceeded to share
with me the fact that Snow recorded the hold
music. for yahoo and it's available on youtube
so if you head over to the episode page at myweeklymixtape
.com i'm going to embed this because you need
to hear this hold me it's the greatest hold news
like if we ever did an episode on the greatest
hold music songs of all time it would be this
song 20 times in a row Seeker chimed in from
Australia saying, since I'm Australian, I'm using
the ARIA charts and will nominate Tomorrow by
Silverchair, which was number one for six weeks
in 1994. That just makes me wonder how the hell
the song didn't chart higher in the U .S. because
I love that tune. And finally, Philip Bergman
chimed in with London Beats' I've Been Thinking
About You. And somewhere on his list is Timmy
T's One More Try, and he's hoping he's not the
only one who liked that song. And I will go as
far as to say that after he posted that, I went
on social media because I hadn't heard that song
in a long time. So I queued it up and gave it
a listen. And strangely enough, I don't remember
any point in my life when I sat down and listened.
To Timmy T's one more try from start to finish.
It may have played at school dances or other
events I was at, but I don't ever remember owning
it or having it on any of my mixtapes. However,
I knew every single word. To that song. And a
lot of people chimed in with their love of the
track. And the whole story behind it. Which is
truly fascinating. If you don't know the story
behind Timmy T's One More Try. I highly suggest
looking it up. And going down a little Wikipedia
rabbit hole. And reading up on that one. It's
really interesting. So Jamie with that. I'm officially
pressing the record button on our mixtape. And
the floor is yours. Why don't you dive into the
song you're choosing. To kick off side A. Thanks
Brian. What's interesting and what I was thinking
about for this mixtape to go by the year 1990,
91, 92, we each pick one from each year and flip
it because I think that really gets you into
the flow of the 90 hits. Maybe not things you
might be listening to today en masse, but it's
kind of a throwback to go that way. What do you
think about that approach? You know what? What
the hell? Let's go for that because that sounds
like a lot of fun. I've got my song bank here.
I am sure that there's at least two songs from
every year of the decade in here. So let's give
that a try. 1990. Let's hear what you got. So
I'm going to go with the anger of 1990 of Madonna
Vogue. I would say coming out of the 80s for
Madonna was obviously the rise of her power and
hold on pop music and Vogue just. The contagious
beat of that song in the videos of the early
90s. I think David Fincher might have directed
that one. You are correct. But that song just
still stays with your head with all the dance
moves and all the flavors that came with that
song. Absolutely love Vogue. Look, I'm not going
to lie. When I was, I think I was like 11 or
12 at the time, we'd sit there watching the video,
doing the hands around, like, you know, boxing
your face, man. I guess that's what you'd call
it. But that song. was so amazing because it
was a throwback single for that dick tracy soundtrack
i actually really love that album it's called
i'm breathless she had that song hanky panky
on there it was just this throwback sound and
it really kind of reintroduced madonna at the
time she was one of the biggest artists on the
planet but it introduced her to some of the older
crowd that may not have been into her like a
prayer type pop sound at the time so i love that
pick And now if I have to stay in 1990, you're
killing me because that means I only get one
song from 1990. And I could go with Nelson's
Can't Live Without Your Love and Affection, Roxette's
It Must Have Been Love. I mean, God, Sinead O
'Connor's Nothing Compares to You. One of the
best covers of all time. It really is. It really
is. But if I'm going to go with one song from
1990, and I can't believe I'm actually picking
something over Nothing Compares to You. I just,
there's something about this song that hits me
so hard. And the way I discovered this song was
actually through something at the New Jersey
malls and the record shops in the late eighties,
early nineties. They had a booth with a little
book and it was called the personics station.
And you would take this piece of paper and you'd
go through the book and pick out songs and you'd
write the number of the song down and then you'd
bring it to the counter. And does this sound
familiar? You'd pay 99 cents a song and they
would record you a mixtape of all songs from
the book. It was actually purchasing customized
mixtapes with your own customized J card and
liner notes. It was awesome. And every month
they would give away a free song. And I brought
up one of my cassettes to be made. And I had
the free song tucked on at the back. And the
kid behind the counter just went, dude, can I
give you one small bit of advice or however you
want to take it? And I said, I'm game. And he
goes, that free song, start to tape with this
because you're going to be rocking this song
forever. It's just that good. And so kicking
off one of my Presonix cassettes. was alana miles
black velvet now this is a song that for me i
know there's a little bit of a cheat going on
here because the song was actually released in
89 but guess what it didn't hit number one until
1990 so it absolutely counts this song is bluesy
it's soulful there's a touch of southern rock
and country And yes, there's still a pop element
to it because if you listen to the rest of Alana
Miles' self -titled album, Black Velvet's kind
of an outlier. But it's just such a perfect song.
To me, it's absolutely timeless and needs to
be included in a number one hits of the 90s episode
because sadly, I couldn't include this song in
the 80s episode because it, again, did not become
number one until 1990. So Black Velvet by Alana
Miles. Black Velvet. I mean, It's tough because
there's so many songs as we look over that list.
I mean, Ice Ice Baby, that's maybe something
I'm listening to today. But I mean, that tape
was huge. Everyone, Vanilla Ice was massive.
But all these songs are just Jon Bon Jovi, Blaze
of Glory. Was that the Young Guns 2 soundtrack?
Yeah, yeah. Wilson Phillips, Hold On. I mean,
that's... I mean, look, you wouldn't have gotten
the Dan Banz version of Hold On if Wilson Phillips
didn't do it first. Definitely not. So many bangers.
So sticking with this then, we are going back
to you for now 1991. 1991, man. I mean, I'm just
trying to think of like, what was I hearing at
this time at 10 years old as I'm dating myself?
I mean. CNC Music Factory, Gonna Make You Sweat,
That's A Thing. I mean, Brian Adams, Everything
I Do Would Do It For You from the Robert Prince
of Peace soundtrack. I mean, how huge was that
song? Speaking of malls, I mean, like, a song
like that you couldn't avoid. I mean, there's
so many amazing songs, like More Than Words and
Extreme, but Brian Adams, Everything I Do Would
Do It For You. I mean, other than Kevin Costner
not having a great English accent, that movie's
fantastic. Alan Rickman, Thrown 100 Miles Per
Hour. And if it wasn't for that movie, you wouldn't
have gotten Robin Hood Men in Tights. Let's be
honest. That's true. And with that, you would
not have gotten Newfound Glory's incredible punk
cover of Everything I Do, I Do It For You. That
is very true. Man, 91 is tough, man. This is
really tough. There's so many cheeseball routes
you could go to. Oh, my God. I mean, look, more
than words by Extreme, I love the Porno Graffini
album. I'm not going to lie. That song. It's
so amazing. The video, which Weird Al parodied
in the You Don't Love Me Anymore video. I mean,
it was an iconic video. Paula Abdul was everywhere
in 91. Like, Rush Rush, that was a great ballad
of hers that many people don't really remember
because it never reached the massive stratospheric
heights of every single from Forever Your Girl.
But that song, to me, still holds up. It's still
a great pop song. Michael Bolton. I mean, I mean
everything. God, I am stuck between three songs
right now. And if I can only pick one song that
reminds me of 1991, I have to think about where
I was in my life at this point. And I'm going
to go back to my eighth grade dance and the song
that everybody went nuts to the most during eighth
grade, at least from the boy's side. was because
Andrew Dice Clay was on the track. And I am going
to go with EMF's Unbelievable. Unbelievable.
That song was huge. Talk about like a one -hit
wonder, like personified. In the U .S. for sure,
although they had a second song from Schubert
Dip called Lies that apparently cracked the top
20 on Billboard. I don't remember hearing it
that often, but it did make a mark. In the U
.K., they did have a string of hits throughout
the early 90s. They're obviously a U .K.-based
band, so I'm not shocked there. But the only
one that really made a splash in the U .S. was
obviously Unbelievable. This song, I mean, just
the sample of the, oh, like that was something
that. People went nuts for. And I feel like this
song, if you play it now, it's still danceable.
It's still fun. It still holds up. Absolutely.
And next up, going by the format that you requested
at the top of the show, we are moving into 1992.
Now it gets a little bit harder because the choice
of songs, because of some number one hit rains
that went on for a very long time. Your choice
of songs is definitely shrinking down a lot here.
So what do you got for 1992? It's interesting
that two of the big hits were covers. I mean,
talk about like young dances. I mean, Boyz II
Men, End of the Road on the Boomerang soundtrack.
I mean, that one, I mean, one of the greatest
soundtracks ever. I'm going to go, I got to go
with that. You know, that is so of the parlance
of the time of 1992. Boyz II Men, that video.
Yeah. One of my favorite boys to men songs. And
I'll just say it probably one of my favorite
ballads of the nineties. For sure. Just the harmonies
are absolutely stunning in it. The song is insanely
catchy and it has such soul to it. I mean, look,
they had this and then they had, I'll make love
to you, which was like even bigger hit. But at
the time I was a lot younger end of the road
resonated with my youth. A lot more than I'll
Make Love to You did in early high school. This
is one of those songs that to this day, it's
still a vibe. And that's a hard thing to do,
to have a song be so timeless that 30 -something
years later, it still immediately creates a mood
in a completely different decade than when it
was released. Now, I love the fact that Me First
and the Gimme Gimmes do a fun punk cover of it.
And I love the fact that the song just has this
enduring. If this came out in the 70s, I'd buy
that. Oh, absolutely. I'd buy that it came out
in the 80s. I'd buy that that song was released
yesterday. It's timeless. Well, I think the interesting
experiment of doing this exercise is you look
at the songs and you're just like. Your head
spins and you just go zapped back in the past
because every single song has a different level
of an emotional quality. If you were, you know,
you could say that about any decade from whenever
you were 10, 11, 12 impressionable, you know,
prepubescent to puberty. Yeah. How much of these
songs are just like massive. And timeless too.
You think about like jump by crisscross has been
used in pop culture and movies and on TV shows.
I think back to I'm Too Sexy. How many movies
has that been in? Zooland or all the different
instances of that song. It's just you hear it
and you immediately brings you back to 92. I
got to mention Mr. Biggs to be with you because
Billy Sheehan was one of the first guests on
my weekly mixtape. And we talked about that song.
And to this day, he's still thankful for it because
he said. Actually, instead of giving the Cliff
Notes version of this, I'm going to go back and
play a small clip from episode 13, the ultimate
Billy Sheehan playlist, because he talks about
what to be with you means to both him and Mr.
Big. Mr. Big, for me, was my biggest success.
And I came out of David Lee Roth. I didn't know
what I was going to do. Precarious time. Didn't
have a lot of money. And so I put a band together.
I knew Pat and Paul. I found Eric. We got an
amazing manager, Herbie Herbert. And we went,
after about two and a half years, we scored one
of the most difficult things to achieve as a
number one single. So that band beats everything
to me. And we went through so many amazing adventures
together. That song, To Be With You, was our
passport to the entire world. We play it everywhere
in Indonesia, Australia, Japan, all over Europe,
all over South America. People worried that To
Be With You was going to misrepresent Mr. Big.
Because most of our stuff is straight up rock
and hard and heavy. And then we come out with
this little campfire ballad. Oh, it's going to
be. And they would say, oh, you must be really
pumped out. Are you kidding me? I'm the happiest.
We pop champagne every day about that song. It's
the greatest thing ever after any of us. We love
that song. And I still do. And I love playing
it. We look out over a thousand, 10 ,000 or more
people. And the people are crying. You see tears
when we played that song. So that, as much as
I love the flamboyant technical things and all
that, that song was, that means so much to me
in so many ways. Yeah, I would have been totally
remiss if we didn't talk about To Be With You,
especially after that amazing conversation. So
go check out episode 13, the ultimate Billy Sheehan
playlist to hear more about all the things he's
done with Mr. Big, David Lee Roth, Tallis. niacin
the winery dog sons of apollo i can go on and
on and on one of my favorite bass players on
the planet however back to boys to men here gone
the fact that boys to men's reign of 13 weeks
ended with a theme song to the tv show of the
moment the heights how do you talk to an angel
was the song that knocked off end of the road
that's one of those songs where you think back
and you go that was a moment in time i remember
when the heights was the big deal I've often
thought about covering that song to get that
real, how do you talk to that raspy thing of
that dude who was on Melrose Place too. My wife
is definitely more the television fanatic, but
I want to say it was Beverly Hills 90210. The
dude's name was Jamie Walters, if I remember
that part correctly, because that was the music
side of things. That's a prodigal son of early
90s Fox network television. Oh, God, yeah. Out
of all the songs from 1992, you picked one that
was on the charts for 13 weeks. And I feel like
the only way to compliment, there's no way. Yes,
it's a cover song, but there's no way you could
talk about 1992 and not talk about I Will Always
Love You from Whitney Houston from The Bodyguard.
Absolutely. Everybody I knew and their mom had
this soundtrack. This song was everywhere. And
let's just be honest. I love Dolly Parton's version.
It's an amazing song. Whitney's is just unreal.
It is one of those songs that you listen to her
voice and you think, how is this possible? For
her to take a song and just own it the way she
does. And Dolly Parton is one of the most distinct
and iconic voices in music history. And Whitney,
just as effortless as all of her songs, just
made it her own. Two costar soundtracks, back
to back. Unbelievable, right? So I don't think
you could talk about any 90s number one playlist
without talking about I Will Always Love You.
Absolutely. I agree. I agree 100%. 93, the list
is even smaller. Yeah. Man. And now you're coming
out of I Will Always Love You and End of the
Road. So we just had this pair of ballads. Do
you keep leaning into that or do you? Man, I
don't know. Janet Jackson, that's the way love
goes. I mean, Janet and Mariah Carey in these
years were just hit, hit, hit factories. I mean,
that's the way the love goes. All those videos
and just like incredible stuff. Especially competing
with your brother. Right? Hit, hit, hit. But
that's the way love goes. That's definitely,
that would be my pick for 93 for number one hits
for sure. There was no denying Janet Jackson
in the 90s because Michael Jackson only had two
number one hits in the 90s, which was Black or
White and You Are Not Alone. And Janet Jackson
had six. So this might have been her decade over
Michael's, even though Michael's the name that
most people automatically go to because of his
ridiculous run of hits in the 80s. But now to
bounce off of Janet Jackson. Oh, man, it's tough.
Patreon mixtaper Philip Bergman chimed in with
Snow's Informer. And I won't lie, I had 12 inches
of snow on cassette. Of course. Everybody knows
that. So you would not have had Con Calma by
Daddy Yankee come out a few years ago, which
was an exact reworking of Informer if the original
wasn't a banger. No, absolutely. However, I don't
know if I can go with that. Because when there
were songs that my parents and I could kind of
be on the same page musically with, I always
tried to take those moments. And when an artist
from their era would release a track that would
resonate with me, it was always an excuse to
have that musical conversation. And in 1993,
Meatloaf dropped, I'd do anything for love, but
I won't do that. And I had already been very
familiar with Bad Outta Hell 1. So this was something
where we could listen to Bad Outta Hell 1 and
2 together as a family. And those memories mean
so much to me. And plus, let's be honest, it's
a long ass song to hit number one for five weeks.
Even the radio edit was seven, eight minutes
long and it didn't matter. It was just that good.
Absolutely. It's a great choice. I was toying
with that myself, but. I definitely think I listened
to that John Jackson record still to this day
because it's just that synthetic sound of like
the drums and bass and sense of the 90s is just
like, ah, it oozes just that awesome pop. I love
it. Well, moving into 1994 now, remember, we've
already used Boyz II Men's End of the Road, so
we can't go back to the same band twice. So I'll
make love to you. And Unbended Knee are removed.
So we have a total of one, two, three, four,
five, six, seven songs to choose from because
I'll Make Love to You was number one for 14 weeks
again. Yeah. It's crazy how the staying power
of those songs. I mean, like, I think it would
be tough not to pick 1994 of a year like that.
Maybe it's not. my favorite of songs but it's
still stuck with your head and she's really played
it all these years but i mean lisa lobe and nine
stories stay i missed you i mean like how many
times have you you've sung that at a bar or something
like that not to say that these other songs you
have not but that video and i don't know what
i just saw her and maybe it was it was an old
30 rock episode i think she might have been like
that's just like a timeless of 1994 lisa lobe
We watched recently, she was on an episode of
Name That Tune, and we got a kick out of her
doing that show. She's got a great radio show
over on XM, interviews a lot of great artists.
I love Lisa Loeb. She is just one of those people
that you hear her voice and you instantly know
who it is. It's just such a unique, distinct
voice. Believe it or not, my favorite song from
Lisa Loeb only cracked the top 20 and that was
Do You Sleep? But obviously there's no denying
how massive Stay was in 1994. Absolutely. Now
for me, for my 1994 pick, there's only one song
I could do because this is my junior year of
high school leading into my senior year of high
school. 1994 was when I played senior high school
football. And after every win, we would rock
one song after a victory in the locker room.
And to me, that song will always put a smile
on my face because it was always after. Now,
we never played it after a loss, only the wins.
So every time we got to plug in any kamosis,
here comes the hot stepper. That means we just
won a game. I hear that song now and that beat
hits. I'm back in the locker room with my high
school buddy celebrating a victory. And it just
puts a smile on my face. I love the song. And
when you're ending a side here, because we are
at the end of side A, it kind of balances out
with the opening of Madonna's Vogue for something
kind of up and dancing. 100%. That's a banger.
I mean, Ace of Base, the sign was definitely
the one that was speaking to me just of the saccharine
-ness of the videos of those families. But, I
mean. Lisa Loeb, Stay, Miss You. And yeah, I
mean, Here Comes the Hot Stepper, that was a
banger. It still played a lot. You could still
hear that song for sure. Yeah, I will be the
first to admit that The Sign was definitely the
song that was bigger to end the side with. However,
I don't have any good memories of dancing to
The Sign, but Here Comes the Hot Stepper, I rocked
that to with my boys back in high school. I mean,
that one holds a special place. But there you
have it, folks. Side A of our number one hits
of the 90s mixtape, which kicked off with Madonna's
Vogue, Alana Miles' Black Velvet. That was 1990.
Bryan Adams' Everything I Do, I Do It For You
and EMF's Unbelievable from 1991. Boyz II Men's
End of the Road and Whitney Houston's I Will
Always Love You from 1992. Janet Jackson's That's
the Way Love Goes and Meatloaf's I Would Do Anything
for Love But I Won't Do That from 1993. And Lisa
Loeb and Nine Stories Stay and Eni Kamosi's Here
Comes the Hot Stepper from 1994. Head over to
myweeklymixtape .com to hear all the songs we've
discussed in this mix through the playlist embedded
on the episode page. Now, Jamie, this past November,
the C's released their debut album, Conversations
With My Future Self. Yes, it did. Great day.
It was a great November. What you're hearing
now is a clip of The Calling, which is the album's
opening track. Now, Jamie, thematically, you've
said that this album is based on your love for
Back to the Future, which I can promise you just
made the My Weekly Mixtape listeners' ears perk
up. So can you elaborate on that a little bit?
Sure. I mean, you teed up it perfectly for what
we're doing here with the 90s song experiments,
writing these songs that you're looking for,
but always taking two steps back and being Marty
McFly and, you know, going into a DeLorean traveling
from 1985 kind of seems like what we've been
stuck in the last four years during the pandemic
that things were shut down. Do you go outside?
Do you stay in? When was it okay? If time felt
very weird, I think we're still negotiating what
timing feels like now. It gives you ample time
to really think about and put things in perspective.
And a lot of songs on the album are reflective
of what would it be like to go backwards, to
go forward, sometimes literally, sometimes veiled.
But Conversation With My Future Self is a fascination
of if you were to go in the future and have a
conversation with yourself, what would that be?
What would you say? What would you do? And it's
kind of a fascinating thing after we were frozen
for a little bit. in those first couple of months
in March 2020. And it gave me the perspective
to kind of, you know, whoa, there's bigger things
at play here, you know, and let's all get together
here and figure out a better way forward. Next
up, I'd like to share a clip of the trippy end
of scene. This song has a really unique mixture
of vibes. I'm hearing this kind of stoner rock
riff with elements of psychedelic rock. And it
truly feels like in the album's listen, what
I would describe as a musical dream sequence.
And I'd love to know the background about this
song. Yeah. And it's good with side A and side
B of a mixtape. It's a side B of a vinyl, meaning
that the first four tracks and the preceding
track moments is more of a calming feel that
eases you into a, I like to call it a David Lynchian
red room hellscape of coming out of just this
weird heaviness. And the song is about, you know,
rain, shine, day, night, feeling this level of
getting, and mired in this darkness and coming
out into the end of the light with some, you
know, the musical changes and the synthesizers
are kind of really a throwback to 80s John Carpenter
type of soundtracks to have that real feeling
like you're watching the thing, but you're listening
to a track. Being someone who loves a horror
movie and sci -fi, yeah, it just has that real
emotional quotient to it of, you know, the album
is all over the place. feel -wise and sound -wise.
And that song is definitely one of the heavier
ones, which we really enjoy playing. Well, bouncing
off that, I want to play a song that also has
a different vibe from that. And I'm going to
share a clip of the Anthemic Voices. This is
a massive track that comes towards the tail end
of the album. And overall, I feel like this album
is extremely dynamic when you listen to it as
an actual album from track one all the way to
the end. I hear a musical story with definite
peaks and valleys in the songs. Did you write
this saying, okay, this next song needs to come
down a little bit? Or was that something that
was just... A perfect exercise in sequencing
what you had recorded. Excellent question. And
I'd be lying if I said it was somewhat conscious
at the jump. It kind of all fell together during
the process. You know, your subconscious is talking
to your consciousness as like, oh, this all is
making sense. It's all dealing with different
fields of loss and yet hope. And, you know, voices
was. Just the chord progression was something
I wrote. And then the words came from on my apartment
balcony in Greenpoint, Brooklyn in the summer
of 2020 when the first responders were banging
on pots and pans and just strumming away. And
you really felt this connection, yet you couldn't
really connect yet until you could. And it was
very kind of like biting your thumb and a middle
finger to people that were weather. They were
saying things weren't as bad as they were or
whatever it was when things were kind of chaos.
It's like, hey, we could all get together here
and do better. We could fight this oppression.
We could knock down these walls, you know, whether
it's a physical wall or emotional wall, whatever
it might be, just, you know, it was kind of written
in a way to just peek and say thank you to New
York and our resilience during those crazy times
when it was a little bit like zombie apocalypse
in the beginning of things. Well, we're going
to talk a little bit more about conversations
with my future self after we get through side
B, but let's jump into that now, which if I'm
not mistaken, if I'm doing my math correct, we
should be starting off with 1995 and I'm kicking
off side B. And I think there's only one way
you can do it because if you're starting a side
of a mixtape, you got to get people's attention
right away. And I think in 1995, again, this
is senior year in high school for me. Nothing
got people's attention more than the six words.
This is how we do it. Montel Jordan. Inescapable.
The song was everywhere. And yet nobody ever
said, I'm getting sick of this song. Every time
it came on, the place was going insane. And I
think it still holds up to this day as a banger
of a dance song. So Montel Jordan, this is how
we do it. Seven weeks at number one. Yeah, you
took my pick. So good. I mean, I mean, this talk
about a prolific banger of a tune. I mean, I'm
going to go a different route and kind of go
with a timelessness. And after watching a movie
that preceded this one the other day, kind of
on brand to take seal kiss from a rose. Watch
Batman Returns on a rewatch yesterday. Not Batman
Forever with Val Kilmer. Who didn't get is just
just do I. Even though it was the Joel Schumacher
crazy universe. But I mean, Kiss from a Rose.
I mean, how many times are you singing that in
a karaoke? You're like, how many steps? You feel
like it's a huge seal. I mean, it's a great one.
There's so many choices, but I'm going to go
with that. He has such an incredible voice. I
mean, Crazy is one of those songs back in the
early 90s that I was shocked wasn't a number
one hit for him. Crazy was everywhere. I love
that song so much. I mean, it's a great pick.
Obviously, the movie, I don't have the greatest
of memories of Batman Forever. Maybe I should,
but I mean, it had a hell of a soundtrack. I
will give it that. Between Kiss from a Rose by
Seal, you had U2's Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me,
Kill Me. You had The Offspring's cover of The
Dams, Smash It Up. This soundtrack was awesome.
The movie? Yeah. I mean, it was definitely a
choice with Jim Carrey as Riddler, Tom Milley
-Jones as Two -Face. Was that Nicole Kidman was
in it? I mean, it was, yeah. I enjoyed it in
a different way than I've been watching the Batman
with Robert Pattinson or the Christopher Nolan
verse. Totally different vibes there. Very popcorn
-y, just sack, just like shoot in my veins. It's
fun. It's stupid. I would be wrong to not acknowledge
the fact that both of us skipped the song that
had the longest reign of being a number one in
the 90s, which was Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's
One Sweet Day. Could not escape it. But we did
have Boyz II Men on, so maybe Mariah will get
her just due at some point here. But moving into
1996, coming out of Montel Jordan and Seal. There's
not a ton of number one songs because Los Del
Rios Macarena took it over for 14 weeks. Seems
like it was longer than 14. It feels like it's
still number one, right? I'm not going to lie.
That one did not hold up for me. I still have
PTSD. From hearing that song on every radio station
24 -7 around the clock, the video, every dance
club, every elevator, every food store, you could
not escape the Macarena. And when the song was
playing, people were essentially doing the dance,
whether it was in the stands or in the elevator
or in the food store. That song just PTSD. However.
One of the greatest dance songs of the 90s was
the song to knock Macarena off the charts and
become number one for four weeks, starting in
November of 1996. And I'm going to go with Black
Street featuring Dr. Dre, No Diggity. I mean,
it's fitting the vibe we're going for, for this
side of the tape so far. And that opening, once
you hear that, like, that's it. It's going to
be nuts. Yeah. The song has such a unique groove.
It works for hip hop and it works for R &B. And
yet bands have been able to cover it. Virginia
Coalition did a version back in the early 2000s.
You had Ali Brown, who is a blues guitarist,
do a blues rock version of it. And every single
time it works so well. Why is that? Because the
song itself. is a friggin' masterclass in catchiness.
I mean, Dr. Dre could pretty much do no wrong
in the 90s, and what he brought to Blackstreet
with this song made a timeless dance classic
that I think 30 and 40 years from now will still
hold the power it did in November of 96. So I'm
going with Blackstreet featuring Dr. Dre, no
diggity, no doubt. I'm going to stick with the
Interscope Records because, I mean, Tupac, How
Do You Want It, California Love. I mean, just,
Pac, I mean, the label just released those two
songs in the same year. I mean, it's like, come
on. I mean, those are ridiculous tracks. There's
so many other great, I mean, Tony Braxton has
two songs. We've even invoked Tony Braxton as
a hit factory, but I'm going to go Tupac with
KC and JoJo, Dr. Dre, How Do You Want It, California
Love. Yeah. California love is ridiculous. That
was originally recorded for the sequel to the
chronic, not the chronic 2001, but an album called
the chronic to a new world odor. Papa's got a
brand new funk. However, that album never came
to fruition. So technically that was only a single.
It was never on a Tupac album, except for his
greatest hits and the UK version of all eyes
on me, which doesn't count. So, I mean, that
song is, again, you play it now and it's timeless.
It's timeless. It fits in with anything on the
radio now and is as good, if not better. Absolutely.
Well, I mean, look, if we're talking 90s and
we're going in the 97 now, there's only one thing
you could follow up Tupac with. And we got to
go Notorious B .I .G., Hypnotize, Life After
Death, Three Weeks at Number One, Inescapable.
Again, this is how we do it. No diggity. California
Love and Hypnotize. These are all songs you will
hear at weddings, parties, dance clubs. They're
absolutely timeless. And I think it's kind of
fitting to talk about Tupac and Notorious B .I
.G. back to back, given their whole story in
the 90s as well. 100%. Yeah, that was definitely
my choice as well. I mean, I guess we'll go with
a lasting power that is similar to like Lisa
Loeb. I mean, Hanson, Mbop. I mean, talk about
timeless. I mean, when you see it's three weeks,
that doesn't sound, again, it seems like it's
still stuck in the so 1997. And I don't mean
that in any bad way whatsoever. I mean, that
was huge, that song. And it's getting a resurgence
in 2023 and 2024 due to Busted doing a punk cover
of Mbop with the members of Hanson called Mbop
2 .0. I have not heard that. Honestly, it's wild.
And you go back and listen to it, and they really,
because they're older now, you hear the lyrics
a little bit more and you're going, this was
actually, for a group of kids, this was actually
pretty creative lyrically. Credit where credit's
due. Absolutely. And you've got the energy up
with Mbop. I don't want to bring it down. And
I know he's got some controversy surrounding
his name with the slap at everything. But, I
mean, look, Will Smith getting jiggy with it.
I just watched the tribute to 50 Years of Hip
Hop, and he came out and did a snippet of that
song, and the place went nuts still. Yeah, he
doesn't curse in his raps to sell records like
Eminem blasted on. But this song samples such
great music. It's so much fun. And it's one of
the few dances I could do where you just kind
of keep your fists right in front of your chest.
I can handle that. That's like right up my alley.
Yeah, I'm going to go Will Smith getting jiggy
with it. I love it. No, for sure. I mean, there's
so many. This is not my pick, but I mean, as
far as timeless, I mean. Celine Dion, My Heart
Will Go On, Titanic. I mean, how much bigger
can you go than that? I mean, all these tunes.
Barenaked Ladies, One Week. I mean, Aerosmith,
Don't Want to Miss. I mean, when singles off
of soundtracks matter. But I mean, to me, for
Timeless, I'm going to go with Timeless. A record
I still listen to and artists I still... She's
insanely talented. Lauryn Hill, Do Up That Thing.
I mean, that... Thank you. Yes, thank you. The
record is... All these are the big hit like that
we love, love like that song is. That record
is insane. It's insane. The Miseducation of Lauryn
Hill is an absolute masterpiece. I mean, I love
the Fugees. Don't get me wrong. Nothing but love
for the Fugees. Miseducation. It's on another
level. It's on another level. It's an absolute
masterpiece. And we each have one pick left,
and it's both from 99. And I just had Desmond
Child on the show a few weeks ago, so I feel
guilty not going with Livin' La Vida Loca. But
I'll be honest, he tells such a great story about
that song. Go back and listen to the Desmond
Child episode to hear some stuff about that.
I mean, but No Scrubs, Believe by Cher, Baby
One More Time by Britney Spears. Oh, my. This
is like the real, you know, 99, and it's not
because it was the precipice of the millennium,
but it really has that real stark change of the
late 90s of going into the NSYNC, Britney Spears,
Christina Aguilera, you know, the TRL. Not saying
any of this is bad. I'm just saying just as an
observer. Yeah, the wheels were in motion. This
was a distinct shift in 1999 for sure. I have
to go with a song that, cause I feel like I could
throw an asterisk on this one for when we do
number one songs of the two thousands, because
I am going to choose the last number one hit
of the decade. Santana featuring Rob Thomas smooth
from supernatural spent 12 weeks at number one
from October 23rd, 1999 to January 8th. 2000
so this song i can actually use in number one
hits of the 90s and 2000s which to me is absolutely
insane and to this day i still love this song
there's something that's so much fun about it
rob thomas's voice is perfect and then look i've
loved santana's guitar since the 70s he found
a way to make his music relevant in the late
90s And Supernatural was a juggernaut like no
other. You think about the stuff he did with
Everlast on that album. And then it stretched
into future albums. And to me, he could have
been on just like the classic rock touring circuit.
But instead of doing that, he made himself relevant
to a point where I'd go as far as to say he was
bigger with Smooth than anything he did. Oye
Como Va, Black Magic Woman, any of it in the
70s. Smooth was bigger. No, I would agree with
that. In an old, old band, one of my first bands
after college, we released a record and the engineer
on it, John Seymour, he was one of the associate
engineers and he worked on that record. Oh, wow.
I mean, all like that. So it was like, I heard
some amazing stories of the selflessness of Carlos
Santana from as a musician and his tutelage to
artists. It was pretty cool. I mean, I'm going
to just go just because... To give the love as
closing up the 90s, handing off. And I love this
song to this day. You know, Mariah Carey with
Jay -Z, Heartbreaker. I mean, we just wrapped
up a decade and she's on every year. I mean,
it's just like when you really look at it and
you reflect, I mean, she's an incredible artist,
musician, and she absolutely owned the 90s in
so many ways. Yeah. 13 number one hits in the
decade, more than double the next largest, which
was Janet Jackson at six. She owned the 90s.
And honestly, you and I would be doing this playlist
a disservice if we didn't mention her in this
discussion. I'm going to finalize my pick with
that one. And I could not agree more. There you
have it, folks. Side B of our number one hits
of the 90s playlist, which kicked off with 1995.
Montel Jordan's This Is How We Do It and Seal's
Kiss From A Rose. 1996, Blackstreet with Dr.
Dre, No Diggity and Tupac featuring Casey and
JoJo. Dr. Dre again and Roger Troutman, California
Love. 1997, Notorious B .I .G.'s Hypnotize and
Hanson's Mbop. 1998, Will Smith's Getting Jiggy
With It and Lauryn Hill's Do Wop That Thing.
And finishing it up with 1999, Santana with Rob
Thomas, Smooth, and Mariah Carey with Jay -Z,
Heartbreaker. Head over to myweeklymixtape .com
to hear all the songs we've discussed in this
mix through the playlist embedded on the episode
page. Now, Jamie, The C's have Conversations
With My Future Self out. It's been out since
this past November. Can you talk about what you've
got going on in 2024 to help promote the album
in terms of live shows and other ventures? Right
now, we're trying to wrap up some touring for
the year. So that is all in the works. I would
love to get those dates out there, but trying
to figure out scheduling and all those things.
As far as we're actually going a couple of weeks
to go record a couple of choice cover songs,
speaking of hits. that we like to play live and
you know it's not like a spoiler because if you've
seen us play you've seen them we've been covering
in excess never tear us apart and simple minds
don't you forget about me and it just it's it's
very humbling to try to attempt I say try to
attempt to sing Michael Hutchins vocals but it
feels great we're good we put a little like flavor
on it so we're gonna start tracking those in
a couple of weeks And for me, it's always about
the next album, the next record. And from a live
perspective, I always like playing a cover set,
especially change that up and make them fresh.
It brings people into the audience that they've
never listened to the songs. So the goals for
2024 is we'll hopefully have some dates hosted
in the coming weeks. We'll be recording some
covers and then probably start work on the next
record, maybe later this summer. Yeah, but that's
all the things in motion that we're excited about.
Well, you have to promise to keep me posted on
both of those covers because Don't You Forget
About Me and Never Tear Us Apart are two songs
that I play with Colburn and Company. They're
both amazing tunes. And God, Never Tear Us Apart
could be my all -time favorite in excess tune.
Brian Fallon from the Gaslight Anthem, his group,
The Horrible Crows, did a really unique version
of it. But after hearing your album, I'm curious
to hear what you guys are going to bring to that
song. It's pretty true to the recording, but
it also feels just the way it's recorded and
the timing of it, it just seems a little bit
more rock to it. But I mean, that's just innately
how it's going to sound. listen to that song
religiously, and it's with Yoni on our keyboards
and synthesizers and Alex on bass. They've kind
of conjured this collective sound to really get
the strings, but also this bottom end to it that's
really awesome, and Tim, our drummer, really
holds it down. I mean, playing Simple Minds,
don't you forget about me. Like I told, I'm like,
Tim, this is... All for you just to play the
drum fill of the ending. I mean, that's really...
This is my gift to you. You just want to live
in a John Hughes film world. And it's just like,
you just build up to it. And it just pops. And
it's so much fun. And I think people love covers.
We're not a cover band. But I think it's important,
especially in the first, after release. A lot
of material to get people and be there for fans
and prospective new fans that, you know, you
want to give them something tethered that they
could, oh, I recognize that. They could hate
it. Let's hope that's not the case. When you
want to give something, you know, that you're
playing to people that it's a worthy entertainment
business, right? You want to entertain and not
try to take yourself too, too seriously. Amen
to that. Well, if people want to learn more about
The Seas and connect with you on social media
and come out to a show, how can they go about
doing that? Yeah, they could follow The Seas
Instagram page at The Seas Music. We are not
on Twitter, so it's really just Instagram, the
website, theseasmusic .com. I think that's pretty
much your best hub to go. The record is currently
streaming on Spotify, Apple Music. Pandora, you
could stream it there. It's on Tidal. It's on
all the places you could download it and stream
to listen to it. And we sell vinyl records at
the shows. Well, Jamie, this has been an absolute
blast. Thank you so much for joining me on my
weekly mixtape. Thank you so much, Brian, for
having me. Appreciate it. It's a great time.
And remember, Mixtapers, you can find My Weekly
Mixtape on almost all of the social media haunts
at My Weekly Mixtape. You can also head to MyWeeklyMixtape
.com to check out the full catalog of My Weekly
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My Weekly Mixtape. That's all for this week.
Thanks again for listening, and until next time,
enjoy the tunes.