High School Mix CD

[rosiedoes]

So @GHowell on Twitter wanted me to make him a mixtape which was based on the theme of high school, so I made him one featuring some of the bands and songs I was into from the age of around 16-18. The latest track on this was first released in 2000.

Download.

I even made a cover, look (it's in the zip folder)!








Making this really made me quite nostalgic for when returntosender and I were about 17 and she made me a couple of mixtapes. Hefner would have made it onto this if I had a CD copy...

It feels like a lifetime ago, seriously.

Comments

[returntosender.livejournal.com]

If you want I can send you some Hefner?

It's strange, but I can feel myself being tugged down memory lane too. Might have something to do with finding out a friend of a friend has a Suede tattoo. Or the fact that the vast majority of people I know are ex-FMFs, whipped along into a frenzy by the new album and tour dates!

While I would rather listen to Roxy Music these days, I think I may dig out some Suede this weekend!

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

I associate Suede with so many bad things from my past... all that stuff with Tracey that went on an on for like three years... Jon... ugh.

And yet somehow I still love this band. Especially Sci-Fi Lullabies and the first album...

[returntosender.livejournal.com]

As soon as I saw "Whipsnade" listed, I did wonder - I know it reminds you of Tracey.
Jon was such a cock!

The Holy Bible totally takes me back to being 15, and that's why I can't listen to it anymore. But Suede, Coming Up, all the b-sides... ahh, lovely.

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

I'm listening to Animal Nitrate right now, and it's funny because it reminds me profoundly of the first time I went to Jon's house and he sat there and made me read the lyrics to it and to Pantomime Horse and was fascinated by the concept of exploring homosexuality and stuff...

The songs of this whole era make me feel soooo nostalgic it's ridiculous. At some point in summer you and Joanna should come down to Brighton or something. Maybe I'll get Vicky to come down as well, and you can meet my housemate/best friend, Julie.

[returntosender.livejournal.com]

In retrospect, teenage male Suede fans were kinda hilarious, weren't they?

Its funny you should say that - Jo and I have been meaning to go down for a day trip for about a year now - I'm ashamed I've not been to the pavillion yet. We've never made concrete plans though. We must rectify this.

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

Well, you will be most welcome to come down and visit any time. In summer they have loads of little markets and food festivals and things. You'd love the North Laine as well - so much retro all in one place it's ridiculous.

And oh God, yes - Suede fans were hilarious. I always remember Jon taking the cross-over of Manics fans to Suede fans and bringing their poorly-worn tiaras with them as a personal insult.

I wonder how many of those skinny kids went on to have their homosexual experiences...

[returntosender.livejournal.com]

There's some tea rooms I want to visit -I've forgotten the name but the decor is all '40's/'59's nicknacks. I'm also deeply amused that all the punks of Gosport have moved to Brighton, apparently.

I love the Venn diagram of Suede/Manics/Mansun fans! We were all equally as pretentious :D

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

Brighton is definitely super-diverse. Everyone here seems to be really individual - there are virtually not chavs at all, which is brilliant. If anything, I feel out of place here because my hair is its natural colour and I don't look super punky anymore! I actually kind of miss looking like that, but I'm too old for it, now.

I can't think of the tea rooms you mean - the closest I can think of is Bubble, which is a veggie-friendly cafe and it's quite tiny and kitch. I'm sure we'd find the place, though.

[returntosender.livejournal.com]

Here (http://www.theteacosy.co.uk/) it is!

I know what you mean re hair. My new hair is definitely cute, even vintage if you squint hard enough but it's not particularly alternative. I'm almost 26 though!

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

That looks adorable. I'm sure Vicky would love it as well. We must have day of summer dresses and tea! Haha.

I am 26 and my hair is the longest it's been since I was 15. :| I can get it in a ponytail, now, but I plan on getting it trimmed so I can just wear it curly all the time...

[returntosender.livejournal.com]

Curly hair is the best.

Hope you're enjoying the sunshine today.

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

Haha. Nope. Lying in bed. Our plumbing in the bathroom broke AGAIN and can't be fixed until at least Monday. Luckily we have a separate toilet, but he cistern leaks on that one, so until last night the water had been switched off.

I'll get around to emailing you the plot of that story at some point. I meant to get it all down last night but I got distracted.

I hope it's nice weather up in London, too.

[returntosender.livejournal.com]

Hah, it's lovely here, but I'm at work sadly.

Sorry to hear about the plumbing woes, just typical! No need to rush on the e-mail score, but am looking forward to it :D

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

By the way, we should get on IM and talk more.

Did I tell you I'm writing a book about a band? I only realised this morning how it harks back to the Velour days, in its own way. Very different, but still, the seed is there.

[returntosender.livejournal.com]

I don't really get on I'M anymore, in truth! I'm more of an e-mail/facebook wall kind of girl.

That's really cool! I immediately thought of Nigel, who was so hilarious. Benedict Cumberbatch would play him in a film!

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

I have never heard of this person but I shall google.

The book is inspired by a fic I wrote a couple of years ago, but instead of being based around FOB it's based around a much more Kings of Leon-esque band - much grittier, I guess. Less fourteen-year-old fanbase.

yWriter 5 is my best friend right now.

[returntosender.livejournal.com]

I hope you approve of him!

Grittier sounds better I think. In fact the book sounds really interesting!

What is yWriter5?

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

That's Nigel. Get him a pair of rectangular spectacles and a better jumper and that's Nige.

The story is ultimately about the choice between passion and obsession and simple, slow-burning, not-hugely-exciting love. It's written in first person, which I was really reluctant to do at first, but when I finally gave in and but Sam's voice to it, it just fitted so much more easily. I guess it's all the years of writing journals for characters and stuff.

Ashe really wants to turn it into a screenplay and get it put out as an indie film, which I think would really suit it. It'll end up like some kind of surreal cross between Brokeback, Trainspotting and This Is Spinal Tap. Hahaha.

yWriter is an insanely useful program that Matte found - it basically helps you organise your novel. You can input the character information and chapters with sub-scenes and stuff, and it records whose POV each part is from, how many words you've written, when and where each scene is set... just to really keep you on top of your timelines and characterisations and stuff.

[returntosender.livejournal.com]

HA! I knew you'd get it. He's such a prig in Starter For 10.

I'm really interested in your novel, you've hooked me in! You're making a reference to Trainspotting the novel, not the film I hope? I really loathe the film but the book is amazing. Also - Spinal Tap is one of the gayest DVDs I own, and I own QAF :D

Yet another writing program that doesn't work on the mac ;) I may as well come clean and admit I haven't written anything in ages and ages, but I'm starting to ease myself back in. I feel compelled these days to imagine my own private world, you know?

You must remember how much I love first person, both reading and writing it! It's cool you've found your character's voice :D

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

Haha. Well, when I say 'Trainspotting' I was just really joking about the influence of drugs in the story. The real catalyst for everything that happens centres on one member of the band's near-fatal drug overdose and how his family won't allow his SO to be in the hospital because they won't acknowledge the relationship. I'll email you a better explanation - which account are you using now?

[returntosender.livejournal.com]

There was something like that in the 1st season of The Wire. I think I screamed at the telly. Anyhoo, my e-mail is maryellen@t-mobile-sidekick.co.uk

[klashfor.livejournal.com]

The cover you made is gorgeous and I'm loving the music, I haven't heard most of it before-so thanks!

How did you come up with the title?

[rosiedoes.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

The title is a line from the first song on the mix, which basically summed up a lot of my teenage years. I grew up in the suburbs of West London, and my best friend and two of my girlfriends lived on the opposite side of London, in a town called Brentwood. Tracey was also a huge Suede fan, and we really bonded over that, but the imagery of pylons and grey skies and concrete, which is such a Suede-esque thing (a lot of their tracks talk about that kind of greyish, concrete dullness that was so familiar to us growing up) really just fitted with the mentality at the time. There was a lot of depressiveness, self-harm and suicides around that time in people I knew from the scene as it was back then.

I've posted this video before, but it's basically a really good representation of what it's like to grow up in a British suburban council estate and the kind of depressing drudgery and alienation people felt. It came out a long time after I left high school, or it would have been on the mix for sure.