This mix is a little something different, as it’s not dance-music specific. I was asked to put together a mix of personal “classics” for one of the message boards I post on, in a sort of “mixtape” format.
This was a very difficult project for me, as I always have trouble coming up with “favorites” for anything and I could have easily put together a 4 hour mix to get everything in. My approach was to try and give a good demonstration about where my influences come from. There is so much more that isn’t covered here, but alas, I had to keep it to 80 minutes. I know that this is more of a “mixtape” approach, but I would be lying if I said that the idea of which tracks would flow better into each other didn’t give me a method to help me narrow it down.
My taste is quite all over the place, and I don’t say that because I want to seem open-minded or overly accepting… I just like a lot of music. There are a few known favorites and a few more obscure ones to keep things interesting. I hope you enjoy!
Pink Floyd – Goodbye Blue Sky
Pink Floyd was a band that definitely needed to be in this mix. Choosing a track was difficult, but I knew it needed to be from “The Wall”. I spent a little time playing this song on the piano. As a child, I remember my father inputting this entire song, note-by-note, into a simple piece of music composition software and hearing it back in all it’s SID-chip glory many times… this may have helped spawn my interest in “computer music”. 
Chicane – Offshore (Ambient Mix)
This type of sound is what I really started to get into when I first discovered what I considered “trance” (though it was often progressive breaks or other genres). Honestly, most of my influence came from amateur artists (I actually wanted to include Echano – Imagine (2003 remake) in this mix, but it was unavailable to me at the time of mixing), but this is one of the bigger names.
Fear Factory – Timelessness
Though I used to listen to a lot of metal, and this is a metal band, this is actually a slow and emotive song from the album “Obsolete” that I used to listen to over and over again.
Project 86 – Star
Honestly, I wish I could include the whole “Drawing Black Lines” album of this little-known band, as really I just like it as a whole. This isn’t even my favorite track from the CD, but I had to pick one, and the DJ in me made me pick this one since it transitioned well from Timelessness. I couldn’t help it. 
Madonna – Frozen
Though I’m not a huge all-out Madonna fan, the tracks I do like I REALLY like. This is one of them. Love the strings and percussion, and the dark atmosphere .
Enigma – Principles of Lust
Yeah, it’s a bit of an overdone attempt to be “ethnic”, but my father listened to a lot of Enigma when I was growing up and I took a liking to it (especially the MXMXC a.D. album). Could’ve included Sadeness, or this one.
Eurythmics – Here Comes The Rain Again
Annie Lennox has such a cool voice, and the synths in this are great. It’s 80s-tastic, yet not over the top. I can literally remember hearing this song while sitting in my child seat in the car. So, it obviously made an impact.
Kraftwerk – The Robots (1991 “The Mix” Version)
Another album I used to swipe from my parents was “The Mix”… essentially a bunch of remixes of Kraftwerk hits. Kraftwerk pretty much introduced me to the world of EDM and electro. My cousin and I would walk around singing this song.
Delerium – Innocente (Tiesto Mix)
I can’t believe I have a Tiesto song in here, as I’m honestly not a huge fan. But, there’s just something about this track that always did it for me. Always loved the filtered pads.
Bone Thugs N Harmony – Days of our Lives
And now for something completely different, lol. Hip-hop was a huge part of my musical interest (and, honestly, still is). I could have picked any number of artists for my “rap” inclusion, but I always loved the sing-song, cadenced approach that Bone portrayed (especially back in these days). Part of me really wanted to pick “Notorious Thugs”, but this song just felt better for this mix.
Janet Jackson – Rhythm Nation
Aww yeah. This song gets me pumped and makes me wish I had a whole army of people behind me dancing in concert. DIAF if you don’t like this song.
Garbage – Hammering In My Head
Energetic yet not over the top… emotive yet doesn’t take itself seriously… this song really has a little bit of something for everyone. I borrowed the “Version 2.0″ CD from a friend and liked the whole thing, but found myself listening to this one on repeat.
Parliament – Flashlight
Funk. Damn this song makes me feel good.
Morris Day & The Time – Jungle Love
Continuing the funk theme… my parents had this on vinyl and used to play it for me. I can remember singing “oh-e-oh-e-oh” as one of my earliest memories. Couldn’t get away with not including this one.
Peter Gabriel – Big Time
Heard a lot of Peter Gabriel growing up, and “Sledgehammer” seemed too easy. “Big Time” is a really cool track, and I love to get my 80s on to it.
Skywind – O2
A very heartfelt rock track that is very personal to me. This is a barely-known band from the States and I don’t even know if they are still together. I actually found them on mp3.com (back in the day when it was an awesome place to find music) and started following them. Had the pleasure of seeing them in concert once. This track helped me get through some rough times.
Download Link: http://www.dmichael.org/Music/classics.mp3
Wow, of all the times to listen…I guess parents can influence you to listen to things that you would not have considered cool by today’s standards. I’m proud to know that you love music enough to give anything a listen at least once and that is what allows you to appeal to many different styles of music to let true creativity shine through,
Love
Dad
Thanks, Pops.
Honestly, I had a hard time doing this project, as there was so much more I could have included. I just did not want to make a 4+ hour mix, so I had to make it as concise as possible. I figured that you would like the fact that a lot of these tracks once sat in your record crate. 