A Mixtape That Never Ends
At first, it was a couple of mix tapes, in the true sense, on cassette.
Just a little later, mixes burned on CDs.
Eventually, kids and mortgages and jobs took precedence, and I stopped making my wife those mixes.
This year, I made the modern version: an Apple playlist called “Matt 💚’s Nik.” It was a compilation of songs with shared meaning from our lives together—nearly 25 years married, 28 together. And I threw in songs from our early youth, when we were friends.
Engagement day, February, 2001.
But now, something funny is happening: I keep adding new songs as I discover them.
Rather than a frozen moment in time, the playlist is a living thing between us. It evolves as we evolve. It can spark new discovery, new conversations, new connection.
The playlist is a bit of fun adhesive as we move through life, and an example of what can happen when we put music’s technology to work for us. Not let it work on us.
Oh — the most recent additions to the playlist? Sure, here are a few:
Harry Also Wants to Rule The World
I am surrounded by three Harry Styles superfans at home. And I admit, he is pretty good1. So when I stumbled across his cover of Tears For Fears’ Everybody Wants To Rule The World,2 I was intrigued.
It’s a good cover.
It lacks a bit of the original’s zip. Or maybe I lack some of the zip I had when I first heard the original in 1985. Such is the predicament of the aged music reviewer.
The two-piece brass accompaniment is a simplifying retort to the very 80s, super-engineered, and percussively3 explosive original track.
In a time where anger screeches all around us, Harry’s polite remake is a respite.
Enjoy.
Yes, I do have to say that Harry is good so I don’t have to sleep outside. It’s still very cold in Michigan. But it’s true: he has some bangers.
One of the five best songs of the 80s.
Wait—not sure this is actually a word.