I made my first mix tape when I was 14.
When I think about putting together an album, the process of listening to hundreds of songs each time and picking out the best 10 or so that will go on the record, it really sinks in as to just how many songs I've listened to all these years.
Well you know, I've been into music my whole life, so to be able to put an album together with some of that music was awesome.
I've had a couple tapes out and they weren't really tapes, it was just some songs that I had made, and then I would throw them together as a compilation and put a name on it. And then when I would release my next thing, I would just delete it.
A British pressing with a compilation of the best stuff really, I mean actually not only that but, these were all kind of semi hits for the people on it in America.
A mixtape is for the street, it's something you without necessarily thinking about it, because you have to stay in the game. It's like writing an e-mail saying hello to your friends.
I think the inspiration came from the fans. Whenever I'm online or whenever I get a chance to really communicate with the fans and the audience, they always say that they would love to have all of the remixes on one CD.
If my extensive collection of all 53 Now That’s What I Call Music compilations is any indication, I am both qualified and honored to join Ludacris in hosting this amazing show that spotlights the best music and artists of the year. I had so much fun hosting the Billboard Music Awards last year and I can’t wait to be back!
I remember so vividly the first time I saw one of Marshall Wyatt's superb compilations called 'Folks He Sure Do Pull Some Bow' and seeing a picture of a black fiddler and freaking out. I had stumbled upon the hidden legacy of the black string band and I wanted to know more.
I was asked to sing with Mavis Staples on a gospel compilation called 'Oh Happy Day.' And, you know, other than being totally intimidated at the prospect of singing with Mavis, I was honored. I don't really have much of a background in gospel music.
This is a public statement: I'm in favor of mixtapes.
When I play solo, that's when I put it all together. I go through all of the songs that I've written wtih all of the different bands; that, for me, tells its own story, and the DVDs really enforce that.
There's a bootleg album that was recorded when I was 14 or 15, a compilation of things live at different clubs. Songs like Girl from Ipanema and Cry Me A River. I don't know what the title of it is.
I was thinking about how a playlist is really so inadequate as opposed to a mixtape because it takes seventeen days to really make a mixtape with a homemade cover that you like and that you'd give away.
Greatest hits is easy because one has nothing to do - except that we both, Roger and I, felt that new songs should be there because I've been away for awhile.
I know they are going to be doing a box set in Europe of Danzig 5 and 6 and some other stuff.
I think I'm going to put together a compilation under Disney's name of my songs that I've done for them - because I've done six or seven by now! The latest was for the Princess Diaries 2 soundtrack. So that's the next thing that's coming out.
There is no point in putting out 'The Complete BBC Sessions,' and someone's growling that you missed something.
But to put out a greatest hits on one CD was totally impossible, I just couldn't do it. The best compromise was to put out two CDs - Early Days - which is what it is - and Latter Days.
DUST includes rarities, demos, unreleased songs and instrumentals, live recordings, and more.
I basically sat down for a month, with all the Sun stuff I could find and just picked out my favorites. I didn't think that they were indicative of '54 to '57, although I tried to stay within that period.
Mixtapes are very personal, and they describe who you are better than an album sometimes.
I just imagine that every song in and of itself is great, but when you add them all up, it's too much of me maybe.
It's a trip to have a Greatest Hits record. It's a trip.
On Common Culture, you'll find coffee, clothing, and compilations. So many C's!
