This is a continuation of Yearly Mix, Part I, a new song mix where every track represents a single year. That post covered through 1976, but of course if you're impatient you can view all of them together at wetz.net. Starting with these selections, I was a bit better tracking songs during the process so you'll see them listed more often as leftovers compared to the last post which primarily listed whole albums that I passed over.

Finishing the Disco Error. I mean Era.

1. 1977 – Elvis Costello – My Aim Is True – Watching the Detectives
2. 1978 – The Police – Outlandos d'Amour – Roxanne
3. 1979 – Joe Jackson – Look Sharp! – Is She Really Going Out With Him?

One of the tricks of a mix like this is trying to slot in songs I really like without blatantly leaving off something iconic. I wanted to get in at least one Elvis track (obviously Costello, the other one isn't my particular taste). I was also really tempted to go with Cheap Trick because I loved them when I was around 5, but at the same time I still listen to Elvis and don't even own any Cheap Trick albums.

‘78 was one of those years with a lot of songs I don't listen to often anymore, so I went with the Police because of how huge they were in a short window of time.

Joe Jackson's ‘79 track is one of my favorite songs of all time, so it easily made my list.

Leftovers

• 1977 – Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer”, Steely Dan's “Peg”, Pink Floyd's “Pigs (Three Different Ones)", Bob Marley's “Exodus”, Billy Joel's “Movin’ Out (Anthony's Song)", and Cheap Trick's “I Want You to Want Me”
• 1978 – Bruce Springsteen's “Prove It All Night”, Bob Marley's “Is This Love”, Elvis Costello's “Pump It Up”, Billy Joel's “Big Shot”, Van Halen's “You Really Got Me”, Cheap Trick's “Surrender”, Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler”
• 1979 – Elvis Costello's “Accidents Will Happen”, Pink Floyd's “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2”, Supertramp's “The Logical Song”, Led Zeppelin's “Fool in the Rain”, XTC's “Making Plans for Nigel”, The Police's “Message in a Bottle”

Trickling Down

1. 1980 – Bob Marley – Uprising – Redemption Song
2. 1981 – Rush – Moving Pictures – Tom Sawyer
3. 1982 – Michael Jackson – Thriller – Billie Jean
4. 1983 – Stevie Ray Vaughan – Texas Flood – Testify
5. 1984 – Van Halen – 1984 – Jump
6. 1985 – Tears For Fears – Songs From The Big Chair – Shout
7. 1986 – XTC – Skylarking – Dear God
8. 1987 – U2 – Joshua Tree – With or Without You
9. 1988 – Living Colour – Vivid – Cult of Personality
10. 1989 – Faith No More – Real Thing – Epic

The 1980s were interesting. Ha. Starting off strong with one of my favorite Marley tracks, it then veers off the following year with me having to settle on an iconic song because literally no other tracks caught my eye. Some years are definitely not as strong as others, but I believe 1981 was the low point of the mix for me. After that I continue on, somewhat grudgingly, with a classic song off Thriller. I don't own the album, but really it would feel embarrassing not including it on a mix like this. Especially if I replaced it with something from Huey Lewis.

I'd be hard pressed to make a mix like this and not include Stevie Ray somewhere. This year and track seemed like the best fit. I can't say I remember much of him when I was younger, but by college I was in awe and I still play his albums today.

1984 reverts to form, as it's literally a song I remember playing incessantly and jumping around the living room as a young'n. They were more innocent times; I no longer jump around the room when no one is around. I swear.

The following year is funny in that I remember really liking the song and then not hearing it for a couple decades. When they somewhat recently did a re-release on an anniversary, I rediscovered it. A couple of other decent tracks, but sadly the album as a whole isn't one I'd listen to all the way through.

Again, switching gears, “Dear God” caught me in high school and I still play that album pretty consistently. As I mention in my review, I sometimes confuse it with their best-of album.

I rather like early U2, so it was nice to fit in a track. I was tempted by REM's “Finest Worksong”, as I used to blast that as a psych up song (it was on a record, with grooves and everything!). So pretty much a 50/50 call for me on this one.

Living Colour's first album was simply epic. I love a number of tracks from it, but the opening one hits so hard with that guitar riff I had to include it over the others. And to close out the decade, it's fun to go with the actual song “Epic”. Way back then I liked it, then got really sick of it, and now I like it again since I only hear it when I play it. Funny how that works.

Leftovers

• 1980 – Elvis Costello's “I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down”, The Police “Don't Stand So Close to Me”, Peter Gabriel's “Games Without Frontiers”, Talking Head's Remain in Light, Springsteen's The River
• 1981 – U2's “Gloria”, The Cars’ “Shake It Up”. If you can find others I'd be curious.
• 1982 – Huey Lewis And The News’ “Workin For A Livin”, Bruce Springsteen's “Atlantic City”
• 1983 – Elvis Costello's “Everyday I Write the Book”, Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House”, U2'2 “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, The Police “Every Breath You Take”
• 1984 – Stevie Ray Vaughan's “Scuttle Buttin’", Bruce Springsteen's “Glory Days”, Los Lobos’ “I Got Loaded”, REM's “(Don't Go Back To) Rockville”
• 1985 – REM's “Driver 8”
• 1986 – Peter Gabriel's “Big Time”, Crowded House's “Mean To Me”, Beastie Boys’ “Fight for Your Right”, Van Halen's “Why Can't This Be Love?”
• 1987 – Grateful Dead's “Touch of Grey”, REM's “Finest Worksong”, Bruce Springsteen's “Tunnel of Love”, INXS’ “Never Tear Us Apart”, Pink Floyd's “Learning to Fly”, The Housemartins’ “Happy Hour”
• 1988 – DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince's “Parents Just Don't Understand”, Tracy Chapman's “Fast Car”, Paula Abdul's “Straight Up”, Public Enemy's “Don't Believe the Hype”, NWA's “Fuck tha Police”, REM's “Orange Crush”
  • This might be my favorite list of songs because it doesn't seem to make any logical sense for them to be released the same year.
• 1989 – Phish's “Fee”, Stevie Ray Vaughan's “Crossfire”, Beastie Boys’ “Shake Your Rump”, Michael Penn's “No Myth”, De La Soul's “Tread Water”, Chris Isaak's “Wicked Game”, Billy Joel's “We Didn’t Start the Fire”, Elvis Costello's “Veronica”, 2 Live Crew's “Me So Horny”

Teenage Angst

1. 1990 – A Tribe Called Quest – People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm – Can I Kick It?
2. 1991 – Pearl Jam – Ten – Alive
3. 1992 – Rage Against the Machine – Rage Against the Machine – Bombtrack
4. 1993 – Counting Crows – August & Everything After – Mr. Jones
5. 1994 – Jeff Buckley – Grace – Last Goodbye
6. 1995 – Everclear – Sparkle and Fade – Santa Monica
7. 1996 – Ani Difranco – Dilate – Shameless
8. 1997 – Ben Folds Five – Whatever and Ever Amen – Brick
9. 1998 – Phish – The Story of the Ghost – Limb by Limb
10. 1999 – Wilco – Summer Teeth – How to Fight Loneliness

As I hit my early teen years, I definitely started to like R&B and hip hop a lot more. We used Tribe as our main warm up track for basketball before games. We were cool. Or something. Anyway, like a lot of tracks on this mix the ‘90 selection was a nice combination of a band I really like, a song I really like, and one that happens to be pretty iconic.

I kind of had to include Pearl Jam. I actually do really like Ten; I used to listen to a tape of it while mowing the lawn way back in the day. And by “tape”, I mean cassette tape on a “walkman” player, with largish fuzzy earphones. Back in my day, “buds” were a term your parents would awkwardly use as a synonym for a young person's “friends”. They had little to nothing to do with ears or listening devices.

It took a couple years for me to find Rage, but wow were they impressive. An awesome album (really the first couple were amazing).

I was a sucker for Counting Crows early on. I still really like their first album and will occasionally listen to the second one (which has a track that name drops Ben Folds, which I still find awesome).

Jeff Buckley was and is one of my favorite artists, Grace is one of (if not “the”) favorite albums of mine, and “Last Goodbye” was an instant favorite of mine that I can still listen on repeat. I think I listened to this album close to daily for about 5 years.

I really like the Everclear album and still listen to it end to end (unlike virtually any of their other albums, where I generally like a track or two). From college onward, one of my go-to songs to blast at high volume once Spring rolls around (weather-wise; aka finally can open windows) is “Santa Monica”.

I didn't get into Ani Difranco much until I got a demo mix from her record label while working at a CD store in college, but I've been a big fan of her early-to-middle career ever since (post 2000, not as much). “Shameless” is just a great rocker, but there are a number of tracks from the album I could have used with no complaints from myself. Erm.

Ben Folds Five is hands down one of my favorite bands, whether it's a studio album or to see live. “Brick” is probably their closest to an iconic song, but again I could have picked just about any song from that album and been happy. The funny thing is that two of my other favorite albums came out the same year (Jayhawks’ Sound of Lies and Old 97s Too Far to Care). I could literally listen to all three on end for a long time before I'd crack!

In college I was a big Phish fan, mostly for live shows (or live recordings) but I did like enough of their studio work to buy most of their albums until their initial “hiatus”. “Limb by Limb” is a pretty good sample of their typical sound that I really enjoy. One of the better “singles” they have, not that they focus on that side of things in the slightest.

Wilco is funny because I probably would have liked them a lot if I somehow found them early on (I was really into Jayhawks and Son Volt, both very much related). But thankfully I did find them eventually, and this is one of my favorite tracks of theirs.

Leftovers

We're at the point where things might be slightly out of control. Some of these years have dozens of choices, which is in stark contrast to many things before I was actually old enough to start working jobs that let me buy music (including the record store in college, where of course I spent a decent percentage of my paycheck on CD's at cost). In other words, we're at the point where for many of these years I could make a single 15 song mix with nothing but great songs from a particular year. For a mix like this, it makes it at once more fun and challenging.

• 1990 – Living Colour – “Love Rears Its Ugly Head”, Phish – “Run Like An Antelope”, Bell Biv Devoe – “Poison”, Paul Simon – “The Obvious Child”, Jellyfish – “The Man I Used To Be”, They Might Be Giants – “Birdhouse In Your Soul”, Jane's Addiction – “Been Caught Stealing”, Public Enemy – “Fight the Power”
• 1991 – Temple of the Dog – “Hunger Strike”, Stevie Ray Vaughan – “Little Wing”, Big Audio Dynamite – “Rush”, Live – “Pain Lies On The Riverside”, A Tribe Called Quest – “Scenario”, Big Head Todd and the Monsters – “Bittersweet”, Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Under the Bridge”, Boyz II Men – “It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday”, Another Bad Creation – “Playground”, Billy Bragg – “Everywhere”, REM – “Losing My Religion”, Nirvana – “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
• 1992 – Barenaked Ladies – “If I Had $1000000”, The Jayhawks – “Waiting for the Sun”, Dada – “Dizz Knee Land”, Sonia Dada – “You Don't Treat Me No Good”, Arrested Development – “Tennessee”, Phish – “Llama”, Los Lobos – “Dream In Blue”, Del Amitri – “The First Rule of Love”, Beastie Boys – “Pass The Mic”, God Street Wine – “Nightingale”, David Sanborn – “Bang Bang”, Blind Melon – “No Rain”, John Wesley Harding – “Kill the Messenger”, Alice in Chains – “Rooster”, Jeffrey Gaines – “Hero in Me”, Dr. Dre – “Let Me Ride”, Gin Blossoms – “Hey Jealousy”, 4 Non Blondes – “What's Up”, Ministry – “N.W.O.", Screaming Trees – “Shadow Of The Season”, Sublime – “40 oz. to freedom”
• 1993 – Jellyfish – “New Mistake”, Radiohead – “Creep”, Bjork – “Human Behaviour”, Everclear – “Your Genius Hands”, Tim Finn – “Persuasion”, Snoop – “Gin & Juice”, A Tribe Called Quest – “Award Tour” and “Electric Relaxation”, Dave Matthews Band – “Ants Marching” and “Satellite”, Big Head Todd – “Bittersweet”, Mazzy Star – “Fade Into You”, The The – “Love Is Stronger Than Death”, Phish's Rift, Morphine's Cure for Pain, Uncle Tupelo's Anodyne, Afghan Whigs’ Gentlemen, Buffalo Tom's Big Red Letter Day, Possum Dixon's self titled album, Primus’ Pork Soda
• 1994 – God Street Wine – “Princess Henrietta”, “Nightingale”, “Molly”, and “The Ballroom”, Over the Rhine – “Happy With Myself?", Beck – “Loser”, Green Day's Dookie, G. Love and Special Sauce's self titled album, Phish's Hoist, Toadies’ Rubberneck, Live's Throwing Copper, Dada's American Highway Flower, Soul Coughing's Ruby Vroom, Bad Religion's Stranger Than Fiction, Weezer's blue album, Blues Traveler's Four, Sublime's Robbin’ the Hood, Widespread Panic's Ain't Life Grand, Pink Floyd's Division Bell, Old 97s’ Hitchhike to Rhome, Beastie Boys’ Ill Communication, Dinosaur Jr's Without a Sound
• 1995 – Ben Folds Five – “Philosophy”, “Underground”, “The Last Polka”, Ben Harper – “Oppression”, “Ground on Down”, “Another Lonely Day”, “Gold to Me”, Radiohead – “High and Dry”, “Fake Plastic Trees”, “Street Spirit (Fade Out)", Sonia Dada – “Planes & Satellites”, Jayhawks – “Blue”, Ani Difranco – “Shy”, Son Volt – “Tear Stained Eye”, G. Love and Special Sauce – “Kiss and Tell”, Bruce Springsteen – “The Ghost of Tom Joad”, No Doubt – “Just a Girl”, Oasis – “Wonderwall”, Blind Melon's Soup, Wilco's AM, Elliot Smith's self titled album, 311's self titled album
• 1996 – Old 97s – “Big Brown Eyes”, Sublime – “What I Got”, Reel Big Fish – “Sell Out” and “She Has a Girlfriend Now”, “Beer”, Cake – “The Distance” and “I Will Survive”, Less Than Jake – “Jen Doesn't Like Me Anymore”, Galactic – “Something's Wrong With This Picture”, Phish – “Free” and “Waste”, Soul Coughing – “Soundtrack To Mary”, Weezer – “El Scorcho”, Rage Against the Machine – “People of the Sun”, Stabbing Westward – “I Don't Believe”, Beck – “Devil's Haircut”, Counting Crows – “Monkey”, Moe – “Spine of a Dog”, Fugees – “Ready or Not” and “Killing Me Softly”, Fiona Apple – “Criminal”, Afghan Whigs's Black Love, Blind Melon's Nico, Tool's Aenima, Los Lobos’ Colossal Head, Dave Matthews Band's Crash, Wilco's Being There
• 1997 – The Jayhawks – “The Man Who Loved Life”, “Dying on the Vine”, “Bottomless Cup”, and “Sound of Lies”, Old 97s – “Timebomb”, “Broadway”, “Salome”, “Big Brown Eyes”, Radiohead – “Karma Police”, Strangefolk – “Poland” and “Sometimes”, Ben Harper – “Faded”, “Glory & Consequence”, and “Jah Work”, Elliott Smith – “2:45 AM”, G. Love And Special Sauce – “You Shall See”, Modest Mouse – “Bankrupt On Selling”, Wyclef Jean – “Gone Till November”, Agent Porridge – “Push Me Over”, Perfect Thyroid – “Pear-o-noya”, Everclear – “Father of Mine”, Widespread Panic – “Radio Child”, Live – “Lakini's Juice”, Buck-O-Nine – “Jennifer's Cold” and “My Town”, Mighty Mighty Bosstones – “The Impression That I Get”, Squirrel Nut Zippers – “Bad Businessman”, Big Head Todd – “Boom Boom”, Foo Fighters – “Hey, Johnny Park!", Green Day – “Good Riddance”, “Time of Your Life”, “King for a Day”, Moxy Fruvous – “Michigan Militia”, Guster – “Demons” and “Airport Song”, Marcy Playground – “Sex And Candy”, Janet Jackson – “Go Deep”, Tuatara's Breaking the Ethers, Crystal Method's Vegas
• 1998 – Gomez – “Get Myself Arrested” and “Whippin’ Piccadilly”, Jeff Buckley – “Satisfied Mind” and “Everybody Here Wants You”, Jude – “Rick James”, “You Mama You”, “I Do”, “Prophet”, Moe. – “Spaz Medicine” and “Plane Crash”, Medeski Martin & Wood – “Whatever Happened to Gus”, Lauryn Hill – “Doo Wop (That Thing)” and “Superstar”, Afghan Whigs – “Citi Soleil”, Sonia Dada – “Las Vegas Virgin”, Soul Coughing – “So Far I Have Not Found the Science”, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy – “Jumpin’ Jack”, Dada – “The Ballad Of Earl Grey And Chamomile”, Jeffrey Gaines – “First Chapter's Last Page”, Eagle Eye Cherry – “Desireless”, Ben Folds Five – “Emaline”, Reel Big Fish – “Somebody Hates Me”, “She's Famous Now”, and “The Set Up (You Need This)", Strangefolk – “Who I Am” and “Oxbow”, Duncan Sheik – “In Between” and “A Body Goes Down”, Gov't Mule – “Blind Man in the Dark”, Mya – “Movin’ On”, Billy Bragg and Wilco – “California Stars”, The Mavericks – “Dance The Night Away”, Spoon's A Series of Sneaks
• 1999 – BFF – “Mess”, “Army”, Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Around the World”, “Road Trippin’", Gomez – “Rhythm & Blues Alibi”, “Devil Will Ride”, Ben Harper – “Please Bleed”, “Steal My Kisses”, Los Lobos – “This Time”, Rage Against the Machine – “Testify”, Fiona Apple – “On the Bound”, “Fast as You Can”, G. Love And Special Sauce – “Rodeo Clowns”, Incubus – “Pardon Me”, The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – “Lap Dance”, 311 – “Come Original”, Death in Vegas – “Soul Auctioneer”, Beta Band – “Dry the Rain”

I warned you. That was a massive wall of text. If people actually want to read it more easily I'll reformat it so each artist is on their own line. One last part will follow that will go up to last year, most likely in a few days to a week.