The Great Mix Experiment of Aught Five

In August of 2001 I set forth on an experiment. Over that summer I had become hooked on free music with Napster. By the end of that summer, I could no longer use Napster, and I was hungry for new free music. So I told a large group of friends that I would burn a double CD collection of the music I had been listening to over the past few months.

The CD’s were burned and distributed. People in this group who participated, in turn, burned a mix tape or CD for me at the time including all the music they had been listening to over that year.

So in the end, they got some great music and I got some great music. The added bonus was that I got to expand my musical taste for things I normally wouldn’t listen to. It also gave me a greater appreciation for those people and what types of music feed their souls.

You can tell a lot about a person from the music they listen to.

Something I did not expect to realize from the experiment was the music of the time. I had burned the list of songs before the events of September that year. I think of the years between the fall of the Berlin Wall and September 11, 2001 as a period of naïve empyrean. Most of the songs are popular. When I listen to them now they remind me of the flapper music of the 20’s, carefree and little focus. How good those times were before this period of more serious days.

So after being reminded of the experiment last weekend and a whole week to reflect on it, I have decided to introduce “The Great Mix Experiment of Aught Five.” I will create one CD of the music that has been serenading my soul for the last year. If you email me your home address, I will send you a copy of the CD. Please note that you should email me your address privately, you can do this on my profile, do not post your home address on this blog for your own protection. You, in turn, will agree to cut me a CD or mix tape of what you have been listening to in the year 2005. It doesn’t have to be recorded in 2005, just what you have been listening to in 2005.

In January, when the year is over, I will take all submissions and make a best of CD that includes a song from everyone and liner notes from that person when possible.

For liner notes – I recommend that you not only include the title of the song and the artist, but also a sentence or two about what the song means to you, or maybe the times you would listen to the music.

I hope you join me in this new social experiment.