33 years ago, during my sophomore year of high school, I put together the first of what would eventually become a nearly 20 volume collection of mix tapes, containing my favorite songs that I had gathered either from the radio, a cassette tape, or (eventually) CD.  Today, we revisit those mix tapes for the fourth time and see how, or if, the soundtrack of my youth still resonates in today’s digital world and how much has changed over the past four years.

Volume 18 covers the summer of 1995, the first summer that I worked at First Suburban National Bank in Maywood.  I would end up spending three summers working there, the first two as a teller and the third attempting to create a database to track their safe deposit boxes.  I met a lot of interesting people from many different backgrounds, some of whom became friends for a time.

After I graduated and started working towards my career, my involvement at the bank started decreasing.  For a while, I kept my bank account there and would occasionally pop in to see how the old gang was doing, but eventually the on-site branch of a much-larger banking institution got my business.  By October of 2010, when the bank was closed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, I no longer had any contact with anyone from the bank.

Side A

Stone Temple Pilots – Dancing Days
iTunes stats: 37 plays, most recently on 12/22/2022

A radio hit despite never being officially released as a single, the Led Zeppelin cover added ten new listens to its impressive total over the past four years.

PJ Harvey – Down By The Water
iTunes stats: 24 plays, most recently on 5/26/2021

Eight new plays for the surprise mainstream hit by the indie darling, which hit #2 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart.

R.E.M. – Strange Currencies
iTunes stats: 12 plays, most recently on 9/9/2022

Nearly left off the Monster album due to its rhythmic similarities to Everybody Hurts, the song picked up five new plays over the past four years.

Live – All Over You
iTunes stats: 22 plays, most recently on 6/7/2022

Hitting #4 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart despite never being released as a single in the US, Live’s latest has more than doubled its plays in the last four years.

Soul Asylum – Misery
iTunes stats: 18 plays, most recently on 3/1/2022

Originally recorded off of Q101, the debut single from Soul Asylum’s follow-up to their breakthrough album added seven new listens over these past four years.

Collective Soul – December
iTunes stats: 18 plays, most recently on 5/13/2022

Peaking at #20 on the Billboard charts, the second single from the band’s second album more than doubled its output over the last four years.

Elastica – Connection
iTunes stats: 21 plays, most recently on 5/9/2022

The first US hit from Elastica, peaking at #53 on the Billboard charts, added just four listens in the last four years.

Juliana Hatfield – Universal Heart-Beat
iTunes stats: 21 plays, most recently on 12/22/2022

Hitting #5 on the Modern Rock Tracks charts, the solo release from Juliana Hatfield garnered eight additional listens in the last four years.

Side B

Jill Sobule – I Kissed A Girl
iTunes stats: 26 plays, most recently on 12/31/2022

Seven new listens for Jill Sobule’s tribute to lesbian self-discovery, boosted somewhat by Katy Perry’s hit of the same name.

Veruca Salt – All Hail Me
iTunes stats: 25 plays, most recently on 11/20/2021

Never officially released as a single, the final hit from Veruca Salt’s debut album added a mere three listens over the past four years.

The Rembrandts – I’ll Be There For You
iTunes stats: 28 plays, most recently on 8/17/2022

The Friends theme song added seven new listens in the past four years.

Green Day – She
iTunes stats: 18 plays, most recently on 6/21/2019

Last heard nearly a year before the pandemic, the fifth and final hit from Green Day’s breakthrough release added five new plays in the last four years.

U2 – Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
iTunes stats: 19 plays, most recently on 11/3/2022

The band’s contribution to the Batman Forever soundtrack picked up seven additional listens over these past four years.

Alanis Morissette – You Oughta Know
iTunes stats: 35 plays, most recently on 7/28/2022

Winner of Best Rock Song and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance Grammys, the smash hit that introduced the former You Can’t Do That On Television star to American audiences managed to gain twelve listens over the last four years.

Veruca Salt – My Sharona
iTunes stats: 27 plays, most recently on 7/24/2022

The B-side cover of The Knack classic picked up nine new listens over the past four years.

Weezer – Say It Ain’t So
iTunes stats: 20 plays, most recently on 4/30/2022

Just two new listens for the third and final single from the band’s debut album, which ranked as the 72nd greatest guitar song of all time by Rolling Stone.