This Magnificent Bird Will Rise: The Summer of 2002

OK, here I go breaking my own rules again… First of all, this ‘mixtape’ is 5 minutes too long for an actual cassette but who cares anyway, I just didn’t want to spend forever arguing with myself about which songs to cut. Also, I’m bending the date rules to include The Decemberists’ “July, July” which was first released on May 21 but I mean come on…

In any case, not too much to say about the summer of 2002. Some good music came out. I saw De La Soul and The Flaming Lips play on the same bill. Ethan Hawke visited the Brattle with security detail in tow to read from one of his novels. Oh… and Ivy and I were planning our wedding for that coming September! We sprung “The Event” on our friends and extended family with a surprise invitation that went out over that summer. In hindsight, putting a flying pig on the front was a mistake as that became our unofficial mascot for several years after.

In any case, here is the playlist of songs that I’ve created for the summer of 2002… Most of these are from albums that I owned at the time though I’ve also included a few ‘hits’ of the time and newer discoveries. I am open to a discussion on the #problematic narrative outlined in Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er Boi” which I don’t think I had ever consciously listened to before this week.