The Boston PlayList Project

Spotify Playlist Link (if you can’t get to the link, my spotify user name is “davidchurbuck”)

In the spirit of former Wall Street Journal and Forbes Editor Norman Pearlstine’s quest to build the ultimate 90-minute rock & roll mix tape: which songs should go on the ultimate playlist of Boston-oriented rock and roll? Candidate songs should be by Boston-area bands or mention Boston in either title or lyrics. Here, with the assistance of my musical colleagues at Acquia (Chris Rogers and his wife Courtney Rau, DC Denison, David Butler, David Pierce, and others Massholes), is the work in progress.

1. Road Runner, Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
2. Dirty Water, The Standells
3. That’s When I Reach for My Revolver, Mission of Burma
4. Musta Got Lost, J. Geils
5. Please Come to Boston, Dave Loggins
6. U Mass, The Pixies
7. Dream On, Aerosmith
8. More than a Feeling, Boston
9. Massachusetts, BeeGees
10. New Hampshire is Alright If you Like Fighting, Scissorfight
11. Check Your Bucket, Duke & the Drivers
12. Train, James Montgomery
13. Shipping Up to Boston, Dropkick Murphy’s
14. When World’s Collide, Powerman 5000
15. More Human Than a Human, Rob Zombie (Haverhill)
16. You’re All I’ve Got Tonight, The Cars
17. It’s a Shame About Ray, The Lemonheads
18. Good Vibrations, Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch
19. Voices Carry, Til Tuesday
20. Let’s Go Tripping, Dick Dale
21. Don’t Run Wild, Del Fuegos
22. Someday I Suppose, Mighty Mighty Bosstones
23. Up & Running, Heretix
24. Back on the Map, Slapshot
25. My Sister, Juliana Hatfield Three
26. Here and Now, Letters to Cleo
27. Step by Step, NKOTB
28. Candy Girl, New Edition
29. My Prerogative, Bobby Brown
30. Poison, Bell Biv Devoe
31. Weekend in New England, Barry Manilow
32. Alice’s Restaurant, Arlo Guthrie
33. Mutha, Extreme
34. Talk About Love – O Positive
35. I Think She Likes Me – Treat Her Right
36. Boston – Kenny Chesney
37. Sweet Baby James – James Taylor
38. Jackie Onassis – Human Sexual Response
39. Lonely is the Night – Billy Squier (Wellesley’s finest, LOL)
40. Prettiest Girl – The Neighborhoods
41. When Things Go Wrong – Robin Lane and the Chartbusters
42. Feel the Pain – Dinosaur Jr.
43. Taillights Fade – Buffalo Tom
44. Last Dance – Donna Summer
45. Hostile, Mass – The Hold Steady, or Chillout Tent
46. 75 and Sunny – Ryan Montbleau
47. Airport Song – Guster
48. Astral Weeks – Van Morrison (see poem about Hyannisport on the album notes)
49. On the Dark Side – John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band
50. Massachusetts, Arlo Guthrie (official Mass folk song)
51. Massachusetts, Alton Ellis
52. Sunshine, Jonathan Edwards (former summer resident of Cotuit)
53. Baby, Let Me Follow You Down, Bob Dylan
54. Twilight in Boston, Jonathan Richman
55. Boston, The Dresden Dolls
56. They Came to Boston, The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones
57. Boston Stranger, Boston Strangler
58. Boston, The Byrds
59. Cannonball, The Breeders

 

MISSING BANDS

Siege, Drop Dead

Staind

Morphine

Tree

The Lyres

Sebadoh

The Joe Perry Project

Mad Angel

Sleepy LaBeef: Raynham resident, long time house band at Alan’s Truck Stop in Amesbury

Seth Putnam and any of his unspeakable bands

GG Allin?

Tavares (Providence, RI but ended up in New Bej)

Ray LaMontagne – Nashua by birth, Massachusetts by residence now (I thought so)

Next steps: put this list in the right sequence per the advice given by John Cusack in High Fidelity about how the order of songs on a mix tape is as important as their selection.

“The making of a great compilation tape, like breaking up, is hard to do and takes ages longer than it might seem. You gotta kick off with a killer, to grab attention. Then you got to take it up a notch, but you don’t wanna blow your wad, so then you got to cool it off a notch. There are a lot of rules. “

Feel free to collaborate in the comment with suggestions or questions.