Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)

It’s finally summer, my favorite season. I’ve always loved summer best, especially when I was young and summer meant no school. As I got older and carefree summers turned into summer job summers, I still loved it because hanging out with your friends became so much easier. Suddenly everywhere was a potential party, instead of having to find some indoor spot.

As I raced out the door this morning I grabbed an old tape that I’d recorded in the summer between finishing high school and starting college. A friend and I found our way to a party that someone was having out on a field somewhere down by the water. When I think about these things now, I can only assume I told my mother I was going to someone’s house because you’d be crazy to let your kid go to a party down by the rocky shore in a pitch black field. Who really knows where we were. I’m sure I wouldn’t even have been able to find the spot again the next morning. It was not one of our usual spots. Our usual spots were the athletic fields that were not in use by the local college during the summer, or the blueberry fields. Only in Maine*.

The party was your usual BYOB (and bug spray) and just hang out. Someone had made a small fire. In addition to the people you would expect to see, there were two guys from England, someone’s cousin and his friend I think. We got talking to them and while one of them was trying to pick up my friend, the other guy and I were left to make small talk. Naturally, I asked what kind of music he liked. He replied, British bands. Well, that’s not much help. Granted, after two years of living in Maine my knowledge of British bands was not very robust but surely he could name names. I offered up the English Beat which he pooh-poohed immediately and said no, try this, and handed me a tape.

Side A: Buzzcocks – Singles Going Steady
Orgasm Addict
What Do I Get?
I Don’t Mind
Love You More
Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)
Promises
Everybody’s Happy Nowadays
Harmony in My Head
What Ever Happened To?
Oh Shit!
Autonomy
Noise Annoys
Just Lust
Lipstick
Why Can’t I Touch It?
Something’s Gone Wrong Again

Side B: The Stranglers – The Collection 1977–1982
(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
Peaches
Hanging Around
No More Heroes
Duchess
Walk On By
Waltzinblack
Something Better Change
Nice ‘n’ Sleazy
Bear Cage
Who Wants the World?
Golden Brown
Strange Little Girl
La Folie

I took it home and copied it so I could give it back to him at the next party out in a field somewhere else later in the week. So thanks, random English dude with curly hair, for having a friend that dragged you along to a party in the Maine sticks. These are some truly classic songs and a foundation for many bands that would come after. It’s also a great testament to the whole culture of tapes. Having handy some music you could share with someone. Would you carry an LP to a party on a field? No, you would not. But a tape, definitely.

* These were just wild blueberries growing in some undeveloped land behind a new-ish group of houses. It’s not like we were partying amidst someone’s crops. Wild Maine blueberries are the best kind but no one was there to go berry picking.