This mix was originally put together in January 2003, together with Mix #2 – Top 20 Albums of the 80’s (USA).
The idea of making mixes was back with renewed excitement, some 15 years after the teenage thrill of trading cassettes in high school. At the turn of the millennium Digital was entrenched in everything I did, so the time had come to rip all the cds and convert them to mp3s so I could feed the chunky Archos AV player station.
Experimenting with Audacity and realising it featured crossover and fade in/out commands was the ticket to creating this and the #2 mix as an ode to the past, the most eccentric of decades, the 80’s.
My feelings for the albums featured in these Top 20’s haven’t changed. These are still the bands that I consider to be the most significant during these forming years. These albums changed the course of my life. Most of them are among the very first records I ever heard and/or owned. They all relate to special moments during my growing pains, the parties and gigs, the girls, wanting to form a band, to influence others. This is why they are special, they were lived, experienced in loco, with the psyche of the time, with the fashion of the time, the politics, the fears, the ingenuity and honesty of life before selfies and social. I am glad I was there.