Inspir.es

I recently went through an old leather CD case, purging old burned CD’s to make room for audiobooks - which I’ve been listening to more and more on my semi-daily commute. While doing this, I came upon a CD titled “Tim’s Greatest Hits.” Curious, I decided to leave it in the case and listen to it the following morning en route to work. The next morning, I popped in my greatest hits CD and prepared for the worst…and got it.

Here’s the playlist in the original order (with release dates in parentheses):

1. Matchbox 20 - Push (1997)
2. Creed - With Arms Wide Open (1999)
3. Dave Matthews Band - Crush (1998)
4. Dave Matthews Band - Crash (1996)
5. K-Ci & JoJo - All My Life (1997)
6. R. Kelly - I Wish (2000)
7. Kenny Wayne Sheppard - Last Goodbye (2000)
8. The Verve Pipe - Freshman (1997)
9. Tom Petty - Free Fallin’ (1989)
10. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge (1991)
11. Tupac - Changes (1998)
12. Lil’ Troy - Wanna Be a Baller (1998)
13. Pearl Jam - Last Kiss (1998)
14. The Notorious B.I.G. ft. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - Notorious Thugs (1997)
15. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - Tha Crossroads (1996)
16. Three 6 Mafia - Late Nite Tip (1997)

Obviously, my musical tastes have changed since I was 15. But what really struck me about this CD was that I was able to commit to disc 16 tracks that at the time were my favorite songs. 16 songs that I preferred over all others. What would I include on my current greatest hits CD?

After days of thinking it over - I’ve posted to my Muxtape what I consider my latest greatest hits. The criteria I used:

The songs I enjoy most
regardless of the artist’s other work
ignoring “cred”
forgetting about music critics
and knowing I could change my mind again in eight more years
or less

The game: Update your Muxtape to reflect your current greatest hits. And if you don’t have a Muxtape - go get one…and update it to reflect your current greatest hits. Send them to me or blog them and I’ll repost them here. Ready, set, go!