DGC Rarities, Vol. 1,
which featured B-sides, demos, and other rare tracks from Nirvana, Weezer, Beck, and others, came out in 1994. Here are a few selections that DGC Rarities saved from the Cemetery of Forgotten Songs.1. Teenage Fanclub - Mad Dog 20/20 (mp3)
This was an ode to teenage life in Teenage Fanclub's hometown, where you could find the kids "drinking cheap wine in summer parks, trying to work out when the future starts." It also works as a tribute to the symbolic drink of young low-wage workers and students everywhere. Some of my best friends in 1994 were "dorm rats," which is slang for low-ranking enlisted single military people living in the dorms. Barely 21, with budgets as small as their closet-sized living spaces, surving on a diet of 5-minute chow hall lunches and ramen, and barely able to afford a date, the "rats" spent their summer nights with each other at picnic tables or in rooms with 19" TV sets and stereos with 15" woofers, and their choice of drink was cheap beer or Mad Dog 20/20, which gave them the courage to approach any new hotties who just moved in down the hall.
2. Sonic Youth - Compilation Blues (mp3)
A reject from the underrated Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star album, this is a great song to slip into a mix as you're enjoying an ice cold MD20/20. When the conversation gets a little too serious, discuss the difficulty of screeching like Kim Gordon in this song, and also remark on how the alternate guitar tuning on the acoustic adds depth to the chord changes. Then take another swig because this song goes down way easier that way.
3. The Sundays - Don't Tell Your Mother (mp3)
This B-side to the Sundays' first British single, "Can't Be Sure," was written with A-side worthy lyrics in 1988:
don't tell your mother about
where you go when the lights are down
and don't tell your mother how
you're up to no good, nowhere to be found
well, it's time to learn not to work so hard
or not at all
how will we know when the end is nigh
on a day much as any other
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