Mike Love, Not War

My friend Rachel was a master of mixtapes. Throughout middle and high school, I was forever trying to meet her level (and rarely succeeding). She designed her own covers and tracklists, dubbed television audio and poetry into the mix, and chose music that only years later I would really appreciate. And no matter how much I tried to emulate—mixing in lines from “Howl” and presidential addresses, switching from Brit pop to chamber music and back, pasting together silly collage covers—I never quite got it. One of my favorite tapes is called “Mike Love, Not War,” and on it is the song I always return to when I think of that early excitement of discovering new music: “We Love You” by The Psychedelic Furs. I really should digitize all these special tapes, but for now I’m happy to have this track:

“We Love You (Rachel Mix)” – Click to play

Please forgive the buzzy, warped sound. My Talkboy (jealous? You should be) is very old, and the tape has been through some warm nights and some bumpy rides. What a good song. Everything is wonderful: the pulsing bass, the light drums, the hypnotic and rough guitars, the shrill sax, and Richard Butler’s steady, slightly fey lyrics (“ooobabyloooove”). As I look up from my desk, my only photo is one of Richard Butler sitting on stage, dressed in a trench coat and pearls, shot by Rachel herself in 1999 or 2000 when The Psychedelic Furs came to a small club in Tempe, Arizona. It brings me back.

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