what band can you make an expert mix tape for?

[sweatboard]

leanne, don't take ole Sweatboard seriously.  He prefers his music with either Eddie Vedder or crying men in it.

also, accurate. 

[alienlanes]

A favorite of mine, which I never see mentioned here (although Galaxie 500 gets a lot of love).

Luna

1. California All The Way
2. Ihop
3. 23 Minutes In Brussels
4. Anesthesia
5. Friendly Advice
6. Pup Tent
7. Sideshow By The Seashore
8. Time To Quit
9. Tiger Lily
10. Bonnie & Clyde
11. Beautiful View
12. Bewitched
13. Hedgehog

If you don't know Luna, do yourself a favor and download this mix right NOW!

You are so right exist!  I was debating on doing a Luna or Galaxie mix but settled on Guided By Voices.  Tough to narrow their collection down to 13 songs but here is my attempt at it:

Guided By Voices:

1.   Big Boring Wedding
2.   I Am A Scientist
3.   Now To War   
4.   Blimps Go 90
5.   Motor Away
6.   Official Ironman Rally Song
7.   Acorns &  Orioles
8.   Watch Me Jumpstart
9.   I Am A Tree
10. To Remake The Young Flyer
11. Run Wild
12. Liquid Indian
13. Don't Stop Now

Wow, what a weird list for a GBV mixed tape. I like them a lot, as you can probably tell by my username. I would never think to have a song like Liquid Indian in there. I am pretty fussy on my GBV, saw them 37 times between 1995 and their final show in Chicago (pre-reunion) and my tape would absolutely have to include these

Over the Neptune / Mesh Gear Fox (this would be the first song for sure)
Psychic Pilot Clocks out
My Valuable Hunting Knife

[iLikeBeer]

Wow, what a weird list for a GBV mixed tape. I like them a lot, as you can probably tell by my username. I would never think to have a song like Liquid Indian in there. I am pretty fussy on my GBV, saw them 37 times between 1995 and their final show in Chicago (pre-reunion) and my tape would absolutely have to include these

Over the Neptune / Mesh Gear Fox (this would be the first song for sure)
Psychic Pilot Clocks out
My Valuable Hunting Knife

Liquid Indian is just a song I have always liked so that's why it made my list. 

As for your suggestions, like I said, hard to narrow down 13 songs from their vast collection of music...

[Shug]

I made this Wilco mix for a friend who is a (progressive/non-traditional) minister, so the songs/lyrics were handpicked to pique his interest on topics I know are meaningful to him.  It's not my ultimate Wilco mix.


Wilco
Ashes Of American Flags
I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
Misunderstood
Poor Places
Wishful Thinking
War On War
Jesus, Etc.
Theologians
One Sunday Morning
Sunken Treasure
Country Disappeared
Handshake Drugs
A Shot In The Arm
What Light

[mahg33ta]

DEER TICK (just made this for a friend at work)

1.  Ashamed
2.  Easy
3.  Smith Hill
4.  Baltimore Blues #1
5.  Dirty Dishes
6.  The Bump
7.  Art Isnt Real
8.  Houston TX
9.  Not So Dense
10. Twenty Miles
11. Mange
12. Let's Go To The Bar

[LeanneP]

hard to narrow down 13 songs from their vast collection of music...

That's like asking to pick 13 great/definitive drops of water in an ocean!   

[BH]

leanne, don't take ole Sweatboard seriously.  He prefers his music with either Eddie Vedder or crying men in it.

also, accurate.

As the years go by, Brian, you still bring tears of laughter to my face!   

[Hawkeye]

leanne, don't take ole Sweatboard seriously.  He prefers his music with either Eddie Vedder or crying men in it.

also, accurate.

As the years go by, Brian, you still bring tears of laughter to my face!   

Yes, lolz here too.  My friends would have said the same about me circa 2003.  Let's just say I bought a glossy picture of EV, framed it, hung it on the wall...then realized it was weird and made it look like I thought he was my long lost brother or something...promptly stashed it under my bed...then that weirded me out too (like, "really, I'm hiding a picture of Eddie Vedder under my bed?  what?"...I have no idea where that picture went...I think I took it to Goodwill or something!

[wolof7]

Townes Van Zandt:

1) Pancho and Lefty
2) Greensboro Woman
3) Tecumseh Valley
4) No Deal
5) Marie
6) Lungs
7) White Freightliner Blues
8) Waitin Round to Die
9) Colorado Girl
10) Rake
11) Mr. Gold and Mr. Mudd
12) Don't Let the Sunshine Fool Ya
13) Dollar Bill Blues

14) Hidden Track: Dead Flowers (Stones Cover)

[el_chode]

I'll start with Ween

   
• Roses are Free
• Transdermal Celebration
• Mutilated Lips
• Gabrielle
• Piss Up a Rope
• Buenos Tardes Amigo
• Buckingham Green
• Monique the Freak
• Baby Bitch
• Exactly Where I'm At
• Big Jim
• It's Gonna Be A Long Night
• Stay Forever

Chosen to highlight actual songmanship/lyrical ability/Deaner's chops and avoid the typical LOLFRATROCK comments about HIV and Spinal Meningitis.

[el_chode]

Umm, where's the rest of that Chumbawumba mix?

   
• Tubthumping
• Tubthumping (Flaming Lips remix)
• Tubthumping (Flaming Lips remix)
• Tubthumping (Flaming Lips remix)
• Tubthumping (Flaming Lips remix)
• Tubthumping (Flaming Lips remix)
• Tubthumping (Flaming Lips remix)
• Tubthumping (Flaming Lips remix)
• Tubthumping (Flaming Lips remix)
• Tubthumping (Flaming Lips remix)
• Tubthumping (Flaming Lips remix)
• Tubthumping (Flaming Lips remix)
• Tubthumping (Flaming Lips remix)

[exist10z]

This is a fun exercise, but also brutally difficult.

Radiohead

1. Reckoner
2. Everything In It's Right Place
3. Gagging Order
4. Planet Telex
5. Nude
6. Dollars & Cents
7. There There
8. Fake Plastic Trees
9. The National Anthem
10. Optimistic
11. A Punchup At A Wedding
12. Lotus Flower
13. Paranoid Android

Pairing it from even 20 'musts' was brutal.

[Tracy 2112]

This is a fun exercise, but also brutally difficult.

Radiohead

1. Reckoner
2. Everything In It's Right Place
3. Gagging Order
4. Planet Telex
5. Nude
6. Dollars & Cents
7. There There
8. Fake Plastic Trees
9. The National Anthem
10. Optimistic
11. A Punchup At A Wedding
12. Lotus Flower
13. Paranoid Android

Pairing it from even 20 'musts' was brutal.

I remember where I was when I first realized he was saying "We're all accidents waiting to happen" at the end of There There and had an out of body experience.

[el_chode]

Dismemberment Plan:

   
• Ice of Boston
• Ellen and Ben
• Spider in the Snow
• Gyroscope
• Back and Forth
• If I Don't Write
• Soon to be ex Quaker
• You Are Invited
• What Do You Want Me To Say
• Face of the Earth
• Superpowers
• A Life of Possibilities
• The city

I've always felt this band needs to have a primer because if you hear the wrong song first it just sounds like noise.

[exist10z]

This is a fun exercise, but also brutally difficult.

Radiohead

1. Reckoner
2. Everything In It's Right Place
3. Gagging Order
4. Planet Telex
5. Nude
6. Dollars & Cents
7. There There
8. Fake Plastic Trees
9. The National Anthem
10. Optimistic
11. A Punchup At A Wedding
12. Lotus Flower
13. Paranoid Android

Pairing it from even 20 'musts' was brutal.

I remember where I was when I first realized he was saying "We're all accidents waiting to happen" at the end of There There and had an out of body experience.

Some of my favorite lines in all of music are from There There, and I quote it all the time.

- There's always a siren, singing you to shipwreck...
- Steer away from these rocks, we'd be a walking disaster...

[Ruckus]

DEER TICK (just made this for a friend at work)

1.  Ashamed
2.  Easy
3.  Smith Hill
4.  Baltimore Blues #1
5.  Dirty Dishes
6.  The Bump
7.  Art Isnt Real
8.  Houston TX
9.  Not So Dense
10. Twenty Miles
11. Mange
12. Let's Go To The Bar

Pretty solid

[Ruckus]

My RUSH mixtape of 13 songs is probably around 3 hours long

1. Fountains of Lamneth
2. Jacob's Ladder
3. La Villa Strangiato
4. Cygnus X-1 Book II Hemispheres
5. Xanadu
6. Camera Eye
7. Cygnus X-1 Book I
8. YYZ
9. By-tor and the Snowdog
10. The Necromancer
11. Working Man
12. Natural Science
13. 2112

  It doesn't get any better than this Sweatboard!

[e_wind]

Have to do some disagreeing.... PJ mix tape with no Given To Fly..........

[SauceGod]

The National

Fake Empire
Slipping Husband
Fashion Coat
Slow Show
All The Wine
Wasp Nest
England
Bloodbuzz Ohio
Murder Me Rachael
Abel
Mistaken For Strangers
Mr. November
About Today

[wolof7]

My RUSH mixtape of 13 songs is probably around 3 hours long

1. Fountains of Lamneth
2. Jacob's Ladder
3. La Villa Strangiato
4. Cygnus X-1 Book II Hemispheres
5. Xanadu
6. Camera Eye
7. Cygnus X-1 Book I
8. YYZ
9. By-tor and the Snowdog
10. The Necromancer
11. Working Man
12. Natural Science
13. 2112

  It doesn't get any better than this Sweatboard!

Yup I agree with all of this