Six Degrees Of Separation Mixtape by fightclubsandwich

Originally by fightclubsandwich, posted on 8/9/2009

The game “Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon”, since its conception in 1994, has risen to the level of ubiquity enjoyed by the likes of such games as “I Spy” or “Consequences”. This rise to prominence is a testament to the human race’s love of trivia, especially as a means to achieve victory at a competition that is as trivial as the knowledge required to play it. The sheer simplicity of the game’s basic format can also be applied to the mixtape, a glorious invention that also owes its success to the human love of trivia and tiny, insignificant little details. If you’d like to learn more about mixtapes, they feature heavily in the film High Fidelity, which stars Jack Black, who was in Tropic Thunder, which also starred Tom Cruise, who was also in A Few Good Men, with Kevin Bacon.

The World/Inferno Friendship Society – Thumb Cinema

Is there any better way to begin a mixtape than with a delicious slice of World/Inferno? I can’t think of one. Thumb Cinema is one of the band’s most insistently catchy numbers, as well as one that falls more or less on the punk side of their fun and unique cabaret-punk sound. Thumb Cinema can be found on the album Addicted To Bad Ideas, and due to the band’s constantly changing line-up, their drummer for the touring following this album was Brian Viglione, best known for his work with…

Dresden Dolls – Backstabber

Brian Viglione is such an excellent touchstone between bands of wildly different genres that if another Six Degrees article such as this one should appear on this website, you should probably expect Mr Viglione’s presence there. For example, this particular song we’ve chosen, Backstabber, was a released as a single with a video featuring members of Panic! At The Disco. So actually, via The World/Inferno Friendship Society’s revolving door drummer replacement method, we could link them back to Leftover Crack (hello there, Ara Babajian) thus blowing your mind with the observation that Leftover Crack and Panic! At The Disco are only about four steps apart. But instead, we decided to link Brian Viglione with another musician who seems to be everywhere at once…

Nine Inch Nails – Starfuckers Inc.

Of course! Viglione drummed on the most recent Nine Inch Nails album, Ghosts I-IV. Aside from Mr Reznor himself, of course, the line up for Nine Inch Nails is suitably fluid as to allow us to connect them with a huge number of other bands. Not to mention that the band’s numerous festival appearances mean that they’ve shared a stage with even more. However, we’re going to take the obvious path and point out that a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, (well, the 1990s) Reznor produced the album “Portrait Of An American Family” by…

Marilyn Manson – Personal Jesus

Okay, so there are more connections between Manson and Nine Inch Nails than just that, as anyone alive during the 1990s will know, and will be scoffing at me for. They’ve shared musicians, most famously guitarist Twiggy Ramirez, Manson appeared in the video for Starfuckers Inc. and you know what? The list goes on, but a list of reasons that two musical acts are connected is boring, we have to keep up the pace and move onto another, cover as many bases as possible. This particular Manson song is, of course, a cover of a Depeche Mode song. This song was also covered by…

Johnny Cash – Hurt

What is there to say about Johnny Cash that hasn’t already been said? After a career of commercial success as well as artistic merit, he went out with a bang in 2003 with a slew of Rick Rubin produced songs that saw him returning to (maintaining?) the glowing success that he’d seen in his prime. Personal Jesus of course, was one of these, as was Hurt, which seemed the appropriate choice of song for this mixtape, considering that it was penned by another member of this list. Also, it allows me to maintain the theme of cover versions, which is how we reach our next, err, degree? A tribute album to Cash came out last year, with the title On the All Aboard. This album saw the song Man In Black being covered by…

Bouncing Souls – Night Train

Of all of their own original work, Night Train is a song with a particular Johnny Cash feel to it. The song is melancholy and depressing as all get-out, but there’s still a glimmer of hope that comes from accepting the heavy responsibility of having made mistakes. It’s very emotional, but not gratuitously sentimental.

So anyway, now that we’ve established that they’re completely excellent, who are we connecting the ‘Souls to? Well, their first full-length (The Good, The Bad & The Argyle) came out on Chunksaah Records, (way back in ’94, hmm, coincidence?) which is also the record label currently putting out music by…

The World/Inferno Friendship Society!

And the circle is completed! (In six degrees, as God intended.)

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