When there’s no future how can there be sin?
We are the flowers in the dustbin
--GOD SAVE THE QUEEN, 1977
When critics said the Sex Pistols were nihilistic, this must have been the line they were referring to. It's not fair. Nihilism suggests immorality, but with this couplet, John Lydon evokes something more like thoughtful exasperation, and, more poignantly, deep sadness. But at this point, you would be right in thinking: "I thought this was supposed to be a mixtape about flowers?"
A shamrock is a flower, right? Close enough. I've been looking for an excuse to put the Royal Teens, the band behind the original "Short Shorts", on a mixtape. "Sham Rock" would be one of the sleaziest grooves ever made were it not simultaneously so innocent...
Flowers grow where? In gardens -- that's where. In "Beautiful Gardens", the Cramps updated Kim Fowley's cartoon acid trip vibe featured on the last mixtape. The track here is from a cassette bootleg I bought in Camden Market 25 years ago, featuring live versions of most tunes from the Psychedelic Jungle LP...Psychedelic is also the theme of Pebbles Volume 3, the album that brought Chrystal Chandlier's "Suicidal Flowers" to my attention. While the singer featured there provides adequate back-up for Jim Morrison, the Better Sweet is an early Grateful Dead doppelganger on "Like the Flowers", featured on volume three of the Bad Vibrations compilation series.
The Flowers Mixtape
Like The Flowers – Better Sweet
The Wildwood Flower – Carter Family
Suicidal Flowers – Chrystal Chandlier
Beautiful Gardens (Live 1981) – The Cramps
BONUS TRACK: Don't Eat Stuff Off the Sidewalk (Live 1981) - The Cramps
BONUS TRACK: Primitive (Live 1981) - The Cramps
New Rose – The Damned
La Vie En Rose – Grace Jones
Rose of My Heart – Johnny Cash
Give My Love to Rose – Johnny Cash
Orange Blossom Special - Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs
Blue Flower – Mazzy Star
Sham Rock – The Royal Teens
God Save the Queen – Sex Pistols
Apple Blossom – White Stripes
Blue Orchid – White Stripes
Pictures of Lily – The Who
Dandylion Clock - Wild Billy Childish & the Musicians of the British Empire
Psycho Daisies – The Yardbirds
Here is the track list for BD's Flowers tape.
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