Modest Mouse – Good News For People who Love Bad News
Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
Supergrass – Life on Other Planets
Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – s/t
The Flaming Lips – At War with the Mystics
Tapes ‘n’ Tapes – The Loon
Modest Mouse – We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank
CYHSY – Some Loud Thunder

Disc Two:

Beck – Guero
Bloc Party – A Weekend in the City
Franz Ferdinand – You Could Have it so Much Better
Grandaddy – The Sophtware Slump
Clinic – Internal Wrangler
The Beta Band – Heroes to Zeroes
CYHSY – Some Loud Thunder (oops)
Gnarls Barkley – St. Elsewhere
Neutral Milk Hotel – In the Aeroplane over the Sea
Iron Horse – Pickin’ on Modest Mouse – A Bluegrass Tribute

Disc Three:

Arctic Monkeys – Your Favourite Worst Nightmare
Daft Punk – Alive
The Fratellis – Costello Music
Gorillaz – s/t
Hot Chip – The Warning
Kula Shaker – Summer Sun E.P.
Peter Bjorn & John – Writer’s Block
Pinback - Autumn of the Seraphs
Vampire Weekend – s/t

Disc Four:

Daft Punk – Human After All
Gorillaz – Demon Days
Hot Chip – Made in the Dark
LCD Soundsystem – Sound of Silver
Muse – Black Holes and Revelations
Richard Cheese – Aperitif for Destruction
Supergrass – Road to Rouen
The Dandy Warhols – Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia
The La’s – The La’s
The Shins – Chutes Too Narrow
The White Stripes – White Blood Cells

Disc Five:

Crystal Castles – Crystal Castles
Hot Chip – Coming On Strong
Gnarls Barkley – The Odd Couple
Hives – The Black and White Album
Queens of the Stone Age – Era Vulgaris
Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Stereolab – Sound-Dust
The Clash - London Calling

DISC 666 ALL DEATH METAL EDITION:

Air – Pocket Symphony
Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour of Bewilderbeast
Death Cab for Cutie – Transatlanticism
Kula Shaker – Strangefolk
Pinback – Summer in Abaddon
Sigur Ros – (the one from 2008)
Sufjan Stevens – The Avalanche
Wilco – A Ghost is Born

Disc Seven:

Clinic – Do It
Daft Punk – Discovery
Flying Lotus – Los Angeles
Handsome Furs – Plague Park
MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
Pinback – The is a Pinback CD
Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation
Supergrass – Diamond Hoo Ha
The Shins – Oh, Inverted World
Wolf Parade – At Mount Zoomer

Disc Eight:

Albert Hammond Jr. – Como Te Llama
Beck – Modern Guilt
Belle & Sebastian – The Boy With the Arab Strap
Muse – Origin of Symmetry
Pinback – Blue Screen Life
Stereolab – Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Sufjan Stevens – Illinois
The Aquabats – Charge!
The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers

Disc Nine:

Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake it’s Morning
Franz Ferdinand – s/t
Modest Mouse – The Lonesome Crowded West
Pavement – Wowee Zowee
Radiohead – OK Computer
Rancid – …And Out Come the Wolves
The Clash – Combat Rock
The Streets – Original Pirate Material

Disc Ten:

Grandaddy - Excerpts From the Diary of Todd Zilla
Kraftwerk – Trans Europa Express
Kula Shaker – K
Pavement – Slanted & Enchanted
Radiohead – Kid A
RHCP – One Hot Minute
The Steets - A Grand Don’t Come for Free
The Strokes – Room On Fire
The Verve – Urban Hymns
Violent Femmes – s/t

Disc Eleven:

The Avalanches – Since I Left You
Belle & Sebastian – If You’re Feeling Sinister
Bright Eyes – Lifted…
Dinosaur Jr. – Bug
Franz Ferdinand – Tonight
Kaiser Chiefs – Off With Their Heads
Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak
The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin
The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come For Free

Disc Twelve:

Alberta Cross – The Thief & the Heartbreaker
Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Blur – Modern Life is Rubbish
Pavement – Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Grandaddy – Just Like the Fambly Cat
Hot Hot Heat – Make Up the Breakdown
Retribution Gospel Choir – s/t
The Futureheads – s/t
Modest Mouse – The Moon & Antarctica
The Strokes – First Impressions of Earth
Dinosaur Jr. – You’re Living All Over Me

Disc Thirteen:

Treepeople – Something Vicious for Tomorrow/Time Whore
Radiohead – The Bends
Animal Collective – Strawberry Jam
Modest Mouse – No One’s First and You’re Next
Built to Spill – Perfect From Now On
The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Sonic Youth – The Eternal
The Pixies – Doolittle

…more to come…

So I was surprised as you when I found a package of taco seasoning that expired in 2004 on top of my fridge. Yes, on top, where only I can see, right next to the old newspapers and the tupperware containers I keep forgetting to return to my mom. The photo on the packet is clearly from 20 years ago. Nothing made in this millenium looks anything like that. If there is such a thing as an ’80s Taco, this is it.

I know it’s hard to see, but check out the expiration date:

Yep, that really says “BEST BY 01 07 04.” I didn’t buy this. Val didn’t buy this. We moved into our current place in December ’05 so it didn’t come with the house. I’m not exactly sure where this seasoning came from or how it got on top of the fridge. Taco spice fairy? All I know is that it had to be eaten.

What kind of meat goes best with expired taco seasoning? Cookbooks were no help and this is a topic too taboo for TV cooking shows, so I had to wing it. I scoped out the freezer situation and I found a freezer-burned package of ground chicken I got on clearance for $.70 a while back. Yes, this would be perfect.

I did the best I could to thaw the freezer-burned meat. It looked pretty bleak, but I had to soldier on. Following the packet’s instructions, I pan-cooked the meat with the seasoning. The spices were clumped together and I really had to beat the crap out of it to revert it back into powder form. It passed the smell test, but it didn’t exactly look like the most appealing tacos I had ever cooked:

Ick. I learned in grammar school that tacos were fer eatin’, not fer lookin’ at, so I finished cooking despite all common sense. By this time, I noticed that I didn’t have any taco shells, so I had to use enormous burrito wraps instead. I heated up the shells and tossed in some of the probably rancid seasoned meat, cheese, sour cream, taco sauce, and tabasco sauce. This is what the final product looked like:

Now was the moment of truth. I closed my eyes and took a big bite. All shell and sour cream. Dammit. Another bite. I was fully into the meat section this time….. Hey, this isn’t rancid at all! It’s pretty okay! This just goes to show you the amazing power of the taco. Nothing can make tacos bad. Not even years of decay and improper freezer storage.

I ate a couple tacos but something was still missing. I had an urge to eat something salty, yet full of hip-hop flava. It’s a good thing I picked up some Rap Snacks on the way home.

It was either this or the Jeff Foxworthy beef jerky.

Now that I had some Ol’ Dirty Bastard sponsored chips, I knew I’d be full for at least another hour or so. The package referred to ODB as being alive and recording a new album, which is strange since he’s, you know, kind of dead. He can still crisp a good potato though!