Starbucks Waikiki Beach Rocks!

Even though we saw so much in Honolulu for 2 weeks, Starbucks Coffee in Waikiki Beach was a memorable place for my sweetheart and I who have just returned from there. We were all oohs and ahhs when we stepped in there. She was oohing because they had pure clear liquid sugar from the Hawaiian Islands as a coffee additive; and I was ahhing because of the killer music programming in the shop.

There are two styles of music you will never ever hear in any Starbucks: 80’s political hardcore punk (a la Dead Kennedy’s), and 90’s nu-metal ( a la Korn.)

Let’s face it folks, in California you will commonly hear:

Long, Long Time & Blue Bayou (Linda Ronstadt)
Hotel California (Eagles)
California (Joni Mitchell)
Something In The Way She Moves & Carolina In My Mind (James Taylor)
Sister Christian (Night Ranger)
Don’t Stop Believin’ (Journey)
Moondance & Domino (Van Morrison)
Your Song (Ellton John)
Just The Way You Are (Billy Joel)
Even Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon mixed in with a little Tony Bennett, Ella & Louis, Billie Holiday and on the rare occurrence…Madonna & Bob Marley

I am not dissing all these tracks at all, for they are classic. But man oh man, this is what we heard in Hawaii:

Revolution (Spacemen 3)
Mystery Dance (Elvis Costello)
Planet Rock & Looking For The Perfect Beat (Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force)
Information (Dave Edmunds)
Handsworth Revolution (Steel Pulse) ed note: the best reggae LP EVER?
Brand New Lover (Dead Or Alive)
Spirit In The Sky (Doctor & The Medics)
I’ve Been Losing You (a-ha)
Goin’ Blind (KISS)
Underwater Boys (Shriekback)
It’s Like That (Run-D.M.C.)
The Puppet (Echo & The Bunnymen)
Just Like Honey (The Jesus And Mary Chain)
The Robots & Autobahn (full length) (Kraftwerk)
Another Day (The Cure)
Escape (Whodini)
all mixed in with obscure album tracks from:
early Coldplay
early Smiths/Morrissey
early Oasis
early Muse
early Radiohead
and even some tracks from the classic, “Ladies And Gentlemen: We Are Floating In Space” by Spiritualized.

It was all really cool. Mostly it was non-hits and lesser familiar album tracks. How many times do you walk into Starbucks and always know the song you are hearing? This was different. We must have heard 300 songs during our stay. After every song started, I challenged my girl by offering to buy her ran extra “Mai Tai”  cocktail if she can guess the artist? Morrissey’s solo tracks, “Glamorous Glue”, “November Spawned A Monster”, “Tomorrow”, “Everyday Is Like Sunday”, “Suedehead”, and ‘First Of The Gang To Die” were all played during our morning coffee times and she kept guessing is was The Smiths. I had to give in I felt so sorry for her.

Anyways, I just had to report these musical delights. Hopefully, a lot of these rare tracks will soon get reissued on vinyl again?

Viva La “Waikiki Starbucks”…for your liquid sugar which gave us the extra energy to stay up late every night and to your liquid music which flowed like a magical stream every morning.

Hang Loose…and save a cup for us in 2012