The new craze that was sweeping the Candy Kingdom was driving Princess Bubblegum crazy. Most of this 'new' music was awful! She didn't understand why Finn even brought that stupid computer with all of these new songs and artists on it. The music was obviously geared towards humans, and it was obviously from before the Great Mushroom War, so she just didn't understand why it caught on so quickly.
"Blergh," she whined, "now I have to listen to this thing Finn brought me. How do you even operate it?" She held up the shiny silver disk and the odd circular thing that Finn had handed to her earlier. "It says Sony on it. That must be its name!" she exclaimed. "Hey, Sooonyy, wake up."
Nothing happened for a while, so she fiddled with a few buttons. The circular thing popped open. "OH! Oh, this must be where the disk thing goes," she exclaimed. "This circular depression fits it perfectly!" Bubblegum popped the disk in, and hit play.
The first song that came on made her giggle a bit. It reminded her of something that Finn would write. The tune was cheery and the lyrics were overly cheesy, but she couldn't help but be caught up in the lyrics. "You're the apple to my pie. You're the straw to my berry. You're the smoke to my high, and you're the one I want to marry," she sang, small giggles escaping between words.
As the next song came on, she couldn't help but begin to understand this new fad. The lyrics struck her as a bit vulgar, but she could listen to it over and over. It had a nice laid back vibe to it. Bubblegum knew she'd have it stuck in her head for days. From the lyrics, she gathered that the artist's name must be Shwayze, and that he must experience black outs and loss of short term memory. In the song he kept forgetting girls' names. Bubblegum shoot her head. "Poor guy," she remarked, "it must've been hard to never remember those girls."
A couple more songs came on by that artist. Bubblegum liked them, though they left her somewhat confused. "What's a corona?" she asked herself, after hearing the phrase, 'Baby will you be my Corona and Lime?' repeated over and over.
The next song was good as well. It sounded much different from the previous two, but the lyrics were nice. "Imagine me and you; I do. I think about you day and night. It's only right to think about the girl you love and hold her tight so happy together."
Just then, Bonnibel heard a rustle from her window. She sighed: it could only be one person. "I know you're there, Marceline. You can make yourself visible now."
Bubblegum heard a laugh from her invisible friend. "What is funny, Marceline?"
The vampire appeared right next to Bubblegum's chair. "Nothing, Bonnie, it's just…" Marceline cracked up, unable to finish her sentence.
Princess Bubblegum started to get aggravated. "What IS IT, Marcie?"
"He, he made you, he made you a," she sputtered, when she could stop laughing long enough to form a word.
"What did he make me, Marceline? COME ON, ALREADY."
Marceline sobered up a bit, brushing her black bangs out of her face. "He made you a mixed tape, Bonnie."
"I don't understand," Bubblegum said, her brow furrowing in confusion.
"You know, a mixed tape." Marceline looked at Bubblegum, trying to convey what was obvious to her. When the nonverbal communication failed, Marceline sighed. "Back before the Mushroom War, when someone liked someone else," she paused, "you know, like liked someone else, they'd make them a mixed tape. It'd have some songs that were just fun, and then love songs, like that song, Happy Together by The Turtles."
"Well, I doubt that was Finn's purpose. He wasn't even alive before the Mushroom War, Marcie."
"Of course he wasn't, Bonnie, but some things never change. Trust me; Finn has a huge crush on you. " Marceline picked up the CD player off of the desk were Bubblegum had set it, began to float above it, and quickly shuffled through all of the songs he had put on it. "Wow, this isn't even a well-constructed mixed tape. It starts with that annoying Auburn song, goes into Shwayze, then The Turtles for a song, throws in some Simple Plan, and ends with Nirvana. It's a disgrace," Marceline pouted. She was jealous, but she wasn't going to admit that. Ever. She just settled for a bit of criticism and some pouting.
"How is it a disgrace, Marcie?" Bubblegum asked, looking genuinely confused.
"It just is, Bonnie. It has songs by crappy artists and songs by good artists all smushed together with no transition whatsoever, and it just doesn't work."
Bubblegum's pink hand reached out to Marceline's grey one. "How do you know all this music anyway?" she asked, looking up into her friend's red eyes.
"Please, I lived through this music," she replied, shaking her head at her friend. "It's the stuff that was popular right before the Mushroom War."
"Really? So… could you say you're somewhat of an expert on this music?" Bubblegum's eyes shone with interest. "I want to gain a better understanding of it."
"I'm not exactly an expert," the vampire shot back quickly. "There was a lot of music coming out pretty quickly. No one had enough time to listen to all of it. I could set you up with some of my collection though. It's a lot broader than Finn's."
"Really, Marceline? Would you?" The princess was smiling broadly, obviously excited by the prospect of new music from that era.
"Of course, Bonnie, I'll go get some of it right now. I think I still have a blank CD, actually; I'll just put small samples of artists on it and let you choose what you want more of."
"Thank you so much, Marcie," Bubblegum gushed, pulling the vampire down for a hug.