On A 41 Year Personal History of Music

A buddy of mine recently asked me to name my top 5 albums from my teenage years.  He upped the stakes by asking for an album that was a bit embarrassing to cop to as well.  I think he thought that it was an innocuous question, a great way to while away 30 minutes as we drank tallboys in the parking lot of the Pepsi Center.

Dude, you created a fucking monster.

Music has always been a part of my life.  I grew up on the music of the 50's and the 60's with nary a thought as to whether or not it wasn't current.  My first two albums give a bit of a hint to the fact that I was coming around to the idea that the stuff my parent listened to wasn't everything while still showing appreciation to my "roots" if you will:

Chubby Checker's Greatest Hits
Midnight Star- No Parking on the Dance Floor

Found it at some record show a couple of years back.  Score!

It wasn't until 1981 or 82 that I really started to understand that there was more to life than the Oldies. I'm pretty sure that it clicked for me when I heard Don't You Want Me by The Human League.  It was tense and angsty but still Poppy with a keyboard sound I'd never heard before.  It blew my mind a little bit and the next thing you know I was listening to All Hits 96 KPKE in Denver instead of 56 KLZ (on AM no less).  Soon thereafter, I discovered BMG and Columbia House.  I poured over the inserts in magazines and the TV Guide, trying to figure out the best 12 albums for a penny- a penny! that I could find.

I sat down and tried to create a musical chronology of the albums that have influenced my life in (mostly) organized blocks of time.  It is a bit tougher to recall the early early days- I know the songs, but not albums, so that is reflected in the first section.

I've tried to articulate the 5 albums for that period of time that really sat with me, influenced me, were constantly being played.  I've commented on each of them.  I've also created an Artist Playlist for some of the influences that didn't make the top 5 but still were in my head.  And yes, I've included my Dirty Little Secret(s) for each era except for my early years when let's face it I was too naive to be embarrassed by anything that I was listening to.

This is a long post, but I hope that it makes you tap your foot, go, "oh yeah, I forgot about that" and maybe just briefly reminisce about the music that represented the soundtrack of your life.  All of the photos of are albums from my personal stash.

0-8 (1974-1982)

Elvis, The Beatles, Carole King, Buddy Holly, Franki Valli and The Four Seasons, The Four Tops, The 5th Dimension, The Astronauts, Kenny Rogers, John Denver, Vangelis, Sha Na Na, The Box Tops

These were my Dad's.  I found them in my Mom's basement several years ago

Tommy James- I Think We're Alone Now

Even as a kid, I understood the visuals of this song, the excitement, the thrill of doing something that was forbidden.  The romance of it probably stayed on the periphery, but I knew that the song was ultimately about love and I wanted to be one of those teenagers running just as fast as we could.

Paul Revere and The Raiders- Kicks

I hadn't a clue as to what kicks were exactly, but I knew a good beat and a good cadence when I heard one.  Kicks was probably one of the first songs I heard that had an urgency to it, that sounded rock and roll.

Tommy Roe- Dizzy

This was my all time favorite song when I was a kid.  I sang it when I auditioned to be in a musical performance at school in first or second grade, singing along to the song that I'd recorded off the radio onto a tape.  I don't think he had the greatest voice, and certainly wasn't the greatest singer, but for some reason none of that mattered when I'd hear it come on the radio.

Sonny and Cher- The Beat Goes On

For years, I thought the song was called The Pecos Zone.  This made some sense to me as there was a street called Pecos in Denver where I grew up, even if contextually I hadn't a clue what they were talking about.  I thought it was cool the way they played off of each other, trading lines in the chorus, and I thought that the song had a groove, even thought I had no idea what a groove might be.  

Big Bopper- Chantilly Lace

Wait, is he talking on the phone in the middle of a song?  Oh baby, that's a what I like!  

8-12 (1982-1986)

Madonna, Michael Jackson, The Cars, Wang Chung, A-Ha, Mike and The Mechanics, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Joel, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Van Halen, Bryan Adams, Def Leppard, Enya

Huey Lewis and the News- Sports

When did the Huey Hating start exactly?  With Sports, the band was on top of the world.   The emotion of Walking on a Thin Line, the raw guitar sound of Heart and Soul, the heartbeat of Heart of Rock and Roll.  It was and is a great rock and blues album.

Phil Collins- No Jacket Required

When did the Phil Hating start exactly?  How did my 80's idols fall so far from grace?  In his sleek suit and t-shirt, Phil was the British version of Don Johnson, albeit with far less hair.  Billy, Don't Lose My Number, Take Me Home and yes Sussudio were great songs on a complete album that was approachable and yet still exciting.

Prince- Purple Rain

I guess I'm lucky that my parents never listened to my music all that closely.  It wasn't until years later that I heard Darling Nikki and thought, ohhhhhhh, that's what he was talking about...  When Doves Cry had an edge, a nastiness, an urgency, and a mean distorted guitar that seemed to talk to me.  I'd listen, rewind, listen again.  Over and over and over again.

Prince left us the day after I wrote my thoughts on Purple Rain. How cool is it that he was on my mind as I went to bed that night and how sad is it that another idol has left us?

Duran Duran- Rio

Even before I understood the difference between a bass and a guitar I knew that bass groove in Rio was something just primal and tribal and jamming.  It is like a sinewy snake that winds its way through the song.  The Chauffeur was different and Hungry Like The Wolf was catchy, unique and almost plaintive.

Bruce Springsteen- Born In the USA

I didn't get that it was a protest song until years later, but I got swept up in Bruce fever in the mid 80s. The first concert I went to was for his Tunnel of Love tour.  Glory Days was fun, as was Dancing In The Dark.  I'm On Fire sounded somehow dirty to me, I guess I picked up on the desperation without understanding the meaning.  My favorite song though?  Downbound Train.  Had no airplay that I can recall and certainly wasn't popular, but I really loved that he was telling a story to me in a song.  

12-18 (1986-1992)

Overkill, Ozzy, Megadeth, AC/DC, Survivor, REO Speedwagon (yeah, you heard me), LA Guns, The Beastie Boys, Tesla, Grandmaster Flash, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Golden Earring, The Doors, Judas Priest, Slayer, Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Anthrax, Sugar, The Warlock Pinchers, Queensryche, Meat Loaf, Boston, Baton Rouge, Winger, Slaughter, Poison,  The Black Crowes, Heart, Steve Miller, Alice Cooper, CCR

That is the original kept birthday gift copy of Justice

Guns N' Roses- Appetite For Destruction

It is lewd, it is sexy, it is tribal, menacing, powerful.  For a 14 year old, it was like finding your older brother's Playboys hidden under the bed.  From Welcome to the Jungle to Rocket Queen, there was no time for filler.  Every song had something to say and it did so by smacking you upside the head with a barrage of imagery, sound, and emotion.

Metallica- ...And Justice For All

Everyone expected The Black Album, right?  Not for me.  I remember buying Justice on vinyl for a buddy's birthday only for him to get it from his parents first.  I could have taken it back and gotten him something else, instead I opened that sucker up and put it on the player.  It is dark and dirty, hard, heavy, mean.  Dyer's Eve gave me chills with its raw anger and it was easy to use the lyrics to articulate some of my adolescent fury.  And underneath it all there was an intelligence, a cadence in the speech, a vocabulary that stretched me.  My backpatch for my jean jacket was a depiction of Shortest Straw.

Iron Maiden- Live After Death

Maiden was my first Heavy Metal love affair.  I actually got the VHS tape of Live After Death before I ever got the album.  I'm surprised that the VHS and the audio cassette never broke- I played them over and over and over again.  I put it on in the car last month and found out that even after all these years I can still sing it word for word, note for note, including the banter with the crowd and the inflections of Bruce's voice.

N.W.A- Straight Outta Compton

Close your eyes for a minute and picture three stoners, decked out in band t shirts, jean jackets, ripped jeans, sneakers, earrings, and smokes dangling from their mouths driving down the street and just bellowing Gangsta, Gangsta, Fuck The Police, Straight Outta Compton,  and Dopeman at the top of their lungs.  Now ask yourself how in the hell they survived doing it not just once, but for months and months on end.  I'd never heard anything like it before and have heard nothing comparable since. The smoothness of E, the anger of Cube, the beats of Yella, Dre being Dre.  It was transformational for me.  The first side of that album was so damn good that it was probably two years before I even heard Something 2 Dance 2 and had my mind blown all over again on I-80 at 3AM in the middle of Nebraska.

Motley Crue- Shout at The Devil

At a time when there were actually sides to albums. I actually felt like side two of Shout was better. Now I think that it is just indicative of how good of an album it really was.  Red Hot with the droning, prolonged notes, Too Young To Fall In Love's backing vocals, the raw simplicity of Knock 'em Dead Kid, the surprisingly decent Beatles cover Helter Skelter, and of course the anthemic Shout, Shout, Shout Shout, made for performing live or screaming along to in a basement bedroom introduced me to Crue and the LA scene.

Dirty Little Secret

Don Henley The End of The Innocence

18-30 (1992-2004)

Depeche Mode, INXS, T'Pau, Jackyl, Aerosmith, Soft Cell, James,U2, The Meat Puppets, Ministry, Peter Gabriel,  Janet Jackson, Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Melissa Etheridge, Joan Osbourne, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Ice T, Ice Cube, Eric Clapton, Green Day, Concrete Blonde

One of my favorite rarities- original pressing, framed on my wall

Red Hot Chili Peppers- Californication

It's such a beautiful album- in my opinion their finest complete composition.  It spoke equally to the rage, despair, grief, opportunity, and hope that I was feeling at the time.  I know, I know for sure that life is beautiful around the world...even if you don't believe every day, it is nice to be reminded.

Metallica- Load

Hate on me all you want, but Load is pound for pound Metallica's best album.  It is not the heaviest, nor the most popular, but it was when they realized that they were growing up and that one of the most Metal things that you can do is to just stop giving a fuck about what people think about you.  It rages quietly, introspectively, passionately.  It flows in a slow groove on Until It Sleeps, it races like a cavalry down a hill on Hero Of The Day,  it mourns opportunity lost on Mama Said, and cuts open a vein on Bleeding Me and Outlaw Torn.

Nirvana- Unplugged In New York

I'd never heard anything like this album, and I've not heard anything since.  The band is having a great time, even Kurt, although his insecurity is at times palpable.  The rawness and the cutting open of a vein of Pennyroyal Tea is haunting; the screams at the end of Where Did You Sleep Last Night raw anguish.  The most popular band in the world at the time slowed it all down and made you think about the music in a way you'd never done before.

Nine Inch Nails- The Downward Spiral

From start to finish, Reznor lets us know in no uncertain terms just how he's feeling.  Your heartbeat goes up right from the start, and it doesn't go back down for awhile after the last note resonates through your very soul.  Hurting, killing, fucking- NIN goes after each with a fervor and an intensity rarely matched since.

Soundtrack- Grosse Point Blank

Hand's down, the best soundtrack ever recorded.  The Clash, The Jam, The Specials, The Femmes, The Beat, and just a little splash of Johnny Nash.  If you've never heard some of the songs before you'll know them by the time each one is over.  The movie and the album came out just about at the time I'd have had my 10 year reunion, and the memories and emotions it brought back were at times difficult, but mostly just about bright bright, sunshiny days.

Dirty Little Secret

Bon Jovi- Crush

30-42 (2004-2016)

The White Stripes, The Black Keys, Eminem, Ke$ha, 21 Pilots, Pure Prairie League, Elton John, The Cure, Coldplay, Gordon Lightfoot, Slipknot, Drowning Pool, Skillet, Shinedown, Roger Clyne and The Peacemakers, David Bowie, The Beach Boys, Avenged Sevenfold, Volbeat, Lady Antebellum, Elvis Costello, Leonard Cohen

Blink 182- Blink 182

This is quite a complex album from a band that certainly up until then wasn't known for their complexity.  Tales of heartbreak and woe intertwine with happiness and optimism.  The entire album flows and melts together; at times it is hard to discern when one song ends and another begins.

Eagles- Greatest Hits (1971-1975)

I hate myself a little bit that I've included a greatest hits album on the list, but this album has really been by my side for the last five years or so.  Take it Easy has always been one of my favorite songs, and Already Gone has recently joined its side.  I like their harmonies,  their joy, their ebullience, and their underlying power.  If I need to pick myself up, this album is always a go to.

Dire Straits- Dire Straits

Sultans of Swing is such an amazing jam- great lyrics, great solos, and a most excellent jam to round it all out.  Down By The Waterline is an excellent start; indeed it is so cool when you realize that this is their first album.

Audioslave- Audioslave

Pearls and swine, bereft of me...still not sure what exactly Chris Cornell is trying to tell us but I like hearing him anyway.  I hated Rage Against the Machine, and for a long time I didn't dig Soundgarden at all, but taking the Rage chocolate and the SG peanut butter and putting them together created something really special.  I am the Highway is a beautiful song, as is Like a Stone.

Robert Plant and Allison Kraus- Raising Sand

I am a sucker for a great harmony between amazing vocalists.  This album has so many beautiful harmonies, its hard to even know where to start.  Plant really dials it down and finds a home with his voice, Allison singing is at time complimentary and at others singularly dominant. There is a magic in the air between them; they feel it, the producer felt it, and somehow you feel it too.  It is rare to find an album of such beauty and such melody from start to finish.  This is an album that just makes you feel better for having heard it.

Dirty Little Secret

Lady Gaga The Fame Monster

Bonus Round Time

It's time to play a game.  Top 5 singles, Top 5 albums for a desert album, Top 5 songs from 1985 and 2015.  You name the game, and I'll play it with you in the comments!

You have 300 albums.  You can pick one.  Which one is it?