Soundtrack of my Life...
A good friend of mine recently came up with the soundtrack of his life on his blog. I've decided to rip off his idea and come up with my own. In the interest of fairness (or something), here's the link to his soundtrack:
http://www.birdseyereview.blogspot.com
Now, while he has limited himself to certain restrictions, ie - "the music needs to have been made in his life", I shall employ no such device of restriction. I believe that just because the Stones heyday was in the sixties, not being alive at that time should not prevent those songs from having an influence on my life. I also will not limit mine to any certain length. I will try to go chronologically (from the beginning of my life to now, Drew. J/K). This could go for volumes folks. So, settle in and enjoy the feast.
"Safety Dance" - Men Without Hats (The Rhythm Of Youth) - I remember hearing this song on my very first portable radio Santa brought me for Christmas. I actually woke my parents so early on Christmas morning by trying to sing along to it. "You can dance if you want to, you can leave your friends behind," That's what I'm talking 'bout. (I wasn't always the cool guy I am now you know, I just thought I was.)
"Billie Jean" - Michael Jackson (Thriller) - My dad bought this album, but it spent most of it's time with me. I can vividly recall groups of elementary aged kids roaming around the schoolyard with their tape players, being about as "too cool for school" as you could get. I also wore a (single) batting glove on my hand because Michael wore one glove. What a dork. At least I didn't have sequins on it. All the kids at that time were crazy about "Beat It", but I was more of a "Billie Jean" guy. I really can't listen to him anymore, but at the time he was "IT".
"Let's Go Crazy" - Prince (Purple Rain) - This was the first album I ever OWNED. It was a birthday gift from my parents. A BOOMBOX (or ghetto blaster, whichever you prefer) and the Purple Rain album. What a gift! I must have played this song until it made my parents sick. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, to get through this thing called life." Preach on Reverend Prince, Preach on!
"Rock Of Ages" - Def Lepard (Pyromania) -
"Gunter glieben glauchen globen" and
"Rise up! gather round,
Rock this place to the ground
Burn it up let's go for broke
Watch the night go up in smoke"
were the funniest lyrics I had heard to that point of life. My friends and I would have "concerts" where we would play this song, ad Nauseum. Good times, good times.
"Panama" - Van Halen (1984) - This is when I remember starting to develop some "taste" in music, only to have it blown away on hair metal, and rap later on. We thought Michael Anthonys Bass guitar may have actually had Jack Daniels in it! Ahh, the innocence of youth. (Or did it? Hmmmmm). This was my introduction to real rock.
"Glory Days" - Bruce Springsteen (Born In The USA) - This was a bit of an anthem for me and my buddies backyard baseball games. We were crazy about baseball and I remember this video played on MTV constantly. For those of you who don't know the song, it deals with thinking back to your youth and the people you knew back then. Kind of fitting for me now. I miss those days and those guys. I still run into a couple of them now and then. They're doing well. That's all you can ask.
"Wanted Dead Or Alive" - Bon Jovi (Slippery When Wet) - "I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride, I'm Wanted, Dead or Alive". We LOVED this album in middle school and this song was always being played among all my friends, except for all the "hipsters" who claimed they were "Love and Rockets" fans or some lie like that. We all know you were listening to this secretly when people weren't watching. Poseurs.
"Holy Mother" - Eric Clapton (August) - A uncle of mine had always been a Clapton fan and I got into him through hearing some of his albums. I got this cassette from my parents for Christmas and I wore out the tape fast forwarding to this song. It's a really slow bluesy thing that I loved. This is one those songs that can take you back to just lying in your room, doing nothing and loving it.
"Still Of The Night" - Whitesnake (Self-Titled) - A guilty pleasure. To this day. Whenever I hear this on the radio I can't help but turn it all the way up and sing along. "In the shadow of night, I see the full moon rise, Telling me what’s in store,My heart start aching, My body start a shaking, And I can’t take no more, no, no" Not exactly Dylan, but a heck of a lot of fun still. I remember listening to this with my cousins at Grandma's house LOUD. Great times.
"Disposable Heroes" - Metallica (Master of Puppets) - This song (and album) was what was in my Walkman sixth grade year. The lyrics deal with the absurdity of war and is actually (sadly) very pertinent to what's going on today. "Soldier boy, Made of Clay, Now an empty shell, 21, Only son, But he served us well, Bred to kill, Not to care, Do just as we say, Finished here, Greetings death, He comes to take you away".
Metallica's music got me through middle school.
"It's so easy" - Guns & Roses (Appetite for Destruction) - I really could have picked any song from this album. They're all great, but I remember really loving this song and listening to it on my walk to school (uphill, in the snow, without a coat, etc...). It's one of the few albums that still sounds great today and can listen to without snickering and saying to myself "I can't believe I listened to this".
"...And Justice For All - Metallica (...And Justice For All) - The enduring memory I have of this album is of listening to it while ice fishing with my Dad. It was bloody cold and I couldn't feel my feet after a while. I (no lie) must have listened to it fifteen times that day and it made the cold bearable. We never did catch anything that day. I listened to this tape so much I wore off the writing on the cassette.
"Straight Outta Compton" - N.W.A. - This was my introduction to rap. I fell hard for rap about my freshman year in high school and was under it's spell until my freshman year in college when a group of my friends set me straight. The only time I listen to rap now is when I'm feeling nostalgic. One of the main reasons I listened to it so intensely is that it seemed to be such a natural thing to have on when playing basketball. It seems I've given both up as of late. I need to pick the basketball up again. I think I'll leave the rap alone. Saying that, it was part of my soudtrack and NWA was one of my favorites. Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, DJ Yella, MC Ren, this group would be one of the lightning rods for controversy throughout their existence. The name alone was enough to scare parents, (I won't repeat what it stands for in the interest of keeping this blog clean). Straight Outta Compton was basically an introduction to where the group came from, what they stand for, etc...
"Return of the Mecca" - Pete Rock and CL Smooth (Mecca and the Soul Brother) - This album went everywhere with me. I was lost without it. Many a walk to school was bumping Return of the Mecca. This was the yang to NWA's yin. Positive to NWA's negative.
"Fight The Power" - Public Enemy (Fear Of a Black Planet) - Loved the movie this was used in, "Do The Right Thing", and loved the song. I had the lyrics to this song on one of my school book covers. It's interesting what memories these songs bring back. My Dad saw the book one day and told me that some people might get offended by the lyrics. He never criticized me and told me to remove them or nothing like that. Looking back on it now, I don't think as a parent I would've been so non-judgmental.
Public Enemy did make me aware that there was another world that we weren't reading about in our textbooks though. That there is still racism today is a reality, though it's maybe not as in your face as it used to be. Something I need to reminded of even today.
"Quicksand Jesus" - Skid Row (Slave to the Grind) - This is a song that takes me back to one of my first "relationships". Met her on vacation up north and fell hard. I wonder what happened to her. We lost touch after a couple of months. This is back when two months felt like forever. If I hear this song, it immediately takes me back to that time.
"How I Could Just Kill A Man" - Cypress Hill (Self-Titled) - This was my song for 91'. While most kids were buying flannel shirts and Nirvana's "Nevermind" album, I was sporting my "Cypress Hill" t-shirt and praying for the next CH album. All the ladies were digging me I'm sure. This is another song we were playing during pick-up basketball games.
"By the Time I Get to Arizona" - Public Enemy (Apocalypse '91/The Empire Strikes Black) - This song reminds me of skipping school and driving to Burnsville with a couple buddies and just wasting the day. The song deals with Arizona's decision to not honor Martin Luther King Jr's day in their state. I can't claim that's the reason I love the song. I just liked the beats. We did have to face the Vice Principal the next day, and that's one of the times I realized that honesty is definitely the best policy. After being honest with her, she let us go with a warning. She was a very cool lady.
"Color Blind" - Ice Cube (Death Certificate) - A buddy of mine played this album constantly in his car whenever we were just cruising. It reminds me a lot of going to football games, or just cruising around looking for something to do. We rarely found anything to do, but I wish I could live that period over again. We had some good times doing nothing. The song calls for an end to gang violence.
"Nuthin But a "G" Thing" Dr. Dre (The Chronic) - This was a huge hit and EVERYONE was spinning this disc. Okay, maybe not everyone, but a lot of people I knew. I remember it seemed I couldn't turn on MTV without this or the "Let Me Ride" video playing. This song was where Snoop Dogg became a huge star. There was a statistic released at that time and it was something like Snoop raps at least over 50% of the album or something like that. I still like this song and it reminds me of a wasted summer of not really doing anything productive. Work, party, sleep. I'll always miss that time.
"C.R.E.A.M.(Cash Rules Everything Around Me) Wu-Tang Clan - (Enter the Wu Tang(36 Chambers) - This is the last I can remember of my rap experience. This was the the last rap album I've bought and probably will buy. This song generally signaled (just look at the title) the end of any meaningful rap music and what it represents today. Money. Plain and simple. Catchy song though. Bling, bling dawg.
"Hummer" - Smashing Pumpkins (Siamese Dream) - This music took me by the nose, kicked me in the butt, and slammed me face down back into rock, where I always belonged. I can't state enough what this album means to me and what it still represents to me today. I STILL get goosebumps listening to this album for like the millionth time. Billy Corgan is still my hero and will always be a symbol of what you can achieve when you work through depression rather than succumb to it. (Cough, Cough, Kurt Cobain.. Cough, Cough). Billy caught a lot of attention for actually wanting to be successful with his band when that wasn't the popular thing to do. Fine, that's fair, but I challenge anyone to question the integrity of the music. You could never call them a sellout because the quality of the music was always so great. This song takes me back to my freshman year in college and irritating my irritating roommate by writing "CORGAN IS GOD" on our freshman dorm room. It's why I wanted to pick up a guitar and learn how to play. I could have picked any song by these guys, but this song has that great Loud-Soft dynamic they used so magnificently.
"Hang Fire" - The Rolling Stones (Tattoo You) - They played this song into the ground at my college job. Looking back at it now, it's a good thing I worked at a restaurant or I would have starved to death. We had money for CD's, movies, and beer but it was tough to come up with the rent at the end of the month. I remember falling in love with this song after about the 500th time I heard it at work. I didn't know it at the time, but it would become one of my favorite jobs of all time. We had a great crew and we had a great time. I hope they're all doing well. Besides, the manager would buy us beer and drink with us after closing. Maybe that's why it's a clothing store now.
"Lover, You Should've Come Over" - Jeff Buckley (Grace) - I hated this guy when he first came out. I remember remarking to a buddy of mine that "this guy's terrible" but after sampling his whole album, I fell in love with it and this song is gorgeous. Many drives to and from Mankato had this playing. I highly recommend it to anyone.
"Sabotage" - The Beastie Boys (Ill Communication) - This song makes me hungry. I think it's because they had it on in the lunchroom at Mankato 24/7. I can't listen to this song anymore without thinking of lunch. Thanks to all the people that kept playing it over and over and over and over... I'm starting to get hungry... Mmmmmm...
"Are You Gonna Go My Way" - Lenny Kravitz (Are You Gonna Go My Way) - This is the song that reminds me most of my very first car, an '81 Camaro. Some people didn't like this car of mine, to them I have nothing nice to say so I'll say nothing at all. Okay, they had a point. It was a dangerous car and I'm lucky a certain friend of mine didn't go flying off the road while borrowing it. It had Duct-taped T-Tops that were all the rage. It was a fashion statement I say. You had to have guts to drive that car. I remember blasting this song in that car and getting chills at the beginning of the guitar solo.
"Crash, Burn" Blues Traveler (Four) - Listened to this song many a time on our way to First Ave's "Danceteria" nights. Amazing instrumental work on this song. One time we go into an accident on the way there, decided we were downtown already, might as well go, forgot that the headlights might not work too well, crap.
"I'd Run Away" - The Jayhawks (Tomorrow the Green Grass) - I remember doing some heavy partying in a parking lot and listening to this record with some friends before their and Soul Asylum's concert at Midway Stadium. That's all I really remember from that night (Southern Comfort), except a friend of mine wanting to fight somebody and me pulling him away. I think that's how it went anyway. Maybe it was the other way around?
"Jellybelly" - The Smashing Pumpkins (Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness) - You didn't really think you'd only see one Pumpkins song on this list did you? "Welcome to nowhere fast, nothing here ever lasts". It's THE disc(s) that were playing in me and a buddies car for the longest time. It still finds it's way in the truck quite often. Although, now that it's on my MP3 player, I don't use CD's as often. I've rigged my truck stereo to be able to plug and play my MP3 player.
"Behold! The Night Mare - The Smashing Pumpkins (Adore) - You didn't really think... never mind. I picked this song because it was the best song the Pumpkins did the night of the Minneapolis Aquatennial. We got there early in the day so we would be right up front come show time. By the end of the night we were way in the back and still couldn't move freely. There were so many people it was ridiculous. They still hold the record for attendance at between 80-90,000. God, I miss this band.
"Age of Innocence" - The Smashing Pumpkins (Machina/The Machines of God) - Last one, I promise. This is the song that was playing when I met the man himself, Billy Corgan. We waited in line eight hours (Geekola, I know) to shake hands with the man and get a couple things signed. It was so worth it for me. (Not sure my wife and my buddy agreed, but she at least found it interesting that so many people would wait in line for hours for a few seconds of someone's time.) It became a bit of a crusade by the seventh hour and we enjoyed the company of those around us. Mr Corgan and the rest of the band were very gracious and polite and seemed to really be enjoying spending the time with the fans. I got my Siamese Dream and a lithograph signed and got to shake his hand (Corgan had abnormally long fingers if you're wondering). Sigh... What a great day!
"Crazy Love" - Brian Kennedy - This was the song that Amy and I had our first dance to at our wedding. (Ahhhhhhhhh...). This was a song that Amy had loved for a while and I certainly loved Van Morrisons version so we agreed on this one. We had a few battles over the music that was to be played during our wedding. It's something I take more serious than most. For some, music is something you have on in the background while cleaning your house or something. Not me, It's an integral part of my life and always will be.
http://www.birdseyereview.blogspot.com
Now, while he has limited himself to certain restrictions, ie - "the music needs to have been made in his life", I shall employ no such device of restriction. I believe that just because the Stones heyday was in the sixties, not being alive at that time should not prevent those songs from having an influence on my life. I also will not limit mine to any certain length. I will try to go chronologically (from the beginning of my life to now, Drew. J/K). This could go for volumes folks. So, settle in and enjoy the feast.
"Safety Dance" - Men Without Hats (The Rhythm Of Youth) - I remember hearing this song on my very first portable radio Santa brought me for Christmas. I actually woke my parents so early on Christmas morning by trying to sing along to it. "You can dance if you want to, you can leave your friends behind," That's what I'm talking 'bout. (I wasn't always the cool guy I am now you know, I just thought I was.)
"Billie Jean" - Michael Jackson (Thriller) - My dad bought this album, but it spent most of it's time with me. I can vividly recall groups of elementary aged kids roaming around the schoolyard with their tape players, being about as "too cool for school" as you could get. I also wore a (single) batting glove on my hand because Michael wore one glove. What a dork. At least I didn't have sequins on it. All the kids at that time were crazy about "Beat It", but I was more of a "Billie Jean" guy. I really can't listen to him anymore, but at the time he was "IT".
"Let's Go Crazy" - Prince (Purple Rain) - This was the first album I ever OWNED. It was a birthday gift from my parents. A BOOMBOX (or ghetto blaster, whichever you prefer) and the Purple Rain album. What a gift! I must have played this song until it made my parents sick. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, to get through this thing called life." Preach on Reverend Prince, Preach on!
"Rock Of Ages" - Def Lepard (Pyromania) -
"Gunter glieben glauchen globen" and
"Rise up! gather round,
Rock this place to the ground
Burn it up let's go for broke
Watch the night go up in smoke"
were the funniest lyrics I had heard to that point of life. My friends and I would have "concerts" where we would play this song, ad Nauseum. Good times, good times.
"Panama" - Van Halen (1984) - This is when I remember starting to develop some "taste" in music, only to have it blown away on hair metal, and rap later on. We thought Michael Anthonys Bass guitar may have actually had Jack Daniels in it! Ahh, the innocence of youth. (Or did it? Hmmmmm). This was my introduction to real rock.
"Glory Days" - Bruce Springsteen (Born In The USA) - This was a bit of an anthem for me and my buddies backyard baseball games. We were crazy about baseball and I remember this video played on MTV constantly. For those of you who don't know the song, it deals with thinking back to your youth and the people you knew back then. Kind of fitting for me now. I miss those days and those guys. I still run into a couple of them now and then. They're doing well. That's all you can ask.
"Wanted Dead Or Alive" - Bon Jovi (Slippery When Wet) - "I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride, I'm Wanted, Dead or Alive". We LOVED this album in middle school and this song was always being played among all my friends, except for all the "hipsters" who claimed they were "Love and Rockets" fans or some lie like that. We all know you were listening to this secretly when people weren't watching. Poseurs.
"Holy Mother" - Eric Clapton (August) - A uncle of mine had always been a Clapton fan and I got into him through hearing some of his albums. I got this cassette from my parents for Christmas and I wore out the tape fast forwarding to this song. It's a really slow bluesy thing that I loved. This is one those songs that can take you back to just lying in your room, doing nothing and loving it.
"Still Of The Night" - Whitesnake (Self-Titled) - A guilty pleasure. To this day. Whenever I hear this on the radio I can't help but turn it all the way up and sing along. "In the shadow of night, I see the full moon rise, Telling me what’s in store,My heart start aching, My body start a shaking, And I can’t take no more, no, no" Not exactly Dylan, but a heck of a lot of fun still. I remember listening to this with my cousins at Grandma's house LOUD. Great times.
"Disposable Heroes" - Metallica (Master of Puppets) - This song (and album) was what was in my Walkman sixth grade year. The lyrics deal with the absurdity of war and is actually (sadly) very pertinent to what's going on today. "Soldier boy, Made of Clay, Now an empty shell, 21, Only son, But he served us well, Bred to kill, Not to care, Do just as we say, Finished here, Greetings death, He comes to take you away".
Metallica's music got me through middle school.
"It's so easy" - Guns & Roses (Appetite for Destruction) - I really could have picked any song from this album. They're all great, but I remember really loving this song and listening to it on my walk to school (uphill, in the snow, without a coat, etc...). It's one of the few albums that still sounds great today and can listen to without snickering and saying to myself "I can't believe I listened to this".
"...And Justice For All - Metallica (...And Justice For All) - The enduring memory I have of this album is of listening to it while ice fishing with my Dad. It was bloody cold and I couldn't feel my feet after a while. I (no lie) must have listened to it fifteen times that day and it made the cold bearable. We never did catch anything that day. I listened to this tape so much I wore off the writing on the cassette.
"Straight Outta Compton" - N.W.A. - This was my introduction to rap. I fell hard for rap about my freshman year in high school and was under it's spell until my freshman year in college when a group of my friends set me straight. The only time I listen to rap now is when I'm feeling nostalgic. One of the main reasons I listened to it so intensely is that it seemed to be such a natural thing to have on when playing basketball. It seems I've given both up as of late. I need to pick the basketball up again. I think I'll leave the rap alone. Saying that, it was part of my soudtrack and NWA was one of my favorites. Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, DJ Yella, MC Ren, this group would be one of the lightning rods for controversy throughout their existence. The name alone was enough to scare parents, (I won't repeat what it stands for in the interest of keeping this blog clean). Straight Outta Compton was basically an introduction to where the group came from, what they stand for, etc...
"Return of the Mecca" - Pete Rock and CL Smooth (Mecca and the Soul Brother) - This album went everywhere with me. I was lost without it. Many a walk to school was bumping Return of the Mecca. This was the yang to NWA's yin. Positive to NWA's negative.
"Fight The Power" - Public Enemy (Fear Of a Black Planet) - Loved the movie this was used in, "Do The Right Thing", and loved the song. I had the lyrics to this song on one of my school book covers. It's interesting what memories these songs bring back. My Dad saw the book one day and told me that some people might get offended by the lyrics. He never criticized me and told me to remove them or nothing like that. Looking back on it now, I don't think as a parent I would've been so non-judgmental.
Public Enemy did make me aware that there was another world that we weren't reading about in our textbooks though. That there is still racism today is a reality, though it's maybe not as in your face as it used to be. Something I need to reminded of even today.
"Quicksand Jesus" - Skid Row (Slave to the Grind) - This is a song that takes me back to one of my first "relationships". Met her on vacation up north and fell hard. I wonder what happened to her. We lost touch after a couple of months. This is back when two months felt like forever. If I hear this song, it immediately takes me back to that time.
"How I Could Just Kill A Man" - Cypress Hill (Self-Titled) - This was my song for 91'. While most kids were buying flannel shirts and Nirvana's "Nevermind" album, I was sporting my "Cypress Hill" t-shirt and praying for the next CH album. All the ladies were digging me I'm sure. This is another song we were playing during pick-up basketball games.
"By the Time I Get to Arizona" - Public Enemy (Apocalypse '91/The Empire Strikes Black) - This song reminds me of skipping school and driving to Burnsville with a couple buddies and just wasting the day. The song deals with Arizona's decision to not honor Martin Luther King Jr's day in their state. I can't claim that's the reason I love the song. I just liked the beats. We did have to face the Vice Principal the next day, and that's one of the times I realized that honesty is definitely the best policy. After being honest with her, she let us go with a warning. She was a very cool lady.
"Color Blind" - Ice Cube (Death Certificate) - A buddy of mine played this album constantly in his car whenever we were just cruising. It reminds me a lot of going to football games, or just cruising around looking for something to do. We rarely found anything to do, but I wish I could live that period over again. We had some good times doing nothing. The song calls for an end to gang violence.
"Nuthin But a "G" Thing" Dr. Dre (The Chronic) - This was a huge hit and EVERYONE was spinning this disc. Okay, maybe not everyone, but a lot of people I knew. I remember it seemed I couldn't turn on MTV without this or the "Let Me Ride" video playing. This song was where Snoop Dogg became a huge star. There was a statistic released at that time and it was something like Snoop raps at least over 50% of the album or something like that. I still like this song and it reminds me of a wasted summer of not really doing anything productive. Work, party, sleep. I'll always miss that time.
"C.R.E.A.M.(Cash Rules Everything Around Me) Wu-Tang Clan - (Enter the Wu Tang(36 Chambers) - This is the last I can remember of my rap experience. This was the the last rap album I've bought and probably will buy. This song generally signaled (just look at the title) the end of any meaningful rap music and what it represents today. Money. Plain and simple. Catchy song though. Bling, bling dawg.
"Hummer" - Smashing Pumpkins (Siamese Dream) - This music took me by the nose, kicked me in the butt, and slammed me face down back into rock, where I always belonged. I can't state enough what this album means to me and what it still represents to me today. I STILL get goosebumps listening to this album for like the millionth time. Billy Corgan is still my hero and will always be a symbol of what you can achieve when you work through depression rather than succumb to it. (Cough, Cough, Kurt Cobain.. Cough, Cough). Billy caught a lot of attention for actually wanting to be successful with his band when that wasn't the popular thing to do. Fine, that's fair, but I challenge anyone to question the integrity of the music. You could never call them a sellout because the quality of the music was always so great. This song takes me back to my freshman year in college and irritating my irritating roommate by writing "CORGAN IS GOD" on our freshman dorm room. It's why I wanted to pick up a guitar and learn how to play. I could have picked any song by these guys, but this song has that great Loud-Soft dynamic they used so magnificently.
"Hang Fire" - The Rolling Stones (Tattoo You) - They played this song into the ground at my college job. Looking back at it now, it's a good thing I worked at a restaurant or I would have starved to death. We had money for CD's, movies, and beer but it was tough to come up with the rent at the end of the month. I remember falling in love with this song after about the 500th time I heard it at work. I didn't know it at the time, but it would become one of my favorite jobs of all time. We had a great crew and we had a great time. I hope they're all doing well. Besides, the manager would buy us beer and drink with us after closing. Maybe that's why it's a clothing store now.
"Lover, You Should've Come Over" - Jeff Buckley (Grace) - I hated this guy when he first came out. I remember remarking to a buddy of mine that "this guy's terrible" but after sampling his whole album, I fell in love with it and this song is gorgeous. Many drives to and from Mankato had this playing. I highly recommend it to anyone.
"Sabotage" - The Beastie Boys (Ill Communication) - This song makes me hungry. I think it's because they had it on in the lunchroom at Mankato 24/7. I can't listen to this song anymore without thinking of lunch. Thanks to all the people that kept playing it over and over and over and over... I'm starting to get hungry... Mmmmmm...
"Are You Gonna Go My Way" - Lenny Kravitz (Are You Gonna Go My Way) - This is the song that reminds me most of my very first car, an '81 Camaro. Some people didn't like this car of mine, to them I have nothing nice to say so I'll say nothing at all. Okay, they had a point. It was a dangerous car and I'm lucky a certain friend of mine didn't go flying off the road while borrowing it. It had Duct-taped T-Tops that were all the rage. It was a fashion statement I say. You had to have guts to drive that car. I remember blasting this song in that car and getting chills at the beginning of the guitar solo.
"Crash, Burn" Blues Traveler (Four) - Listened to this song many a time on our way to First Ave's "Danceteria" nights. Amazing instrumental work on this song. One time we go into an accident on the way there, decided we were downtown already, might as well go, forgot that the headlights might not work too well, crap.
"I'd Run Away" - The Jayhawks (Tomorrow the Green Grass) - I remember doing some heavy partying in a parking lot and listening to this record with some friends before their and Soul Asylum's concert at Midway Stadium. That's all I really remember from that night (Southern Comfort), except a friend of mine wanting to fight somebody and me pulling him away. I think that's how it went anyway. Maybe it was the other way around?
"Jellybelly" - The Smashing Pumpkins (Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness) - You didn't really think you'd only see one Pumpkins song on this list did you? "Welcome to nowhere fast, nothing here ever lasts". It's THE disc(s) that were playing in me and a buddies car for the longest time. It still finds it's way in the truck quite often. Although, now that it's on my MP3 player, I don't use CD's as often. I've rigged my truck stereo to be able to plug and play my MP3 player.
"Behold! The Night Mare - The Smashing Pumpkins (Adore) - You didn't really think... never mind. I picked this song because it was the best song the Pumpkins did the night of the Minneapolis Aquatennial. We got there early in the day so we would be right up front come show time. By the end of the night we were way in the back and still couldn't move freely. There were so many people it was ridiculous. They still hold the record for attendance at between 80-90,000. God, I miss this band.
"Age of Innocence" - The Smashing Pumpkins (Machina/The Machines of God) - Last one, I promise. This is the song that was playing when I met the man himself, Billy Corgan. We waited in line eight hours (Geekola, I know) to shake hands with the man and get a couple things signed. It was so worth it for me. (Not sure my wife and my buddy agreed, but she at least found it interesting that so many people would wait in line for hours for a few seconds of someone's time.) It became a bit of a crusade by the seventh hour and we enjoyed the company of those around us. Mr Corgan and the rest of the band were very gracious and polite and seemed to really be enjoying spending the time with the fans. I got my Siamese Dream and a lithograph signed and got to shake his hand (Corgan had abnormally long fingers if you're wondering). Sigh... What a great day!
"Crazy Love" - Brian Kennedy - This was the song that Amy and I had our first dance to at our wedding. (Ahhhhhhhhh...). This was a song that Amy had loved for a while and I certainly loved Van Morrisons version so we agreed on this one. We had a few battles over the music that was to be played during our wedding. It's something I take more serious than most. For some, music is something you have on in the background while cleaning your house or something. Not me, It's an integral part of my life and always will be.
posted by Big Scott | 1:48 PM
1 Comments:
Many points to make:
First off, I was VERY surprised to see Quicksand Jesus on your list. I thought I was the only person in the world that actually likes that album....although I would've picked a different song, this one has significance for you; cool.
Wanted Dead or Alive - probably my favorite Bon Jovi tune as well.
Billie Jean, My least favorite song on the album, but everyone else's favorite...go figure.
Your blue Camaro rocked, don't rip it! Even though it did almost kill me (Christine).
Rap sucks.
I can't believe I left out any song off Tomorrow the Green Grass on my list...I'd Run Away is a good choice
Couple of good 'tallica songs, but none off The Black Album? Crazy man...crazy.
Rock of Ages, the precursor to the greatest hair album ever....Hysteria. I love that song too!
Safety Dance makes me think of 2 things. One) Weird Al's version called The Brady Bunch; and two) the friggin guy dancing through middle earth like a fairy in the video, with all those loons following behind.
Crazy Love. I was too hammered at your wedding to remember that song, but Im sure it's a great one.
Siamese Dream....aaaa sweet Siamese Dream. It's very hard to pick any one song off this album to explain how great it is....in fact, I'm going to go listen to it right now.
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