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DHR – rockin’ bad haircuts and fashion sense since 1978. The only time in my life when I have been envied (outside of the dance floor) was in 7th grade when I miraculously* owned brand new pairs of Air Jordans and Reebok Pumps while living in England (the BX only had so many pairs of Jordans to go around).
*long story I may go into later.
1 Built to Spill – The Plan
One of my favorite bands. I got into BTS a little later than most. I was reading a review of their album Perfect From Now On in Guitar World magazine that really piqued my interest. I went out and bought the album, played it a few times and thought….”That wasn’t very good”. The album stayed in my 60 disc CD player (which I would play on random quite a bit). One day while playing video games a song started playing that I thought was astoundingly good. I stopped my game went over to the CD player to determine which disc was playing (I had two racks that hold 30 albums so I always knew which album was where) and lo and behold it was Perfect From Now On. From that day forward I’ve been a huge fan. When I was hired by the Air Force and they moved me to Mountain Home, Idaho I only had one thing to be excited about……Boise was close and BTS is from Boise….needless to say I got to see them live 9 times (5 for free in the park) in my 5 years there. I really liked this follow up to PFNO.
2 Outkast – Red Velvet
I became a big Outkast fan in High School when I first saw the video for “Players Ball” on MTV. I was a hip-hop fanatic in those days and I really liked their sound and style. This song is from Stankonia (the last Outkast album I’ve purchased) and is solid but isn’t catchy enough to redeemed its attempt at being a weird tune. This would never make a mix tape/cd.
3. Pavement – Chesley’s Little Wrists
I’ve gone into plenty of detail in the past about how I was introduced to Pavement when I was an 8th grader living in England (I still have the Fat Cat records version of the album). I loved this album and still do but was never a big fan of this song…..it’s a noisy number. Despite it not being a great song it actually fits perfectly on the album and is one of the reasons Slanted and Enchanted is so good. When it comes up on shuffle it’s quite a bit worse than hearing in the context of the album.
4 Dinosaur Jr – Freak Scene
My sister was a fan of Dinosaur Jr. but never really introduced them to me. I mostly read about their influence and importance and decided to buy the compilation/hits album that came out a few years ago. It’s fantastic and I wish I would have got into them earlier. I actually owned some Sebadoh before ever owning any Dinosaur Jr. This is a classic song that doesn’t need any additional praise for me.
5. The Chameleons – Swamp Thing
Another album and band introduced to me by my sister. She decided to buy this (Strange Times) for me one Christmas…probably back in 99 or 00. I had never heard of them at that point and wasn’t overly impressed with the opening track Mad Jack. I set the album aside but over time it would feature on random shuffle in the CD player or I’d throw a group of albums I hadn’t paid enough attention to on while playing video games. One day it clicked and ended up becoming one of my favorite albums of all-time (top 30). This song may be the centerpiece of the album and is one of my favorites on the album. The song slowly builds with it’s chugging dark opening an eventually pays off with its fantastic anthemic chorus. I can’t say enough about how great this album is.
6. Snoop Doggy Dog – Lodi Dodi
This was a fun album that I didn’t get into until college. Obviously the song is a fun reinterpretation of the Doug E. Fresh tune. This album mostly got played when my friends and I would make our trips to the Indian Reservation Casinos outside of Spokane and lose most our money on the black jack tables.
7. The Wrens – The House that Guilt Built
Much heralded and maligned band on cmj/obner message boards. I like this album but don’t think it was anything to get overly worked up about either way. This isn’t much of a song but more of an intro to the album. I think I’ll always associate this album (and band) with KPH.
8. Built to Spill – The Wait
You in Reverse was a return to form for me after being disappointed with Ancient Melodies of the Future. This song isn’t much of a stand out but it’s a fine song with a nice little solo at the end. BTS once played a request only (from the crowd) set at the Neurolux in Boise. It was great to hear different stuff but it was quite disjointed waiting for them to constantly change their tunings between songs.
9. Pavement – Fin
I only ever needed to own Slanted and Enchanted. I didn’t feel the need to get Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain despite loving S&E. Over time I picked up some other stuff by them but nothing really grabs me like S&E. Brighten the Corners was purchased for the song Shady Lane…….and I never listen to this album…this may be the first time I’ve listened to this song…..it actually sort of reminds me of the Built to Spill song above (The Wait)….complete with scorching little solo at the end. Nice way to close out the album I guess. Hey, The Wait is the album closer of You in Reverse as well. Interesting.
10. The Dismemberment Plan – Come Home
Another group that was touted on the CMJ boards. I decided to check out Emergency & I based on the praise from CMJ and came to really enjoy elements of that album (some great songs for mixes). I bought the album Change when it came out and again it had a handful of cool songs and was a worthwhile purchase. This song is fine. Not one of the best but solid and it finishes well.
Next 10:
Front 242 – Work 242
Alice in Chains – Brush Away
The Hives – Hate to Say I Told You So
Nirvana – Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge
Depeche Mode – Pimpf
Dave Barker – Hot Sauce (AKA The Agro Man is Back)
Dr. Octagon – Technical Difficulties
Kanye West – Never Let Me Down
Ghostland Observatory – Midnight Voyage
Coldplay – Warning Sign
Much harder to write about.
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"Ian Rush says that if I drink milk one day i'll be good enough to play for Accrington Stanley"
"Accrington Stanley? Who are they?"
"Exactly"
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