Music. A List.

I got an assignment a week or so ago that said this:

Think of 25 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it: they sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of, they musically shaped your world. They stood up, they lasted, they mattered. They still matter, in some way (even if only in memory).

Doesn’t have to be ‘THE (definitive) 25′. Just the 25 right now – as memory and listening demand. They don’t have to be placed in any particular order (unless that is, you want to!)?

Okay, so technically it wasn’t actually an assignment, but you know, I take opportunities to make lists quite seriously and so I, of course, complied. At first I thought this would be a really challenging task. And then it seemed really easy. And then I realized that it was, in fact, quite difficult. I basically tried to think of albums that I know I will probably always keep around for one reason or another… and then I tried to focus on albums that somehow made some sort of notable impact on my life. Or caused some sort of change or transition… Then it got really hard. Then I started looking at other people’s lists which inevitably leads to more difficulties – you know wanting to be original and such, while also being reminded of stuff that was overlooked in your own mental vault.

Then I had the chance to read a really perfect version of this list… someone who had endeavored to  keep things in a workable order – chronology! – so much more sensible than trying to rank the soundtrack of one’s life, and annotations with each one that explained the importance of the selections as well as offering an opportunity to stick in a few additional choices as explanatory material. Cunning.

To that end, I took a look at my original list. To appease my mildly obsessive nature, I am not changing the list, but I am going to put it in order and give a little background on the choices (allowing me to throw in a few more along the way.) Oh, and a preface. Everyone loves a preface:

I have no recollection of a time without music in my household or my life. In fact, in a fairly nutty (in a good way mostly) upbringing, I would say music was the constant. I still hear songs that remind me of memories I can only barely recall – but the music is always there. My mom sang all the time and my dad played guitar. [They did not do this together that I remember... ]  Mom sang to records, dad was a bit of a folkie on his acoustic guitar with the woven strap that he pulled out of its velvety case , which I can still see with perfect clarity. He sang songs like Wabash Cannonball and lots of Woodie Guthrie. Some Dylan and Stones too, and a good helping of country. But I remember the folksy stuff the most. Mom liked her share of chick singers, like the Joans (Baez, Mitchell, Armatrading) and the vocal greats that she picked up from her mom – Aretha, Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday, but I remember The Doors, The Beatles, Dylan and the Stones the most. Eventually the list I associated with mom grew to include a lot more like Marvin Gaye, Taj Mahal, Fleetwood Mac, Talking Heads, Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon. Dad’s list went a slightly different direction embracing disco a bit – yeah, for real – but he mostly stuck with his favorites, especially country – like all the eventual members of the Highway Men – especially Waylon and Willie and The Man in Black – Mr. Cash, and he also loved the old R & B standbys like Chuck Berry, Sam Cooke and BB King – and man, he loved the Beach Boys. The Wilson brothers could do no wrong in Tom’s eyes. He loved him some Elvis and Jimi Hendrix too. Into this mix you also have to throw in my step-dad’s eclectic input that included the likes of Edith Piaf, Harry Belafonte, Gregorian Chants and Itzhak Perlman.

Put all of this on top of the fact that some of my earliest memories include attending musical events and the fact that I grew up in an incredibly musical community and you get a little bit of an idea what I am working with.

So, my list – in the best developmental order that I could muster:

1. The Doors – The Doors

I select this album first because I associate Jim Morrison so closely with my mom and dad. They saw The Doors open for Chuck Berry at the Fillmore [ed note: thanks mom- memory is so malleable]  when they were married. My mom loved Jim. My dad looked like Jim. And I think that so much of what I have made my parents stand for in the late 60s and early 70s comes down to how I remember this album. My memories of hearing it are not as clear as my memories of them talking about it. But to me it still counts and it is one of the best albums ever recorded; there is not a song on that album I don’t know all the words to, from ‘Soul Kitchen’ to ‘Whiskey Bar.’ I truly began to appreciate the musical and emotional aspects of this record a lot later in my adolescence, but the groundwork had been laid early.

2. The Rolling Stones – Beggar’s Banquet

To be fair, if I am going by influence of albums I should really be putting Let it Bleed here, because for some reason that is the album cover I can never forget…  and my parents did name their car The Midnight Rambler. Actually, revisiting the track listing for that album makes me almost reconsider.  But I choose Beggar’s Banquet because it is the definitive Rolling Stones album in my mind. [I know a lot of people disagree and if I get any email telling me that Exile on Main Street is THE definitive album, I am issuing you a peremptory STFU.] Every song on side two of this record makes me think about how much rock and roll has to say.

3. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band

I vacillated here as well, between this album, The White Album and Rubber Soul. I think I associate The White Album with my mom and Rubber Soul with my dad and so I choose Sgt. Pepper. As a kid I couldn’t get enough of the album art. It blew my mind how much cool stuff was included in that image. Plus, ‘A Day in the Life’ is probably my favorite Beatles song of all time and I will never listen to it without thinking of Willie Oaks and how cool I felt that I had known the song for years when he told me it was his favorite.

4. Michael Jackson – Off the Wall

The first two songs on this record were my favorite songs for, like, two years. I moved (with no shortage of bad attitude) to Seattle with my mom and step-dad in 1979 and went from a totally alternative classroom setting in Petaluma to an equally awesome classroom setting on Capitol Hill in Seattle. I was bussed in on city buses as part of the school integration plan and I was in the most racially diverse setting I had yet experienced. Ironically, it was Lori Sillence – a white girl – who got me hooked on MJ  – but we were all about ‘Rock With You’ and had a little dance routine we made up to perform to it at recess. Michael, was young, black, and happening. It was great. And it was my introduction to Top 40 radio.

5. Blondie – Autoamerican


I remember listening to this record over and over and over on New Year’s Eve at my mom’s house somehow… I think the adults must have been at a party and we were entertaining ourselves, I seem to recall one of my non-Moms, Cathy Sellers, being there. I loved ‘The Tide is High’ the first time I heard it and have loved it every time since. It started me on that “island-y” sound. But really, this record is ALL about ‘Rapture.’ I learned who Fab Five Freddy was and what the sacroiliac was in one single song. That is completely bitchin’. I know every single word and I am still waiting for that man from Mars with his guitars, bars and cars. Plus Debbie Harry was hot as on the album cover. I saved my allowance up to buy this record at the Music Coop and I also developed an obsession for the color yellow around this time which I now blame on this record (and later Business as Usual by Men at Work, another contender for this list, for sure.)

6. Bob Marley & the Wailers – Exodus


Choosing one Bob Marley album almost seems criminal, but I am going with Exodus for several reasons, the most salient being that it is the one that kept cropping back up in my life over the years. I was introduced to reggae by my friend Kelly’s dad, David. David was one of my favorite non-Dads (I had several.) There are many things I loved about Dave, but I thank him so much for introducing me to reggae. He was a particular fan of Jimmy Cliff, and I had to really think about whether I was going to go with Bob here, or Jimmy’s The Harder They Come. Bob gets the nod because side two of the record is a masterpiece. Seriously. Amazing. My love for reggae has continued to grow and I know it isn’t even really cool to like Bob Marley anymore if you say you like reggae as he is too “mainstream,” but this album can kick most of the other ones to the curb.

7. The Police – Ghost in the Machine


I have a fetish for bass players that runs long and deep. This probably has a lot to do with Sting. I was introduced to The Police by my mom’s baby sister, my Aunt T… who was pretty much THE definition of cool for all of my formative years. I used to stay in her old room at my grandparents house and just look at all her records and concert tickets. I remember the smell of the cork board where she stuck all of her stubs and memorabilia and the stacks of records – lots of Eagles and Jackson Browne… and The Police.  The first three tracks on this album are still three of my favorite songs. I don’t even remember when I first heard this record, but I have been down with Sting ever since.

8. The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry


I am not sure who introduced me to The Cure, and this selection represents a paradigm shift in the development of my musical tastes. [This list has skipped over my whole fascination with Top 40 and Casey Casem and that may be a disservice. I loved his stupid countdown and I think I almost broke something when 'Come on Eileen' made it to number one. I still love 80s Top 40 and listen to it frequently but it is characterized by one hit wonders (thankfully) and so none of it makes my list as an album. Bands like Madness, the Kinks, the Buggles, the Romantics, Thomas Dolby, Modern English, Joan Jett... they all deserve a little mention... but not a whole record's worth.] This record was the first non-Top 40 record I loved. And I played it everyday for days. It also got me reading Camus. I think this is important.

9. David Bowie – The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars


I remember hearing David Bowie singing ‘Young Americans’ and ‘Fame’ way back when on KFRC way back in the day when Dr. Don Rose and Jane Dornacker were in the house. I always liked his music and then when Let’s Dance came out when I was in 7th grade I really got into him. He seemed like a more legit kind of pop music plus he also seemed to just not give a shit about pop music which was even cooler. Then I went and saw Absolute Beginners starring Bowie along with Patsy Kensit and Sade and a completely kick ass soundtrack, and I started to investigate him more seriously. I think this was my first truly alternative musical selection, even though a lot of people probably wouldn’t consider it so alternative. His weirdness and sexuality and awesome voice were almost too cool when you put them all together. The opening refrains of Ziggy Stardust are pretty perfect. And “making love with his ego Ziggy sucked up into his mind, like a leper messiah…” I mean, can you find a better image of everything Bowie is?

10. The Talking Heads – Stop Making Sense


About this time, 1985-86, I was getting into the Talking Heads too. I really liked Speaking in Tongues and Remain in Light… but when Stop Making Sense came out in the theaters I really saw what David Byrne was all about and it was fucking amazing. My mom took me to see the movie (I am sure she had already seen it, and I think her sisters got her hooked on the band) and I remember the record playing constantly in our house – until Little Creatures came out and took over the top spot. ‘Once in a Lifetime’ and David Byrne’s syncopated movements are a permanent fixture for me, and his words resonated completely, even when I was 15; in many ways this song has been a perennial front runner in my search for a theme song.

11. U2 – The Joshua Tree


This was the first actual CD I ever purchased… that ages me, I am sure.  But I remember when my parents bought their new stereo and we each got a CD to try out so we could “hear” the difference. You could. I had been into U2 for a bit after inadvertently coming across the Under A Blood Red Sky Live cassette in 1984 at Rasputin’s in Berkeley, and had purchased the cassette of this one as soon as it was released. This album was something all together different. I remember several years later Jason telling me that anyone who professed that the “best” U2 album was anything other than the Joshua Tree was just being a poser, “Like, oh sure, War was really that great.” It was clearly not cool to be turned on to U2 by this album, which had such mainstream success, but I have to say, as usual, JB was right. It is their definitive album and Edge’s guitar playing really set it apart from anything else I had ever heard. I listened to this album on repeat for about a year. The energy that it has is really something else and evokes the experience of seeing U2 live in a tangible way.

12. The Rave-Ups – Town and Country


As I continued to enjoy expanding my musical collection I started getting into trying to include things that people had never heard of. However, this was becoming very difficult. Fortunately, one of the many wonderful things about all of John Hughes’ movies from the 80s was the music he used. [I think he was a complete visionary and I am glad that he was the man to put my youth on celluloid.] His ingenue was Molly Ringwald, an odd but effective choice. And Molly’s sister dated a guy from a band called the Rave-Ups and so she had the name of this band scribbled all over her notebook in 16 Candles and they were the house band in the club that Duckie can’t get into in Pretty in Pink.  ‘Positively Lost Me’ is one of my favorite songs to this day. This whole album has a great sound and it was my favorite tape to listen to driving around in Petaluma with nowhere to go, especially the cover of ‘You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere.’

13. Run DMC – Raising Hell


‘Perfection’ and ‘My Adidas’ are two of my favorites off this record… though the entire thing takes me right back to 1986. I loved the style of these guys as much as I loved the music. And it was my first introduction to the origins of Ethnic Confusion; that is when white kids from the suburbs start rolling around town going, “You know I’m proud to be black y’all – and that’s a fact y’all – And if you try to take what’s mine – I take it back y’all – it’s like that…” I still have Adidas Shell Toes and I know they are cool no matter where you live.

14. The Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique

Okay, so I loved License to Ill and thought the Beastie Boys were absolutely hilarious because they were addressing the Ethnic Confusion perfectly… a little tongue in cheek, but certainly with due appreciation. I was interested to see how they would follow that album up. The follow up was THE Shit. If I need to get fired up for something it is still a go to selection.

15. Jane’s Addiction – Nothing’s Shocking

My first serious boyfriend (if you can have a serious boyfriend at 19) introduced me to Jane’s Addiction. He was a bass player (I think I mentioned a small fetish) and he was always giving me music to check out. I liked most of it… but I loved this one.  My favorite songs on the record are ‘Mountain Song,’ ‘Standing in the Shower’ and of course, ‘Jane Says.’  They were the saddest, harshest lyrics I ever heard that made me want shake my booty. I rarely take a shower without thinking about standing in the shower thinking…

16. Nirvana – Nevermind

Another album I think you are not supposed to like if you are a “true” fan, but this is my favorite Nirvana album.  I did not really do the ‘grunge’ scene to any extreme, I dug Pearl Jam and Chris Cornell, but I was not so into dirty flannel and the first generation of Emo. I got the CD and had been listening to it on and off at UCSD  when it came out in1991, but my true appreciation for it crystallized one night with three friends, some funky trees at La Jolla Cove and a mind altering situation. I don’t need to go into a whole lot more detail here, except to say that the music was the perfect accompaniment and ‘In Bloom’ is one of the most beautiful songs I know.  This was a record that epitomized being in college for me without sounding pretentious.

17. The Stereo MCs – Connected

I discovered the Stereo MC’s when I saw them at Peter Gabriel’s Womad Festival at the Polo Grounds in 1993. I was in the heart of my live music days… shows were pretty much all I did all the time.. big ones, little ones… free ones… and the day I saw this band was a good day that involved a great festival, cool beer and vegetables and a marathon hike through Golden Gate Park ending eventually in Fairfax (though not on foot). I was super into jam bands at this the time and so this was a bit of a departure… but but not really because to me this sort of electronica was just a slightly different take on the jam band  – same concept, different sound. This album accompanied me through months of travel in Europe in 1993-94. It was perfect Eurail music and a great complement to the Grateful Dead and JGB. Try it… you will see what I mean.

18. Cowboy Junkies – The Trinity Sessions

I went through a serious Velvet Underground phase sometime during my UCSD days and had developed a little bit of  a Lou Reed thing, so when I saw Natural Born Killers and heard the familiar melody of ‘Sweet Jane’ under the voice over of Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis – Mickey and Mallory – I was immediately taken. I am sure I must have heard the Cowboy Junkies before, I think they even played at UCSD while I was there, but I never really listened until I heard their cover of ‘Sweet Jane.’ I think I may actually like their version better, though I would be careful who I say that around. I definitely love hearing the movie voice over…

Mickey: The whole world’s comin’ to an end, Mal!
Mallory: I see angels, Mickey. They’re comin’ down for us from heaven. And I see you ridin’ a big red horse, and you’re driving them horses, whippin’ ‘em, and the’re spitting and frothing all ‘long the mouth, and the’re coming right at us. And I see the future, and there’s no death, ’cause you and I, we’re angels…
Mickey: I love you, Mal.
Mallory: I know you do baby, and I’ve loved you since the day we met.

19. The Counting Crows – August and Everything After

Adam Duritz is the funniest looking hot guy I ever came across. This is such a great record and though there was some speculation if they could keep the momentum of this first album up, I think the Counting Crows managed. I think the songwriting got better on each of their successive albums, but this one was holistically my favorite. Who comes up with shit like this?

When I think of heaven (Deliver me in a black-winged bird)
I think of flying down into a sea of pens and feathers
and all other instruments of faith and sex and God
In the belly of a black-winged bird
Don’t try to feed me
I’ve been here before and I deserve a little more

Brilliant.

20. Jerry Garcia Band – Cats Under the Stars

Now here is a trick… You see, the Grateful Dead is probably the band that has had the most significant impact on my life to date… for reasons extending WAY beyond the music. But there is not an album that I can put on this list that works to represent the Dead because if there was ever a band that was about the experience of the music it was the Grateful Dead. I think putting live albums on here is cheating so I did not… But Jerry gets a place on the list because he had a way to make a guitar way more than a guitar. Musically, this record is amazing and who doesn’t love ‘Rubin and Cherise’ – one of the greatest love songs ever.

21. Blues Traveler – Blues Traveler

The art of the jam band… personified. I remember seeing BT somewhere in Vegas when I was there to see the Jerry and the Boys… and thinking, hey, not freaking bad. The music has a nice redneck feel but in that kind of Waylon Jennings anti-establishment kind of way. They know how to rock and they are a great show band (something that the Counting Crows never totally mastered unfortunately.) This record came out before I was into the band, but it has some of there most rocking music on it… and I was in love with a sweet talking hippie at the time, so I got it.

22. Sublime – 40 Oz. to Freedom

Sublime rocked the early 90s for many reasons, but I got this CD when I was living in Tahoe long after it’s release. When I heard the title track it reminded me from where I came and helped to start to shake me out of this really weird place I had mentally migrated to as I tried to adjust my life to someone else’s standards. I like the style, the irreverence and the general attitude of the whole record. It still makes me want to sit on the beach in San Diego and waste days. That’s a pretty good feeling to be able to get just from listening to some music…

23. The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots

My best friend’s husband gave me this CD to listen to when I left their house after an extended visit in 1994. I hadn’t seen them in ages and I was in some seriously dark times. I didn’t really know this, but they did. I listened to it non-stop for the entire drive back to Northern Nevada from the North County of SD.  Yoshimi was there for me and got the ball rolling to get me the hell out of dodge. When I saw the Lips live for the first time, then I really, really knew that there was more out there and I had to get out and see it because Reno is where dreams go to die.

24. The Stereotypes – 2

So, on the same trip that I was gifted with the Flaming Lips album above I went to see our friend’s band play in San Diego. This was the CD they were promoting at the time and the show was beyond all expectations… it was at a total dive bar, they had a kissing booth and my best friend tried to kick the shit out of a tour bus. What else could you ask for? I know this is sort of a shameless plug for a friend’s band, but this album ROCKS and when they played ‘New Situation’ the people on both sides of me leaned in and said, “This is for you… you need a New Situation.” I had no idea how obvious it was, but once again, music saved my life.

25. Coconut Records – Nighttiming

I have been pretty lazy about expanding my musical tastes for the last decade or so. I realize I have missed a lot of cool shit and I have started to rectify that situation recently… mostly by reading other lists like this one… But this is one band that I did come across recently and have fallen in love with and goes on this list because Jason Schwartzman is clearly a genius. ‘West Coast’ is the anthem of my life right this minute. The record is quirky and cool and funny and clever and good.

And so there it is. My long, long list. A tribute to a life of loving music and a future that I hope will include a lot more of it.

That would be me and my daddy - circa 1970.

~ by Amanda on March 12, 2009.