Think of 15 albums, Singles, CDs, LPs (if you’re over 40) that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life. Dug into your soul. Music that brought you to life when you heard it. Royally affected you, kicked you in the wazoo, literally socked you in the gut, is what I mean. Then when you finish, tag 15 others (or more!), including me. Make sure you copy and paste this part so they know the drill.
In no particular order… Take that back… Some order
1. Men at Work – Business as Usual. This might be the only album I can listen to all the way through now… Just like I did then! I bought an extra LP version of it because I wore my first one out… And then proclaimed that this was an album I would share with my kids someday. (I remember this fact because Uncle Steve reminded me of that conversation from 1981) While its not a remarkable album… There were some great songs with a little off center-ness that probably started the ball rolling for me to be on the outside of mainstream music.
2. Duran Duran – Rio – Even if I wasn’t cool… I felt cool listening to this LP. (Yeah, I’m still talking LPs!) I couldn’t dance, didn’t have designer clothes, or even know where to start… But reading about these guys and digging on this album kept me from being a complete hick!
3. Peter Gabriel – So – This was the first CD I ever purchased… Still have it… Back when they made CD’s to last! I rode up to Walton’s on my BMX and picked up a General Electric CD player and “So” with my saved up paper route money… While I was sucked in my Sledgehammer…. It was songs like Dont Give Up with Kate Bush that once again started knocking down the walls of what was considered popular music.
4. Kate Bush – Hounds of Love – WBNQ went out with the bathwater when I heard this one… Music can be this??? Characters, theater, drama… Her wonderfully eccentric voice along with being backed up by some of the greatest musicians in the world. This really opened me up to looking for more in music than what the top 40 was dictating!
5. Ramones – Animal Boy – I’m not a punk guy… Never was… But, the Ramones gave me something to play loud! Violently loud! The songs didnt amount to more than some of the pop music at the time… Except for Bonzo goes to Bitzburg… It was almost a political statement song… But who could take the Ramones seriously for that?
6. The Dead Kennedy’s – Frankenchrist – Oh man… Jello Biafra can write some dialog! These guys had many albums that were punk… But this one was a fine piece of musicianship and lyrical conquest… You just through in the cassette and held on… Singing along to Anti-Anthems! This album still stands up… And you can find plenty of similarities between the Stars and Stripes of Corruption then, as you would now.
7. The Screaming Blue Messiahs – Bikini Red – As usual.. Always a story to go with the purchase… Bob Brown had bought this cassette on my insistence… After listening to it for a day… He said he didn’t like it. We had both agreed that “I wanna be a Flintstone” was a great song… Unfortunately… Nothing else on the cassette sounded like that. WHICH IS GREAT IN RETROSPECT! Its the weakest song they ever wrote! When I heard Jesus Chrysler Drives a Dodge for the fist time.. I was blown away! This guy was making his guitar scream! I have said it before.. And I’ll say it again… If I could play guitar.. I would want to play like Bill Carter. Controlled chaos! Evidenced in their live material!
8. Pere Ubu – Cloudland – Another expansion on what music is. Weird clicks, sound effect and whirrring noises in beat with a great band… Oh, and that singer… What in the world is he singing??? It was always hard to understand the first time through… But their hooks and pop grooves were usually enough to keep me entertained. This was the first of my Ubu albums for me!
9. Oingo Boingo – LIVE 2CD – Total summer music in 1989… I was aware of the band from movies like Weird Science and Back to School (Thanks to Kennedy for that memory update)… But these guys are sooooo much more! Phenomenal musicians… Brilliant lyrics and a wild look. More of a New Wave throwback… I probably caught them on the tail-end of their career. No matter, I dug their whole catalog and still love to listen to all of it today. This album had a great live sound that didnt have the dated keyboards and drum machine sounds.. Probably why I always cue it up first with in an OB mood!
10. Julian Cope – St. Julian – Big time British rock sound with complete lyrical weirdness! I couldnt figure this guy out to save my life… But I loved playing this album loud!!! Pulsar is one of my top 10 favorite songs of all time!
11. Robyn Hitchcock – Spooked – This one is not that old… But it revived for me what an artist can be… Even with an acoustic guitar… You can be clever and relevant. I am not huge on one man guitar shows.. But Robyn sucks you in on this one and you live in his world for a while. I have almost everyone of his albums (Thats a lot!) and this one still holds as his breakthrough for me.
12. The Decemberists – Castaways and Cutouts – I had given up on new music. Resigned that all new music sucks! I was ready to listen to Julian Cope and Oingo Boing for the rest of my life! Thank God for these guys! Lit rock? Is that a term? It should be. These guys breathed air into my CD collection when it was needed most. They are current, but timeless… I suspect I will be listening to their albums for many years ahead.
TIE 13. Lou Reed & John Cale – Songs for Drella | Lou Reed – Magic and Loss – Never a huge Lou fan… I was pleasantly surprised when Jon Etter slapped the Drella VHS in the player. (They did a VHS whole album recording, its not on DVD.. I’ve checked!) Its Lou being tender and soft… Really the beginning of a sound that he was holed up in for the next 20 years! All the songs tell a story and you can feel his love for Warhol and the old gang in this. Magic and Loss was a some of the darkest recordings in my collections. I normally like pretty up music… But the feeling that is brought out in the songs of this album really draw you in. When he is singing (If you call it that) about awkward conversations at funerals… Or taking a boat out to spread ashes in the Atlantic ocean… You feel like you are living it. Lou’s finest!
14. Talking Heads – Naked – Not a typical Talking Heads album… It was more influenced by David Byrnes dabbling in Brazilian music. It totally took me to another place… Letting me open up to artists with a south of the border texture. Once again… It expanded what I new about music. Rio Momo, some Ozomatli…. And a bit of Jobim later… And I can see where that branch of my musical tree came from!
15. The The – Infected – Yeah, that band name is right! OK, Lou wasnt the only downer in my collection. Matt Johnson gave me some gritty stuff that dealt with bad relationships, societal decay, and inner turmoil… All wrapped in a punchy, sometimes pop-ish package. Johnson’s voice always sounds troubled! Johnny Marr played guitar on this and the next album… And they still sound as good today as they did back in 1990 (Earlier?)
Honorable Mentions:
Afghan Whigs – Gentleman
They Might be Giants – They Might be Giants (Debut album 1986)
The Refreshments – Fizzy Fuzzy, Big and Buzzy
Ben Folds Five – Whatever and Ever Amen
The Blue Nile – Walk across the Rooftops
The Cars – Candy O
Counting Crows – August and Everything after (Only meaningful if you have had your heart ripped out!)
Fishbone – Truth and Soul
Goo Goo Dolls – Hold me Up
The more things change…
I am noodling here… So, if this is not coherent… I warned you.
Below is a picture of a google image search for “animated trump image” or something like that.
Anyone who knows me… Knows that my political alliances lie with neither major party, and I generally stay out of the fray when it comes to complaining about the morons who run this country. (That indie streak has me signed up as a card carrying Libertarian right now, more on that at the end.) That said… I have a indie streak that runs all the way back to the 80’s and I am loving this newfound vitriol for government officials. This rage at the current administration has been splattered all over the internet in Instagram, Twitter and Facebook in the form of memes and animated GIF’s. Some of them are awesome and you have to admire the level of skill it takes to make them.
But is it this kind of artistry newfound? Looking back over my High School days… I remember very similar work. All done in analog. The digital age makes it easy for anyone to whip up a meme… But we have been doing this for decades. You just forgot! Instead of photoshop or imageflip… We used collages and ‘zines done on a xerox.
Were you seeing stuff like the picture above in HS? Probably not unless you were hanging with the indie crowd. My friends and I were as anti-establishment as Midwest kids could reasonably get… Even if we didn’t have a clue what that meant. We would stop at Mother Murphy’s and grab weird magazines. We would read the liners of all our Dead Kennedy albums and subscribe to the latest Alternative Tentacles ‘zine. Its so similar. I almost believe that everything used against Reagan is now being spun on Trump. It didnt really work back then… It got the ground troops riled up. But, as we should know by now… It didn’t stop anyone’s political careers or aspirations. “There is no such thing as bad publicity” is the new mantra. It keeps you relevant and in front of peoples faces. Thus I wonder if Trump’s people even care about all these caricatures.
Maybe… Just maybe… If you have a problem with this guy… Or the other guys… Or those gals over there… (The guys in the bushes look evil too) You might decide to do something yourself starting at the local level??? Really… The old adage that change begins within yourself… Is completely relevant. How can you really sit there and post Twittervism’s or Facebook posts complaining… When all you do is accept the clowns that are paraded onto your ballot?
Turn the TV off. Stop reading political news online. Get out and talk to other human beings. Try to talk to folks with opinions other than yours and you might find that most of us want the same thing. You just dont vote that way! You wont allow it. You have been brainwashed into thinking that a complete win is the only acceptable outcome. Compromise is failure.
Here is a good site for you: https://www.congressforkids.net/Constitution_threebranches.htm
We teach our kids that one party or individual with too much power is a tyrant or a dictator. But, when we elect our executive leaders… Both sides… Want to have absolute rule of law.
Our system of government really only works with compromise. Flipping switches on executive orders is nonsense. That is not how the Founding fathers wanted our people ruled. I believe that they did see the evil that can come from lopsided power and laid out a plan to negate that behavior. Equal power distribution with checks and balances serves a valuable role in keeping our country from tilting too far in either direction.
Its naive to think that the Reagan and Tip O’Neil working relationship can come back… Hell, I thought Obama and the Boehner (Was that his name) might have been on to something when they had their beer. But, that all went sideways as well. Somebody wasn’t “winning”, and it ended up in deadlock.
It sure would be nice to think that all parties, R, D and Independents could see past differences to knock out what I consider moral subjects like war or government waste.
Until we start looking hard at what we expect from our officials, or start looking hard at who is greasing their wheels… I think we are in for lots more years of gridlock.
Oh… Speaking of my indie guys. I have been putting my efforts behind the local Libertarian Party groups in Central Illinois. Yes, I called out anyone who complains about not doing anything… And I back that up by getting out and helping make a change locally. My guys have a page now!!!
http://libertyplays.com/
Its still a small movement… But as we learned from the last election… Big things can happen fast! Seems like every monthly meeting has new members showing up.
And, Tazewell County has a Libertarian group now… We meet… We talk about local issues and elections. We will make a difference!
https://www.facebook.com/TAZEWELLLIBERTARIANPARTY/