As introduced by Tim at The Cushy Blog and continued by Manx at A Salute to Some Stuff, I hereby bring you five albums that have been influential, in whichever way, to my life (note: Albums presented in order of influence, not necessarily release or awesomeness):
1. “Nothing’s Shocking,” Jane’s Addiction – As stated before, the late 1980s were a barren wasteland for mainstream rock music. The hair metal was not for me, but coming from a music-loving family I had to have something to listen to. By eighth grade, I had tired of the Beatles and Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd into which I had immersed myself the previous school year. Luckily, I had friends with broader musical tastes. Listening to all these bands I’d heard of but never heard (Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, JFA, Joy Division, Ministry, Husker Du, et al) was exciting. But as eighth grade was winding down in 1989, dear friend and reader Eric gave me a taped copy of “Nothing’s Shocking.” I slipped it into my portable cassette player (gotta be accurate; it wasn’t a Sony-brand Walkman) and turned up the volume. The album opens with “Up the Beach,” which begins with a lilting, two-note bassline. At about 0:15, a massive guitar chord hits, and I was startled half to death by it. This isn’t half bad, I thought. But it was the second song, “Ocean Size,” that sealed the deal. It begins with guitarist Dave Navarro noodling some arpeggiated chords on an acoustic. When singer Perry Farrell counts off “THREE, FOURRRR!!!” and rest of the band kicks in, it was like the door to musical enlightenment had been blown off its hinges. This album was like crack to me: All it took was one listen and I was hooked. For that summer and well into ninth grade, this album was in nonstop rotation in my headphones. It also was the first CD I ever bought, even before I got a CD player. Plus, the album cover had boobies.
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2. “Surfer Rosa,” the Pixies – I had been tangentially familiar with the Pixies through the “Pump Up the Volume” soundtrack and the occasional mixtape made by friends, but I’d never really given them a serious listen until I heard “Surfer Rosa” sometime during sophomore year. I’m a big fan of unique-sounding rock music, and the Pixies were like nothing I’d heard before. Instead of playing chords, the main guitar lines often were leading the melody, and the chords were relegated to an acoustic in the background. Good examples of this technique include “Caribou” and “Break My Body,” which happened to be the first I ever taught myself on the bass guitar. The extremely loud and extremely dry production by Steve Albini also added to the overall awesomeness of the record. Plus, the album cover also had boobies.
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3. “Nevermind,” Nirvana – If “Nothing’s Shocking” was musical crack, “Nevermind” was like a a double-quarter-pounder crackburger with an extra-large freebase. This record made me want to become a rock star. As embarrassing as it is to admit today, “Nevermind” turned me into a total Kurt Cobain fanboy. Almost immediately, I began rocking the thrift-store-cardigan-over-alt-rock-T-shirt look. I even wrote lyrics for a song I called “I’m a Nirvana-be,” which thankfully never saw the light of public performance. While l think the whole “Voice of a Generation” thing is an overblown invention of rock critics, there’s little doubt that this record is one of the most important in the rock-and-roll canon (although it simultaneously slew the beast that was hair metal and killed the concept of “alt-rock”). The popularity of “Nevermind” wasn’t limited to the alt-rock kids. At Southeast, it seemed that nearly everybody was listening to it: the brothers, the Strip Rats, the WDBR set, et al. Even my friend Chris, who owned CDs from such notable artists as NKOTB, Milli Vanilli and Marky Mark, was down with the Nirvana. I quickly got over my fanboy disease, but I’ve never outgrown the music. No boobies on this album cover, but there is baby schlong.
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4. “The Low End Theory,” A Tribe Called Quest – This album kindled a love affair with hip-hop that lasts today. I hadn’t really listened to much hip-hop before “The Low End Theory”. I’d always had an appreciation for it, beginning with Run-DMC, LL Cool J and Whodini back in the mid-1980s and into Public Enemy as the 1990s dawned, but never really allowed myself a deep headphone experience. But “Theory” changed all of that. Its combination of beats, basslines, turntable techniques and witty, positive lyrics (“Now here’s a funky introduction of how nice I am/Tell your mother, tell your father, send a telegram”) really opened my ears to hip-hop as an art form. It influenced my own attempts at writing lyrics: One of the originals that my rock band played used my lyrics, the idea for which was totally bitten from “What?”, the penultimate song on the record. “Theory” also served as an advertising platform for all the other rappers that were name-checked on this record. I became a fan of De La Soul, Brand Nubian, the Jungle Brothers, Ultramagnetic MCs, Leaders of the New School and many others thanks to Q-Tip’s and Phife Dawg’s shout-outs. Fun fact: “The Low End Theory,” “Nevermind” and “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers all were released on Sept. 24, 1991. Truly a momentous day for music.
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5. “Bags & Trane,” Milt Jackson and John Coltrane – During college, I had begun to develop an appreciation for jazz music, but beyond owning a copy of the “A Charlie Brown Christmas” soundtrack it was still mostly superficial. During my first junior year, my housemates and I went to a record sale fundraiser for WSIU-FM and picked up a few more jazz records. One of the ones Eric got featured Oscar Peterson and Milt Jackson. I became quite taken with Milt Jackson as my experience with the vibraphone was limited to its use on the eponymous Tortoise record, which was in heavy rotation at the time. One day later that year, I was browsing a used-CD store (I forget the name; it was next door to Rosetta News) and came across a the “Bags & Trane” album. I had never listened to anything with John Coltrane, but having known of his reputation and because I really liked Milt Jackson, I had to get this album. After listening to it, I couldn’t believe someone willingly gave it up. I was completely blown away and awed by Coltrane. When he first comes in at about 1:38 of the first song, “Stairway to the Stars,” I literally had goosebumps and instantly became a fan of his. I think the biggest thing about Coltrane is his sound. It’s one of those things that is so beautiful that trying to describe it with words doesn’t do it justice. There’s no one else that sounds like him. In fact, on the Johnny Griffin album “A Blowing Session,” there are three tenors: Griffin, Hank Mobley and Coltrane. You can tell, every time, when Coltrane is taking his solo just by the sound of his horn even though his solos are mixed in with those of Griffin and Mobley. It’s that distinctive and that indescribably beautiful.
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Honorable mentions: “The Wall,” Pink Floyd; “…And Justice for All,” Metallica; “Never Mind the Bollocks,” Sex Pistols; “Mother’s Milk,” Red Hot Chili Peppers; “Fear of a Black Planet,” Public Enemy; “Pure Guava,” Ween; “Tortoise,” Tortoise; etc.
