Anyway. Recently my Sirius radio has been cranking out a lot of Gin Blossoms, and it always gets the same reaction out of me. I always think: "Damn... these guys were pretty legit." THEN, I nostalgiacize and remember all of the music that I got into in elementary, middle, and high school, and how it has turned me into the music lover that I am today. So, I thought it'd be cool to make a list of the albums that I consider as having huge impacts on me. Here they are along with any related stories that I have distinct memories of. This will be PART 1 of a multi-part blog entry. And by multi, I mean probably two total.
4th/5th Grade? Ace of Base- The Sign
OBVIOUSLY, this album would be on anybody's list.I could pretend to be cool here and say: "Oh man, these were dark days for my musical taste," but fuck that. Fuck that because Ace of Base STILL is awesome. Well... at least the album "The Sign." This was the first CD I ever bought... EVER. And by "bought," I mean that my mom paid for it at the store. Interestingly enough, the same day we bought this CD was the day we got our first CD player for our house. The first time I listened to the album, I played "The Sign" approximately 100x in a row. For whatever reason, as a kid you can listen to a song on repeat like this and not get the least bit irritated. For a solid month I don't think I was aware that there were other songs on the album. But then I got adventurous and eventually discovered the other classics buried on the CD: "Don't Turn Around," "All that She Wants," and my personal favorite, "Wheel of Fortune."
My favorite member of the band was the male rapper because at this phase of my life, I think I thought he was cool. TODAY though, I look back and think: "Dude, he HAD to be joking... right?!" At one point, I'm pretty sure I knew all the words to the entire CD. I also recall hanging out at a friend's house, and belting out the lyrics to the songs as they played WHILE jumping on a trampoline. Wait... what? I mean... that never happened. Go away.
Still 4th Grade-ish I think... Gin Blossoms- New Miserable Experience
The Gin Blossoms have come full circle for me. I first got into them because of the song "Allison Road." I had a mild obsession with this song and I'm pretty sure that it was the only one I liked at the time (out of every other song on Earth).
As a sidenote, how many TVs does that damn house have?! And why are there dudes carrying them around randomly from room to room?!
Once I got over the hump of "Allison Road," I listened to the rest of the CD for a good couple months. Eventually though, the album was buried and I really never heard much from the Gin Blossoms again until they because ubiquitous on the Sirius 90s rock channel (Lithium 24). Now, I think I need to repurchase the album because there are so man good songs on it! The Gin Blossoms were/are a solid, high quality mainstream rock band! Compare that to what's mainstream now, and it's easy to observe a noiceable drop in musical talent over time. I would take the Gin Blossoms over Nickelback and 3 Doors Down and the other trashy bands today in a heartbeat.
The reason this album was important to me was because it opened the door to rock. I was gradually able to tear myself away from the Europop of Ace of Base and start getting into music that had guitar in it!
5th-6th Grade I think... Offspring- Smash
This album is so untouchable. It starts out with a soothing narrative in "Time to Relax." You think: "Hey, this is cool... There's this dude talking about how he just wants to chill out. That's fine." BUT THEN, "Nitro" starts and your heart starts going 100000000 bpm just to keep up with the drumming! From beginning to end, this album is so classic. I bought it for the single "Come out and play," but definitely didn't expect to be so into the rest of it! I specifically recall the song "Bad Habit" because of the line "You stupid dumbshit goddamn motherfucker!" followed by a heavy dose of power chords! As I was still under my parents' roof at the time, I could not swear as I like, and so by playing this song I felt like I was rebelling against the system... or something. Anyway, my friends and I loved that album at the time. This was THE perfect album to scream along to at the top of your lungs. "Gotta get away," "Self Esteem," and "Come out and play" were the hit singles, but the rest of the album was mindblowingly cool. Five stars. A+. Top of the line.Offspring released maybe one more good album after that before essentially selling out and putting out some really trashy stuff...
Well, that about sums up Part 1.
Just for kicks, I'll throw in a few radio singles that I was into during this 4th-6th grade phase:
John Mellencamp- Wild Night
This was the cougar's cover of Van Morrison, EXCEPT they changed the bassline to make it LETHALLY awesome.
At the risk of being made fun of incessantly,
Seal-Kiss from a rose
Hey... we all make mistakes.
Finally,
Real McCoy- Another Night
In the land of 6th grade middle school after-school dances, Real Mccoy was king.
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