BAM! I Just Nostalgiacized You in the Face! PART 3

Only two more albums that I want to recognize! The bands/albums in this post are kindof interesting selections since:

1) These aren't the bands' first-ever albums
2) These aren't considered the bands' best albums ever by critics- only me.

9th Grade- Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty (1998)

Yet another album that is disgustingly good from start to finish! The only thing I knew about the Beastie Boys in 9th grade was that they did the song "Girls, Fight for Your Right," and "Brass Monkey"- all awesome songs in their own right, but I had never cared to listen to anything else by them. WELL, one day my friend Jenny was telling me about how a new Beastie Boys album was coming out. A week later, a Rolling Stone issue came out that was interviewing the Beastie Boys about their new album. Around this same time, "Intergalactic" was getting HEAVY rotation on the radio and MTV. Anyhow, I read the interview, thought the band sounded awesome, and so I picked up the album on the day it came out. Just like all the other albums I've talked about, I was drawn in by one song here: "Intergalactic." The song is sick, and the video is sick, and the album turned out to be just stupid amazing.

EVERY song on this disc is good AND- the album has incredible staying power. 11 years later, this STILL is one of my most played ablums. Why is the album good? The lyrics are hilarious, the beats are phenomenal, and there is a lot of variety from track to track. Mix Master Mike is by far the sweetest turntablist on the planet, and the Beasties all have really sweet flows. They paved the way for dudes like Eminem to be taken seriously!

Anyway, because of this album I got into a lot more hip hop, but "Hello Nasty" serves as the meter stick by which I measure all the other stuff that comes my way! In case you were curious, T Pain does not measure up (though that track with Jamie Foxx is SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!).

9th Grade- Rage Against the Machine- Evil Empire (1996)

Ahhh yes, Evil Empire. This album came out in 1996 but I got into it a little bit later as a freshman in high school- The first time I saw the CD, it was in my friend's older brother's record collection. Then, I saw the video for "Bulls on Parade" on MTV (at the same friend's house), and didn't really know what to think. "What was this crazy noise?!" Keep in mind, the whole rap-rock thing wasn't all that big at this point and people weren't familiar with Tom Morello's guitar craziness either! ANYHOW, I actually don't remember at what point I was inspired to own this album, but it happened- I went to school one day and paid this guy Adam $5.00 (cold hard cash) to use his amazing CD burner technology to copy the album for me. And sure enough, I had it the next day! Again, I can't ever really remember listening to it a lot in high school, but as it stands today, this is one of my favorite albums ever and it still gets very heavy rotation in my life!

I consider this album better than the self titled one, and the band's best album overall! Any album with lyrics like: "Turn on the radio, nah, fuck it, turn it off- fear is your only God on the radio!" - is sweet! The whole album is just SO musically tight. Listening to it is the equivalent of injecting steroids and stimulants. It makes you run faster, lift harder, and probably fight more viciously! My favorite songs on this album are probably Vietnow, Tire Me, and Down Rodeo- all of these are lesser known Rage... songs but stellar none the less!

Another awesome thing that I appreciate about Rage a lot more today is how politically active they are/were. Though some of their stances are a bit questionable, for the most part, I think they are pretty awesome for standing up to a lot of bad shit in the world... Look up the band on Wikipedia if you're interested and reach you're own opinion on it.

Anyway, just like "Hello Nasty," I crank out "Evil Empire" out quite a bit these days too!

BAM! I Just Nostalgiacized you in the face! Part 2

Where did we leave off? Sometime around 6th/7th grade I believe...

As my last post indicated, I was slowly but surely transitioning into liking rock music (from shitty euro-pop). These are all albums that helped me make this transition:

7th grade-ish... Red Hot Chili Peppers - One Hot Minute (1995)


At the time I purchased this album, the only song I knew by the Chili Peppers was "Aeroplane." And I f*ing LOVED that song! In middle school ski club, a couple friends and I would scream this song at the top of our lungs from the chairlift- it was THAT awesome. I can't even explain how clearly I remember doing this haha... Interestingly enough, my college roommate was able to play this song on his bass (it has a sick bassline), and I think that was one of the first facts I learned about him- It made him cool in my book I suppose!



After I got over my obsession with "Aeroplane," I started discovering the other songs on the album like "Warped" (which was on the Twister soundtrack I believe), "Deep Kick," and my personal favorite: "Coffee Shop." If you have never heard "Coffee Shop," you need to get on iTunes and download it immediately- it is pure unfiltered ROCK.

Another very memorable moment I have that is related to this album is that the day after I bought it, I came into school into Mrs. March's english class and I was talking to my friend Jenny, and I said: "Dude, I just got 'One Hot Minute' by the Chili Peppers." WELL, it just so happened that another kid in my class (Chris) heard me, and said very loudly: "WHAT?! STEVE- YOU WANT ONE HOT MINUTE WITH JENNY?!"

These were very mature days.

Still 7th Grade-ish... Nine Inch Nails - Broken


Still in 7th grade, I recall having a birthday party towards the end of the school year. One of my friends asked me what I wanted and I said: "Get me a Nine Inch Nails CD!" I'm pretty sure I was just trying to be cool and sound all hip and rock star at the time, but that's beside the point! Long story short, she ended up getting me "Broken" and this instantly became the hardest record I owned! I owned this album LONG before I ever bought "The Downward Spiral."

My favorite songs on it are "Last, Wish," and "Physical." "Physical" is an Adam Ant cover and is hidden on the album as Track #98. If you've never heard it, you need to download that ASAFP!




Skipping ahead a little bit to 1996/1997 I remember going to Best Buy with one of my parents and begging them to pay for a couple CDs (at this stage in my life, I still had no income of my own... Alas...). On this particular occasion, I got them to buy me:

Radiohead - OK Computer Sublime - Sublime

This day was one of the most important days ever in my life I think. The amount that I love both of these albums to this day is a testament to how awesome they are... We'll start with Sublime.

I first got into Sublime because I was at some friend's house watching MTV (back when they played music) and saw the video for the song "Wrong Way." I fell in love with this song and after hearing it, Sublime could do no wrong. Looking back, I find it interesting that it was this song that hooked me and not "What I Got" or "Santeria" as these songs are the ones that everybody remembers most easily these days. After all, I think every college band that I remember covered ONE of those two!

This album truly crushes the test of time though. There are so many good songs on it! Over the past 10 years, I think I must have changed my favorite song on the album at least 5 times.

At first, it was "Wrong Way." Then, "What I Got." Then, "Santeria." Then, "April 29,1992." THEN, "Jailhouse." THEN, "Burritos." And now, I think it's either "Burritos" or "Seed."

This isn't a real video of "Seed," but whatever... we make do with what we have:


The solos throughout this entire album are so sick. The one in "Seed" is AWESOME. Same with "Burritos." God. I could listen to this album whenever whereever.

On that note, here's a brief funny story: On spring break my senior year in high school a bunch of my friends and I went to Puerto Vallarta. While there, we became friends with a few dudes from Indiana. Anyway, one night they were all drinking out in this open lobby area, and they had a few Discmen and a few CDs laying on the table. All the CDs were "Ghetto D" by Master P. Apparently, they could listen to THAT album whenever whereever. I guess you had to be there.

Back to my train of thought, die-hard Sublime enthusiasts might believe that "40 oz to freedom" was a better album than the self-titled one, and that's a fair arguement to make. But for me, the self-titled one is infinitely better! Typically, the first album I hear from a band usually has some weirdly extreme sentimental value to it. This observation also applies to the first albums I heard from Red Hot Chili Peppers (One Hot Minute), Rage Against the Machine (Evil Empire), and Radiohead (OK Computer). For at least the Chili Peppers and Rage, those albums were not their most critically acclaimed, but I think they are the best material the bands ever put out- SOLELY because it was my introduction to them.

Returning to 7th grade, after I played "Wrong Way" a million times the day I got the Sublime CD, I threw in "OK Computer" by Radiohead. Talk about a switch up in music genres huh?!


I got into Radiohead again because of MTV. I was somewhere at sometime and I saw the video for "Paranoid Android." I found it to be totally awesome.



Watching it for the first time in several years, I have to say that the video is SO WEIRD. Anyway, like the Sublime album, my favorite song on "OK Computer" has changed multiple times. Obviously it started with "Paranoid Android." But I was always a huge fan of "Electioneering" which my alcohol-oriented college band covered sloppily! Today, I have a trio of favorites on the album: "Let Down, Climbing the Walls, and No Surprises"

Critics widely consider this one of the best alternative rock albums ever and I think this is one of the few times I would agree with them. I think this is Radiohead's best album ever, and one of the greatest albums of the past 20 years.

These days, I'd have to say that my current musical taste is a pretty eclectic mix of all of the artists and albums discussed in this post... There are still a few more superalbums that helped shape my interest in music though SO looks like we're going to have a Post #3 coming up in the near future!

BAM! I Just Nostalgiacized you in the face! Part 1

FYI readers, "Nostalgiacize" is my invention. The patent is pending. So, I suppose you can use it now, but soon, when you say that word you'll have to pay me royalties.

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.