I’m sure if you are on Facebook at the moment you have been sent (or will soon be sent) the 15 Albums challenge. In case you haven’t here is the gist.
Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums
you’ve heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen
you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag some friends,
including me, because I’m interested in seeing what albums my friends
choose.
Pretty standard fare and I listed mine without even thinking about it. However shortly afterward I did think, I went back and took a look at my choices and examined why they were important to me. The results were that this throw away list had actually produced an interesting cross section of me as a person and my life.
So, I figured it might make an interesting blog to examine these albums and their meaning. (Well that and the fact my original plan for a blog was to talk about my impending move, which I decided was dull.)
These Albums are in no real order save how they popped into my head at the time.
1. Difficult to Cure – Rainbow: As a teenager like a lot of you I was introduced to a lot of new music by my friends. I remember being around my buddies house, going through his fathers record collection and being drawn to the album art of this particular record. Once I heard the Album I was hooked, I really cannot explain why I love this album so much it just seems like it is part of my soul and I’m sure I will never get tired of hearing it.
2. Fire of Unknown Origin – Blue Oyster Cult. If there was ever a band created with Teenagers playing Dungeons and Dragons it’s Blue Oyster Cult. This album in particular was on heavy rotation during our weekly meets. From “The Pact” to “Veteran of the Psychic Wars” it always seemed to set the tone for some truly epic gaming sessions. An album that will always remind me of some of the best times in my teenage years.
3. Slippery When Wet – Bon Jovi. Regular readers of my blog will know of my love for Bon Jovi so this entry should come as no surprise. Living on a Prayer is hands down my favorite song of all time and this Album represents “the Jovi” at the height of their powers. If there is an Album that represents me, it’s this one.
Also “Wanted Dead or Alive” makes me want to give up my current life and roam the USA on a motorcycle each time I listen to it.
4. Laughing on Judgment Day – Thunder. Thunder was the first band I went to see live. A great British Rock band with a love for epic Ballards and killer guitar riffs they are also responsible for another of my favorite songs “Love Walked in”*. Strangely though that song is not on this album but this was the first of their albums I heard and helped me fall in love with the band. This Album will always be special because without it I would have not gone to my first gig.
5. Transformers: The Movie (1986). Ok you had to be a kid in the 80’s to even contemplate listening to this album but that is not the reason I love it, in fact I didn’t own it till around 2004. At the time I was living in a pretty shitty house share, although I loved my job I had gotten myself into a bit of debt and was forced to sell my beloved Vespa** to help sort things out. To cheer myself up I went into the centre of Bristol and told myself I could spend £50 on stuff to ease the loss. I decided on an mp3*** player because I would now be walking everywhere, Grand Theft Auto San Andrias and this album, which was in the bargain bin. So call me lame if you want but this album cheered me the hell up when I was in a bad place, and for that I will never diss it.
6. Greatest Hits II – Queen. I copied this to a tape cassette and played the hell out of it as a kid. When I got my first CD player it was one of the first albums I bought. As a child Queen helped shape my music taste as much as Bon Jovi did, and for me they are one of the most important bands of the last century. If you don’t know why then I suggest you go out and buy this album.
7. She’s So Unusual – Cyndi Lauper. When I got my first part time job I joined Britannia Music Club, which was a mail order music catalog, my introductory free gift was a box set of three of Ms Laupers albums. This one in particular remains a firm favorite. I am thankful i got stuck buying an album a month if only for the fact it introduced me to this lady and her amazing voice.
8. Jagged Little Pill – Alanis Morresette. The above mentioned part time job was at Kwick Save, a crappy store in my home town. for some reason “Ironic” was always playing during my lunch break and it became the unofficial Kwick Save antham for a number of us Saturday workers. Particularly because of the line “10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife” because on said lunchtime that was very true. So although I am not an angst ridden teenage girl in the 90’s this album represents a part of my youth.
9. Recurring Dream: The Best of Crowded House. After a solid diet of poodle rock I chanced upon a song on MTV called “Weather with you”. This song was enough to make me buy the best of (for this band) and it has been a favorite ever since. Easy listening is a term I hate but this is great chill out music.
10. Capital Gold: Legends. An impulse purchase because it had “Moonlight Shadow” on it, but the reason this album makes the list is because it got played a lot during the early days of dating my (now) wife. So for me this album will always remind me of meeting and falling in love with the most wonderful woman in the world.
11. Decade – Duran Duran. If you ever doubt the 80’s were cool then listen to anything by Duran Duran. This album always got played before a night out in Bristol, which would end up (if I had my way) in the 80’s themed nightclub called Reflex. Aside from Halo 2 sessions one of the few good memories of my house share in Bristol.
12. Skin – Skin. The warm up band for Thunder who I had never heard of before that concert. The keyboardist for this band did a solo on a Hammond Organ with his feet, from this alone I knew the band was awesome. A kind of 90’s Whitesnake they will forever be genius in my mind for that image and the fact their lead singer was called Neville. Also “Tower of Strength” is perhaps one of the best rock Ballards of all time.
13. Tuesday Night at the Music Club- Sheryl Crow. Again MTV exposed me to Ms Crow. Not her best album but the one I first heard (and purchased) there is something about it (and her) that sticks with me. I suspect part of it was I faniced the hell out of her but hey, not all music association has to be deep.
14. Through the Past Darkly – The Rolling Stones. My dad is a Stones fan, but not of their work after the early 1980’s when they (according to him) got crap. My dad is a legend for this and many other reasons. This album got played a lot when I was a kid and is much a part of my childhood as He-Man and Ghostbusters.
15. Lovehunter – Whitesnake. Perhaps the most suggestive Album cover of all time, if you have never seen it then Google it (but not at work) but also surprisingly one of their best albums. Yes I bought it because of the cover, but only knowing them for “Slip of the Tongue” before that this album showed me that Whitesnake were once a great Blues orientated band.
So there you have it. A rather long entry this week but one that has been a great trip (for me) down memory lane.
I just hope it didn’t suck.
*not the wussy radio edit mind – we are talking the full on six minute epic.
**A Scooter, but I’m sure you knew that
*** with a full 256mb of storage. I chose it because it looked like a Photon Torpedo (yes that is lame, I know).