Integral Albums for the Future Generation - Part 1

In my life, I am grateful to find kindred musical spirits. People who simply love and appreciate music. We don't have to have the same tastes, but of course that helps. Fortunately, I have a friend, Fox Sports' Rick Gethin, who I think of as not only a great friend, but a great musical kindred spirit. He shares more music than anyone else I know on social media, and recently he asked a question that got my musical juices churning. He asked for a list of "...the top 10 albums every teenager should listen to before they turn 18" So I took it upon myself to plot a list of great albums in my life.

First, and introduction. I consider my life to currently be split into three musical phases - birth to the age where I really started loving music (1985-1996), my true introduction to music (1997-2004) and everything since. Somewhere in the late 90s and early 2000's there was a dramatic shift in how music was recorded and released. The rise of the internet brought a new generation of music to the world. Hip-hop/dance music started replacing the old pop and rock stand-bys. Hair metal was long gone, but "Heavy metal" was being replaced by a genre rooted in rap-rock, known as "Nu Metal". Metal also started splitting into "core" genres. The biggest change that I personally saw was the decline of radio-friendly pop-rock (Goo Goo Dolls, Matchbox Twenty, Third Eye Blind etc) and the rise in dance-pop. People wanted to move rather than sing. And in the heavier areas, there became less and less of an appeal to bands like Sevendust, Disturbed, and their contemporaries. It's always been difficult to sell hard rock/metal, and these days with digital downloads replacing album sales, you're either hugely popular (Seether, Foo Fighters, Shinedown, Nickelback) or you have no chance of making it. Nobody wants to hear grunge, jazz or big band stuff on the radio anymore either. Dubstep is the new trendy style. Personally, I feel that as we've progressed into the 00's and '10's, albums have became weaker and weaker, especially with the massive amount of artists vying for smaller markets, and saddest of all, the lack of remaining notes on the scale. The majority of stations across the globe are switching to either classic rock (70s-80s) or the AC mix format (for instance, we have a local station that claims "80s, 90s and now!").

Anyways, that's how I see my splits. So let's start from the top.

Here's 10 albums from the first era- before my "musical discovery".

Boston - Boston
  A staple of my childhood and one of my all-time favorite bands, Boston's first album still gets tons of airplay. If you were raised on classic rock, you'd think Boston had a score of #1 albums/hits, but they never had a number 1 song before 1986's "Amanda". 17x platinum here, though.


AC/DC - Back in Black
 Anyone who knows classic music knows that Highway to Hell was Bon Scott's last album, and Back in Black was Brian Johnson's first. There was no doubt the band would persevere with their new singer after this 1980 gem. Another one of my childhood staples. It's hard to believe that the band almost broke up before releasing this album.

Alice in Chains - Dirt
 Along with the Seattle grunge revolution of Pearl Jam and Nirvana came the harder sound of Alice in Chains. This is a top-to-bottom rock anthem of the 90s, going through depression, rage, solitude, and a whole realm of deep dark emotion. Great album for the suffering or the ones who wish to be kickin' some ass.

Beastie Boys - Licensed to Ill
 There's only one Beastie Boys. They will never be emulated, re-created, or touched. This is their debut record, with classics like No Sleep Til Brooklyn, (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party), Paul Revere, Brass Monkey, and many more.  I don't know what more I could say about the band.

The Cars - The Cars
 The Cars are the undisputed kings of New Wave. Ric Ocasik may be credited as the bands official front-man and lead singer, but Benjamin Orr (who splits the singing duties) sings lead on their first big hit "Just What I Needed" as well as their first #1 hit Drive several years later. You can't go wrong with this album.

Depeche Mode - Violator
 You can call them darkwave, synth pop, or alternative rock, but 1990's Violator showed that the world was ready for the sound of Depeche Mode. It's dark, but it bounces and is almost perfectly crafted.

Heart - Heart
 Heart is unquestionably my favorite female-fronted rock band, and in spite of the fact that they had already sold over 10 million records before it's release, this was their biggest effort. It was propelled forward by the smash hit These Dreams. Boy, Ann Wilson is truly something else, but These Dreams was actually recorded by Nancy.

Judas Priest - British Steel
 Judas Priest. Rob Halford. KK Downing and Glenn Tipton. British Steel. Need I say more? This album pumped the major heavy metallers into a more commercial spotlight, and they're still crushing it today.

The Who - Who's Next
 The Who are a gigantic British force, having sold hundreds of millions of records. If you need a perfect album to introduce yourself to them, Who's Next is the one. The addition of synthesizers makes the album even more accessible than anything previous.  If you're looking for a great concept album (and rock opera), the album previous to this (Tommy) is a great place to start, but Who's Next is boss for me.

Simon and Garfunkel - Bridge over Troubled Water
 Why not start at the finish? It was hard for me to decide between Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, and Bridge over Troubled Water. Both are truly great albums, but this one reached #1 in 10 separate countries. The title track is a perfect synopsis of the troubled relationship the two had. Paul wrote it for Art to sing. Art didn't want to sing, and Paul later regretted letting Art sing on it. Crazy dudes, but a spectacular album.

The Eagles - The Eagles
 The craziest thing about the Eagles is that they released six albums in a 7 year span, selling 6.9 bazillion copies, and then they broke up. They hated each other. 30 years later they got back together and sold a 7x platinum record. Whatever? Haha. I love the Eagles. Each of their albums is phee-nomenal, and this is the one that started it all. Take it Easy and Peaceful Easy Feeling catapulted the band into stardom, and the musical world was never the same.


Part 2 coming soon...

June Playlist

haha...



Amy Grant - Baby, Baby
Bear Hands - Giants
Bleachers - I Wanna Get Better
Dio - Holy Diver
Eddie Money - Take Me Home Tonight
Eric Clapton - Change the World
Go West - Faithful
Mr Mister - Kyrie
Roxette - Listen To Your Heart
Soft Cell - Tainted Love
Traveling Wilburys - Handle With Care
Van Morrison - Days Like This
Verve Pipe - The Freshman
Abandon Kansas - You + Me + The Radio
Born of Osiris - Machine
Boston - I Had A Good Time
Cadets - A Drop In The Ocean
Calvin Harris - Summer
Chvrches - The Mother We Share
Cold - Space Oddity
Crossfade - Starless
Demon Hunter - Screams of the Undead
Dexter Freebish - Leaving Town
Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting on You)
John Mayer - Clarity
Kelly Clarkson - Mr. Know It All
The National - Exile Vilify
Purity Ring - Crawlersout
Sleeper Agent - Be Brave
Tegan and Sara - Closer
Thao & The Get Down Stay Down   We The Common (For Valerie Bolden)
3 Doors Down - Away From The Sun
The 1975 - The City
The Airborne Toxic Event - Timeless
Anberlin - Paperthin Hymn
Born of Osiris - Divergency
Brave Saint Saturn - Space Robot 5
Deathstars - Fire Galore
Extol - Open the Gates
The Famine - Behemoth
Five Iron Frenzy - Far, Far Away
Florence and the Machine - Shake it Out
The Frozen Ocean - Ghosts
Fuel - Hemorrhage (In My Hands)
Further Seems Forever - The Sound
Gin Blossoms - Hey Jealousy
In Flames - Deliver us
Jack White - Lazaretto
The LoveCrave - Little Suicide
Matchbox Twenty - Disease
Maps & Atlases - Fever
Owl City - Deer in the Headlights
Morning Parade - Alienation
Polica - Smug
Scar Symmetry - Illuminoid Dream Sequence
Sleeper Agent - Waves
Slipknot - (sic)
Story of the Year - Until The Day I Die
Take That - Back For Good
Whitechapel - Our Endless War
Winds of Plague - Say Hello to the Undertaker
Yung Joc - It's Going Down
30 Seconds to Mars - Kings and Queens
Chvrches - Fun
Chevelle - Take out the Gunman
Cut Copy - We Are Explorers
Destiny Potato - Take A Picture
Foster the People - Coming of Age
Evergrey - Fear
From First To Last - Worlds Away
Haim - The Wire
In Flames - Reflect the Storm
In Flames - Tilt
Lo-Fang - When We're Fire
Meshuggah - Bleed
Norma Jean - Wrongdoers
Of Burning Empires - Iridian
OneRepublic - Stop and Stare
Passion Pit - Carried Away
A Plea For Purging - Heart of a Child
Whitechapel - The Saw is the Law
World Party - Ship of Fools
Zeta - Bind
Hurt - Falls Apart
KoRn - Spike in my Veins
Lo-Fang - Light Year
Matchbox Twenty - Last Beautiful Girl
Miike Snow - Song for No One
REO Speedwagon - Keep On Loving You
Solution .45 - For Aeons Past
van Canto - Badaboom
Woods of Ypres - Travelling Alone
Young the Giant - Cough Syrup
Zeta - Slip
Zwan - Honestly
Aeon Zen - Warning
The Classic Crime - Vagabonds
Cold - Another Pill
Eye of the Enemy - The Shift
In Flame s- Scream
Kim Carnes - Bette Davis Eyes
Lo-Fang - Blue Film
Owl City - I'm Coming After You
Polarboy - In My Shoes
Rammstein - B********
Slim Thug - Smile (ft J Lacy)
Ashley Cleveland + Gary Chapman - Where Do I Go
Will Hoge - Even if it Breaks Your Heart
 Amy Grant - Every Heartbeat
Assemblage 23 - Damaged 
Blindside - Our Love Saves Us
Cold - Insane
Five Iron Frenzy - I Am Jack's Smirking Revenge
Jackson Browne - Running on Empty
KoRn - Paranoid and Aroused
Relient K - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Cold - Send in the Clowns
Cold - Goodbye Cruel World
Devildriver - Pale Horse Apocalypse 
Impending Doom - Hellhole
Newsboys - Entertaining Angels
Story of the Year - Burning Years
Switchfoot - The Beautiful Letdown
Training for Utopia - New York City is Overrated
Fear Factory - Designing The Enemy
Owl City - Galaxies
Periphery - Icarus Lives!
Purity Ring - Saltkin
Silversun Pickups - Substitution
Slipknot - Vermillion
VNV Nation - Illusion
Born of Osiris - Illusionist
Demon Hunter - Thorns
Finger Eleven - Panic Attack
Fun. - One Foot
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Waiting
Anberlin - Haight St.
Arctic Monkeys - Love is a Laserquest
The Blow - True Affection
The Ataris - Boys of Summer
Breathe Carolina - I Don't Know What I'm Doing
Cold - The Park
Demon Hunter - I Play Dead
New Politics - Fall Into These Arms
Slipknot - Prosthetics
Cold - Ocean
Deadsy - Seagulls
Limp Bizkit - Trust?
Anberlin - (*fin)
Arcade Fire - Afterlife
Finger Eleven - Obvious Heart
Alive in Chains - Would?
Slipknot - Metabolic
The Cars - You Might Think
Kelly Clarkson - People Like Us
Matchbox Twenty - Mad Season
M.I.C. - Julia's Prayer
Rachel Platten - 1000 Ships
Slim Thug - Get It Started

Stuck in my Head: June

The music video doesn't do much for me, but hoo-lee crap, the live version...



It took me about 30 seconds to realize that Samuel T Herring is THE MAN. Watching it live, I GET IT. I mean, I got it before I saw it, but oh my goodness, I absolutely 100% get it. It's been a long time since a song just came out and knocked me right off my seat. Probably not since The National dropped "Bloodbuzz Ohio" has a song hit me this hard. Woof. SO GOOD. The chorus...

"as it breaks... the summer will wake
but the winter washed what's left of the taste...
as it breaks... the summer will warm,
but the winter craved what's lost,
crave what's all gone away..."

Every time I hear it, it just floors me. Wow.