I started listening to the radio station KJ104 religiously sometime between 7th and 8th grades. It was quite an education on punk and alternative rock. They played The Clash constantly. Usually it was "Rock the Casbah" or "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" - the mammoth singles from Combat Rock, which was the first Clash tape I bought (from the cutout section at the Plymouth Holiday Plus). I can't remember if The Clash or London Calling was purchased next. I do remember buying them around the same time, and I remember devouring both of them.
I'm choosing London Calling for this list because it has become my go-to answer for many years when I'm asked "What is your all time favorite record?"
It was the album that changed everything. Nevermind changed music for me, just like it did for so many of you. Hell, it changed the world.
I still remember the first time I heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit." I was in my bedroom, listening to KJ104 and reading comic books. I biked to Holiday Plus the next day to look through their tapes, but they didn't have it. It wasn't out yet. It came out the following Tuesday. My mom drove me to Down in the Valley in Golden Valley and I bought this funny tape with the naked baby on the cover. And it changed everything.
I was very close to selecting Def Leppard's Hysteria in this slot, seeing as how we're going in chronological order. I decided against it. Aside from the embarrassment of sending out a Def Leppard song to everyone, I simply felt in the end that my brief Def Leppard fixation at age 10 was only a part of my musical progression... not a landmark.
From Springsteen, I made my way through other '80s pop-rock (Huey Lewis, John Cougar Mellencamp), which led to Bon Jovi after Slippery When Wet exploded. From there, hair metal was a natural next step. I did love Hysteria, and from there the music kept getting heavier and/or raunchier. Poison followed Def Leppard. Then it was Mötley Crüe. Then Guns 'N Roses. Then Metallica.
When I hit Anthrax - probably around early 1989 - I found something that I really loved. First of all, they rocked hard. They played fast and loud, and that was all right by me. I think the real appeal was that they didn't seem to take themselves too seriously. Even at that young age, I had started to notice that the makeup and hair metal stuff was pretty peabrained. Metallica and Megadeth, meanwhile, seemed to be so serious and dark. Anthrax had their serious moments, but they were more likely to write songs about comic books or movies. Their look was genuine, too. Concerned neither with tattoos and leater nor the "all black" look, they were comfortable in their Vision Street Wear topped with a hockey jersey groove. I dug their humor and I dug their sincerity. I still do, even if I don't enjoy their music quite as much as I did back then.
Make no mistake, they were a metal band (and one of the best of 'em), but their acceptance and endorsement of rap and punk went a long way toward my own welcoming of those genres.
Bruce Springsteen Born In the U.S.A. Columbia Records, 1984
My parents' 8-Tracks triggered my interest in music, but The Boss set me on the path to rock 'n' roll. Prior to 1984, I was really into the pop-country of the day. I have memories of watching Hee-Haw at our first house in St. Louis Park and playing Mom's Kenny Rogers, Kendalls, and Oak Ridge Boys tapes, but hearing "Born In the U.S.A." at age 7 closed the door on country music for me for the next dozen or so years.
Seven is an extremely impressionable age. Growing up in the middle class suburbs during the Reagan '80s, I was immediately drawn to the unforgettable synthesizer hook and anthemic chorus. Like many did (and still do), I interpreted the song as a proud national anthem. Obviously, at that age it wasn't really my fault. So many of the millions who made the song and album a blockbuster chose to ignore the verses while bellowing the chorus. I was simply too young to understand them.
Thankfully, there was so much more to love on the album beyond the misunderstood title track. I especially loved "I'm Goin' Down," "I'm On Fire," "Bobbie Jean," and of course, "Dancing in the Dark." I was about to turn into a rock 'n' roll machine. I began listening to WLOL and KQRS religiously and I kept wanting to rock harder... as you'll see in the days to come.
I listened to On the Beach - my favorite Neil album - a few times earlier in the week, and today woke up with "Walk On" stuck in my head. It remained there the rest of the day.
It's funny how one can be so diligent about a routine or behavior for so long, and then find it so hard to get back on the horse after one little slip off. That's my excuse for the long and unannounced Greatest Song of the Day hiatus.
Things have been busy. My nights have been full of record label work, tax preparation (finally done with that as of tonight), puppy walking and playing, and fantasy baseball draft preparation. Free time has been spent with my wife whenever possible. Most nights, I have the thought, "Damn, I need to get Song of the Day rolling again," but find myself unable to follow through.
Now I have new inspiration, though. If you're on Facebook, you have no doubt been privy to the "25 Random Things About Me" phenomenon, and all its spawn. One descendant of that trend is the "25 Albums That Changed My Life" chain. After a lot of thought, I have decided to do participate in that one. My catch is that I'm going to be revealing the list one at a time, in chronological order, on Greatest Song of the Day by showcasing a song from each of those 25 albums. Yes, there will be skeletons outed. Expect that to start no later than Friday. There are a couple of things that I need to track down digitally before I can begin.
In the meantime, enjoy the fine title track from Miss Alex White's excellent 2007 album on In the Red Records. My wife is always on the lookout for more "chicks who rock" and I keep meaning to have her give this record a spin. This is for you, Sweetie!
This song comes from the Lost Classics Department. Phelps & company's 1999 album Blackbird was one of the new releases on the endcap when I started working at Oar Folkjokeopus. I knew that a handful of my friends were fans, so it was one of the first discs I checked out on the job. To this day, I maintain that it is one of the overlooked masterpieces of '90s indie-rock. I have not been able to make myself feel anything more than ambivalence toward the rest of Phelps' catalog, but this one is a must-own. "Get the Chills"
One of my most pleasant musical surprises so far in 2009 is Robyn Hitchcock's outstanding new album Goodnight Oslo. It does not come as a surprise that it's a good album, as Hitchcock has always been good. He has, however, always been a guy who I have enjoyed listening to when I hear him, but for some reason have never gone out of my way to study his post-Soft Boys catalog. Well... it looks like I have a new project.
Hey, everybody! The Greatest Song of the Day is back! Thanks to some dude on ebay, I have a new power cord for my computer (at a fraction of the cost of a Dell factory replacement) and am ready to roll. I won't lie to you, the week off from doing this was nice. It was nice to hear from so many of you, concerned that this was over. Far from it, though. I feel refreshed. After three months of posting one song per day, everyday, there were times where it started to feel like a chore. I have a long mental list of songs or bands that I can not believe I haven't already selected. Without further adieu, we'll get started with the band at the top of that list.
For many years, The Flaming Stars have held the title "Dan's Favorite Active Band." I've been known to dump other titles on them, too... "Best Band That Nobody In North America Has Ever Heard" and the more simplified "Best Band In The World" among them. Since 1995, they've been plugging away in obscurity, one great album after another. If I had to choose one of their albums as my favorite, I think I would go with 2000's A Walk on the Wired Side. "You Don't Always Want What You Get" is one of the standouts from that LP and, in a perfect world, would be widely recognized as one of the great rock songs of this decade.
The song that was in my head at the beginning of the day was actually the title track to Television's 1977 debut Marquee Moon. I didn't want to do a ten-minute Song of the Day, though, so after several listens to the album today, I have decided that my other favorite song on the record gets the honor. Timely, too... Venus... Roman goddess of love... Valentine's Day tomorrow...
In 2005, Sleater-Kinney left their longtime record label Kill Rock Stars for the larger Sub Pop Records and hired renowned producer Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, Low) to record what would become their final album, The Woods.
While there was some speculation that Fridmann's typical polished and layered sound would take over, thus alienating longtime S-K fans, what the fans actually got was an entirely different and almost completely unexpected type of alienation.
For The Woods, Sleater-Kinney turned the volume up to 11, so to speak. Through a wall of distortion and Janet Weiss' thunderous drumming came the ballsiest record of the year. It was definitely hated by many. I love it. It was my favorite album of 2005. I love it when a band evolves.
It happens every year. There's always one album that I hear and think, "Hey, that's pretty good," but for whatever reason it doesn't hit heavy rotation status on my stereo. Then, shortly after the new year, I'm prompted to dig the album out again and it hits me in a whole new way. I'll declare it a masterpiece and it will be my most listened to album of the year, the year after it came out. Last year, as I've mentioned before on this blog, that album was Steve Earle's Washington Square Serenade.
Alejandro Escovedo's Real Animal is well on its way to being that album for 2009. It has it all. At 58 years old, Alejandro still rocks twice as hard as kids a third of his age, and the ballads (such as "Swallows of San Juan") are as gorgeous as ever. Real Animal is quite possibly the pinnacle of Alejandro's storied career.
Last month, the dearly departed Thunder In the Valley decided to offer their unreleased last album as a free download. It was recorded in Philadelphia with Bill Moriarty (Dr. Dog, Man Man). Some of the songs appeared on their Where Oh Where Oh Where EP, but the rest of 'em never saw the light of day during the band's active lifespan. It's a shame, too, because... wow... these boys were up to something special. Download the Song of the Day
I don't usually pay much attention to the Grammys, and this year was no exception. My wife and I spent Sunday night giving the dog a bath and watching The Wire on DVD. I was completely oblivious to the fact that the Grammys were taking place that night.
Well after midnight, while checking Twins updates on the Star Tribune's website, I noticed a link in the "Most Read Stories" sidebar that read "Plant, Krauss dominate Grammys." I smiled. I don't give much credibility to those awards, but it's still nice on those rare occasions when they get it right.
At work today, I was asked, "What's the best Stones album?"
Without blinking, I confidently answered, "Exile on Main Street," which has always been my personal favorite.
The young lady then asked me, "What's your favorite song of theirs?"
That question was not such an easy one to answer. I don't know if "Beast of Burden" is my definite choice, but it sounds really freakin' good at this moment!
It's funny how the hype machine can swallow some bands and bury them like a time capsule. I hadn't thought about the Grifters for a long, long time until I saw their name in print today. They really were a great band, but almost a decade after their break-up, they seem completey forgotten. Here's to hoping I won't forget them again...
"For Those Who Love to Live" is another all-time favorite for me. I think it's one of the most underrated rock songs, and it is definitely the most under-appreciated Thin Lizzy jam.
If your exposure to Thin Lizzy does not extend further than "The Boys Are Back In Town" and "Jailbreak," do yourself a favor and pick up their 1975 album Fighting. While I do love Jailbreak, their 1976 breakthrough, Fighting is the album that I spin over and over again.
This song, more than just about any other I can think of, sums up how I have felt for the last few days. Things have been busy at work with our remodeling and reorganization. Things have been busy for my record label, working on three new releases simultaneously. And, thanks in part to a very energetic puppy, as well as my natural tendency to procrastinate and then do everything at once, things have been busy at home. It's exhilarating and exhausting.
The last few days have been pretty busy and exciting at Treehouse Records (my place of employment).
Yesterday, Mark Olson and Gary Louris - the former frontmen of the Jayhawks - gave a fanastic in-store performance. It got me thinking about my favorite in-stores that we've done over the years, and one of those favorites would have the be The Clean.
"Anything Could Happen" is also an appropriate song of the day because this morning we completed a bold move that would have been difficult to imagine a few years ago. After removing one of our CD racks at the end of last week, six LP browser racks were hauled up from the basement and two rows of shelving for vinyl was added to our floor. My boss Mark joked about "this new analog age" yesterday. Indeed, vinyl is back!
25 Albums That Shaped My Life
