( ): August 2007

I've often thought about the music I listened to as a kid that have made a lasting impression on me, and I made a huge list of albums but finally narrowed it down to these seven:

AC/DC, Back In Black 1980
Lou Reed once said, "You can't beat 2 guitars, drums, and bass." And one hellcat of a singer. "You Shook Me All Night Long" was the first piece of music I could claim as my own. This is how I first became aware of music beyond whatever my parents listened to. Whoa, there's more out there besides Perry Como, Patti Page, Neil Sedaka, and The Sound of Music original Broadway cast album featuring Mary fucking Martin? What?!? Naturally, this is the record from whence my love for all things METAL came from. I struck a path out to the highway to hell and I've never looked back.

RUN DMC, Raising Hell 1986
These guys were the first rap group I'd ever heard and I was hooked immediately. Definitely my favorite record in high school. I first learned about Malcolm X from listening to "Proud To Be Black."

Beastie Boys, Licensed to Ill 1986
I thought this album warranted a spot here if for no other reason than they managed to take the melody from the "Mr. Ed" theme, marry it with the opening riff to Led Zeppelin's "Custard Pie" and make it sound cool. This is a rap album rife with all of the rock elements I liked on RUN DMC songs like "Rock Box", "Raising Hell", and "King of Rock": in short, a killer guitar riff set to a beat. Years later when I finally got into Slayer would I find out that Kerry King played the guitars on "No Sleep Till Brooklyn."

Prince, Sign o the Times 1987
The man has put out an album almost every year since 1978. In fact, I believe the only year he took a break was in 1983 between Controversy in '82 and Purple Rain in '84. This double album is still my favorite. It's perfect. The only problem with it is the album cover. The background is cool, but I thought the guy in front was Huggy Bear in drag.

U2, The Joshua Tree 1987
I'd say this was my second favorite album in high school after Raising Hell. I remember it being kind of hard for me to get into it at first. To me some of the songs sounded too "country", oddly enough. But when the music finally clicked for me, I became a fan. The "country" connection would come full circle 8 years later when Emmylou Harris put out a luminous album in 1995 called Wrecking Ball, which I first took a listen to only because I'd heard that Daniel Lanois produced it, and I loved his production on The Joshua Tree. So technically I got into Emmylou through U2.

New Order, Substance 1987
This is where my interest in electronic/experimental/drum n Bass music comes from. Also, New Order was my first concert back in 1989, with the Sugarcubes and P.I.L. opening.

Cowboy Junkies, The Trinity Session 1988
I first heard them on Saturday Night Live playing their version of "Sweet Jane". The album was recorded in a church with 1(!) microphone. It's one of the most beautiful sounding records I own. Their soft, often country-inflected sound would open my ears to a lot of folk and country music later on. Of course, they also turned me on to The Velvet Underground and Lou Reed, and later on Tom Waits and Nick Cave.