The first six days of 2012 in music

For whatever reason, I started 2012 by going back and listening to some of my favorite albums from my youth.  I reached beyond my undergraduate days to my early days of listening to music.  While many of my close friends probably consider some of my music tastes sophomoric and over-the-top (e.g., a serious affinity for Huey Lewis and the News), I started listening to serious music early.  When I was in fifth grade I listened to the Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam.  A lot.  

Thinking back on these incredibly bright days of rock and roll, I decided to listen to some of the first few albums I remember owning.

I started with Pearl Jam’s Ten.  I posted last summer that some friends and I jammed out to some of the highlights from that album (see Alive and Even Flow) on the way to the beach. But the album, as a whole, is remarkable.  If you were like me and thought Eddie Vedder could do not wrong, I suggest going back and listening to this album in its entirety. While it’s abundantly clear that the two songs I listed above — along with Jeremy — are timeless and well-known, it’s the songs like Black that make this album a wholly awesome piece of rock and roll history.

R.E.M.’s Monster is the first compact disc I ever owned.  I remember hearing What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? and thinking I really liked it.  Now, I was a 9-year-old kid when this album came out.  So I didn’t really get what was going on, but it was a damn good album. The other day as I rode around town running errands I played this album.  It’s really good. As a kid, I probably listened to What’s the Frequency, Kenneth? over and over.  But the whole album is excellent.  

Most recently (as in today), I listened to Bringing Down the Horse by The Wallflowers.  I was 11 years old when this album came out.  And my older sister and I used to absolutely blast One Headlight around the house.  Of all the albums I listed here, I really thought I wouldn’t like this as an adult.  Wrong.  It’s a good album from start to finish.  The Dylan family knows how to write and make music.  Kudos.  While almost everyone who reads this blog who was born in the mid-80s will remember some of the singles from this album, I charge you to listen to the whole thing.  It’s really good.

This has been an interesting process.  Listening to music 15 years after you originally listened to it will really change your perspective.  Or maybe it won’t.  But it’s fun.  And it goes to show you that the early 90s had some flat out unreal music.  Go back and give it a try.

1. gasp-shock said: I have long maintained that Bringing Down the Horse is one of my favorite albums. Josephine, especially. Thank you for validating!
2. loafersansocks posted this