2008-10-09
…it’s Genocide!
Bonus points if you can name the artist and the album without looking it up...cheaters!
I like expressing my opinions. Violently if I have to, but generally I’m of the meek persuasion and I like to save my bullets. Anyway, I love music and I have it going pretty much 24/7 in one form or another. Life needs a soundtrack.
So, I figured I’d not only share with you my own personal opinion on the ten greatest Rockah Rollah albums of all time, but I’d share them as well. Being an anarchist like I am and demonstrably firm in my belief that everything everywhere should be free!
My criteria for the greatest rock albums of all time are, among other things, the album has to be at least ten years old (to give it some perspective) and so “Californication by the Red Hot Chili Peppers just barely missed my list (1999) I was born in 1982 and so about the time I was 14 or 15 I really started taking music seriously. I was really into it and around 1996 or so I was all over the alt/grunge thing especially when we moved to Seattle in '98...Goth was alive and well too! The Cure! Some hip-hop too, but I was into the drugs, sex, and rock n roll thing and I didn't know any black people. Eminem wasn't around yet, see? He changed my life...
Anyway, so my fav bands are Nirvana, NIN, Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and all that nineties stuff is way good for me. But I love old music a lot! My husband is ten years older than me, so he's got a different perspective, but he really got me into some older stuff. And then a boyfriend I had, a musician wannabe rock guy, he was into like Johnny Rivers and Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan and old rock/blues and I was just blown away. Scott in "Girl Fag" is that guy. Scott...that was his name and everyone should have a boyfriend who knows good music you never heard of!! Hank Williams...the old dead one? He rules! I love that juxtaposition and I wish I had a can of spraypaint right now...
Hank Willams Roolz Bych! put that on a boxcar and roll it through town!
Let's see, my top three albums never change, they’re pretty much fixed in stone, as is my number ten. The ones in the middle 4-9 are pretty much dependant on whatever I happen to be listening to at the moment. This is what they are this week…
#10 – Legend by Bob Marley (1984) The only studio compilation on my list (since that’s kinda cheating) loses six spots because of it, but it has to be on the list. Marley influenced everybody! My favorite track? "Redemption Song" recorded in the man’s kitchen. Marley could cook, mon! Even if you don’t like reggae…This is freakin classic!
#9 – 16 Tears by Tears For Fears (80's/Mine) I combined Songs From the Big Chair with the tracks I like off The Hurting and ended up with this. It’s just feel good music from a bunch of sensitive guys who liked to hang out in vegetarian discotheques. Tracks like “Shout” and “Pale Shelter” and my favorite “Head Over Heels” really cheer me up like you wouldn’t believe! I think a better title for HOH would be “Gentle Persuasion” though.
#8 – Blade Runner by Vangelis (1981) My favorite movie based on a short story by my favorite author! The soundtrack lets me watch it while I do something else. I swear, I have every scrap of dialogue memorized, I’ve watched it a thousand times. I just really wish I could get the narration from the studio release combined with the director’s cut, you know? And that dream sequence in the DC changes the movie 180 degrees!
#7 – Throwing Copper by Live (1994) This is just a pretty darn good album, but the coolest thing (besides the video for Lightning Crashes) is that it was recorded in a studio about half an hour from where I was living at the time!! Of course I was only 12 years old and living on Spice World, but still…I rode right past those guys on my way to Mall of America!! Nothing cool ever happens to me and when it does…I miss it!!
#6 – The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly by Ennio Morricone (1968) The classic icon of movie soundtracks. It’s copied, parodied, and enjoyed every single day somewhere in the world. You can’t live a week without hearing some of it (usually a section of the Main Titles) …I mean, it was in the Matrix! For crying out loud! My favorite is “The Ecstasy of Gold” and is Tucco totally cool or what? Eli Wallach as a Mexican bandito!!!
#5 – Pretty Hate Machine by Nine Inch Nails (1989) Trent Reznor’s masterpiece of love and despair is narcissistic, pornographic, and utterly brilliant. From the angry independence of “Head Like A Hole” to the bitter self-pity of “Something I Can Never Have” this album is like a twelve-step program for anyone in a love-hate affair with God.
#4 – Siamese Dream by Smashing Pumpkins (1993) Billy Corgan, when I finally discovered him, is the single biggest influence on my writing. Even more than Anais Nin, even more than Lord Byron, this is the guy to blame for all of my problems! Little bald fuck! But Jesus, the guy makes awesome music and this Pumpkins album is the one that crushes you with beauty, humor, guilt, and the sadness we feel when the last leaf falls from the last tree at the end of autumn.
#3 – Let It Be by The Beatles (1970) Existential Beatles! The End of History! I’m not a huge Beatles fan, but this album was their last and they could barely pull it together. With Yoko Ono hovering in the background, you can see the desperation in their eyes and especially hear it in their voices. It’s the second best, last album ever made by anyone ever and all those morons who were begging for a reunion? What planet were they living on? Eleanor Rigby was dead, remember?
#2 – MTV Unplugged in New York by Nirvana (1994) The best last album by anyone demonstrated why Nirvana could lay claim to “The Greatest Rock n Roll Band in the World” and get away with it. Kurt Cobain wasn’t performing for me or you, or anyone else. He was on stage before God and challenging the Guy to explain Himself and this beautiful fucked up world. Like everything else they ever did, the album is prejudiced by Kurt’s suicide, but that was part of it. That’s where it was coming from and it seems so obvious now.
#1 – London Calling by The Clash (1979) Rolling Stone voted it the “Album of the Decade” when they did their Decade in Review thing for the '70's, but they had no idea. Opening with the title track, The Clash jump in your face and stay there, influencing more musicians along the way than just about anyone else on the planet. London Calling is an announcement that disco is dead, heavy metal is boring, and music has something to say again. Capitalism, Pop Culture, Terrorism, Crime, Politics…The Clash laid it all on the line and didn’t pull any punches. Filled with cutting references, biting satire and just plain old fun this is the definitive rock n roll album of all time! Listen to "Brand New Cadillac" at least once a day!
...I said, "Jesus Christ! Won't you come on back to me?"
...she said, "Balls to ya, baby! I ain't never comin' back!"
So there we have it! Feel free to disagree with me. I don’t mind and I’m not going to argue my choices. They are what they are and I only hope you feel as excited and fervent and happy with your choices as I do with mine. It’s a good feeling isn’t it?
rache
ps: the answer is "Diamond Dogs" by David Bowie and Ziggy Stardust should be on my list because "Moonage Daydream" is so killer I can't stop listening to it!!
Ten Greatest Albums of All Time!
They're all up now! woo-hoo
