My list is still in the works... but here is what I have so far. It's turning into a neat little writing exercise and I can see some of this material working its way into my memoir.
Think of 25 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of, they musically shaped your world. They stood up, they lasted, they mattered.
They still matter, in some way (even if only in memory). W
Ok here goes. A warning. Randomness shall ensue.
1. Kindergarten Round Up: Or some such name. My brothers and I got an orange record player and this was I believe my first "official album." Lots of sing along songs about sharing and snacks, if I recall.
2. Jesse's Girl: Oh, how I wanted to be Jesse’s Girl. I loved Rick Springfield and I asked for this album for my 6th birthday. My dad delivered Rick in his white tank top, and I didn't even know that was weird.
3. The Beatles- The album with I want to hold your hand. It got a ton of airplay at my house. Down in our basement. Later when my cousin Colleen used to babysit we pretended we were the Beatles. I was Paul, she was always George. Revolution and Back in the USSR were favorites.
4. Quiet Riot- Cum on Feel the Noise- This was one of Shane's first albums, and I really liked the song when I was about 8. Again, no context to what I was listening to. I just knew it was fun to hop around on the couch and bang my head up and down- cause it was fun.
5.The Go Go's- We Got the Beat. This 45 rocked. Shane would jam it out the window when we lived on South Hill in Milford. Happy times. Happy music.
6. Judy Collins- Send in the Clowns- Not happy. My mom used to listen to this album and whenever I heard it, I knew she was really sad. Post divorce, that first year. This song still makes me cry.
7. Annie and Grease- The soundtracks to both. We owned these two tapes and we rotated them all the time. I always wanted to hear Annie but Shane and Bj liked Grease more. I loved Grease too, but Annie rocked in her own Orphan way. This was post divorce too and there was a sense of freedom and fun, whenever we piled into our rusty white Toyota Corolla.
8.Bob Seger’s Greatest Hits: I was a junior in college. And I listened to this tape over and over driving from Big Rapids back to Milford in my grandpa’s Oldsmobile Wagon. I was 20 and really didn’t want a station wagon, but then how do you turn down a free car? Three hours of Bob and I never grew tired of his “Night Moves.”
9. Alanis Morrisette- Her Jagged Little Pill was the rage all over campus. It was my first introduction into female angry lyrics and it helped me deal with my crush on the cheerleader who didn’t like me back. And yes, he was a male cheer-leader.
10. Poison’s- Talk Dirty to Me. When I was in the eighth grade, this song was so awesome. I loved it and would pretend to sing it into the vacuum in the morning before I left for junior high.
11. Madonna- Crazy for You, Like a Virgin, Borderline, Material Girl. All of them played on in the background of my junior high slumber party existence.
12. Which brings me to the Dirty Dancing Soundtrack. I loved this album. Maybe as much as the movie. I loved it so much in fact, that when a concert tour came to Pine Knob, my mom took me to see it. What a lady!
13. 1984- A Van Halen album. My first rock and roll crush, Eddie Van Halen. I was in awe of this guitar playing skills.
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