Life Through Music Meme: Part The Second

OK, I'm back with the second half of my life. Part One plus the explanation of the meme can be found here. Onward!!

1993: I’m going off the reservation for this one. The best album of 1993, and one of my favorites of all time is Steve Taylor’s Squint. You might ask: Who? What? The best way to describe Steve Taylor in the 1980’s is that he was Christian music’s version of Weird Al. Funny songs that poked fun of the Christian establishment. Something happened with 1993’s Squint, though. Rather than poking lighthearted fun at the church, Taylor took off the kid gloves and snarked with a ferocity we only got a glimpse of on I Predict 1990. Set aside the pointed humor of songs like “The Lament of Desmond R. G. Underwood Frederick IV” and “Cash Cow”, and Taylor got seriously serious (even theological) on songs like “Jesus is for Losers” and “The Finish Line”. My personal favorite is his lampooning of 90’s nihilism, “The Moshing Floor”. I wore one copy of this CD out, and thanks to the invention of the MP3, I won’t wear out a second. Taylor’s approach to his Christianity is a huge influence on the writing style on this blog, for those of you paying close attention.

1994: I really, really want to pick two albums again. Having already broken the rules one time, I’ll buckle down and make a choice here in 1994 (the year I graduated high school, by the way!). I would love to pick Soundgarden’s Superunknown, but quite honestly in 1994 I was only mildly interested in Soundgarden. Only more recently are they one of my favorite bands. Instead, I’ll pick a band I loved both then and now. My album for 1994 is Weezer’s Blue Album (produced by Ric Ocasek of The Cars). Best known for the hilarious Happy Days-themed video for the hit single “Buddy Holly”, this entire album is raw, unpolished genius and still my favorite album of theirs (Relax, Pinkerton freaks. It’s great in its own way).

1995: Another choice you might find surprising: Sixpence None The Richer’s This Beautiful Mess. Yes, that Sixpence None The Richer, the same band whose “Kiss Me” and “There She Goes” you couldn’t get your car radio to quit playing in the late 90’s. What you should know is that Sixpence, deep down, is a rock band. My least favorite songs of theirs have always been their softer radio hits. This Beautiful Mess is my second-favorite album of all time, after The Joshua Tree. The instruments were brilliantly played and the songs beautifully written. This is an album whose Christian themes aren’t readily apparent on first or second listen. Only after the entire album grows on you for a while do you see the worldview being presented through the artistic medium. While this was Sixpence’s high point, they certainly had some great moments later on. What’s interesting is that most of their best songs in the late 90’s and 00’s were either B-side singles or soundtrack songs. After the success of “Kiss Me”, labels wanted more radio hits and pushed the truly great Sixpence songs (“Sad But True”, “Don’t Pass Me By”, “Too Far Gone”, "Love") to the fringes. Sad, but true. On a happier note, rumor has a new Sixpence album out this Christmas, their first one in 4 or 5 years. I’m thrilled. (By the way, the Pumpkins’ Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness has to be very honorably mentioned for ’95).

1996: I’ve heard that it takes a certain type of person to appreciate Cake. Apparently, I’m that kind of person. My pick for ’96 is Cake’s Fashion Nugget. Many are familiar with the quirky “The Distance”, and I fondly remember my band’s ridiculous hard-rock version of it when we covered it. However, some of the strongest tracks off the album include “Frank Sinatra” and the bluegrassy “Stickshifts and Safetybelts”. What other band could pull off covers of songs by Willie Nelson and Gloria Gaynor on the same album??

1997: While Whatever and Ever Amen by Ben Folds Five is a serious contender and OK Computer by Radiohead is an obvious choice, I’m once again going obscure with Delicate Fade by Common Children. While sub-standard production values hurt this album a little bit, this album is a searingly honest (and sometimes even depressing) look at the struggles of being a Christian in a post-modern world. Too often Christian are afraid to confront their own fears and failures in public, probably mostly out of fear for what other Christians will think of them. Common Children have no such fears on this album. You don’t have to be a Christian to enjoy this album, either. There are very universal themes of love, loss, fear, faith, existence, and the like. The answer at which they arrive is different than what is found in most rock music, however. I like that.

1998: Well, I’m back to a repeat artist for 1998 (The year I graduated college). There just can be no other choice other than Hello Nasty by the Beastie Boys. To this day, I can recite “Intergalactic” from front to back. Heck, I could probably go back to front in a pinch. While that was the most popular song on the album in terms of airplay, I always dug “Negotiation Limerick File”, a rap done in the style of (you guessed it) limericks. To me, this is the Beasties last good rap album. I liked their instrumental stuff, but subsequent rap releases were pretty disappointing.

1999: This is where it starts to get interesting. Having graduated from college, I was therefore broke and couldn’t afford music as much as I might have liked. I got married at the very end of ’99, so we were really broke then. So for the next couple of years, I’m dealing from an admittedly limited scope of influence. From ’99, I really liked Metallica’s S&M (recorded with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra). Many dedicated Metallica fans thought it was further evidence of their going “soft”, but I’m not a dedicated fan and happen to think it’s the best, most outside-the-box thing they’ve ever done. I also appreciated Chevelle’s debut (and best) album Point #1. However, the winner for this year is Moby’s Play. What’s interesting is that I will never listen to this album again. Every single song on the album was licensed for commercial or soundtrack use, so everyone is sick to death of all of these songs (If you think you’ve never heard any of these songs, you’re wrong. Unless you’re Amish or something, you’ve heard something from this album, probably repeatedly). However, I had the album on the release day and really, really enjoyed it before it was pummeled into my skull by marketing wizards everywhere.

2000: Ok, look. I really do have a wide variety of musical tastes and influences. But if I honestly am to pick my favorite album from every year, 2000 is a no-brainer…but it’s also the THIRD time this artist appears. While Mer de Noms by a Perfect Circle is great, and American III: Solitary Man by Johnny Cash is brilliant (…it’s like Tom Petty wrote “I Won’t Back Down” exclusively for the Man in Black), the best album of 2000 was U2’s All That You Can’t Leave Behind. What I tried to avoid back in 1984 has come to fruition anyhow. Le sigh.

2001: A great year musically. Unfortunately, this didn’t exactly set the tone for the rest of the decade. Honorable mentions go to Lateralus by Tool, Weezer’s Green Album, Toxicity by System of a Down, and the White Stripes’ White Blood Cells. However, the best album of 2001 is Ben Folds’ Rockin’ The Suburbs. This was one of those interesting albums where the title track was the big hit single, but in my mind it was one of the weakest tracks on the whole album. Amazingly, Folds plays every instrument on the album (quite capably, with particular genius on drums and piano) and writes some incredible songs. In 3 minutes, he can introduce a character and have the listener feel genuine emotions for this character by the end of the song. Remarkable.

2002: I love Audioslave’s self-titled debut. How can a guy not love two of his favorite artists forming a super group? However, that’s not what takes the title in ’02. The best album of ’02 is American IV: The Man Comes Around by Johnny Cash. This album also happens to contain the best music video ever made, Cash’s cover of Trent Reznor’s “Hurt” (Watch it here). Again, I like this album because it is a refreshingly honest look at one man’s struggle with faith and expressing that faith in his art and through his life. To say the very least: Cash had been through a lot at this point, and it shows. This would be the last album Cash would release while alive. (American V and various greatest hits albums were released posthumously.) May we all go out on such a high note.

2003: Absolution by Muse gets a very honorable mention here. However, my favorite album of ’03 is Fountains of Wayne’s Welcome Interstate Managers. The ubiquitous “Stacy’s Mom”, about a child’s crush on his girlfriend’s hot mom, was once again the hit single and possibly the weakest song on the album. “Bright Future in Sales”, “Little Red Light” and “Hackensack” are great songs about the doldrums of workaday life in corporate America and it’s strain on relationships and one’s own personal self-image. And slap in the middle of this rock album is a killer country track “Hung Up On You”. It may be done ironically, but it’s better than most of country radio these days.

2004: As much as I would like to pick U2’s How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, I won’t. I won’t have 4 albums by the same artist on this list, at least not until I turn 40 or so :) . I am very, very tempted to pick William Shatner’s Has Been (Very listenable if you haven’t given it a chance). The Killers’ Hot Fuss gets honorable mention, as well as Wilco’s A Ghost Is Born. However, for 2004, my favorite album is Jimmy Eat World’s Futures. I’ve never been a big fan of the “emo” scene, but there’s something about the earnestness with which Jim Adkins sings that makes me believe him (something not present in, say, Dashboard Confessional). There were more popular radio songs from the album, but my favorite track is “Work”.

2005: Kind of a weak year, honestly. Derek Webb’s Mockingbird is a great album, but I’m just not a folk music kind of guy. I also really liked Beck’s Guero, but I enjoyed the Itunes-only Gameboy Variations even more. Any album where I like the remixes even more than the album shouldn’t win. And Wolfmother’s self-titled debut was good, but nothing Led Zepplin wasn’t doing 30 years ago. So, for 2005, I am forced to pick two albums: Perestroika by Fellow and Protect Me From What I Want by Finna. What do these two releases have in common (besides the fact that you’ve never heard of either of them?). Well…I played bass on both of them. Finna was a pop-rock act with a brilliant female front and songwriter, a Rush aficionado on drums, and an experimental rap artist on guitar. We were multi-ethnic, multi-gender, and there was probably a 25-year span in ages from oldest to youngest…and the results were remarkable, in my mind. Check some of the songs out here (be sure to listen to “Pete Rose”, my favorite Finna track). The band Fellow was a little bit closer to home, as I was one of the founding members and chief songwriters. For Perestroika, we were fortunate enough to have one of the songs produced by Dez Dickerson, formerly a member of Prince’s backing band The Revolution (That’s Dez playing guitar and singing in Prince's “1999” music video). We spent about 2 years writing, recording, and polishing the 8 songs on Perestroika, and were really proud of the results. Unfortunately, we were doing 90’s rock in 2005, so the professional opportunities were limited (though we were made some offers, we declined). Anyhow, you can check out some of our songs here, and be sure to listen to “Beautiful”, the track produced by Dickerson. Additionally, you can see one of Fellow's music videos here. 2005 was the last big year in terms of music for me personally, so these two albums definitely get the nod.

2006: Muse: Black Holes and Revelations was by far my favorite album of 2006. Such a great melding of electronica, hard rock, and….something. Fair’s The Best Worst Case Scenario and The Arctic Monkeys’ debut are the only ones even within sniffing distance of Muse. It’s a shame Muse hasn’t taken off in the US like they have in Europe. I think they’re the most talented band currently in hard rock music (or however you want to characterize them).

2007: Another pretty weak year. I’m sorely tempted to pick Arigato! by John E. Davis, formerly of Superdrag. Check out his solo work if you haven’t (including his self- titled debut solo album from ’05). However, my choice for ’07 is definitely Icky Thump by The White Stripes. Jack White is genuinely one of the most talented guitarists around (if you doubt this (as I did) see him live). What I like most is that he seems to come up with more and more creative ideas as his career progresses. So many artists head the other direction, while Jack White seems to improve with age and experience.

2008: Another Jack White offering, the Raconteurs’ Consolers of the Lonely gets an honorable mention for ‘08, as does the great NIN name-your-price internet download The Slip. However, the choice for ’08 is another album that you can obtain at your own price point from the artist (through a “recommended donation”, which I gladly paid). The album is Girl Talk’s Feed The Animals. This puts Paul’s Boutique (1989’s choice) to shame in terms of the number of samples. This entire album sounds like a soundtrack of the last 30+ years of pop music. Rap, rock, grunge, alternative, metal, classic rock, hip-hop, R&B, all melded seamlessly together. My favorite part happens when the bass line to Nirvana’s Lithium is played over the drum part to Dee-Lite’s Groove Is In The Heart while Salt-n-Pepa rap Push It. Or, how about Lil' Mama's Lip Gloss over top of Metallica's Master of Puppets? And it all works, it sounds like the songs were written to be performed together. Brilliant album, go download it now.

There it is. You see now why I don’t do many memes (phew!) J Hope you enjoyed, and please continue to comment on any of the choices you agree or disagree with.

Thanks for reading, I'll be back Monday with more crumminess!

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