One Year, 100 Albums: #35 Blink-182 "Dude Ranch"

Blink 182 Dude Ranch, 1997

I think I'm going to have to do a supplemental group of posts at the end of all of this for albums that didn't make the cut, but should have and albums that I simply forgot about. This album beat out the album that followed it by a narrow margin. Enema of the State was Travis Barker's first album with the band and his skill is one of the most noticeable differences between this album and that album.

But despite the narrow margin, it was always going to be this album for me. It has the raw, "we're just some guys that decided to start a SoCal punk band" vibe that was on their debut, Cheshire Cat, but you're also seeing more of the amazingly catchy songwriting that would be at its peak on Enema and Take Off Your Pants and Jacket. Plus it has my all-time favorite Blink song on it ("Apple Shampoo")

I got into this album in high school, which is the perfect time to get into an album like this, which mixes immature dick jokes and Star Wars references with increasingly sophisticated observations about love and growing up.

The songs are diverse and surprising and even the silly interludes become endearing.

This is an album that I don't often come back to these days, but when I do, I always enjoy it. That COULD be because I have the context of listening to it with my friend Orlando in my car. Nostalgia is certainly involved, but I think it's also a great album to listen to because you're seeing a band with tremendous amounts of potential and virtually no pressure to make a fantastic album (their breakthrough hit, "Dammit", is on this album), make a fantastic album.

If you're curious to know what an album with Travis playing these songs would have sounded like, check out the live album, The Mark, Tom, and Travis Show (iTunes) (apparently it's not available on Amazon!), where they play a number of songs from this. Pay particular attention to "Untitled"!




Plus the video has Alyssa Milano. Try to notice her when Tom's mega-bleached hair isn't blinding you!

Blink-182 - Pathetic
Blink-182 - Apple Shampoo
Blink-182 - New Hope

You can buy Dude Ranch at Amazon, Amazon MP3, and iTunes

Throwback Thursday: 1983

This is the year of my birth!! Less than 5 months from this chart, I made my way into the world!

And so, in honor of this being my birth year (and my wife's!), here are videos for EACH song on the top 10 this week in 1983!

10. Musical Youth - Pass the Dutchie

9. Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton - We've Got Tonight

8. Men at Work - Down Under

7. Eddie Rabbit with Crystal Gayle - You and I

6. Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf

5. Culture Club - Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?

4. Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

3. Stray Cats - Stray Cat Strut

2. Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band - Shame on the Moon

1. Patti Austin with James Ingram - Baby Come To Me

One Year, 100 Albums: #36 Alanis Morissette "Jagged Little Pill"

Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill, 1995

I think this is an album that gets a lot of hate for being stereotypically, embarrassingly 90's, but that's only from people who haven't listened to it in a long time. People that have a caricature of Alanis in their minds as this hateful, caustic, burdensome woman WHO DOESN'T EVEN USE THE WORD "IRONIC" CORRECTLY.

What they're forgetting when they're going for the quick callback joke, is that Jagged Little Pill is a powerhouse. It has such a wide range of tones and emotions that it can almost be overwhelming. I think it's true that you have to be in a very specific emotional headspace to listen to it and get all of the brilliance it's putting out there. Some sort of combination of vulnerability, sarcasm, self-deprecation, and hope.

I got into this album in almost the same way I got into Dark Side of the Moon: I had a tape that someone had recorded the album onto and I listened to it almost in secret. There were curse words on it and concepts that I didn't even understand until I was much much older ("Would she go down on you in a theater?") and all of that made it the most exciting experience.

The album has only grown more meaningful as I've gotten older, particularly the non-singles like the ones I featured below the video. If you don't understand what she's singing about in either of those songs, well, then I guess you had an atypically idyllic childhood/adolescence. Congratulations!


Now let's talk about this video. Isn't it weird that it exists on a continuum from Sinead to Miley? Also, why do people hate on the harmonica so much? I think it's PERFECT in this song and video. I just love the simplicity of this one and, though I ALMOST went with the video for "Ironic" (multiple Alanises take a road trip), I'm really glad I chose this one to put up here.

Alanis Morissette - Perfect
Alanis Morissette - Forgiven

You can buy Jagged Little Pill at Amazon, Amazon MP3, and iTunes

Top Ten Tuesday: Jason Derulo featuring 2 Chainz "Talk Dirty"

Here's a song I feel conflicted about. I like the way the song sounds, with the horns and everything, but the lyrics give me pause. I guess they shouldn't. It's certainly not the first song about booty. 2 Chainz's verse is very explicitly sexual, but I suppose that's not really a problem either. And I like the shots of the guys dancing because they're very talented.

So I guess it kind of breaks even. I like it way more than that Pitbull/Christina Aguilera song with the a-ha sample.

New Countdown: Hey things went according to plan!!!

Foster the People

Well, I accomplished my goal of getting this one done a day early so that I can go to my concert tomorrow night. Very stoked!

I hope you enjoy this one!


Countdown #186

***Featuring***
Arctic Monkeys
Bastille
Cage the Elephant
Dar Williams
Foster the People
Gnarls Barkley
Imagine Dragons
Lorde
The Neighbourhood
Pearl Jam
Vampire Weekend
Young the Giant

One Year, 100 Albums: #37 Me First and the Gimme Gimmes "Blow in the Wind"

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes Blow in the Wind, 2001

I first heard about Me First and the Gimme Gimmes from my friend Erin. But she had only heard of them as something of a rumor. THEN we were on dinner break from some play we were doing so a bunch of us went to the mall. And that's where I found my first Me First album: Are a Drag which was all showtunes made famous by women. The thing was, I didn't know most of the songs, so I was worried that they did covers AND originals. But, slowly but surely, I tracked down the musicals that each song was from using CDNow (which I believe got absorbed by Amazon) (Wikipedia would have been very helpful back then) and confirmed that they were a 100% cover band.

So then I got their first album Have a Ball (70's covers) and eagerly awaited the release of this, their 3rd album. It's all 60's covers and it very nearly didn't make the list. In fact, if I could (and I could, but it would be a hassle), I would have had two Me First albums here: this one and their "black" album Take a Break because I love them roughly equally and I guess it was just the inclusion of "Oh Girl" and "Mona Lisa" (which never really take off for me) on Take a Break, that caused me to choose this one over that one.

This was the first Me First album I actually ANTICIPATED and let me tell you something: there's few less exciting anticipations than the anticipation of a Me First album. You know it's going to be great and weird and amazing. In fact, I'm anticipating a new one right now!

Their Beatles cover threw me off a little since it wasn't as direct a cover as some of the other songs, but now I love this version almost as much as the original!

Some Me First songs contain references to punk rock songs. "My Favorite Things" starts off like Bad Religion's "Generator", "You've Got a Friend" starts off like "Blitzkrieg Bop", and "On the Road Again" starts off like the Misfits' "Astro Zombies".

This album has references, too. "Elenore" maintains the basic instrumentation of "London Calling" throughout the whole song. But my favorite ref on the album is the one that kicks off the album. I heard this first and THEN the song it's referencing, but "Blowin' In the Wind" references the hidden track on NOFX's Punk in Drublic which contains an outtake of the band trying to get the harmony right on the line "How did the cat get so fat?" from the song "Perfect Government". Which is SO obscure until you know the NOFX album and then it's fantastic.

You should probably just buy all the Me First albums.

I couldn't find any music videos, which doesn't surprise me, so here's three songs. One from the beginning, one from the middle, and one from the end. (Fun fact: The last song is a cover of a song I featured a couple of posts ago with Carole King!)

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Blowin' in the Wind
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Who Put the Bomp
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

You can buy Blow in the Wind at Amazon, Amazon MP3, and iTunes

Throwback Thursday: 1984

10. Shannon - Let the Music Play
9. Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want to Have Fun

I'm just going to go with my gut on this one. I recently played the Michael Jackson song. The other ones I was considering were Van Halen, Nena, and Culture Club. But I think this one leaves them all in the dust. Plus it ends with a cool Marx Brothers ref.

8. Yes - Owner of a Lonely Heart
7. Michael Jackson - Thriller
6. Genesis - That's All
5. The Romantics - Talking in Your Sleep
4. Nena - 99 Luftballoons
3. Kool & the Gang - Joanna
2. Van Halen - Jump
1. Culture Club - Karma Chameleon