Jaleeb Caru had gotten me thinking about playlists, and I though it be fun to list songs that
were the keys to your musical tastes over your adult life (roughly age 18 and up). The idea
is a collection of 15 songs that aren’t necessarily the best songs ever, but those that developed and
defined your taste in music, or better yet, and some impact on your life in general.

So here’s my list:

1 Aerosmith – Back in the Saddle (Rocks) 1978
I have to start with Aerosmith. When I was 18, I listened to them constantly,
and my band covered a number of their songs.

2 Elvis Costello – Radio Radio (This Year’s Model) 1979
I saw Elvis’s performance of Radio Radio either when it happened (1977), or
perhaps on a rerun. I still think his first two albums are some of the best ever,
combining Elvis’s writing with the Attractions’ great playing.

3 Rush – Red Barchetta (Moving Pictures) 1981
Looking back, this is a fairly embarasing period in my musical tastes. I listened to
a lot of progressive rock, with mid-career Rush being one of the less painful examples.
I was impressed by how well they played together, and I’ve always thought a 3-piece
was the best rock format independant of style.

4 Thomas Dolby – The Flat Earth (The Flat Earth) 1984
This is probably the first electronic music that I liked and listened to a lot, not counting
Rick Wakeman. Dolby did a great job of sound design and put them into some
fun songs.

5Giant Sand – October Anywhere (Valley of Rain) 1985
I heard this song on late night radio when I lived in Tucson. It was
unlike anything I’d been listening to, but I started buying up Giant Sand
albums. It was at least ten years before I owned a recording of October
Anywhere. Giant Sand remains my all-time favorite band.

6 Husker Du – Something I Learned Today (Zen Arcade) 1986
I had always assumed music was supposed to make you feel good,
and it was that simple. Husker Du was a powerful expression of negative
emotion that made me rethink what music could be about.

7 Half Japanese – Money to Burn (Songs to Strip By) 1989
A friend played some Half Japanese songs for me, and I thought it
was the stupidest amature crap I’d ever heard. A few days later, I heard
“Money to Burn” on the local college radio station, and found myself smiling,
and later couldn’t get the song out of my head. Their cover of Ball and Chain
cracks me up every time.

8 Jawbreaker – Gutless (Unfun) 1990
I saw Jawbreaker live, one of the best shows I’ve seen. I wasn’t into the whole
hardcore thing kids were listening to in those days, but Jawbreaker could write songs
and play them. It’s kind of painful to me to see Green Day hit mainstream big ten
years later in contrast.

9 Trans Am – Access Control (The Surveillance) 1998
I heard on the radio – Great retro-synth sound, along with
the acoustic drum set and simple guitar riffs. Since then I’ve
listened extensively to every album they’ve put out.

10 Swervedriver – Rave Down (Raise) – 1998
I heard Rave Down on college radio – I liked the thick guitar texture.
It took me a while to catch on – Raise was release about 8 years earlier.

11 Mr Bungle – Pink Cigarette (California) 1999
Kind of a cheat here – it’s really the whole album that made
and impression. It seemed a perfect expression of the happy insanity of
the dot com boom I had been sucked into. California is probably
the best album that I’ve ever heard.

12 The Dave Mathews Band – #41 (Crash) 2000
Perhaps in reaction to the difficult and somewhat painful things I was going
through at the time, I started looking for calmer, easier listening. Crash
resident in my CD player for quite a while, and my kids have been subjected
to my singing along with #41 countless times.

13 Giant Sand – Shiver (The Chore of Enchantment) 2002
I have to add another Giant Sand song, as 15 years had changed them and me.
I’ve learned to play this one myself. Shiver’s lyrics are about exactly the kind
of thing I think about now.

14 Interpol – Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down (Turn on the Bright Lights) 2004
Interpol seems old and new at the same time – a vocal sound from 80′s pop, low-fi production,
but the songwriting seems brand new.

15 ?
I’m not sure what’s next, but I’m looking.