Insignificance

Posted on June 28, 2011 by R.J.

Band: Jim O’Rourke
Album: Insignificance
Best song: “Memory Lame” and “Therefore, I Am” are awesome. “All Downhill From Here” is very good.
Worst song: The final track, “Life Goes Off” is not great.

I didn’t drink in college, so I had a slightly different college experience than a lot of people. Which is to say that my 20th birthday — not one of import like the 21st or 18th, certainly, but a new decade and all — was less raucous than most others’. Two friends and I ate hamburgers at a local landmark. Age 20 is when I got into the University of Missouri Journalism School, unknowingly finalizing my career path for, at least, the next ten years. I stopped eating red meat at age 20, simply for health reasons. I was elected to be program director at my college’s radio station that year. I lived alone — in a single in the dorm, so, not really alone — for the first time that year. Continue reading →

The Virgin Suicides

Posted on June 21, 2011 by R.J.

Band: Air
Album: The Virgin Suicides
Best song: “Playground Love” is the only song with actual singing, done by the dude from Phoenix, but “The Word ‘Hurricane'” is a pretty great song.
Worst song: Being that it’s mostly a score, it’s hard to discount any single part of the album.

With a little peak inside my brain, here’s the story of how the piece about 2000 has happened/will not happen:

I finally finished a 3,000-word thing — it’s taken about six weeks to write — about my college girlfriend, largely basing it around a lovely quote from the awesome Dan Harmon (“Is there any such thing as true love?” The question is the important thing. There’s no answer.) from a recent interview. It’s lengthy and it talks a lot about my views on love, based on that quote (as though you haven’t already gotten tired of my philosophical ramblings). Continue reading →

Summerteeth

Posted on June 6, 2011 by R.J.

Band: Wilco
Album: Summerteeth
Best song: There are no bad songs, but I’d suggest that there are a few not-great songs. My favorite is probably “Via Chicago,” but that changes with the day.
Worst song: “Summer Teeth” isn’t great.

This is, most-assuredly, a first-world post. I can understand if anyone who was not raised within the cocoon of suburbia and higher education and such cannot relate to it. Hell, it may not even translate to those who did not go to a college or university large enough to sustain the type of experience I am about to describe. Continue reading →

How It Feels to Be Something On

Posted on May 24, 2011 by R.J.

Band: Sunny Day Real Estate
Album: How It Feels to Be Something On
Best song: “Guitar and Video Games” is my favorite.
Worst song: “Two Promises” has lyrics I can’t support, but is otherwise a decent song.

When I was in junior high, I was an avid watcher of Saved by the Bell; just about everyone in my generation watched that show. I was absolutely convinced that SBTB was the template by which my upcoming high school years would follow. I expected to be Zack, to find my Kelly and to have a friend like Slater. I wanted to hang at the Max. I don’t think I was alone in this. Continue reading →

Homework

Posted on May 18, 2011 by R.J.

Band: Daft Punk
Album: Homework
Best song: The singles were great. “Da Funk,” “Around the World,” “Phoenix” and “Burnin'” are all amazing.
Worst song: “Teachers” is pretty bad.

This current project is something of a lesser execution of something I’d wanted to do for a while. Originally, I had wanted to put together a list of the best albums in each year of my life; I couldn’t really justify writing that sort of thing well. Like so much of the written word on the Internet, lists are easy to create and not as easy to flesh out/explain. Continue reading →

Millions Now Living Will Never Die

Posted on May 11, 2011 by R.J.

Band: Tortoise
Album: Millions Now Living Will Never Die
Best song: “Glass Museum” is a classic, “Djed” is a cool sound experiment and “The Taut and the Tame” is amazing. Really, no song is bad on this album.
Worst song: All great.

I have a Tony Kornheiser story — ask me about it if/when you see me in person — and it involves the advice he gives when he speaks at schools and stuff. Basically, the advice is this: Be ready to catch it if/when someone throws money off the back of a train.

It is, essentially, the best advice I’ve ever received. Continue reading →

One Hot Minute

Posted on May 8, 2011 by R.J.

Band: Red Hot Chili Peppers
Album: One Hot Minute
Best song: Come on. Even Dave Navarro can’t save this turd.
Worst song: All bad.

I started high school in 1995, but I almost exclusively listened to classic rock at the time. Certainly, indie rock of the time — Smog’s 1995 record Wild Love would steal my heart when I was in college, for example — would later have an effect on me. But, I mostly spent my time listening to the Clash when I was 14. Continue reading →

Undertow

Posted on April 19, 2011 by R.J.

Band: Tool
Album: Undertow
Best song: “Prison Sex” is probably the best song, but the entire album is very strong.
Worst song: I honestly like every song on this album.

This is the week of Passover and I’m on quite the streak of nonseders. Oddly enough, Passover is probably my favorite Jewish holiday, as it’s the “eat food and tell stories” of Jewish holidays.

But, I haven’t had a seder in many years and I’m perfectly OK with that. Instead, I buy a bottle of Kosher wine and drink it in one night, usually in front of the TV. It’s a pretty great tradition and I’m glad I do it. Continue reading →

Transmissions from the Satellite Heart

Posted on April 16, 2011 by R.J.

Band: The Flaming Lips
Album: Transmissions from the Satellite Heart
Best song: “Slow Nerve Action” and “She don’t Use Jelly” are classics.
Worst song: “Be My Head” isn’t amazing.

Beavis and Butthead was sort of a defining show in my youth. The show came out at a time when I fetishized the adolescence that I was going through, so having “role models” — not in any classical sense — like the two miscreants on MTV was perfect for myself. Continue reading →

Badmotorfinger

Posted on April 4, 2011 by R.J.

Band: Soundgarden
Album: Badmotorfinger
Best song: “Jesus Christ Pose,” “Rusty Cage,” “Slaves & Bulldozers,” “Outshined” and “Room a Thousand Years Wide” are all great.
Worst song: The whole album is pretty excellent.

Though it wasn’t at the time — I was likely still listening to MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice as an elementary school kid — 1991 was a huge year for music. It’s well-known as the year that grunge “broke,” shooting the transition from hair band nonsense to punk/indie nonsense as the popular rock music genre. R.E.M.’s Out of Time was released in 1991. Slint’s Spiderland — one of my favorite albums of all time, but one I did not discover until I was in late high school — was released that year. Pearl Jam’s Ten was released that fall, two weeks after Metallica’s black album was released. Even the mediocre, post-peak records were very good, as evidenced by Ozzy’s No More Tears album. Continue reading →

Albums That I Own

I write about albums. Albums that I own.

Category Archives: 30 Years