Monday, May 04, 2009
I've been trying to fix the same computer all morning because someone thought it smart to play games on it over the weekend, games that also installed spyware that made the computer unusable. It's still not fixed. I hope he gets eye herpes.
But now I'm on lunch and my office door is shut and the woman who can't figure out how to use wireless internet can kiss my ass because she's been given five different laptops now, all with working wireless, yet she can never get it to work.
So, to make it look like I'm working on something important when then next person knocks on my door, panicking, here's the list of albums that have changed my life, in no particular order(maybe chronological):
H2O - Thicker Than Water - When I was about 16, I was pretty into ska. Bosstones led to Reel Big Fish led to Mustard Plug and the Aquabats led to god knows what. For Christmas that year, my dad gave me the best present ever, a $50 gift certificate for the record store. Days before I had watched something on the MTV where they asked various people about their favorite albums of the year. Dicky Barrett of the Bosstones listed this one, so I tried it. This is the album that got me into punk rock.
Operation Ivy When I was in the spring of my senior year of high school, my then best friend in the world, Dan, mentioned he gave this album away for free to his new girlfriend. I told him I didn't know who Op Ivy was and he told me had he known that yesterday, he probably would have given it to me. That night, I went out and bought that album. When I got home and put it in the player, I was completely blown away. I had never heard anything so angry and urgent, yet almost singalongy. Ever since then, I've been looking for another album that could make me feel the way this one did when I first heard it.
The Clash - The Essential Clash, vol. 1 - My brother bought this for me for Christmas one year. Up until then, I had only known of The Clash through songs like Rock the Casbah and Should I Stay or Should I Go, the same ones everyone knows. This is a good introduction to the only band that matters, giving up what really is the essential songs. After you absorb this one, go straight for London Calling, there isn't a bad track on that one.
Bob Dylan - Freewheelin Bob Dylan - I used to record the 120 minutes show every Sunday night and watch it when I got home from school on Monday. One time, they had Mike Ness of Social Distortion doing a solo acoustic version of Don't Think Twice, It's Alright that made me say "God damn, that's a great song!" I bought this album shortly thereafter in a boxed set. Since then, I've wanted to be Bob Dylan. Because of him, I started listening to Woody Guthrie, which led to me getting a tattoo that's kind of a tribute to him.
Tom Waits - Mule Variations I don't actually have a copy of this yet but I remember when I first heard Big in Japan in the car with my dad while we were getting ice cream. He asked what this shit was and do they call it music? I think he told me if I ever listened to something this bad, he'd kick my ass or something to that effect. Note to parents: If you tell your teenage kid not to listen to some kind of music, you can bet your ass they're going to listen to it. By all means, tell them not to listen to Tom Waits and every other album on this list. Listening to this opened me up to just about everything.
said Tommy T. at 12:31 PM - #
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But now I'm on lunch and my office door is shut and the woman who can't figure out how to use wireless internet can kiss my ass because she's been given five different laptops now, all with working wireless, yet she can never get it to work.
So, to make it look like I'm working on something important when then next person knocks on my door, panicking, here's the list of albums that have changed my life, in no particular order(maybe chronological):
H2O - Thicker Than Water - When I was about 16, I was pretty into ska. Bosstones led to Reel Big Fish led to Mustard Plug and the Aquabats led to god knows what. For Christmas that year, my dad gave me the best present ever, a $50 gift certificate for the record store. Days before I had watched something on the MTV where they asked various people about their favorite albums of the year. Dicky Barrett of the Bosstones listed this one, so I tried it. This is the album that got me into punk rock.
Operation Ivy When I was in the spring of my senior year of high school, my then best friend in the world, Dan, mentioned he gave this album away for free to his new girlfriend. I told him I didn't know who Op Ivy was and he told me had he known that yesterday, he probably would have given it to me. That night, I went out and bought that album. When I got home and put it in the player, I was completely blown away. I had never heard anything so angry and urgent, yet almost singalongy. Ever since then, I've been looking for another album that could make me feel the way this one did when I first heard it.
The Clash - The Essential Clash, vol. 1 - My brother bought this for me for Christmas one year. Up until then, I had only known of The Clash through songs like Rock the Casbah and Should I Stay or Should I Go, the same ones everyone knows. This is a good introduction to the only band that matters, giving up what really is the essential songs. After you absorb this one, go straight for London Calling, there isn't a bad track on that one.
Bob Dylan - Freewheelin Bob Dylan - I used to record the 120 minutes show every Sunday night and watch it when I got home from school on Monday. One time, they had Mike Ness of Social Distortion doing a solo acoustic version of Don't Think Twice, It's Alright that made me say "God damn, that's a great song!" I bought this album shortly thereafter in a boxed set. Since then, I've wanted to be Bob Dylan. Because of him, I started listening to Woody Guthrie, which led to me getting a tattoo that's kind of a tribute to him.
Tom Waits - Mule Variations I don't actually have a copy of this yet but I remember when I first heard Big in Japan in the car with my dad while we were getting ice cream. He asked what this shit was and do they call it music? I think he told me if I ever listened to something this bad, he'd kick my ass or something to that effect. Note to parents: If you tell your teenage kid not to listen to some kind of music, you can bet your ass they're going to listen to it. By all means, tell them not to listen to Tom Waits and every other album on this list. Listening to this opened me up to just about everything.
said Tommy T. at 12:31 PM - #
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