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| ‹ ‹ ‹ past FEATURE articles |
:: FEATURE :: |
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by So Much Critics Team |
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When we were asked to create our top ten favorite albums, I was excited. Excited because I am the "musical moron" of this group of writers.
I know the least about music and what good music is, and that is why I was excited about this list.
I can make a list of albums that make me feel good when I listen to them and others that have special meaning or bring back good memories in my life.
The criteria for my list is simple. |
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#10 My first taste of "Music." My parents had this tape, and would play it in the van whenever we would go somewhere, and I loved it! I mean, it's the King of Pop in his prime. Do I really need to go into detail about how great this album is? Granted, it is in the 80's, so the synthetic sound of the album keeps it out of the top 5, but the talent that Michael displayed on this album vocally, really impresses me. "Smooth Criminal" was always my favorite. This album cracks the top ten because it is by the best pop musician ever, is really fun to listen to, and reminds me of fun trips with the family.
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#9 Every kid in the world got into Hootie at one point in their life. This album got me interested in buying albums and showed me that there is more to the musical world than MC Hammer. To this day, there is not a single Cracked Rear View song that I don't crank up the stereo with excitement to when it comes on. "Time," "Hold My Hand," "I Only Wanna Be With You" are all-time, feel-good, sittin' on the porch with your buddies listening to music, favorites. And any band that will put Chris Berman in their music video is alright in my book.
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#8 This album is one of my favorites because it is a perfect combination of: lyrics that you don't have to be Edgar Allan Poe to understand, a piano that makes you forget that there is hardly any lead guitar, and an honest look at the thoughts of a musician put into song. Mr. Folds introduces you to all the inhabitants of the suburb he has created in his mind, and it fascinates me. It also makes me think of a married couple that I met through I.V. in college named Zak and Sara, who happen to have their names spelled exactly as Ben describes them in, "Zak and Sara." They were so much fun, so that song makes me smile.
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#7 Every time I hear a song from this album I think back to high school, cruising around trying to find something to do, and always end up doing the same thing: Perkins, then see a free movie. We were friends with just about everyone at the Mann theater so from my sophomore year of high school to about the summer after my freshman year of college, I never paid for a single movie. Plus, we got to go to the private screenings the night before all the big movies were released. All the free popcorn and Icees we could handle. Oh yeah, back to the album. It certainly wasn't influential, I did skip over some songs, but it does meet the criteria for making me think back to good times. Good times of eating free popcorn while watching a free movie. We weren't picky on when we would capitalize on our free movies, either. I saw "The Lizzie McGuire Movie" four times in one week. Terrible. But what else would we do?
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#6 I have my reasons. If you're in love or were in love when this album was popular, you'll know what I'm talking about.
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#5 Busted Stuff has my all-time favorite song, "Grace is Gone," on it. You have to have the album with your all-time favorite song on your list. It wouldn't make sense not to. Plus, all of the other songs on "Busted Stuff" are amazing. Seriously, if you are reading this and are not a Dave fan, or have never listened to Dave, please check out Crash and Busted Stuff and you will be hooked. He has a song for every mood and has yet to write a song that I pass over on an album. I feel guilty listening to his stuff knowing that I sort of put him on the back burner during my rap phase. If I ever meet him, I will ask him to forgive me. And then ask if he wants a slice of my pizza, he'll say yes, and I will ask Brett Favre and Tom Hanks to make room for Dave at the table in the Pebble Beach Club house café. Hey, don't laugh, that's how the fantasy goes.
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#4 This is the only album I have ever listened to that made me want to be a musician after listening to it. Every time I listen to "Piano Man" or "The Ballad of Billy the Kid" it makes me want to learn the piano and perform at talent shows. I'm not musically talented, except for playing the butt-cheek bagpipes, but if I was, I would want to play the piano just to learn a Billy Joel song. Listening to Billy Joel opened the flood gates to enjoying similar artists like Elton John, Randy Newman, and Ben Folds. I had always enjoyed "Piano Man," the song. But it wasn't until I heard "Piano Man," the album, that I realized just how cool Billy Joel is.
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#3 This album has a special place in my heart because it opened my eyes to "indie" music. My brother-in-law Tim, owns just about every CD ever made, let me borrow it and I immediately fell in love with it. Can you fall in love with a CD? If it's possible, then I did with this album. "Cry on Demand" is so perfect that it will never get old to my ears. Any song that can grab a memory from the cluttered desk that is your mind is a song that had an impact on you. "See the World" did that for me. It made me think back to our family road trip to Disney World and how I would just look out the window and take my first glances at the world outside of the Twin Cities and Eau Claire, Wisconsin. How We Operate meets the criteria mentioned in the intro where I can listen to it from beginning to end and LOVE every song.
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#2 This is the funniest album I have ever heard that is not a stand up performance. It has funny songs and skits, especially a skit where Sandler goes to see Kevin Nealon who is a therapist and is trying to relax Sandler but can't stop farting. The Hanukah song is a classic as well. There may not be a lot of musical talent on this album, but that's not why it is #2. It's in the two spot because this album is the funniest album involving decent music ever; even better than a Steve Martin comedy album with some of his banjo skills on it.
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#1 I know, I know. I already have a Dave album on here. But here's why it's ok. Busted Stuff has my all-time favorite song, but Crash introduced me to Dave Matthews and got me hooked. Although, Dave was always put on the back burner to whatever rap album was popular at the time when I was in Middle school and High School, I always loved listening to Dave. Once I realized that rap was simply a phase for me, Dave made it to, and has yet to fall from, the number one spot in my favorite band list. Crash will always be my favorite album because it never gets old and if it wasn't for that album, I may never have gotten into DMB. "Tripping Billies" and "#41" are tops on my play list of this album. I will always remember watching "Crash" on MTV as a kid just to watch the part where one of the ladies is trying to ride her bike through a field, and she falls off. It was quite clear that it was not meant to happen like that, but was too funny not to share with the world.
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