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Music That Impacted Me by Tim Mathiesen Instead of giving you the typical, Best Albums of All Time, I am going to give you a more personal look at what music has impacted me and brought me to a realization of what music really can accomplish. During my College years, where most people "find themselves," I was blown away in the creative environment, by how much I had been missing out. The amazingly artistic and beautiful music that never makes it into the mainstream radio is something that I could not walk away from so I have continued to research the vast world of independent music. I am still trying to catch up on the two decades that I completely missed. Of course during the 80's I would have been in grade school, but still, it may have produced some of the most awful music of all time, but there are a lot of diamonds in that rough. As I walk you through the 10 steps that changed my view on music, you will also get to know my priorities and influences in the music that I have come to love. Music, to me, is directly connected to how I react creatively. Music is the most accessible form of art since you can listen to it practically anywhere. One of my goals in life is to connect the creative world with the mainstream world. If you look around you, critics, unless they are Ebert and Roeper, are mostly ignored by the general public. Hype outweighs critical acclaim 95% of the time. The 5%, when the public listens to the critics, is usually after the Academy Awards where the critics finally get their say and the coverage through mass communication builds hype for the truly deserving films, right along side the best dressed in Hollywood. Before I waste anymore of your time, here is the music that has impacted me the most:


		MTV Unplugged nirvana One of the greatest live album of all time, alongside Johnny Cash's Live at Folsem Prison. Due to the commercial aspect of the performance, Curt Cobain did not want to go through with this performance. When I first heard this record, I started to notice how the raw beauty of each song is so heartfelt that even when the fingers hit the wrong string or the voice is off key, it feels right. This album includes some very enjoyable covers of songs of David Bowie, Leadbelly and The Meat Puppets by the greatest grunge band of the 90's and hopefully ever. . .

		Good Dog Bad Dog over the rhine My first experience with this wonderful group was towards the end of a long week at the Cornerstone Music Festival. I had bought their first three albums along with Good Dog, Bad Dog, which captures the vision and style of Over the Rhine better than any other album in their catalog. Their music helped me through the week-long festival and traveling. It was an amazing performance that brought tears to my eyes, probably from sheer exhaustion, but their music is so moving and their lyrics are amazingly poetic. The importance of poetry in songwriting was confirmed with the music from Good Dog, Bad Dog.

		Fashion Focus starflyer59 Control pedro the lion Starflyer 59 and Pedro the Lion have brought respect, passion and the art back into the Christian music industry. There has been a sad emptiness since the gradual decline in the popularity of the 77's, Swirling Eddies, Adam Again and the departure of Steve Taylor into the production booth. Starflyer 59 and Pedro the Lion picked up where those Christian music pioneers left off, but with a modern twist and more originality than most bands (both Christian and non-Christian). They have continued to blur the Christian/Secular lines that cause so many problems artistically, not in an ungodly way, but in a way that helps Christians and non-Christians alike relate to their music and message.

		Stankonia outkast Things Fall Apart the roots When a group takes rap, which is stereotypically based on sex, drugs and violence, and raises it to the next level through social and political analysis along with original and creative arrangements, it cannot be ignored. These two albums opened my eyes to the artistic possibilities in rap music. They proved that any other genre of music can be incorporated into rap, which leaves the door wide open for future rap artists. A step was taken in that direction with Outkast's 2004 album, Speakerboxx/Love Below, but they failed in some ways due to stretching their talents too thin.

		OK Computer radiohead Kid A radiohead These two consecutive albums by Radiohead have possibly challenged me more than any other albums. The step that I took in understanding complex creativity was huge during each album. Music as simply a beautiful and pleasing artform was crushed as I came to find the beauty and pleasure in originality and creativity and not just in the melody and "cool" guitar solos and the beat of the songs. OK Computer pushed me beyond the easily accessable music of rock & roll greats like U2 and Pearl Jam. Not that U2 and Pearl Jam make bad music, because I still love their music, but while listening to OK Computer I discovered the concept of layers in songwriting as the album grew on me during every listen and soon topped my list of favorite albums. Kid A, on the other hand, was much more difficult. It literally took a couple years for me to truly appreciate the album. I was one of those disappointed fans when it was released, but I did see and understand the artistic expression and creativity in the album which brought me back to the album time and time again. During each re-acquaintance with Kid A I appreciated it a little bit more. I began to truly pay attention to the creative detail in each song and enjoyed the new ideas that Radiohead brought to the music in general.

		After The Goldrush neil young My obsession with Neil Young did not start right away. I had to get past his broken, amateur sounding voice. When I eventually fell in love with the emotion that flowed from his signing, I was able to dig deep into his minimalist song arrangements. The songs may sound simple, but the emotion that he packs into the lyrics and melodies can overwhelm the listener. After the Gold Rush taught me the importance of songwriting and arrangement. The performance of the song should enhance the message of the lyrics. An unbelievable guitar solo could sound really great in the middle of a song, but if the message of the song doesn't support the solo, then it could be completely meaningless. Everything about the song should be delivering the same message.

		Yankee Hotel Foxtrot wilco Heartbreaker ryan adams Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was my first exposure to Wilco and I was immediately attached. The complex arrangement of drums, guitar, and other instruments was an amazing addition to the subtle songwriting by Jeff Tweedy. There are few albums that I get really excited about after a couple listens, and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was one of them. Heartbreaker was one of my last exposures to Ryan Adams after I heard Gold and his double album, Love is Hell, which were both great albums, but Heartbreaker had taken his songwriting close to perfection. The intelligence that I heard in Heartbreaker was astounding. If Bob Dylan were in his twenties today, Heartbreaker would be an album he would make. With these two albums, I was shown the creativity that can be added to typical alternative and country music and forever spoiling my view of radio airplay.

		Grace jeff buckley Jeff Buckley was a lover of music and a student of art. Grace is one of the most amazingly gorgeous albums of all time. Through this album, I learned the tremendous possibility of bringing the complexity of classical music into traditional folk, blues and rock and roll. This album erased my interest to follow the current trend in music and opened the door to the importance of quality and creativity.

		Soft Bulletin the flaming lips Radiator super furry animals I came across The Flaming Lips a couple years before I fell in love with the music of the Super Furry Animals. The Flaming Lips' album, Soft Bulletin, and The Super Furry Animals' album, Radiator, showed me the powerful effect of originality and creativity in the art of arrangement. Taking the importance of instrumental relevance of Neil Young and the classical arrangements of Jeff Buckley, and build all of that on the originality of Radiohead, and the result is Soft Bulletin. The music always builds on the concept and story behind the lyrics. I can comfortably say that I have never heard a Flaming Lips song where the music did not fit with the emotion of the story of the song. That shows the careful thought that is behind each album and the importance of being true to the art of songwriting.

		The White Album the beatles The White Album is very scattered in style and theme, but the creativity and experimental side of the album was more influencial to me than being an actual album like Sgt Pepper's or Abbey Road. The Beatles took chances with each song and took giant leaps as musical artists in every direction of rock and roll. They pushed the boundaries in rock, blues, folk, and pop and opened each genre up for anyone else that would desire to take it further, which many artists have done since then and credited their style of music and influences to The Beatles.