More about Me, Me, Me!!!!!

I saw this on another blog today (pops bucket...it's on my list, check it out)
and thought it made a good "ego driven self absorbed" type topic. Me, me, me, and more about me.

Number of records/tapes/CDs I own: let's see...I'd say about 450 cds. About 100 records/albums but they're hidden at the bottom of a closet, in a crate, near spiders, so I guess they're lost forever.

First record/tape/CD I bought: Album is Santana Abraxas. It's got naked ladies on the cover, plus the original versions of Black Magic Woman and Oye Como Va. I bought this album when I was seven. SEVEN!!! Not for the naked ladies though, at least not at that time. Later, when I was 12 I was able to fully appreciate the cover "art" and the message that Carlos and the band was trying to convey. I think it was "there are naked ladies on the cover, so buy this album"...but I really liked the song "Black Magic Woman."

First Single: a tie with "One Tin Soldier", "Baby I'm-a want you" (by Bread) and "Windy" by The Association. It was the early 70's and I was a small child, so no judging. Ok, NOW stop judging.
First CD: I'm not sure, but I think it was U2 Achtung Baby, back in 1992. Not quite sure though. I do remember having a small CD collection before I ever bought a CD player.

Last record/tape/CD I bought: Does Itunes count? I got the new Green Day, American Idiot album (I still call them albums, I don't think I'll ever change).
The latest video is out, it's quite good.

Last record/tape/CD I listened to: Dave Matthews Band, Live at Red Rocks. We're going to the concert at SBC Park on Saturday and needed to get in the right frame of mind.
I hate being the guy at concerts who only knows (or thinks he knows) some of the words to the songs. I also hate the idiots who know ALL the words, so it's a tightrope I'm walking here. Feel stupid, or be the idiot. Tough choices.

Recordings or songs that mean a lot to me (and/or changed my life):
It was 1980 and the music scene was changing. Journey, Foreigner, AC/DC and Van Halen where the huge groups at my HS, but there were also odd groups of kids, fresh from summer vacation, with strange haircuts, clove cigarettes and weird clothes. Most importantly, they were all connected by their love of these new groups that I had never heard of...Oingo Boingo, the Police, the Clash, Dead Kennedys, Ramones, Bauhaus, Joy Division.
Then I heard this song on the radio.
"Ping ping........Ping ping........chchchchchchch.........Ping Ping..........
Some-times I feel, I've got to (chch) run away, I've got to (chch) get away..."
Tainted Love, Soft Cell. It sounded like nothing else on the radio. It sounded cool, moody, mysterious, and I just knew that no one else at my school had heard of it. I wanted to hear more stuff like this.

The other life-changing song/album. "I Just Can't Stop It" by the English Beat.
I was hearing strange songs on the radio late at night and there was this sound that I couldn't let go of. Like Bob Marley, but not really. Light, syncopated drum beats, high-hat cymbals ts, ts, ts-ing in 16th notes on the upbeat. Sweet melodic voices and a heavily accented form of rap that I was unfamiliar with. I could not find out who this was. Joe Jackson? I think that's what the DJ said. I searched and found "Look Sharp" and loved it. But it wasn't what I had heard. Close in some songs. The beat was there, but the feel was different. The voice was different.
Then I heard another song. "Roxanne." Was this it? I loved the voice, it had the right beat, (and you could dance to it) but it still wasn't quite the sound. I thought that I must've misheard something on the radio, or got confused and was combining two groups or songs. Oh well. I loved that Police album. It would've been "the one" for me, except a few weeks later I was in the Wherehouse Records store in the local mall. I heard it again. The sound. It was real this time.
The opening baseline of "Mirror in the Bathroom" came rumbling out of the store's music system. I pulled my head out the "new wave" section where I was rummaging through all of the albums, hoping to find this mysterious band, and ran up to the counter.
"What IS this?"
"Some band from England," replied the guy behind the counter. "They're called The English Beat."
I bought the album and played the heck out of it. I made a tape of it and played it in my car. I looked around and found some imports that they had made. I noticed that they were part of this movement (and record label) called "Two-Tone" due partly to the fact that they and other groups on the label, were multi-racial. I bought "The Specials", "Madness", and "The Selector" albums. I saw "Dance Craze" at the midnight movie show. The music was called "ska" and I had found my sound. Now all I needed was a Vespa and a trenchcoat.

If I had to choose a soundtrack of my life, what 5-10 songs would be on it?:
For background music, I'd have to pick Mark Knopfler's, "Local Hero" soundtrack. The movie was one of the first "small movie showing the simple ways of English/Irish/Scottish small town life." The music was subtle and moody, simple guitar work, never in the way.

Songs:

Biko, Peter Gabriel...I still get chills when I hear this song, and it gives me a good excuse to hold a lighter over my head and wave it back and forth.

Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want, The Smiths...for when I'm feeling really crappy.

"So for once in my life
Let me get what I want
Lord knows, it would be the first time"

Waaaaaaaa!

What I like about you, The Romantics...No college party was complete until this song came on. And the good parties played it TWICE!!!!!

Our House, Crosby Stills, Nash and Young...For me and the wife.

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, U2...This one has always been "my song" and every year I either find parts of what I'm looking for (the wife) or realize that my search is not over (my job). Good song, many meanings.

Mirror in the Bathroom, English Beat...the song that changed my life and opened my eyes musically. From here on out, I was the guy my friends went to, to find out about new music.

3 Little Birds (Don't Worry, About a Thing...) Bob Marley...This song always gets me through the tough times. It ALWAYS cheers me up.

And probably anything by the Polyphonic Spree. They've got to be the happiest band on the planet. Is it drugs? Are they a cult? I don't really care. It's like the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar meets Sid and Marty Krofft as they go to a Grateful Dead concert.

I'll bet there are plenty of other songs that I've left off my list, and of course, they'll pop into my head late at night..but I'll keep it as it is for now.
Make your own lists at home, it's easy, fun and free.