'Back In Black'

A gigantic, popular album and for good reason. There are good songs here and they're very accessible to the Everyman. I don't think it's bad, but it certainly doesn't get my blood flowing like it did 12 years ago.

What I want to know is where this Brian Johnson guy came from.

AC/DC's original lead singer, Bon Scott, died of alcohol poisoning in February 1980 at the tender age of 33.

The band recorded Back in Black, after discussing disbanding after their lead singer bit it, in April and May of 1980 and they released the album in July 1980.

The band had already, as you might expect, starting writing material for the album with Scott before he died and finished writing it with Johnson, who penned the lyrics over Angus and Malcom Young's music. Mind you, Back in Black has the band's most popular songs including "You Shook Me All Night Long," "Given The Dog A Bone," "Shoot To Thrill" and "Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution." Johnson just didn't continue the band. He essentially put the band on the everlasting map of rock music. He helped make them one of the most popular rock bands of all time.

Johnson had been in a band called Geordie (which sounds completely retarded) and released two albums through the 1970s. He was brought in by AC/DC after apparently their manager recommended him and even Bon Scott himself had mentioned Johnson to his bandmates at a time as being someone that sounded like Little Richard.

He auditioned and got the gig. He wasn't anyone special. Worked just as hard as probably a million other musicians. But not everyone get's Bon Scott's attention. Fewer have Bon Scott die of alcohol poisoning opening up their spot on a world-renowned rock band.

Fun facts: Johnson's brother Maurice works as a cook for the band. Also, AC/DC's last five albums have sold one million, 2.5 million, two million, five million and five million records. Not only can you not name either of the five albums (on purpose) but you can't name a song of any of them.

'Muddy Waters Live At Newport 1960'

Often, when you go through the 1,001 lists for books, records and films, you discover art that is truly influential, that really made an impact on others and spurred a plethora of other art, some of which could very well be considered better. But it never exists without that first step.

This album might fit that mold. By the time Muddy Waters, the famous bluesman, performed at the Newport Jazz Festival and released it several months later, he was already well known around the world.

By 1960, he'd made a name for himself as rock and roll began to really break. Thing is, unlike Buddy Holly or Elvis Presley, Muddy Waters had already made his mark.

Born in 1915 (or 1913, depending on the story), by 17 he'd already picked up the guitar and was performing around the country and making Chicago the hub for American blues in the north. He'd already recorded and by 1950s he was already recording on his own and making pretty good bank.

All before Elvis, Buddy and the Beatles. Meanwhile, John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Rod Stewart and every other bluesy rocker in England were cutting their teeth on Waters' bark and his steely guitar. Live at Newport was evidence of the changing tide in rock music as it showed a proven bluesman going electric. Never had those infamous guitar heroes heard the instrument like the day they put the needle on this record. Now that's an album to hear before you die.

'The Man Who Fell To Earth'

I was talking about this film with a friend and the conversation turned to that of filmmaking in the 1970s. Primarily, how directors could do whatever they want and the films, generally, are better.

Certainly standards were lax back then, but I think there was also a very influential cadre of directors willing to make the film they wanted to make and as long as they stood firm they would continue to make the films they wanted.

I also think the filmmakers weren't as focused about making money as studios are today and films done by renowned directors tend to make money nonetheless.

Also, I'd be naive to think that everything done in the 1970s was fantastic and everything done now is pathetic. Truth is, I wasn't even born in the 1970s and I've failed to largely see any of the bad films because I'm sure there were plenty.

The amount of sex and nudity in The Man Who Fell To Earth is ridiculous. Ridiculously awesome. It's also something today's filmmaker wouldn't be able to do without giving it an R rating and not making any money because 14 year olds can't get into the theater.

This film completed a pretty nice run for director Nicolas Roeg, who did Walkabout, Don't Look Now and this film in succession.

'The Rise & Fall'

The greatest non-ska ska album. Probably ever.

The Rise and Fall was not released in the United States (for reasons unknown to this reporter) despite "Our House" being a pretty popular single (No. 7 in the United States after it was released on the compilation album, Madness.

This album is called "experimental." Only because a ska band didn't make a ska record and basically made a pop album. And that's "experimental." It's not experimental, it's just a band that wants to make a popular record so he can make more money. There's nothing wrong with that, but if I go to a restaurant where I always order a hamburger and order a hot dog, that doesn't make me "experimental." Just hungry.

'Roots'

This album was unbearable. Seventy-three minutes later and I finished the son of a bitch.

Metal sucks. Most of it sucks. Most sounds like 1970s hard rock. Deep Purple is nominally more heavy than most heavy metal and that includes Sepultura, apparently.

The infusion of "Brazilian" beats and whatnot was a complete failure. In fact, I think it's pretty pretentious to play metal and attempt to work in some Latin element so you can prove about how Brazilian you are.

I don't know. This is no longer a part of my life. I'm pretty sure I could have died without listening to this album.

'Bad Company'

I've never understood why a band with four hits and two years of relevance 30 years ago is still important. Every couple of years they get back together -- or someone gets together to play music -- or Paul Rodgers joins what remains of Queen to tour.

It's really pathetic. A bunch of old guys that think what they do is good and that people still want to listen to "Can't Get Enough" for the trillionth time. I guess they have to pay the bills just like all of us.

"Bad Company" has had six bass players, five guitarists, three lead vocalists and one drummer, Simon Kirke. So I think we've identified the hanger-on here.

Kirke hasn't saved enough money from Free and Bad Company so he doesn't have to get Bad Company back together for another North American summer tour playing outdoor amphitheatres with Journey or Foreigner opening up. Advertise in the local newspaper and 60-year-old goofs nudge each other in the ribs saying how cool it'd be to get out and see Bad Company. Instead, they fall asleep.

'...And Justice For All' & 'S&M'

Appropriate bookends: Metallica, one of the world's foremost heavy metal bands, at their rawest and most dirty and grimy and then Metallica, the polished superstar metal band performing with an orchestra.

Granted, they can do what they want. I don't think they need to prove anything to anybody. They probably could have made the same ol' thrash metal album for 25 years and by 1996, when S&M was released, we probably would have criticized them for trying to be the same band they were in 1986, growing their hair out despite the receding hairlines and wearing the same scowls, T-shirts and ripped blue jeans.

Still, an orchestra. The Metallica of ...And Justice For All would have beat up the Metallica of S&M and thems just the facts. I think they're pretty content with things the way they are.

What frustrated me on the release of S&M was the band coming out of the woodworks to talk about how they were always inspired by classical music and all that jazz. What. Ever. If they'd covered The Carpenters, they would have talked about how they were so inspired by 1970s AM soft rock.

Essentially, Metallica is a band that can do what George Lucas does with the Star Wars films: Repackage them every couple of years and force everyone to rebuy it. It's a boon for the classical community -- and brought a lot of attention to symphony orchestras -- and it's a multi-platinum album for Metallica re-recording 20-year-old songs.

Also appropriate that ... And Justice For All was Jason Newsted's first album and S&M was his last. I can't do this stuff on purpose.

'The Blithedale Romance'

Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote some weird stuff.

The Blithedale Romance starts out as The Blithedale Bromance between Hollingsworth and Coverdale and then you begin to think that everyone's in love with Zenobia when in fact everyone's in love with Priscilla, Zenobia's half-sister. When left by Hollingsworth for Priscilla, Zenobia winds up drowning herself (see: Ophelia, the girl from Sansho the Bailiff).

I found Coverdale pretty obnoxious and egotistical in the first part of the story until you realize that everyone else is entirely more annoying and full of themselves. As it turns out, Coverdale is left on his own as he breaks up the relationship with Hollingsworth and the Zenobia is a flaky tramp.

Who I liked the most is the Fosters and Old Moodie. Also, I would have liked to read more about Blithedale and this commune action going on in the 1800s. People would just come to a farm to take advantage of the environment and hard work. Blithedale is based on Brooke Farm, a real life Transcendentalist commune in west Massachusetts that Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller and others all frequented.

Eventually, it became a socialist farm: You put in the work, everyone shares the spoils and you get to dick around the rest of the time and talk about ghosts. Because, apparently, all anyone talked about in the 1800s was ghosts.

'Brighton Rock'

A good book confuses the shit out of you for the first 50 pages only to go over what happened in detail those first 50 pages for it not to really matter.

I think. Maybe that's why I haven't published any of my novels. Gathering dust there on the shelves. I kid. I kid.

I think what confused me the most is Fred Hale leaving business cards around town for people to find and if they turn them into the newspaper, they can win 10 pounds. I guess this is a thing from the 1930s because it sounds like one of the most ridiculously awesome things ever. Imagining having a pretty bad day or even a so-so day and you're doing your usual thing and you turn around and find a card that gives you $50 (which I assume would be the equivalent for 10 pounds in the 1930s). That probably felt pretty good.

Brighton Rock's been turned into a play, a musical, a film (twice) and a radio program. Certainly, Pinkie is one of the best characters -- certainly in the sociopath genre -- in modern literature. Not unlike Alex in Clockwork Orange, a young man of his times and his environment. However, the pair are separated by Alex's need for sex and Pinkie's unanswered repulsion of human contact and sex. Not everything was carnal for Pinkie. It made the violence a bit more disturbing.

'The House In Paris'

I read this a kajillion years ago and I haven't written about it because I have absolutely nothing to say about it.

Certainly, I've researched several times attempting to knock it out once and for all and I can't find anything. I thought it was boring and trite. Too wrapped up in these family histories that are supposed to be important as these self-important people disappoint their loved ones over and over again.

Big deal.

There, I did it.

'The Unmarried Woman'

Women's liberation in its purest.

Woman is left by her husband. Fighting all of the despair, she bonds with her friends and gets laid. Soon, she finds her freedom refreshing.

I wish there were more to say here. I did find it completely obnoxious that Erica had the douchebag husband that left her for the secretary and so she decides to have this relationship with the douchebag artist.

I only kind of bring this up because I'm sure the director/screenwriter thought he was having Erica live the free, burdenless life by shacking up with an artist. However, wouldn't it have been more poetic if she hooked up with a construction worker or police officer. The artist, in the end, is only going to make her miserable in the end, and everyone knows it.

What this teaches us is that Erica isn't really free at all. She always needs a man and she always needs to be on the verge of destruction in her relationships. It's almost an anti-women's lib film although no one's willing to admit that the artist relationship was not going to end well. And we all know it won't. Don't be so naive.

'Wings Of Desire'

I strongly recommend doing one thing before you watch Wings of Desire.

Read a summary of the film. Or read this blog post because I'm about to blow the doors wide off.

It took me three-quarters of the film to realize that the two main guys were angels "existing" on Earth to overhear people's thoughts and that Peter Falk used to be an angel before choosing feelings and life over immortality. I'm at a spot now that I really just want to re-watch it.

It is an interesting plot and I think its pulled off pretty well. Slow at times, there are really interesting and investible characters, characters in need of a little love.

The film is a bit of a who's who showcase. The screenplay was done by noted Austrian writer Peter Handke. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds plays a set in a club scene. And the cinematographer was Henri Alekan, the Frenchman that worked with Jean Cocteau on the 1946 film Beauty and the Beast and who, ironically, fell out of favor in French cinema during the New Wave movement of the 1950s and did a bunch of conventional American films and only three during the 1970s.

The cinematography in Wings of Desire is exceptional, which is the only reason to bring it up.

'Ossessione'

Finally, one of the few times the Europeans have taken an American piece and turned it into something of their own (done three years before the American adaptation).

Ossessione, of course, is an adaptation of James M. Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice, the well-known story of the tramp that has an affair with a restaurateur's wife and the pair connive to kill the husband to not only run away with each other but also collect on his life insurance.

The film was almost not seen by anyone outside of anyone that saw it upon its release in 1943. Director Luchino Visconti had sneaked the film beyond the Fascist censors and upon its released it outraged everyone. The Fascists burned the film.

Visconti, thankfully, kept a duplicate negative. Even still, the film was never distributed outside of Italy until 1976

'Vulgar Display Of Power'

Pantera had a lot going for it. It wouldn't be until 1994 or so when Far Beyond Driven hit that the band would really overtake the high school crowd and be found in every CD collection, car and truck of teenagers everywhere no matter their actual taste in music.

By high school, I had friends that were major metal dudes listening to everything going as heavy and loud as Napalm Death, Morbid Angel, Danzig and Cannibal Corpse. They loved Pantera.

By Vulgar Display of Power in 1992 and Far Beyond Driven, they'd gone damn near mainstream. I remember girls I would have never dreamed having something in common with having that album, blaring it from their car speakers leaving the parking lot. Guys that wouldn't know Dave Mustaine if he punched them in the asshole were suddenly well aware of Dimebag or Diamond Darrell Abbott.

Pantera were very marketable. Their music really wasn't. I should say it was very marketable, but it always needed a "hit" and metal people are wont to necessarily seek radio singles and are even less likely to create them quite like Lennon and McCartney. That's why Pantera eventually become an afterthought.

Still, experts call what Pantera does "groove metal" although I don't think it sounds too entirely different from other sorts of metal or even hard rock. Abbott's blistering solos turned him into a mainstay in every guitar magazine and many were calling Phil Anselmo one of the bet metal singers ever. It had groove so it sold. For a while.

There were other factors. Not unlike an American Idol contestant from Texas, they had an audience willing to accept and love them. Entrap the hearts and minds of teenagers in rural Texas and you can sell some records.

Also, they did an image change. In the 1980s, Pantera were not unlike many glam bands. At some point, they dumped the teased air, leopard-print vests and heroin chic for bulbous faces, dirty jeans, beards, long stringy hair and trucker's caps.

They projected everyman to everyman and it worked. It doesn't help that the songs were good and that they evoked a certain amount of connection with the audience. A lot of things went write for Pantera. Except for ... well, you know.

'Back At The Chicken Shack'

First album featuring an artist that was an organist. The organ has never been quite as cool.

Oddly, for a guy with such renown, Jimmy Smith's birth date is in question. He was either born in 1925 or 1928. Not 1926 or 1927. Those years are right out. Maybe the "5" and "8" were smudged on the birth certificate, although you'd think a "6" could be just as easily smeared on a piece of paper. Or maybe that some family member -- like his father who got him into performing -- would be able to remember.

Smith was formally trained having gone to music colleges after serving in the navy. He also went on to record about 70 albums as the bandleader and also recording with artists from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson.

There's nothing extraordinary about Back at the Chicken Shack other than being good. I don't think it'll blow your mind, but there's way less accessible jazz out there and way worse. Nothing pretentious here.

'King Solomon's Mines'

Some pieces of art need to placed in context. It makes a bit more poetic.

Consider that not only was travel abroad only for the insanely rich, slaves or those in the military or that a vast, vast amount of the planet had actually been fully explored, the idea of going abroad in a book, for a nickel or penny or however much books cost at the time, was probably the closest most people came from seeing the African plains, the jungles of Asia, the tombs of Egypt or the mystery of South America.

In 1885, when H. Rider Haggard started an entirely new genre of literature, the Lost World, with King Solomon's Mines, surprisingly, most of the world had been at least "found." Meaning, colonized. The Germans, Dutch, British and French had massive holdings in Africa, South America, North America and Asia. In fact, explorers had gotten bored and was looking for ways to getting to the poles and up the highest peaks.

Still, the interiors of these lands were still a mystery (think Joe Conrad and The Heart of Darkness). There's still parts of the Amazon river basin still unexplored. There's still allegedly parts of the Appalachian Mountains in the United State still unseen by outsider's eyes. The Valley of the Kings would be soon discovered in Egypt and the secrets of the Assyrian empire were being dug up. The rich culture and history of the colonized people around the world suddenly had a lot of depth and people wanted to know more. The sun might have rose and set on the British empire, but time started elsewhere.

Here you had Haggard bringing it all, based on real accounts, real people and somewhat real adventures (perplexing natives by taking out false teeth was a real trick played on the poor souls of Africa), all of which sparked an entire genre from H.G. Wells, Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Burroughs and all those crazy adventures novels that would follow. Let's face it, there's no Indiana Jones without Allan Quatermain.

'Good Morning, Midnight'

Good Morning, Midnight was published in 1939 about a woman who returns to Paris between the two great wars and finds nothing but insecurity and instability.

No money or nobody to depend on or to county upon the next morning or night. Hunger and desperation a perpetual companion as she plans her next step. At least many of the feelings and circumstances surrounding our protagonist were probably those of Rhys herself, who had a series of failed relationships, marriages, a near-fatal abortion and a son who died at a young age. Nothing was permanent in Rhys' life.

Right after it was published, author Jean Rhys fell completely out of the limelight making many think she had died. Rhys turned back up in 1949 when someone decided to turn Good Morning, Midnight into a play and they were forced to hunt Rhys down and get her permission. Alas, she was living very quietly in the English countryside.

She did not publish another piece until 1960, 21 years later.

'A Short History Of Tractors In Ukrainian'

An interestingly easy read that is much as laugh-out-loud humorous as it is a tale about all the bullshit that people put up with when they have families.

Who knew that something that could provide so much love, so much support could be such giant pains in the ass?

A widowed father, a Ukrainian immigrant and former engineer, shocks his two grown daughters -- who are estranged due to the division of their mother's inheritance -- when he announces he is going to marry a much younger gold digger, Valentina.

As the daughter unite to oust Valentina, whose intentions are clear that she is looking for citizenship and any cash the father might have, the secrets of the family are unveiled as are Valentina's and as much as we would like to hate someone (the father, the daughter, Valentina, et al.) we just kind of feel sorry for all of them. Almost all at the same time.

What is most perplexing is how foreign everyone feels. It's set in England. However, it might as well be happening in some Ukrainian hamlet because it perpetually feels that no one fits into their adoptive country (as it's revealed, most are there illegally) even the grown daughters, who have married Englishmen, work and thrive in the country. This is a wholly Ukrainian novel, an immigrant's story.

'Paranoid'

I don't know if I've given Black Sabbath enough thought to even form an opinion.

But that's a good album. The riffs are meaty, the guitar leads are blistering (for the time), it's sludgy, British metal, and yet it doesn't forsake the melody. There are good songs here.

Foremost, I think there's "Iron Man." I've probably listened to the Cardigans' cover of "Iron Man" more than I've listened to the original.

However, I dare you know to put this on the stereo and crank it. It's a great, great song. Geezer Butler's bassline is incredible. The guitars just absolutely kill it. The lyrics make as little sense as possible.

I think you can say what you will about Ozzy Osbourne. Maybe he's a cartoon character now, but I would say that he's always been a cartoon character. His look and his antics are not entirely too different than being on a reality show and being a sort of a punchline. I don't think he cares. I sincerely believe he knows that he's had one heck of a life, one blessed compared to toiling in some Manchester coal mine or factory.

'I've Got A Tiger By The Tail'

A simply fantastic lil' country album. A whole lot of twin-fiddle, steel-guitar, three-chord early country mixed with a little early rock and roll.

There's not a bad song on the record. Mostly their about sleeping with women and generally really not wanting to settle down, which sounds agreeable.

Ironically (or not), Owens himself married five times and divorced all five times. One marriage, to a fiddle player in his band, lasted a couple of days before she threw in the towel. Either Owens knew exactly what he was singing about or he knew absolutely nothing about what he was singing about. You could probably write a book about it.

Owens is actually a Texan. Before he made Bakersfield, Calif. as a kind of hub of musicians, he was born in Sherman (there is a mall currently on the property where his house once stood) and later attended school in Garland, which in the 1930s was probably a series of farm and pasture land.

Owens died of a heart attack, in his sleep, in 2006. By all accounts, he had a chicken fried steak, was about to not perform until he learned a group of fans from Oregon came to see him and decided to play anyway. He played the gig, went home and died in his sleep.

Not the most glamorous of deaths, he didn't die of alcohol poisoning in the back of his car, but he's a hell of a way to go.

'Dirty' & 'Goo'

Sonic Youth's first two albums after signing a five-album, $300,000 deal with Geffen after the moderate success of Daydream Nation.

I personally think they're terrific. A step up from Daydream without losing any of the edge. The band was not required to run songs by the record company but they did nonetheless. Sonic Youth seems to do what they want, when they want.

Both albums sandwiched Nirvana's Nevermind, regarded as the quintessential rock record of the last 25 years. Despite being pushed as such, Sonic Youth was never able to capture the mainstream success of their counterparts in the post-punk genre. It probably makes sense.

Although Nirvana are not some bubblegum pop band, there was a lot more structure and melody. Sonic Youth was grittier with less craft and a lot more caterwauling from Kim Gordon.

Still, they're a band I respective the crap out of and I still have like two albums to listen to for this list.

The real question is just how rich are Sonic Youth? They've never sold more than 500,000 of any one album, these two being their most popular. They've gotten no radio airplay. They also don't tour excessively. Not like 200 dates in a year. They still have to eat even if their old. Thurston Moore did say that they could have made a lot more money had their broken up in the early 1990s and done a reunion tour like The Pixies or Dinosaur Jr. At least he's honest.

'Garbage'

When this album was released in 1995 -- I was 15 -- I thought this was music aimed at marginally disenfranchised females and make-out music for the slightly fringey kids.

Again, I was 15. In theory, this album should have been aimed at me. It wasn't.

I kind of feel the same about it. Girls liked it because the lyrics were vague and hinted at being unsatisfied about stuff. Like guys, I guess.

Guys kind of liked it because the band had a female singer, who sang lyrics that were a little titillating and suggestive. But not suggestive in the least. They were probably about cheeseburgers.

The band seemed rock starry and foreign. The singer was Scottish. In fact, they're from Wisconsin. Rock capital.

'Nothing's Shocking'

It's hard to believe that his album is 23 years old and that it's Jane's Addiction first studio album.

It's good. I've never disliked Jane's Addiction, but I've also never really liked them. Mostly because I don't think they've truly been as good as they are on Nothing's Shocking and they also have not been around for very long, at least with the original line-up. Also, the members -- at least Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro -- have gotten too far into themselves as moderately popular rock stars.

Leather pants, make-up, crazy hair, trying to juggle the life of a hippie, artist and a libertine all at the same time. Seems all a bit too disingenuous.

I would daresay you could play Nothing's Shocking on modern airwaves while not indicating who the artist or record is and letting all the young hipsters figure out that it's older than them.

Apparently, a lot of the tension within the band stems from this album. Before it was recorded, lead singer Farrell demanded 62 percent of royalties for lyrics and music. Clearly, the other three members weren't behind this and they almost broke up.

Farrell and bassist Eric Avery had a further riff when it was thought the latter attempted to hit on the former's girlfriend. Also, Avery went sober. There was apparent tensions between all the members except Stephen Perkins, and who could hate a drummer?

This album also belongs in the censored album covers package. Walmart tends to frown about nude women.

'Devil Without A Cause'

Geesh. There's not a bigger phoney baloney quite like Kid Rock. Some greasy-haired white kid sucked into liking hip-hop, is halfways decent at rapping to the point that he's not completely laughed out of the room, he decides he wants to get big, embraces rock music and then spends the next decade telling everyone about how he's still the same ol' gracious kid that grew up Detroit and came from the most modest of backgrounds.

Kid Rock's like one of those formerly small towns that is suddenly too big for its britches and still advertises how small its schools are.

This album is terrible and it brings back a lot of bad musical memories. I've written before that 1998-2000 was just a bad time for music or for music that was A) popular and B) played on MTV at the time. I was in college and there was literally nothing better to do than watched Total Request Live and Kid Rock had a perpetual video in the top 10 and they were all from this album.

The songs are terrible. They focus on banging girls, partying and drinking. Still, Kid Rock knows when to bring it all back down with "Only God Knows Why," a pretentious, probably sacrilegious prayer from the woeful Kid Rock bemoaning the fact that all this money, drugs, alcohol, women and success could never heal the hurt and loneliness. What a dick. He spends the other 11 songs telling us how great money, drugs, alcohol, women and success are and how personal fulfillment is pretty overrated.

I wish harm on no one. If Kid Rock disappeared -- he's currently assaulting country and western charts -- I wouldn't be too upset.