'Songs From The Big Chair'

One day the world will understand what a brilliant band Tears for Fears was and what a mammoth three-song tour de force "Shout," "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and "Head Over Heels" was in the history of recorded sound. Few could have a better triumvirate quite like that.

The one guy looks like Jon Cryer.

'Pump'

Got to give Aerosmith some credit: They kept their bit going for a long time and didn't stray too far from what sold records. Lug-headed, horny riff-rock that was largely about sex even if it was sex between a father and daughter. 

It's not good. It's not appealing even in a sexual way because Aerosmith lived in a world completely unlike our own, where casual sex simply based on who you were (as opposed to how nice you were, how you looked, etc.) was probably pretty common. 

When they weren't singing about complete sluts they wrote anthem-worthy warblers appealing to the disenfranchised teenage girl. Written, we can assume, just to get in their pants. 

About Pump, guitarist Joe Perry said, "When we went to do this album, we knew what we wanted, we wanted to strip off a little fat we felt on our last one. We didn't say 'We need a drug song or a child abuse song,' but when they fit, we used them. That's Aerosmith: we aren't bound by any rules."

Wrong, Joe. You are more bound to rules than any rock band in history. And the fact that you did it so stinkin' well is what makes you rich and able to hump girls in elevators. 

'A Northern Soul'

A story of a band that breaks up all the time.

Basically, Richard Ashcroft is kind of a hard guy to get along with for one reason or another. I’m sure it’s not all his fault, but when you consider its him getting punched in the face by his guitar player and him having to reconcile with the drummer, bassist and same guitar player during a second break-up, you can see that there’s a central figure in all of this.

The band first broke up after the success of their break-out album A Northern Soul. Chiding their psychedelic first album, the band loosed the chains on Ashcroft’s lilting vocals and wrote basic rock songs.

Right before the release of their third single, Ashcroft broke the band up.

Although noting no regret, he got the band back together with a new guitar player about a year later. Next thing they know they are mega worldwide superstars thanks to the hit single “Bitter Sweet Symphony.”

Then they broke up again.

Six years later they reunited. Then they broke up again. This time for good, or so everyone thinks. 

'Yank Crime' & 'Scream, Dracula, Scream!'

This might be a first (and only) for the 1,001 Records You Should Listen To Before You Die.

Plenty of artists are involved in multiple records on the list. For example, The Beatles or Elvis Costello. But very few are involved with two different albums from two different bands within a year of each other.

This is the case with John Reis and his two bands, Drive Like Jehu and Rocket from the Crypt.

Reis was in the band Pitchfork (had the website Pitchfork been around in the late 1980s, I’m sure they would’ve given the band a poor review) with Rick Froberg. Pitchfork died and Reis’ attentions went two different directions. He formed the post-punk/hardcore outfit Drive Like Jehu with Froberg and Rocket from the Crypt, a punk band, basically.

“Different” doesn’t do the two bands justice. Rocket is a collection of two-minute, three-chord punk songs. Drive Like Jehu are orchestrated eight-minute multi-sectioned compositions with heavy guitars interconnecting into crescendo and release.

The two bands released eponymous debuts in 1991. Drive Like Jehu released its only other record, Yank Crime, in 1994 (which seems like a lifetime after Nevermind) and Rocket released Scream, Dracula, Scream! a year later. Drive Like Jehu promptly broke up even though they were the superior band, but there’s no accounting for taste, I guess.  

Ever friends, Reis and Froberg formed another band, Hot Snakes, together several years later. 

'Queens Of The Stone Age'

I like a band with an identity, with a home. Upon releasing their eponymous album lead singer and guitarist Josh Homme said, "I just wanted to start a band that within three seconds of listening, people knew what band it was.”

No one is like Queens of the Stone Age. I can pick out one of their songs within probably 10-15 seconds of the song starting. Furthermore, they’re probably one of the more unforgiving bands to have a hit on rock radio the last 25 years. “No One Knows” from Songs For the Deaf is as scorching of a song as the Queens have released and it’s still really great.

The Queens’ roots go down to the stoner rock group Kyuss. After they broke up, Homme toured with the Screaming Trees and eventually decided to start a new band. After several line-ups, it settled on Alfredo Hernandez on drums and (after completion of the album) Nick Oliveri on bass (Homme played bass on this album). Of course, Homme, Hernandez and Oliveri were essentially Kyuss.

Queens also has its roots in the deserts of southern California and you hear it in the music. There’s a dry irritation and heat that comes off the songs. It’s stark and scary. It runs hot and yet you can’t get away from the cold nights. It’s rock music for coyotes. 

'#1 Record' & 'Third/Sister Lovers'

Big Star, a lesson to all artists. It’s fleeting and no matter what you have going for you it probably will never happen. If it does, it doesn’t last long.

Alex Chilton had the name. He was the lead singer of The Box Tops and had a hit record with “The Letter.” Then there was Chris Bell, the talented guitarist and lead singer. Two really legit songwriters and artists, one with a claim to fame. Furthermore, the band was based in Memphis along with the distribution power of Stax Records.

On top of all that, Big Star was a power pop band built around melodies and hooks. They weren’t anything out of left field with its foundation based in The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Critics loved them.

Yet, their career probably peaked recently when a documentary about the group was released and interest in the band probably hit an all-time high.

What went wrong?

Stax Records couldn’t promote the band appropriately. This responsibility was eventually given to Columbia Records, who did not want to mess with small-label band so copies of the record couldn’t be found in the record stores.

Bell later quit the band as they continued recording and continued finding a dead end through distribution and marketing. He would die in a car accident at age 27.

So, before you declare a band as being eternal or some sort of pillar of the zeitgeist, remember that there’s thousands of better bands and artists that never got the chance. 

'Led Zeppelin I' & 'Led Zeppelin III'

Order of an individual’s favorite Led Zeppelin album, chronologically.

Everyone initially loves Led Zeppelin IV or ZOSO because of “Stairway to Heaven.”

Then they realize it was just an indulgent jack-off session so they start to like Led Zeppelin II because it has a lot of radio hits and by this time you’re an older teenager and it’s also a plodding mess of hard rock and early metal.

You age. And you adopt Led Zeppelin I as your favorite album because it’s “genuine” and “pure Zep” because it’s them doing blues, which is all Led Zeppelin really were. At this point, you’re a true asshole because you like a British band solely for ripping off poor, unknown black Americans, who did all these songs and did them nominally better.

You age a bit more and probably are reaching your mid-20s when you realize that Led Zeppelin IV (ZOSO) is, again, the best IN SPITE OF “Stairway to Heaven,” which remains a pretty overrated song.

After a multi-year respite and dalliance with Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti, you finally come to the conclusion that Led Zeppelin III is the best album because by this time you are 30+ and not a total retard. Although, in the back of your brain, you still think Physical Graffiti might still be better.

I just finished reading Hammer of the Gods, one of the most well-known of rock and roll biographies and although thoroughly entertained it didn’t take long for me to realize that Led Zeppelin were, in fact, total assholes. I mean, Jimmy Page’s opinions of women alone make you question their entire body of work and aesthetic. Women were basically third-class citizens to him.

John Bonham appears to be a total drunken lunatic. Peter Grant might have been one of the most unethical humans outside of genocidal totalitarians.

Robert Plant was no prince, but in comparison he comes off looking like a sweetheart.

It’s a revealing read to say the least. This was Jimmy Page’s band (I don’t think it ever became anything different outside of his heavy heroin addiction later in the band’s career). He was with The Yardbirds, they split and the record companies basically attempted to rebuild it with Page and some pieces including fellow session player John Paul Jones. They picked Plant and Bonham from the English hinterlands and took off.

It’s also noteworthy how American Led Zeppelin were. They didn’t cut their teeth on the British tours and clubs. They went to America almost immediately behind the name power of “The New Yardbirds” and Page. They toured excessively with an American stadium tour every year.

Knowing who these people were doesn’t necessarily change the way you enjoy their music. If you’re like me, you’re as tired of the 15 or so songs that they jam on classic rock stations as any bloc of songs in history. And it’s not like they’ve been overplayed, so to speak

; they’re just not very good. Zeppelin’s true brilliance comes with their lesser known songs. In fact, a good barometer to find these songs is finding out what songs guitar magazines put in their tablature sections. I ignored all those songs early in life and now they’re my favorites.

'The Nightfly'

Steely Dan broke up and Donald Fagen recorded a solo record, The Nightfly. On the cover is Fagen in a collared shirt and tie resembling the jazz DJs that he would tune into in the 1950s and 1960s in suburban New Jersey. 

Fagan said living in the suburbs was a prison. A bit of an exaggeration because the suburbs may be boring but they are far from as disastrous as Fagen would like to pretend. 

The album itself is strictly autobiographical with tales of listening to late-night jazz DJs and bomb shelters. 

Of course, by age 11, Fagen had become a self-admitted "jazz snob" and developed an "anti-social disorder." Maybe it was all the suburbs' fault. 

Worth noting that apparently he played in a band with Walter Becker and Chevy Chase (drums) while at Bard College where they all studied. Chase apparently has perfect pitch. 

'Tea For The Tillerman'

If you're not listening to Tea for the Tillerman on a regular basis then you must be an idiot. It's necessary listening.

The A side of the record is as good of a side of recorded music then you'll find in the medium's existence. "Wild World," "Hard Headed Woman," "Where Do the Children Play?" and "Sad Lisa." Just enough blissful heartache to keep you going.

The album was released in 1970 just on the heels of Cat Stevens nearly dying after contracting tuberculosis, which precipitated him discovering religion, practicing yoga and becoming a vegetarian. We can only assume that the experience eventually resulted in him converting to Islam years later.

Fun fact: He adopted "Cat Stevens" as a stage name due to a laborious real name and because he thought people liked animals. Singer, songwriter, marketing genius.

'My Aim Is True'

Elvis Costello's debut album after six years on the club and pub tour.

He kept working at his day job even after the release of "Less Than Zero" and "Alison" as singles. The record company eventually offered to pay him his wages plus a bonus, an amplifier and a tape recorder.

So decadent.

'John Mayall's Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton' & 'Disreali Gears'

I'm no Eric Clapton fan but it's interesting that four albums from four different facets of his career made it to the 1,001 list including these two, 461 Ocean Boulevard and Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs. And all of them recorded within a decade of each other and it doesn't include a Blind Faith record and Clapton missed out on The Yardbirds' eponymous record by a year (Jeff Beck was featured on that album).

John Mayall is interesting because he's this singer that just took any musician to join his group of white British kids singing black American blues songs. Mick Taylor followed Clapton as guitar player. The band also included John McVie and Mick Fleetwood.

Funny, in 2008 Mayall "broke up" the Blueb

reakers so he could concentrate on playing with other people. This despite the entire 40 years of the Bluesbreakers is Mayall playing with four dozen different players. Then someone convinced him to get the band back together which required getting a new bass player, guitarist and drummer.

Clapton left after the one album upon seeing Buddy Guy in concert and sparking a desire to have a power trio. So he joined up with Jack Bruce (another Bluesbreaker) and Ginger Baker to form Cream and record their mega-hit record, Disreali Gears featuring "Sunshine of Your Love" and "Strange Brew." Unlike the Bluesbreakers, this is real hippy shit. So it can be ignored pretty easily.

'Viva Hate' & 'Your Arsenal' & 'Vauxhall and I' & 'You Are The Quarry'

Should someone that records so prolificly as Morrissey be such a person in demand?

I remember when You Are The Quarry was released and it was a major deal. I assumed that The Smiths quit playing together and the get went into hiding (granted, it was his first album in seven years). But I feel like he's done enough to be a pretty accessible artist. I mean, you can have all the Morrissey you really want.

I don't much care for his music and I'm not a huge Smiths fan in the least. Morrissey is actually kinda of a boring subject although almost everyone I know either loves him or hates him.

I don't know if any recording artist of Morrissey's stature to maybe be known for being a vegetarian as much as he is known for being the lead singer of one of the best bands of a particular decade. It's like equating Paul McCartney with being left handed rather than one of The Beatles.

Morrissey is almost equally as known for his questionable sexuality and being an odd sex symbal not necessarily for his looks (he's not terrible looking) but for being a songwriter that wrote about being awkward, out of sorts and depressed. People latched onto that and made them kindred spirits to the point of being boyfriend and girlfriend.

Most like, he is bisexual although publicly he likes playing word games (once calling himself "humasexual" for being attracted to humans) and avoiding any one stereotype because he knows that girls and boys love him just the same. Gotta keep selling those records.

'Darkness On The Edge Of Town'

I like Bruce Springsteen and all, but if I have one complaint (one that prevents me from being an overly genuine fan) is that Springsteen has created a persona that's really not unlike anything David Bowie or Lady Gaga have done.

And it's not necessarily to question the authenticity of Springsteen's personal background and how the themes of his songs pertaining to "hanging tough," the plight of the worker and being a sad pap are not important to him.

But it does feel like some kind of image was molded and that has the glaze of disingenuousness. If that's a word.

A terrific album nonetheless.

'The Coral'

A boringly good album from a boring British band.

'Harvest'

 Harvest put Neil Young on the map probably despite his best efforts. Although I truly feel sorry for public figures that put their privacy on the line in exchange for sharing their talents, it’s hard to understand Young playing in Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills and Nash and then releasing three relatively popular solo albums and not expecting some recognition.

Young was taken aback at the popularity that Harvest brought. It topped the Billboard 200 for two weeks. I guess since it’s impossible for me to have it both ways, I don’t comprehend someone else having it both ways.

Harvest came to fruition after Young appeared on The Johnny Cash Show (a show that concerned itself little with what was popular, but instead what Johnny Cash wanted to do inviting all sorts of country and folk acts), which also featured Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor. Afterwards, Young invited the duo to his barn studio to record.

Although probably his most popular album, I care little for Harvest. I think his hits – “Heart of Gold” and “Old Man” – are some of his most boring songs.

'Figure 8'

No lie, my wife went to high school with Elliot Smith. It was during the years he lived in Duncanville, Texas. She later worked for the local newspaper and when Smith was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song (“Miss Misery” from Good Will Hunting) and she wrote a story about him.

So, when he killed himself in 2003 I was absolutely heartbroken. At the time was digging deep into all of his material including the fantastic Figure 8.

I don’t know if it’s a perfect album, but it’s close. Certainly one of my favorites of all time. I felt that Smith met a healthy median between his lower-fi early albums, which are damn near whispered, and his love for melody along with arranging and adding piano and electric guitar. If Smith was ever happy, I don’t know that he was, it had to have been while recording this album.

'Gris Gris'

Mac Rebennack oozes New Orleans. It’s not easy a recording artist, who is known best as being some ambassador for a particular city. The Beatles and Liverpool come to mind, particularly because their early music mirrored the grind of the shipping port city.

Boston and Chicago don’t represent their city any more or less than Letters to Cleo or Kanye West.  Hip-hop artists tend to attach themselves with their city or region as more often than not they tend to live by the creed of the cold streets.

Rebennack is a different story. Before recording and releasing his debut album Gris Gris, Rebennack decided on the idea of going by a nom de plume. He decided on Dr. John thanks to a supposed voodoo holy man named Dr. John Montaine. Although he never intended to keep the moniker (instead attempting to get a bandmate to adopt it as his own) , it stuck and ever since you don’t think of Dr. John without thinking of New Orleans.

Certainly, there’s a lot of New Orleans in Gris Gris, which is actually a voodoo amulet often used as a contraceptive and brought over by the West African slaves and serving as an important item amid the New Orleans voodoo scene.

Oh, and tremendous album cover too.

'The Rolling Stones'

I think it’s noteworthy that The Rolling Stones’ first album, as it was released in the United Kingdom, features the five members photographed facing the same way looking to their right at the camera. 

No identifying copy on the album cover. Just a photo with the record company’s logo. And 60 years later those same visages are as recognizable as they probably weren’t when it was released in 1964. Still, there is a certain amount of vibrato in presenting yourself as such considering how new they were.

The Rolling Stones was recorded in five days in February 1964 right when The Beatles were invading the United States. When the album was released in America in May 1964, “England’s Newest Hit Makers” along with the band’s name was added. Don’t want to mix them up with the other English hit makers.

It’s a … perfect rock album. Full of R&B, blues and early rock covers. Mick Jagger’s voice is at home. It finds its happy place amid these songs of woe and want. All of it tips of the cap to Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. It might be as good as The Rolling Stones got. Or it could be argued.