It Gets Better With Age

I've been watching ESPN's 30 for 30 over the last year. It's a set of documentaries about the 30 biggest sports stories of the last 30 years. It's gotten me thinking about the fact that I've reached an age where the cultural happenings of my youth are now something to be nostalgic about.

Watching Ice cube weave together the birth of west coast rap with the early 80's LA sports scene in his episode "Straight Outta LA" made me better understand why "old guys" love to talk about the past; it gets better when you add all of the historical context you were incapable of understanding when it happened.

In honor of this revelation, I'm dusting off a post from my facebook page I wrote before I started this blog. It's a list of my 10 favorite albums produced in my lifetime.

Here's the original post:

If you look at any "greatest album" list, it's filled with all the tired old classics from the 60's (stones, beatles, dylan, etc). Many of these albums are truly great, but I want to know what you think are the ten best albums of our generation. I think the music created from the late 80's through 2010 is pretty amazing.

I'm not a music critic and I have no musical aptitude - these are just 10 albums that I love.


10. U2 - The Joshua Tree: My cousin Chris recorded this album on a tape for me and I listened to it until it wore out. When you listen to music on tape, it forces you to listen to every song; I know every chord and lyric on this entire album.


9. Van Halen - 1984: The ultimate album of my grammar school years. My buddies Vaccaro, Milligan, Imelli and Giachetti will all tell you that this album was fucking awesome! Strong evidence that album cover art is totally important when determining your favorite 10 albums of all time.


8. Soundgarden - Louder Than Love: I bought Bad Motor Finger first, but my buddy Brian Law turned me on to this album when I was visiting him at Chico State. Still the ultimate hard rock album, I can only describe it as "raw".


7. Nirvana - Nevermind: Again, an unforgettable album cover. This was the first album I remember from High School that was new, meaning it was not produced in the 60's.

6. GreenDay - Kerplunk/Dookie: I list both here because several of the songs from Kerplunk were hits on Dookie. Chad Whelton got me going on Kerplunk, which was a fixture for mountain bike rides throughout high school. Dookie was probably one of the most popular albums that came out while I was in college. There's always a satisfaction in having known a band before they get popular.


5. N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton: Steve Plette got me going on this album. Amazing baselines, crazy lyrics, tons of attitude. Totally different than anything I had ever heard before. Made me hate all the shitty "gangsta rap" that came along in the wake of this album.


4. Helmet - Betty: Another band I got into when I was in college. This is a band most people hate, but when you meet another fan, you are bonded to them for life. Greg Keller this means you.


3. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back: I got my first taste of east coast rap when Nico Flores and Marc Senegal gave me a tape of Eric B and Rakim (Follow the Leader), but his album sealed the deal. Amazing mix of great beats and political passion that you just don't see in music anymore.


2. Pearl Jam - Vs.: The obvious choice is Ten, which has the song "Alive", arguably the anthem of our youth. But I always liked this album better. My favorite PJ song ever is Leash.


1. Radiohead - Amnesiac: This album changed the way I listened to music. Keith Frankel convinced me to see them on their OK Computer tour, but it didn't sink in until Amnesiac came out. I listened to this album constantly when I did a two month stint in London for work in 2002.

Please send me your top ten.