This was the album I listed to the most during me senior year of college in 2004. Funny enough, what I liked most about Kanye’s lyrics were that he was humble and self deprecating. Although he wasn’t the greatest rapper, he was the funniest. My two personal favorites are “She got a light-skinned friend, look like Michael Jackson/Got a dark-skinned friend, look Like Michael Jackson” and “She couldn’t afford a car so she named her daughter Alexis.” Kanye’s technique of speeding up soul tunes seems like a gimmick, but it works brilliantly. Back then he seemed so convincing as a down to Earth nice guy that I’m still holding out hoping that this arrogant side of him is just a façade he’s been showing for the past five years.
When this album was changing people’s lives, I was still fully into my Beatles stage. Back then I gravitated towards the melodic songs like “Lithium” and “In Bloom” but stayed away from the harder rocking songs like “Stay Away” (haha) and “Territorial Pissings”. I wish I was into this album more when it came out. Listening to Nevermind now sounds like listening to a greatest hits album.
“I Know It’s Over” is the perfect litmus test to see where you stand on The Smiths. As Morrissey laments, “Oh Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head” do you roll your eyes because it’s melodrama is over the top or do you think you’re listening to one of the best lyricist over the last 30 years. The same goes for the classic “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”. Sure, lines like “If a double-decker bus crashes to us/To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die” is morose, but I think these lines were said with a bit of a wink. I don’t think Morrissey took these thoughts as seriously as a band like Joy Division.
In my many failed attempts to turn people onto Pavement, I made the mistake of playing them Slanted and Enchanted instead of the more immediately catchy Crooked Rain. Pavement never wanted to be huge stars, but dammit this should have been as popular as anything else in 1994. This is pure classic rock. Stephen Malkmus’s lyrics were a lot more obtuse than his peers, but the joy of the music in “Gold Soundz” and “Cut your Hair” is as direct as can be.
I’m always amazed to think how the Beatles went from A Hard Days Night to Sgt. Peppers in just three years. Radiohead just about did the equivalent by ditching the traditional rock sounds of their hugely popular OK Computer in favor of the electronica sounds of Kid A. I’ll always associate this with being the first album I got from Napster. I downloaded it song by song, and it took awhile. Back then you could not shut the service off until the whole song downloaded. I think a lot of people my age associate this album coinciding with the birth of the Internet as the number one place for acquiring music. This is a beautiful album about isolation and loneliness meant to be listened to in isolation with headphones.
Why don't you create a list that extends back to the 60s since a lot of the music we listen to is from that era? I think I'd be able to guess your Top 10... Well at least Top 5...
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