Life-changing albums: Michele and turtle's lists The guest contributors' lists of top 10 albums that changed their lives continues. Today's is a twofer -- two lists for the price of one. They come from two of the blogosphere's most prolific listmakers, turtle and Michele, who jointly post at Faster than the World, a blog about "punk rock, fast cars and some other stuff."
Here is the link to their complete lists. Below are a couple of cherry-picked excerpts.
First, from turtle:
Bad Brains - Rock For Light
I bet you think you're at the movies somewhere, I bet you think you're at the movies somewhere. This album was a personal vendetta against another band. Well that song was. This one is about some weird Jamican thing. Maybe that's what this about. Well, no wait. This song is about hating the government. Well, no wait. This one is about loving Jah. So that's what this album is abou.....well no wait. This one is about being banned from clubs. What the f___ is this album about? Didn't matter. Cause it was cool. Except for the reggae songs. Why did they have to put those in there? A cool album and being positive, staying stoned and getting their amps stolen. Which, I would find later in life, getting your amps stolen sucks.
And from Michele:
Van Halen - Van Halen I
I wasn't going to do this. I had the Clash, Give Em Enough Rope in this spot. I always feel the need to deny that I'm a VH fan. Or to justify it. It's their fault for letting things get the way they did. I have to clarify all the time. Van Halen. Not Van Hagar. Not that f___ing waste of vinyl with Gary Cherone. Just Van Halen. David Lee Roth. I know Eddie was the music behind VH, but they were nothing without Diamon Dave. Yea, he's a clown, maybe an asshole, but he was one of the greatest rock and roll frontmen ever.
This album was amazing. From my very listen I fell in love with it. Between Eddie's turn on "Eruption" and Dave's ability to make every song sound like a party, this thing kicked all kinds of ass. It still does. That's right. I still listen to it. A lot. "Atomic Punk." "Runnin' With the Devil." This album is a party waiting to happen.