Musicopia: A Guided Tour Through Polymathic J's Music Collection - The A's

I’ve had a bitch of a time trying to write lately. The thoughts just aren’t flowing well for me, whether I try writing fiction or non-fiction. It’s been frustrating, to say the least.
But it occurred to me that one of the maxims of writing is “write what you know.” I’ve always assumed this was meant mainly for fiction writers, but it occurs to me that there’s one subject that I know quite a bit about: music.
I may not be versed in the technical aspects of music, but I love it. I mean love it. My autobiographical memory sucks, but I can tell you that the first time I heard The Cardigans’s “Lovefool” was in high school at my friend Kate’s house and that it was featured on the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack. I can tell you that I acquired The Fugees’s album The Score in 1996 right before taking a summer trip to Europe to compete in a track and field tour (and that I listened to it incessantly on that trip). And I can remember that on the way home from what must have been a Warriors game when I was about 8, my dad blasted a little Prince to screw with us and wake us up. Some of my earliest memories are of watching MTV (y’know, back when they actually played music 99% of the time), like the time my cousin Chris was babysitting me and wanted to watch the just-premiered “Thriller” video, which scared the ever-lovin’ shit out of me.
I can’t explain it, but music imprints itself on my brain like nothing else. As such, it often fills in the gaps that I seem to find in my past. A good song reminds me of the thoughts and feelings I had when I used to listen to it, of my girlfriend at the time, of what stage of my life I was in when I first fell in love with the song. Music is dear to me in a way that nothing else is.
This is probably why I’m a glutton for it. I will never, ever have enough music. My current collection consists of approximately 13,000 songs, and covers almost every genre of music possible. I love pretty much everything, as long as it’s good (and sometimes even when it’s not), and I love to share it with others. My dream job would probably be DJing on a station that would allow me to play anything I wanted, regardless of genre or explicit lyrics, or perhaps being an executive for a record company, greenlighting great new acts. That ain’t happening, but I thought it would be fun to share my collection with you through my blog.
And so I present to you “Musicopia: A Guided Tour Through Polymathic J’s Music Collection.” Over a series of (who knows how many) blogs I’m going to share my favorite songs and bands, regardless of their cool quotient. If I love it, I’m mentioning it, and, hopefully, providing links to places where you can listen to it. It won’t be my entire collection, of course, but it will be an excellent cross-section of it.
Feel free to give me shit for the bad songs; I won’t care one bit. And feel free to suggest songs and artists that you feel I’m missing out on. Believe me when I say that I’m not a music snob. Why bother limiting myself to what other people think is good when I’ve got excellent taste in music, thank you very much? I’ll give anything a fair go, and I think the diversity of my collection reflects that.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. Here come the A’s. (Note: When I say A’s, I mean iTunes A’s, so Al Green is an A, not a G. Also, I'm breaking this in half, because the A's are exceptionally long.)

The first song on the list is the first song in my collection: a-ha’s “Take On Me”. I was born in ’79, so the first decade I remember is the 80s, and man did I love the 80s. Saturday morning cartoons, kick ass toys that were actually made out of metal rather than cheap plastic (my Optimus Prime was, anyway), and the birth and Golden Age of MTV. What a great time to be a kid.
This song is quintessential 80s, and so is the video. Back then it was a pretty high-tech achievement mixing live action with animation, so this was one of those videos that grabbed everyone’s attention and held it. And c’mon, you gotta love the use of the 80s’ favorite musical tool, the synthesizer.

The next entry is a band, not a song: AC/DC. Until recently, my AC/DC knowledge was gleaned from one album, AC/DC Live, which is essentially a greatest hits album. It’s a great album, but it’s not enough. I recently acquired the album T.N.T. and my suspicions were confirmed—I need everything they’ve ever made, ‘cause they kick some serious ass. In fact, I think they just managed to become my favorite rock band. Period.
This, my friends, is high voltage rock ‘n’ roll. Whether it’s the exceptional guitar playing of the Young brothers (especially Angus), the band turning the volume up to 11, or the in-your-face vocals of Bon Scott and, later, Brian Johnson, AC/DC is everything a rock band is supposed to be. I was going to say that the song “School Days” seems to be a modern day Chuck Berry song until a little research showed me that it actually is a Chuck Berry song. Regardless, AC/DC obviously respects their forebears, and "It’s a Long Way To the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)" even features some kick ass bagpiping. Yes, bagpiping. Now I’m cool with bagpipes, but you know your band is bad-freakin’-ass when you make the bagpipes rock.
Want your AC/DC fix? Here are a handful of my favorite songs: the epically awesome "T.N.T.", the hard-hitting "Thunderstruck", the classic "Back In Black" and, of course, the bane of every religious parent’s existence, "Highway To Hell". Enjoy.

"Goody Two Shoes" by Adam Ant is another 80s favorite. A little repetitive, sure, but it’s nice and upbeat and I love me some horns.

Aerosmith has had a lengthy career, and I’d like to personally thank them for featuring Alicia Silverstone and Liv Tyler in their videos smack dab in the middle of my adolescence, but I have to say that I feel that they’ve sold out in their later years. Nevertheless, "Dream On" will always be a rock classic. And you’ve got to give them credit for helping to legitimize hip-hop by teaming up with Run D.M.C. on a video that literally broke down the barriers between rock and rap.

Shame on you if you have a discussion about classic hip-hop without mentioning Afrika Bambaataa’s "Planet Rock". This was one of those watershed songs that changed the face of what hip-hop/electro/freestyle was considered to be. And you just can’t go wrong with Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force’s Parliament-style costumes. The only thing missing is Bootsy Collins on the stage in a diaper.

Ahmad’s "Back In the Day" has been a favorite of mine since it came out in ’94. Sampling Teddy Pendergrass’s music definitely doesn’t hurt, especially when it so perfectly complements the tone of his lyrics. I was all set to call him a one-hit wonder, but I just discovered that Ahmad is back and killing it! Fittingly, his style has grown, and he is, in my opinion, a much stronger rapper than he was back in the day. Check out his new stuff!

I love me some soul music, and one of soul music’s greats is Al Green. I first got to know him through the Pulp Fiction soundtrack (Quentin Tarantino knows his music, boys and girls), specifically the scene where Butch and Marcellus have a little pre-fight discussion while "Let’s Stay Together" plays in the background. It’s been a real love affair since then, as in "Love & Happiness", and “L-O-V-E (LOVE)”, which, tragically, I can’t seem to find anywhere. And when I found out the ol’ Reverend Al had a new album out with tracks featuring Anthony Hamilton ("Lay It Down", just about the most pimpin’ song ever) and Corinne Bailey Rae ("Take Your Time") I just about had a stroke. Modern classics, if ever there were any. Too bad my girlfriend doesn’t recognize how damn sexy these songs are.

No list would be complete without mention of one of the original shock rockers, Alice Cooper. I’m not too familiar with his stuff, but "I’m Eighteen" is all kinds of good, and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t committed one of the ultimate college cliché’s, turning up my speakers after the last final of my freshman year and blasting "School’s Out" out of my dorm room window.

I can’t say that Alice In Chains is high on my list of bands to listen to (I’ve only got four of their songs), but any fool can see that songs like "Would?" and "Man In the Box" are worth throwing on the ol’ iPod. “Man In the Box” rocks especially hard. I love the way Layne Stanley belts out the chorus.

I wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan of Alicia Keys, but I definitely respect her. She’s got a great voice, she writes her own music, she plays a mean piano (and a bevy of other instruments as well), she’s intelligent and she doesn’t shake her ass in order to fuel her popularity. In short, in a world full of Britney Spears’s and Fergie’s, she’s setting an excellent example for the youthful girls of America.
And she’s hot. Smokin’ hot.
But that’s beside the point. She’s a musician in an industry full of image-conscious personalities, and she should be applauded for swimming against the current. We’ve all heard "Fallin’" and "No One", of course, but these are hardly my favorites. I’m a big fan of "You Don’t Know My Name", although I could do without the spoken word interlude in the middle of the song (I hadn’t seen the video before hunting it down for this blog, and was stoked to see that Mos Def is the guy she likes. Love that guy!). "Wreckless Love" and "Teenage Love Affair" are my favorites off her As I Am album (I laughed my ass off the first time I heard the double entendre mixed into the lyrics “First base: because I feel you/Second base: want you to feel me too”). But my favorite may just be the Karmastition Remix of "Karma", a brilliant use of a Stevie Wonder sample if ever I heard one. This is one of those rare remixes that’s better than the original.
Hmmm…Maybe I am a huge fan of Alicia after all. And did I mention that she's hot?

That's all for now. Don't want to overload you. Too much. I'll get the rest of the A's out later this week.