100th Post

The last post was the 100th I’ve put up on this blog, and I’m wondering if you’ll even read any of them one day.

And then, I wonder if you’ll even like any of this music.  I like to think that there is enough variety here to offer you something.

You are six-years-old now, and I think you really do like music, which pleases me.  You sing a pretty mean version of “Pretend We’re Dead” by L7 on Rock Band 2, which is awesome.  There are a lot of parents who wouldn’t be pleased by that, preferring their kids eat up generic pap by “safe” pop stars.

I would much rather you listen to stuff that comes from the heart and soul.  Stuff that’s not manufactured merely to sell records.  There’s nothing wrong with a little candy now and then, but we need real nourishment, too.

My Decade

I think I should explain why many of these posts are of music made in the 1980’s.  That decade encompassed most of my formative years, the time period of a lot of growth for me as a young man.  In the 1980’s, I graduated high school, went to college, had some of my first real jobs, and first “real” girlfriends.  I also got to travel to some great places, which expanded my horizons and perspective tremendously.

Fortunately, there was a lot of great music produced during the ’80’s.

Where to begin?

I have to remind myself that I’m just trying to highlight songs that have meant a lot to me.  Music that might just give you a little boost every now and then.

But there’s so much great music out there, it’s almost paralyzing just thinking of where to begin.

So these are posted in no particular order.  I just have to dive in.

Spread out on the living room floor

That’s how I listened to music.  Once upon a time, albums came on large vinyl discs, called LP’s (for “long-playing”).  You might have seen them in our garage.  The LP’s were often packaged in sleeves, which were then tucked inside jackets or covers.  The sleeves and covers often had liner notes, lyrics, musicians’ credits, recording session information, and really nice art.

So try to imagine your old man as a kid, coming home with a new LP, tearing off the plastic wrap, and carefully removing the vinyl to place on the turntable.  Placing the stylus on the outer groove of the LP, and adjusting the stereo’s volume, I would find a nice spot on the carpet to spread out both myself and the album’s cover and sleeve.   Then I’d follow along with the lyrics while soaking up as much of the music as I could.

So much great music, so little time

You are almost six years old now.  By the time you’re buying your own music, good songs will be buried in iPods and playlists, needles in giant haystacks of mediocrity.  Many will be mislabeled, too, so you might just think that “Brown Sugar” was done by The Beatles, or that Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2″ really IS titled “We Don’t Need No Education.”

A sad state of affairs if you ask me.  These artists spend a lot of time and effort putting their music out there.  They generally record albums, or collections of songs, which often have themes or something tying them together.  This is how I learned to enjoy music.  As a work of art from a group of people.