Eleven Songs that Marked My Youth

In no particular order:

Butthole Surfers - Who Was in My Room Last Night?
If it wasn't for the Butthole Surfers, I wouldn't have known about Ween, and without those two bands, I wouldn't have ever learned the meaning of comedy rock. Most of my friends don't know the Butthole Surfers, so every time they see their name on my iPod, they giggle. Butt jokes will never run out of style, eh?

The Jesus Lizard - Bloody Mary
Because The Jesus Lizard showed me what a genius Steve Albini is. Without Albini, Cobain would have been like the Conor Oberst of the nineties: an overly sensitive, bordering-on-emo indie douchebag. God, I love noise.

David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust
Obvious, I don't even know why I put that on here. Having Bowie on this type of list is like claiming the Earth is round.

The Clash - White Riot
I might have already talked about this song before. I don't care, though. There was a time when I was obsessed with the Clash, and I would be embarrassed of it, hadn't this been such a crucial moment in my musical education. Without The Clash, I wouldn't have become interested in punk, and I would have never been introduced to bands that, to this day, remain among my favorites -- Adam & the Ants, Siouxsie, The Buzzcocks, blah... Plus, it's The Clash! I mean, dude!

The Cure - How Beautiful You Are
My mother, in her extreme musical ignorance, would occasionally play The Cure. My earliest recollections of Cure date back to when I was eight/nine-ish. She would usually play Lovesong, though, so I wasn't blown away by them just yet. Until one day she got this album (Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me) and I found religion. I found the REAL Cure. I broke the album from listening to it too much. I still have a place in my heart for it, even though years have passed and I moved on from my Cure days.

Nine Inch Nails - We're in This Together
Back when I still listened to mainstream radio, I stumbled upon this. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was love at first listen. Turns out, this was made by the same dude who sang that profanity-laden MTV song, Closer. That's how it all happened. Eight years later, I'm still faithfully hooked on Reznor's pretty hate machine, and still making sweet love to this song.

Tool - Sober
Damn, was I obsessed with Tool. Having discovered them around the time I discovered the eye-opening magic of Nine Inch Nails, I felt like I was in music heaven. From Undertow, an album that scared me upon first listen. It was really, really dark! (come on, cut me some slack, I was 12!)

Portishead - Glory Box
One of the first songs that gave me chills and made every single hair in my body stand up. I've been obsessed with sad female voices ever since.

Radiohead - Fake Plastic Trees
I cried. I cried hard to this song. That speaks for itself. It's fucking Radiohead, of course I had to cry!

Patti Smith - Because the Night
Bah, boring, I know. Well, it was an important song to me, I loved it. Mother, on the other hand, loved the 10,000 Maniacs cover. Even so early in the game, I knew that cover could never top the original. I was about 10.

U2 - New Year's Day
Another contribution from my mother to my musical upbringing. Old-school U2 wasn't so bad. I would listen to this song on repeat till I fell asleep every night (along with Unforgiven by Metallica lol, but that I won't mention here *blushes*) and would have dreams of debris and destruction and chaos. Now that was freaky. Maybe it was a premonition of the future of U2. Jesus, do they suck hard now!

Bonus!
Skinny Puppy - Dig It
There's a story behind this song, and this album (Mind: The Perpetual Intercourse), but I won't tell it today. I used to be a huge Skinny Puppy fan, now not so much, but this song... wow, I don't know why it stuck so much. Maybe it's cause it's like NIN's Down in It's daddy.

Heh. Notice how, except for NIN and a couple bands here and there, I don't really listen to any of these people anymore? Ok, maybe I do. Not as much as I used to, though.

Also, notice how I didn't curse ONCE in this entry? Wow, how did that happen? Ok, I said douchebag. Big fucking deal! Oops! *covers mouth* Shhhhhh!!!

***EDIT: I should have also put Sonic Youth on here.



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