Five Albums

I'm starting a running feature (and by starting, I mean that I want everyone else on this blog to do the heavy lifting) by presenting 5 albums that have a common theme. Today's theme: albums that I haven't heard in a long time, even though I loved them at some point in my life.

1. London 0, Hull 4, The Housemartins

2. Louder Than Bombs, The Smiths

3. Appetite for Destruction, Guns n' Roses

4. Pocket Full of Kryptonite, Spin Doctors/3 Years, 5 Months, & 2 Days in the Life of..., Arrested Development

5. Songs to Learn and Sing, Echo and the Bunnymen

In high school, when most of my classmates were listening to Top 40 bubblegum crap, the Housemartins, Smiths, and Bunnymen made me feel just a little bit avant garde - like I was part of something just a little bit cooler, and more sophisticated. Along with The Cure, the Church, the Waterboys, Hothouse Flowers, and other staples of MTV's 120 Minutes, these bands were the foundation of my future musical tastes.

My high school lacrosse teammates and I used to grill shark steaks and crank G 'n R before big games. Mr. Brownstone is still my favorite metal song.

I spent my first year out of college driving around the Eastern United States in a useless job for my fraternity's national office. One of the saving graces of that time was the hours upon hours I spent driving with the radio turned up loud. I wore out the Spin Doctors and Arrested Development. I can't really stand the Spin Doctors today - every album after that one was horrid - but I still know all the words to Pocket.