More Bulldozing

For the sake of just a little diversity, I'll leave the Old 97's off my list, even though the first few bars of "King of All of the World" on Satellite Rides never fail to pump me up. I could probably list 15 or 20 albums pretty quickly, but here are 3 that came directly to mind:

Trace by Son Volt -- Really the first alt-country album I ever heard, or at least remember hearing. I grew up with a country music-listening father, so I naturally rebelled against it for a while in college. Then I heard this album, and a few by Wilco, and discovered one of my favorite musical genres. Started listening to real country again, too - George Strait, Hank Williams, Jr., Alabama - which was a decent side benefit. Trace is still one of my favorite albums to listen to while driving aimlessly with the windows down on a warm spring afternoon.

They Might Be Giants by They Might Be Giants -- I actually like Lincoln and John Henry better than the Johns' first major label release, but this album and its hit song "Don't Let's Start" never fails to put me in a great mood. It instantly takes me back to my senior year of high school, when I wore out the cassette version, wondering how something so unabashedly dorky could be so goddamn cool. Little did I know that we'd all have the answer 10 years later.

Vs. by Pearl Jam -- I don't listen to Pearl Jam much anymore - just really got turned off by Eddie Vedder's aggressive prickdom. But the first 4 songs on this album just plain rock. "Go" is one of the top 10 album-starters ever.