Top 15 Most Influential Albums... Personally

"Think of 15 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world."

So here we go...

1. Motley Crue : Theatre of Pain (my introduction to the Devil's music)

2. George DeVore : Wonderland (my introduction to the Austin music scene)

3. Poison : Look What the Cat Dragged In (Poison rules)

4. Cinderella : Heartbreak Station (best rock/blues/country/folk album ever)

5. Steve Earle : El Corazon (Steve's best work. Encompasses all his songwriting abilities)

6. Run DMC : Raising Hell (first full rap album I bought. still listen to it today)

7. Michael Jackson : Thriller (first record that was actually mine)

8. Def Leppard : Hysteria (I found tapes have a limit how much they can be played)

9. 2 Live Crew : As Nasty As They Wanna Be (my mom had to buy this for since I was under age. That's when I knew I had become a man musically)

10. Todd Snider : Songs for the Daily Planet (best folk rock album from the best folk rock singer

11. V- Roys : All About Town (one best roots rock albums ever which brings me too...

12. Scott Miller & The Commonwealth : Upside Downside (my favorite albums from one of my favorite songwriters)

13. Van Halen : 5150 (THE greatest Van Halen album EVER! Sammy rules!)

14 & 15. Cross Canadian Ragweed : Carney, Jason Boland & The Stragglers : Pearl Snaps (the flagship albums from the bands that changed the way look at music today)

#26

26. Cinderella's "One for Rock n Roll" is one of the greatest songs ever written and I live by it every day.

I was born on the dawn of a new society
And I feel lucky that my eyes could see
People standing up and being who they want to be
People made the music and the music made them free
Now I was just a baby through the summer of love they say
But it still feels like it was today
And if the road gets rough I pick up my guitar and play
It's always been right by my side to help me on my way

Now I don't need to worry 'bout tomorrow
Ain't anticipating what's to come
And I don't need to worry 'bout the things I have not done
Long as I got rock and roll I'm forever young

Now we can't always understand this world
Farther along we'll understand it all
The seventies looked like we all were headed for a fall
But those who listened hard enough could hear the summer call
Now I was growing up through all of this
My first beer and love and my first kiss
You never learn the things in school
You learn by living and going through
You taught me how to be myself
How can I thank you

And I don't need to worry 'bout tomorrow
Ain't anticipating what's to come
And I don't need to worry 'bout the things I have not done
Long as I got rock and roll I'm forever young
Long as I got rock and roll I'm forever young
Ain't it the truth

25 random things

OK, I'll do it....

1. I love taking things apart to see how they work.

2. I've gone over 160mph in a car.

3. I took piano 6 years growing up. (and yes I regret quitting and my parents said I would.)

4. I know little/ nothing about sports.

5. I want a C3 Corvette Stingray more than any other car in the world.

6. I'm obsessed with finding deals on eBay.

7. I have 5 Macs in our house (and one in my pocket ;-).

8. I did illegal drag racing in high school.

9. I had the fastest car in high school.

10. I'm horrible with money.

11. I never learned to crawl when I was a baby.

12. I've driven from Guthrie, OK to Austin, TX for one night of party.

13. I've had eight teeth pulled out of my mouth.

14. I absolutely HATE driving with a dirty windshield.

15. I have a room that looks like its from The 40 Year Old Virgin.

16. I've never broken a bone or sprained anything.

17. I can't stand not being on top of the latest technology.

18. I have a 1TB RAID disk that is literally half full of music only.

19. I can work on Brunswick automatic pinsetters.

20. I've worn glasses since the third grade.

21. My favorite thing about designing is manipulating type.

22. I've never learned to dive.

23. I've completely rebuilt an engine by hand.

24. I hated any kind of school every day I was in it, even though I was good an learnin'.

25. My most favorite time with friends is drinking sangria outside the Grist Mill.

Yeah, yeah yeah...

I missed last Friday's CD of the Week. Had a sick kid though. She's better. Kinda threw the weekend off track. Had a good Valentine's Day though. Ate dinner at the Boneyard in Guthrie then headed to the Dog to watch Bart Crow Band and conduct a little business. Gonna kick it old school on the Strip in Stillwater tomorrow. Mac is playing the Copper Penny.... WTF? Well it will be like old times. Kinda. Looking forward to partyin' on a school night. Come on out.

Rock 'n' Roll CD of the Week: Hardline "Double Eclipse"

This cd doesn't actually come from 80's. Its from 1992. But when you look at the band, you'll see a member synonymous with the 80's. Neal Schon. That's right, the guitarist for Journey. After they broke up this was one of his side projects. He along with the Gioeli brothers, Todd Jensen and Deen Castonovo (drummer for Journey presently), debuted this cd with the single "Takin' Me Down". I heard that song for the first time on 99.1 Z-Rock out of Dallas. I fell in love with it. Double eclipse remains one of my top 10 cd's of this era. Schon wrote some of his catchiest guitar licks ever on this album. Every song on there could be a hit. Other favs include "Life's a Bitch", "Dr. Love", and "Hot Cherie". Hardline has been though member changes through the years but they still retain the strong vocals of Johnny Gioeli. You can listen to the live tracks from Double Eclipse over at last.fm. Go check 'em out. Rock your balls.

A regular article? What?

I've been thinking. I need something to write about. Something more than the 160 character limit of Twitter or Facebook status update. If I write about something, I want to have knowledge of what I'm writing. And what do I know more about than 80's rock 'n' roll. So here's what I'm gonna do. Every Friday will have an album from that era/ genre from my personal collection. Now every once in a while I may stray from said specifics and throw in a little rap and/ or pop. But these will be cd's and tapes I've accumulated over that period of time... some from the early 90's too before that damn grunge killed off good rock n roll. I'm sure a few will get a kick out of it and other will get a "Fuck yeah! I remember that!". Probably from my musical brothers Poncho and Kevin. So I'll start this up sometime today after lunch. It's a good 'un. Hell they're all good. But anyway, see ya in a bit.