Latest obsession on my FB wall seems to be people listing out their top ten albums from their teens. I didn't really have a top ten, but here's 10 that influenced me, with a few liner notes.
Private Dancer - Tina Turner - bought this on my first home leave from Job Corps, and wore it out. Literally wore it out - wore the cassette thin. My goth side loved Private Dancer, my "men are pigs" side (hey, I was a teenage girl) loved "What's Love Got To Do With It", my mystical side loved "I Might Have Been Queen" - it had everything.
Summertime Dream - Gordon Lightfoot, 1976. The second or third album that I ever bought with my own money. While I initially bought it for the same reason everyone else did (the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald), I ended up preferring the other side of the album- Spanish Moss is a lovely song that winds around your dreams, Protocol is haunting and not in a good way, and The House You Live In is just good advice.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - Grandmaster Flash (I liked the compilation because it had New York, New York on it along with The Message) - Upward Bound, represent! I spent my high school summers living in a dorm where I was a distinct minority, and it was my first intro into rap - probably the best intro into rap you could have. Absolutely not my language, but angry enough and well written enough to get through to a white girl from Southern Utah.
The Outlaws - Waylon, Willie, Jessie, Tom Paul - Ok, much more my language. My first concert as well - wonderful concert...
Purple Rain - Prince - Another album where I wore it thin. Daddy issues, purple motorcycle, lovely goth clothing... and the man could write.
Future Fossils - Christine Lavin - cheating a bit - she's standing in for a lot of folk music that I loved
and Beau Woes was a better album, but this had Cold Pizza for Breakfast and Artificial Means, so...
Bat Out of Hell - Meatloaf - Wagnerian rock and roll- the best "screaming down the highway" road music ever.
Pretty much everything Jane Olivor released in the late 70s - I loved her voice, but more importantly, she was a connection to Don, the guy who imprinted me on guys wearing flannel.
Quarter Moon in a 10 Cent Town - EmmyLou Harris - Pretty much the entire A side I can still sing from memory, and Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight and To Daddy are still my favorite EmmyLou songs ever.
4 comments:
Good list.
Bat Out of Hell is definitely on my list as well. I remember the summer it came out. I used to ride my bike into Broad Brook every week for my Boy Scout meeting. Beforehand, I'd stop at the grinder shop across the street for dinner and listen to the jukebox while I was eating. I's always play Paradise By The Dashboard Light. Not exactly a family friendly dinner table sorta song.
Some of the albums on my list
Meatloaf - Bat Out of Hell
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
Eagles - Hotel California
Charlie Daniels Band - Volunteer Jam VI
Boston
The Blues Brothers - A Briefcase Full of Blues
Frank Zappa - Joe's Garage
Rush - Moving Pictures
Wow! The flood of memories these bring back. Thanx.
I could have added almost all of those to my list as well... well, not the Zappa.
Thanks, Denise. This brings. Back a lot of memories! Wasn't there also an album called Twins Sons of Different Mothers?
Yes! Dan Fogelburg and Tim Weisburg - wonderful album.
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