20. Metallica – Metallica (The Black Album)

My earliest memories of Metallica are from Cleveland, when they were one of a few bands I knew of that were “evil”. (evil –> When in reference to music, any band that plays music using amplified instruments, especially the vile ‘electric guitar’, noticeably loud, and had a tendency to sing or scream lyrics in such a way as to make them incomprehensible, or at the very least “angry sounding”. More commonly referred to as “Heavy Metal” music at the time, evil music was to be avoided, except at sleepover parties and when riding in a car with friends old enough to drive. )Well, times change. The sad thing is that this wasn’t really my parents thing, as they’ve been very kewl about the music I listen to (I recall once I was listening to Head Like a Hole and my mom walked in [for some other reason]. As she was leaving she stopped and listened. “Bow Down before the one you serve?” she said, “That doesn’t sound very Christian.” I told her she should listen to the whole album and decide, and she politely declined.)

Like I said, times change. I liked the song “Enter Sandman”, so I figured I’d get the album that was on during a cd shopping spree I had shortly before my Sophomore year spring break project to Louisiana. (You’ll note that this trip was a bit of a turning point in my life. I got really into music on this trip, and though I was already quite interested in the fairer sex, I became damn near obsessed after this trip. [Those who take issue with the "near" part of that claim should rest assured that the Young People's convention in San Diego the following year turned me into the frightfully all-consumed being you now know and pretend to love.]. It was also on this trip that I discovered that girls liked jackasses, and that many, many people are very stupid. It was quite a trip. One of the best times of my life.) Anyway, I signed up for BMG so I could get a bunch of CDs for free (REM Out of Time, Out of Time, and Monster. Green Day – Dookie, Nirvana – Nevermind, Aerosmith – Get a Grip, and Cranberries – No Need to Argue. yes I still remember which 7 I picked.) Then I went out and bought a few, including Metallica’s Black album. I really didn’t get to listen to it much on the trip.. While in Louisiana we listened to my Animaniacs cd a ton, then the ride home it was almost entirely REM, (it was then that I realized that REM was wonderful, and began obsessively purchasing every album I ever found from them. At present (including singles and imports) I have about 60, but I stopped buying singles and imports after Up was released.. (meaning there’s a few B-sides out there that I really need to acquire).

Anyway, back to Metallica. My friend (and high school carpool-mate) Ryan and I both liked Metallica (well, I liked Enter Sandman at this point), so we’d listen to this album on the way to and from school a fair bit. I grew to find I liked all the songs on it quite a bit. The thing that interested me quite a bit (and I had discussions with my brother about this very thing a few times in the past few years) was that the songs were about a variety of topics. That might sound dumb, but I think it’s rare. Songs are typically about : love, drugs, partying, or how great you are, and how much someone else sucks. One of my favorite songs on the album is Don’t Tread on Me, a song about the USA, and how other countries better respect us, or we’ll blow them the hell up. (Okay, that’s not exactly what it says, but the idea is there: “To secure peace is to prepare for war.”) They’ve also got the riff from West Side Story in the intro, which I think sounds awesome. This album has Nothing Else Matters, which was the second “complicated” song I wanted to learn on the guitar (complicated means it wasn’t just G-C-D). I eventually learned quite a of few of the songs on this album, and as I said before, that makes me like (and listen to) an album a whole lot more. For a long time, this was the “Loud Angry Music” I’d crank whenever I needed loud angry music. Anyway, this is one of those albums that I’ve liked since I’ve bought it. Undoubtedly another album where some will complain that it was overplayed, but with songs like Enter Sandman, Unforgiven, Where I May Roam, Sad But True, and Nothing Else Matters, how can you not play them often?

21. Enya – Watermark

A story: I’ve always had trouble sleeping. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t sleep well, or that I was always tired, it was just certain nights I couldn’t fall asleep, no matter what I tried. This got to be a pretty big problem around my sophomore year of High School, when I was going 2 or three days in a row with less than 2 hours of sleep (This was before my body had grown used to such things, and no longer felt it out of the ordinary.) I’d just lie awake all night, thinking about things [my brain endlessly grinding on things it had no control over], and wishing I could fall asleep. I told Beth about it, and she sent me a tape, and told me to listen to it at night when I was trying to go to sleep. It didn’t work right away, and there were nights when I ended up hearing the whole tape 3 or 4 times through, but in time this tape seemed to develop the ability to calm and pacify me to the point that I could just fall asleep no matter how much was on my mind. Soon the tape was being used to calm me when I was pissed [which was a lot... this was High School we're talking about, after all], calm me when I was anxious, accompany me when I was studying, and overall just return me to a sense of normalcy when I was bugging out. When I got to college, it was one of the few tapes that remained in my car at all times, always ready to come through if I was about to explode. To this point, all I knew was that it was Enya, as Beth had written “Enya” on one side of the tape. Well one day during my Junior year of college, Swac and I were at a used Cd store, and I noticed a section of Enya, and I noticed Watermark, and the titles of some of the songs sounded pretty familiar (Orinoco Flow and Cursum Perficio), so I bought it, and it was indeed the album I had on the tape. Since that time I’ve gotten quite a few Enya albums, and I like them all, but none can compare to the power and memories that Watermark still holds for me.

In more recent years, I’ve done a little looking to see what exactly is being said in some of these songs. I knew that many of them were in a foreign language, (some Latin, some stuff I didn’t recognize [later found them to be Irish Gaelic, which makes sense]).) Anyway, I was pleased when I saw that the lyrics themselves were pretty good (i.e. they weren’t just Chumbawamba translated into Latin, or anything.). My favorite song on the album since the first time I heard it is Storms in Africa (II). As a fan of just sitting and watching thunderstorms, any song that begins with the sounds of a storm are going to get a few extra points.

22. Live – Throwing Copper

Live. I like Live a lot. I got into them about the time everyone else did, shortly after Throwing Copper was released, and I, Alone, Selling the Drama, and All Over You were being played on the radio, and the I, Alone video was getting some airplay on MTV’s 120 minutes (which, back in the day, was really a good show. sigh [insert comment about MTV completely sucking here]). In typical fashion, I listened to this album endlessly, and quickly associated most of the songs with people, events, situations, etc… Beth and I listened to the album quite a bit when we were all down in Louisiana on a spring break serve project, and she mentioned liking the song Iris, so naturally I associated that song with her. So when that all ended, I stopped listening to the album completely, and it sat for about a year. Eventually Live came out with another album (Secret Samadhi), and I decided to give the old album another listen, and I realized that I still really, really liked it. For the first time, I started really paying attention to the lyrics as well, and started to realize many of them weren’t at all saying what I believed they were saying the first time I listened to the album, and others I just didn’t understand at all. After doing a lot more listening, and some research, I started to get a handle on where things were coming from. Turns out the the lead singer, Ed Kowalcyzk, has some fairly funky ideas about life, death, religion, the universe, and everything. While I tend not to agree with quite a bit of what he’s saying (Live can be almost militantly anti-Christian at times), I found (and still find) it fascinating to listen to him put into words these ideas that obviously mean so much to him. He’s got a great voice, which helps, obviously, but there’s more to it [on this album especially]. There’s an emotion and energy in each song that really forces you to take notice… You’re not just sitting back and listening to Jimmy Buffet warble about cheeseburgers with this album. I’ve mentioned before that I like songs where the lyrics are good poetry in and of themselves (rather than just simplistic poppy choruses and hollow verses. I like lyrics that I would find interesting to read apart from the music. This album has that going for it as well. There is frequent use of colorful metaphors. One my favorites is the line “Pale blue colored iris presents the circle” in Lightning Crashes. The song is about the circle of life and death, as a child is born and a mother dies. This circle of life is seen in the unending circle of the iris. I guess some people would find that lame, but it struck me as being clever.

I’m also a big fan of songs where there are two things being sung at the same time. (i.e. you have at least 2 people singing, but they’re singing different words, but the whole thing flows together quite nicely).. I’m sure there’s a musical term for it [...googling...failure. Seeking help... failure. Anyone know that?] Anyway, the song Pillar of Davidson has that going on at the end of it, and I think it sounds excellent. [then there's always the trick of trying to sing both parts of it while driving in your car...] Polyphony! Thanks Christa!

The other big thing I liked about this album was that I learned to play most of the songs on the album quite quickly. (I believe that the hardest part was learning how to drop the tuning a half step.) When I can play along to the music, I tended to listen to it a lot more, and I’d listen a lot more closely.

Favorite songs: I, Alone, Pillar of Davidson, Horse, Lightning Crashes, Selling the Drama, All Over You.

Song lyrics:

when all that’s left to do
is reflect on what’s been done
this is where sadness breaths
– Dam at Otter Creek

We are by and large the same
– Stage

warm bodies, I sense
are not machines that can only make money
– Pillar of Davidson

I tried to think of something deep to say
but my well is dripping dry today
– Horse

Today was excellent. Excellent.

23. Hole – Live Through This

Ah, yes. Hole. It may seem a bit odd to put Hole in my top 25, and then say Nevermind didn’t make the cut, but this Hole album introduced me to a lot of things, not the least of which being the “angry, rocking chick” music I’ve found that I really like (the likes of Veruca Salt, The Donnas, Guano Apes, Snake River Conspiracy, etc..). Hole was also very loud, which was quite a plus for music when I got into Hole (Sophomore-Junior year of High School). I won’t lie and say she’s has the best voice… and as a person, she was pretty messed up, and who knows if she still is now or not (signs point to yes.) But I’ve always liked this album. I got it because I liked the song Violet (“Go on, take everything.”), and when I listened to it all the way through, I decided that the whole thing was very good. The lyrics are genuine as well (i.e. They mean something, and convey emotions), especially those that have to do with her child, Frances.

Lyrics:

I told you from the start just how this would end.
When I get what I want, then I never want it again
– Violet

And someday, you will ache like I ache
Someday, you will ache like I ache
– Doll Parts

you can try to suck me dry
but there’s nothing left to suck
– Gutless

[realization: It's very hard to write about a very mad/pissed off album when I am, in fact, in a very good mood.]

24. Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill

This was the first tape I ever owned. We were living in Cleveland at the time, and I had heard about the tape from a friend of mine, but knew absolutely nothing about what it was like So my parents got it for me (thanks in no small part to my brother, Jeff, saying that it was okay [i.e. not "bad" music]). This was pretty much the only music I listened for years, Consequently, I learned the entire album word for word, and could still recite any song at the drop of a hat (ain’t that right, Tuuk?). This album was all about girls, partying, and how great the Beastie Boys are. Quality stuff. Here’s one album that still holds its own after all these years. (People still seem to love it when Brass Monkey gets blasted in the bar, anyway.)

It’s harder to say that this album, and these lyrics moved me in a significant way, save for the obvious nostalgia, but this album did teach me a few things: Don’t take whores back to my house, because they might rob me while I’m sleeping, White Castle fries only come in one size, and don’t try to out-rhyme the Beastie Boys. So yeah.. This album is just pure fun, and it sports yet another quality album cover:

The tape showed the full picture, and the Cd cover folder out to show this full image. On the tale is 3MTA3. ["Eat Me" backwards]. Some places online having said this cover is supposed to represent the rock n roll life style.. .where everything appears safe, but when you open it up to look closer, it’s crashed into a mountain.. .but come on. We all know it’s a joint.

Fav songs include: Rhymin’ and Stealin; Paul Revere’s Ride, Girls, Brass Monkey, She’s Crafty. An aside: The following lyrics got me punched by two different girls on two separate occasions:

Girls – to do the dishes
Girls – to clean up my room
Girls – to do the laundry
Girls – and in the bathroom
– Girls

25. Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon

I had heard a few Pink Floyd songs here or there before, but I was first really introduced to them by my good friend, Molly [who I really should email]. I had given her a mix tape of some Pearl Jam, and she, in turn, made me some Pink Floyd tapes. She and I spent a lot of time interpreting song lyrics, so we went through some songs from Dark Side of the Moon, and I found them to be quite good. I like it when an album seems to be one connected unit trying to get across some sort of central message, rather than a disjointed collection of pop songs. (though this can be taken to an extreme, which isn’t a good thing). Later on, she hooked me the album on cd, and I listened to it a lot. Soon afterwards, Hope college showed The Wizard of Oz in time with Dark Side of the Moon, and Tim, Molly, and I went to see that. It was pretty slick, it an weird “um… That’s trippy” kind of way. To this day, when I hear the line “The lunatic is on the grass…” I picture the scarecrow popping up by the yellow brick road. Since that time, I’ve been a fan of this album, and it remains one of a precious few that when a song comes up on random, I must listen to the entire album rather than listen to just that one song. This album also gets props for having one of the kewlest album covers of all time. Simplistic, yet universally recognized.

This album has a number of excellent songs on it, including Money, Time, Us and Them, and Eclipse. While there are a few other Floyd tunes that I really like (On the Turning Away, Comfortably Numb, Wearing the Inside Out, Learning to Fly, etc..) this is by far my favorite Pink Floyd Album. Some lyric clips that I’ve collected from this album over the years:

• For long you live and high you fly
  And smiles you’ll give and tears you’ll cry
  And all you touch and all you see
  Is all your live will ever be
  — Breathe
• Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
  Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
  — Time
• Run rabbit run
  Dig that hole, forget the sun,
  And when at last the work is done
  Don’t sit down it’s time to start another one
  — Breathe
• And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
  You shout and no one seems to hear
  And if the band you’re in starts playing different tunes
  I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon.
  — Brain Damage

Having to go without [much] music the week I was gone, (I listened to The Downward Spiral on the plane, but that’s been it.) I started thinking about what albums I really liked, and I’ve compiled a list. It is by no means complete, nor should its order really mean much, though some albums I obviously like better than others. I will list out a number that I thought of that I really liked, but decided not to stick on the list for one reason or another (e.g. I didn’t like a few songs, or I already had a ton of albums from that artist on the list, or it’s too new, and I’m not sure if I’ll still like it as much in a year or two.) Criteria for this list: 1.) I have to like/tolerate every song on the album (with a possible exception here or there.), rather than it being just an album with two songs I like. 2.) I listen to it frequently, and find the lyrics meaningful or worthwhile. [And therefore, it has to have lyrics. Otherwise The Jurassic Park Soundtrack would have to be on here.] 3.) I can envision myself listening to this album in a year or 5 years (So, current favs like Avril Lavigne don’t get greater appreciation than they deserve). 4.) I have some sort of emotional tie to songs on the album (or the album itself) or associate songs/the album with particular events/stages in my life. As I tend to do that alot, and quite quickly, I figured it was a valid criteria to add. So I’ll try to add an album each day… but for now, the ones that didn’t quite make the cut (i.e. I liked them a lot, but they didn’t make the top 25 list) : [in no order at all]

• Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes
• Pearl Jam – Vitology
• Soul Asylum – Let Your Dim Light Shine
• Veruca Salt – Resolver
• Pearl Jam – Yield
• The Verve Pipe – Pop Smear
• Nirvana – Nevermind
• Bon Jovi – Slippery When Wet
• R.E.M. – New Adventures in Hi-Fi
• R.E.M. – Monster
• Guster – Keep It Together
• R.E.M. – Document
• Pearl Jam – No Code
• Weezer – Pinkerton
• Soul Asylum – Candy from a Stranger
• Dashboard Confessional – A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar
• Crash Test Dummies – God Shuffled His Feet
• Counting Crows – Recovering the Satellites.
• Pearl Jam – No Code
• The Verve Pipe – The Verve Pipe
• Live – The Distance to Here
• Kristin Hersh – Hips and Makers
• Gary Jules – Greeting from the Side
• Elastica – Elastica

My ciuosn Sven snet me and Aadm tihs eiaml taht calimed the filwloong:

Aocnrdcig to a rrccheaseh at Cmdirabge Usniitvery, it doesn’t matetr in waht oredr the lretets in a wrod are, the olny iomnertpt tihng is that the frsit and lsat letter be at the rhgit place. The rset can be a taotl mess and you can still read it wtuohit pelobrm. Tihs is baseuce the hamun mind does not read evrey leettr by isetlf, but the word as a whole

Sevn meotnenid that wihle he was uaticnren wehhter the shoocl eevr did such a study, or wehtehr tihs was all just some Ierntnet/eiaml hoax of some sort. But he raeisd an innerstteig qsutieon: Why deos slpnileg mtater? As I undsreatnd it, luggnaae is a maens to esxerps iedas bweteen ppleoe. So wrods are the vhcilee uesd to mvoe ttghohus from your haed to sobdoemy esle’s. This sutdy/hoax/tngiehr smees to segusgt taht the atacul spnlielg of tsehe wodrs mttares very lltite… Now we terhe aeegrd that cxtneot seemed to play a mjaor role in dpernecihig what was said, so a stirng of rnaodm words was mroe dciuifflt to fuigre out (thus manikg the Jbulme in the nweeasppr knida tickry at temis), but eevn so, it’s jsut not all taht hard to fuigre out what is bieng said… It’s esay eunogh to be albe to sitll raed tihs parapragh at prtety mcuh the smae speed you wloud nlloramy, I tnhik. I guess the moajr diwndose is that mepniilslsg wdors makes you aepapr uitnnengilelt, or clerseas. I konw it jsut ikrs me when I find tpoys in blog posngtis a day afetr I’ve wrteitn it. I”m cievocnnd you all tihnk I’m a mroon, wichh of crusoe you do. But the fact rmnieas, eevn with my crpapy slnlepig, you pablroby know waht I’m tklaing abuot. I know Cshtria has grown so used to my frqeunet migpeilslsns she lileky dosen’t even noctie tehm aynrome (i hope) Ehiter way, I found it sieomnhtg iestritenng to tnhik aubot for a little while. Now if only Prel knew waht I was trnyig to say when I tepyd, I’d be all set…

In urnealted news, I got to see Jtnahaon‘s bnad, Ciarc Wseliy paly at Fdunroes aigan, and they wree enlcxleet. I had a good tmie tnlkaig wtih Aaln and his wife, Junko, Jeol, and Jnoaahtn’s wfie, Rhaecl. I was aslo pseaeld that tehy pylead my fairotve snog bfoere I took off. Chtay and BDF get the fniegr for syiang they’d come, then not ciomng. Jeol and I got dkinrs for free from a cute wastries.. but minaly bucsaee she cpeellmtoy fgorot aoubt us for abuot a hlaf an huor. Oehtr thgnis this weenked: I saw Mhccatstik Men, wihch was fialry eiaitnrtnneg, wnet to a “ptary” at Lsia and Lidsnay’s pcale, letar jeoind by Beth, a girl I deatd dunrig hgih soochl. She was kewl tehn and ctueonins to be now, tuhogh a good cunhk of me intnstlay felt like the paehittc lseor I blveieed mlseyf to be when she borke up with me as soon as she areirvd. Tfaulnlkhy I had devpeoeld a rthear ietnnse haechade aoubt hfaalwy tugrhoh the moive taht had mdae fiosncug on aintnhyg else nxet to issoilmpbe by taht pnoit. I took pitruecs of Kitrisn’s dog, Wositn wehn I went over to her house on Tuhdarsy. Dennir at the Vdhloef’s Snuady was wednurfol… I got to check out Liasndy’s new hosue, and later in the evneing I saw Jsoh’s new pcale. (Btoh are rrakalmbey ncie.) Josh and I hadeed in to Max and Erams and I was geeetrd with Sara, Amy, and Mray elmiacnixg in usinon “It’s Ron!”. That mdae my day. That is all.

As noted before, my phone was having issues.. So I called up Verizon, and told them my problem. The guy asked if I was currently using my cell phone to call him, and I said yes. He asked if I had another line available to me. I was home, so I gave him my home phone number. He said he’d call me right back. I hung up… 2 hours later I decided to just call in using my home phone. I got a new guy, and he walked me through a number of things, none of which worked, until he finally said “I have no idea what’s wrong…”. So he wrote up a “problem ticket” that goes to the tech guys, who were supposed to be able to fix the problem. He said it usually takes between 24 and 48 hours to fix, and I’d know it was fixed when I started getting phone calls again (duh), but if it didn’t work within 48 hours I should call in, or go to the local Verizon store, and get it fixed that way.

I ended up turning my phone off when I was over at my sister, Kristin‘s place last night. (We [Kris, Mindy, an me] ate some lasagna that Kris cooked up, then watched Donnie Darko. Grand!) When the movie was done, I turned the phone back on to see if I had gotten any voice mail messages, and Kristin tried calling me, and it worked. Excellent! It was fixed. I had Dave call me this morning to make sure it was still good, and it worked no problem.

I got a call about 5 minutes ago:

Verizon guy: “Hello, is this Mr. Vestring?”
Me: “Ron Veenstra?”
Verizon guy: “Oh.. right. I’m sorry. Um… I have this report here.. Let me see.

[begins mumbling incoherently, with occasional words showing up indicating he's reading the "problem ticket" or whatever.]

Verizon guy: “So, apparently there’s a known issue with the LG 150 [my phone], so I’ve indicating on your account that you can bring in the phone and get a replacement of equal or lesser value. If you’d like a more expensive phone, you’ll be credited for the value of your current phone.”
Me: “Yeah… Um.. The issue with my phone was that I couldn’t receive calls, but now I can. So why do I have to take my phone in?”
Verizon guy: “You can receive calls now?”
Me: “You just called me on my phone.”
Verizon guy: “Oh… right. Um.. They. um.. They must have.. They didn’t write anything. Um. They don’t tell me anything here. So… If your phone works, then, you don’t need a replacement. But I’ll add a note to your account, and if you can’t get calls sometime in a reasonable amount of time… if your phone doesn’t receive calls again, within a reasonable amount of time.. like a month, you can bring it in and get a replacement. How does that sound?”
Me: “That sounds fine.”
Verizon guy: “Okay, well, I’ll add that. And sorry about the inconvenience, you are a valued…”

[goes into the pre-scripted "You're special" Verizon speech I've now heard 3 times in 2 days.]

My favorite part was the long stunned pause after I said “You called me on my phone”. I could almost hear the gears grinding in his head.