Here, in a roughly chronological order, is every cassette tape/CD I purchased between grades four and eight. Why not? In high school I could probably tell you exactly how each CD purchase led to another, weave a thread to explain how Limp Bizkit led to Catch-22 led to Joanna Newsom. Now I acquire so much stuff at such a rapid clip that the only common acqusitional denominator is late-night musical A.D.D. and the quest for a constantly fresh radio hour. Better for the overall listening experience, but it lacks the kind of High Fidelity music-as-narrative-placeholder-for-life-events power.
So here we go. Part 1 begins at the tail-end of elementary school, the walkman purchase, and ends with my first CD in sixth grade... Because after I posted about the Grammy tape I decided that my time would be better spent listening to Paula Cole on the YouTube.
1. ACE OF BASS - THE SIGN
I don't remember where I first heard Ace of Bass -- I guess it had to be the radio, right? Either way, I do distinctly remember my mom driving me to the mall so I could buy this on cassette at a store called The Wall, which had this awesome guarantee where you could return any purchase at any time if it ever went to shit if you had a little proof-of-purchase sticker. Cool. All my first albums were from there. Anyway, I spent so much time listening this on my walkman, and, to my younger self's credit, I still think "The Sign," "All That She Wants," "Don't Turn Around" and "Happy Nation" are damn catchy singles. In fact, '90s Euro-dance-pop is probably my favorite arbitrary genre ever. (I'd link to a definitive genre mix I posted on the KRLX MP3 blog a couple years ago but the site's down right now.) At any rate, the fact that this album was my first-ever purchase is as good a testament as any to the kid I was. Forget my collection of sports jerseys that I always rocked to school; I was getting down to totally gay pop music in my spare time. Whoo!
2. JOCK JAMS VOL. 1
Forget what you know about the Jock Jams mega-mix or whatever the Jock Jams series has become, this pristine original volume was pure rock & roll. Obviously I was into it because it was all familiar sports anthems that I'd heretofore only known a line or two of, but this tape was my first exposure to: Queen, the Ramones, Sly & the Family Stone, the Romantics, James Brown. Real good shit. My buddy Matt and I used to use tracing paper to make bad copies of some of the cool drawings of his wallpaper and I played him "Blitzkrieg Bop," which I loved but couldn't understand a fucking word of. Here is what I thought some of the lyrics were:
The fun is in the back set/ the den-a-ray stee-bies / I'm taped to the back beat/ The blitzkrieg bop.
Matt in turn showed me Guns 'N' Roses or something, but I never got into it. We did play a lot of the original Doom though on PC. That game was rad as hell.
3. MATCHBOX 20 - YOURSELF OR SOMEBODY LIKE YOU
I haven't listened to this album in about 10 years, but I would put money on the fact that I could sing along to every single song on this album practically word-for-word. Maybe I'd need one listen to reacquaint myself with it, but after that... aces, dude. Even the songs that never became singles. This was my first actual CD, again purchased at The Wall. I played the shit out of this, first obsessing over the hits, and then, like I said, coming to love the whole thing. Is this album good? No. But for the late nights I spent on the top bunk listening to Rob Thomas and just digging it in a way that only a naive 12-year-old can, it's a memorable one.
4. GREEN DAY - NIMROD
Man, this album just sucked. Even at the time I thought so. Obviously purchased on the strength of the single.
5. 1998 GRAMMY NOMINEES COMPILATION
I think my memory is fuzzy, because I'm sure I had this on tape, but this also came out after Matchbox 20 and Green Day, both of which I had on CD. Some great angsty girl pop-rock that could only have come out of the late '90s, Paul Cole's "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone" and Shawn Colvin's "Sunny Came Home" being particular favorites. Man, actually, the entire thing was sweet. Look at this.
