roots, rock and reggae...

so one of my jr high guys (rockstar) is phenomenal at guitar. is it wrong to want to start a band with a 13 year old?
anyways, his brother got me pretty good last night when he started asking me if i liked neil diamond, and proceeded to get a bunch of neil's songs stuck in my head. not even 311 is getting rid of 'coming to america' right now. seriously, 14 hours of neil is enough.
the other thing he got me on was my favorite albums of all time. the kicker is that they couldn't be greatest hits albums which is tough, because that automatically eliminates my numero uno album of all time, bob marley: legend. so, here goes my:

top ten favorite albums of all time:
10. jurassic 5 - quality control
9. the clash - london calling
8. english beat - wha' happened
7. jack johnson - on and on
6. unwritten law - elva
5. strung out - twisted by design
4. social distortion - s/t
3. 311 - transistor
2. rancid - out come the wolves
1. operation ivy - energy

the hard part about this list is there are so many albums, songs and artists that have meant a lot to me, that dont really have a typical list to be a part of. so heres another top ten list of:

top ten most influential albums in my life:

10. green day: dookie
this is the album that made me want to play guitar. i still sing along to every word on this album, and i think i was one of the few that stuck with this as a classic when all the punks were saying that the band had sold out.

9. pearl jam - ten
this was one of the first cds i bought when i got my first cd player. i was about to move to seattle, where i would spend many days listening to alive over and over again while it rained. it was then revived with a vengence in college when juaner and andibro made it cool to listen to non-punk music again.

8. unwritten law - elva
elva was the soundtrack for my senior year of college. road trips, el patioso cookouts, we played the shine off of this rocker.

7. jack johnson - brushfire fairytales
i thought this guy was so lame when i first heard him. he was exactly what i needed to mellow out musically a little bit though. easily the most influential singer for me in the past few years.

6. 311 - blue
the summer i was sixteen and living away from home. i still know every word to this album, mainly because i listened to it every day to and from work. these guys are one of my favorite bands and this album is why.

5. primus - pork soda
i didn't make friends for a while when i moved to seattle, and this ablum was my release. i just gave it a spin to the cuz the other day for the first time and it was like a ten year reunion with some memories of some crazy thoughts. that, and my name is mud has got the best guitar riff of all time (sounds like another top ten list for another day)

4. operation ivy - energy
this was the album that made me put patches on my jacket, bleach and spike my hair, and turn me into a super freak music fan. i can still remember my friend pug buying this and making us shut up as our crew drove home from the store. we sat in my friends driveway until the album was over. this became the measuring stick of everything ska/punk i listen to.

3. mighty mighty bosstones - don't know how to party
i'm not sure when i first heard this, but i fell in love with ska as soon as i did. at the time i needed something more upbeat to listen to. i'll never know how ska became popular, but you can garuntee i was out there with my rudy suit on because of this album.

2. judgement night soundtrack
this was the first album i had that my parents didn't know about. hehe, i should stop there but... this was also the ablum that got me from listiening to rap music to rock. all the rap on the radio was heading towards gangsta, and my white 11 year old self didn't really follow. ironic considering the movie though.

1. bob marley - legend
i taped this off of my youth minister when i was 11. i have probably bought at least a dozen copies of this to give as presents, and my mom normally buys me a copy every two or three years because mine get scratched up from use. this album made me a fan of music. this was the first album that got me dancing around my bedroom. first kiss... marley in the background. the more i think about it, the more i realize i don't have the time to type out how many stories i have from this album.

well, music has and hopefully will be a major moving force in my life. till that changes...
one love and one heart.