As someone already regularly maintained an obituary playlist, I thought this would just be a matter of dragging sad songs over and calling it a day. Instead, I realized that I could illustrate a personal and musical journey through the physical media that I was exposed to growing up. This lead to most of the playlist being chronological by release date, until later when the internet meant you could get whatever.
1. When I was a kid, my music collection began largely based off of discarded albums someone else in my family purchased but no longer listened to. At 7, I discovered Metallica from the Black Album on tape that my dad had moved on from. I remember feeling a sense of rebellion listening to this over and over again, since it was so much heavier than the pop music my mom usually had on when we were running errands together.
2. “Kitty” was a big hit on the radio at the time, and I convinced my mom to buy this for me on CD. I remember jumping around the living room jamming to this, only to discover 2 minutes into the album that the radio had been playing an edited version. Fun album to me, Back Porch and Boll Weevil are some of my favorites.
3. This album got heavy airplay when it debuted. Listened to this in the car a lot with my dad and sister when when we'd drive around town, and it drew me further into rock music.
4. My oldest sister bought Americana for “Pretty Fly For A White Guy”, then got bored of the other songs and said I could have it. I still listen to this a lot, and find that song to be the worst one in retrospect. I really like “Pay the Man” - it was recorded during Ixnay on the Hombre but left out because it sounded like nothing else on the album.
5. Watching MTV Spring Break and Fear Factory (unknown to me) was playing live during a WCW wrestling match - this song specifically. I went to Wherehouse Music and bought Obsolete and it blew my mind. This was the heaviest music I'd heard at the time, and my mom heard me listening to it and became concerned that it was satanic. She took it from me and said she'd let my dad listen to it and decide if it was harmful. He gave me a thumbs up. She offered to buy it back from me. I didn't fully appreciate this album til much later, since I didn't understand it was a concept album.
6. Introduced to Incubus from a CD sampler featuring “Pardon Me”. I think I was really into aliens/UFO conspiracies/space/scifi and appreciated the ambience of this album.
7. This is like their “soft” album, I was an emotional kid at the time dealing with summer heartbreak or some shit and listened to it a lot. “Straight No Chaser”, “Bonedriven”, most of these made me feel sad and I was into it.
8. My older cousin would periodically visit us from out of town and he always seemed to be hip to new music and would show us cool music videos he downloaded. I went down a big-beat phase (Crystal Method, Fatboy Slim, Prodigy) because of him, but the Chemical Brothers stuck with me the longest because their style always seems to evolve.
9. Punk/skater identity was the thing in middle school. My best friend at the time had more disposable money (divorced parents) and was always buying new albums. He gave me a copy of Punk in Drublic. One of my older cousins passed away around the same time, and I listened to this album a lot on the car ride when we went out of town for the funeral.
10. This song is sad. It reminds me of winter.
11. I changed high schools in the 10th grade, and readjusting into new social circles took a toll on me. At my new school, a classmate noticed my Weezer shirt (Maladroit tour) and burned me a b-sides/rarities CD with this on it.
12. I went through a ska phase, influenced by other low-brass band members from music classes. I think it's kind of embarrassing to look back on, but I think we all gravitated towards it because it was fun and wasn't grunge or nu-metal.
13. By now I was in my junior year and thought I was hot shit since I had a part-time job and could buy things for myself. I grabbed “Turn On The Bright Lights” from the endcap at a Best Buy, knowing absolutely nothing about this band. Captivated by its dark, moody atmosphere, it's till one of my favorite albums of all time.
14. To me, this album signifies high-speed internet, naivety, and my first serious girlfriend. Of course it didn't work out. I managed to see them at Riot Fest for the Transatlanticism/Give Up reunion tour. Then they came to Austin and I saw them again :')
15. I'm putting this here because it's such an honest song. Also, when I first downloaded it, I was caught off guard at how rich and dynamic it sounded. I had accidentally chosen a 320kbps rip (I was 128kbps gang/all about utilizing space) and this changed my mind forever.
16. I used to read a blogspot account “regynyouth” that used to post album reviews followed by a link to a zip file containing all the mp3s. Listening to this band exposed me to more indie rock.
17. I like the alternate music video for this, space exploration and 2001 influences (my jam).
18. When you finally have the world of music at your fingertips, you often seek backwards in time to find new things to listen to. I was 1 when this came out so it wasn't on any of my AOTY lists yet. Funnily enough, Toadies are like Pixies, but southern fried. Listen to Pixies - Where Is My Mind (1988) vs. Toadies - Tyler (1994)… wonder where they got that riff from.
19. I listened to Deja Entendu a lot as an emotional high schooler. The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me felt like the next logical progression now that I was an emotional college student. Existentialism, death, depression and religion checked all the boxes for me.
20. “All I know is that I've done well on my own.”
Playlist staged in Spotify, audio files obtained through deemix-gui. Some edits (for time) made using Adobe Audition. Final recording made in real time using Winamp over optical connection to MDS-E10 deck.