new order substance

You know how everyone is doing that “10 albums that influenced you as a teen” thing on Facebook?

I usually don’t do them, but this one I saw so many times over a couple of weeks, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and serve up my list with a twist.

I got a record player for Christmas, so the albums I’ve crated around for the past 25 years or so were moved out of the garage and into my office. I shuffled through them last night and came up with a list of The 10 Albums That Influenced Me .. That I Still Have As Albums.

In no particular order, here’s what they look like:

My Top 10 Albums

A Star Wars Story was the first record I ever owned. It is an audio version of the movie condensed into about 45 minutes. It is so so so good.

I stared at the inner pic on  Michael Jackson‘s Thriller forever. Why was there a tiger eating his hand and the bones popping out? Weird.

New Order‘s Substance is, simply, one of the greatest albums of all time. This is one of those albums where I enjoyed the singles as a teen, but later discovered the entire work – and the entire catalog of the band. New Order has sat in regular rotation on all my playlists for 30 years.

I don’t know if this is specifically my favorite Madonna album, but I turned 15 yrs old 2 months after Like A Virgin came out. So enough said.

One of my fondest memories of radio growing up was listening to staticy radio in Montana on summer vacation playing American Top 40. Prince dominated the charts that summer. Purple Rain on vinyl is more dirty, more raw, more filthy, more better.

I was a big Culture Club guy in Grade 9/10. I had that Colour By Numbers album cover as a button on my faded Levi’s jean jacket.

I came late to the U2 story. The Joshua Tree turns 30 this year. I still remember listening to With or Without You on my Walkman taking the bus to work and seeing that concert in BC Place in the fall of ’87.

Not an album, just a 12″, but Erasure‘s Oh L’Amour is one of my favourite songs of all time. In fact, all of Vincent Clark‘s work is in there. I could have just as easily put Yaz’s Upstairs at Eric’s on this list.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood‘s Welcome to the Pleasuredome is the ultimate Cold War album. We could use another Two Tribes type song on the charts right about now.

My high school girlfriend was a big George Michael fan. Huge. She won tickets to meet him at the Faith tour and screamed in my ear the entire show. We dated on and off for a few years. I heard this album a lot.

What’s on your list? Do you still have them?

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