My Pure Pop Top Ten Albums Of The Year List by Jason M. Kooly
December 29th, 2009
Hey, it’s my top ten list for this year. Hope you like. It’s been a rough year for me. High school sucks.
My Pure Pop Top Ten Albums Of The Year List by Jason M. Kooly.
1. Jane’s Addiction, “Nothing’s Shocking”
I know this actually came out last October, but I didn’t get around to it until May. Wow, this album is enormous. It starts off with a very simple, quiet bass line, there’s a weird sort of breath (or a “pssh”? Not sure) and then BOOM! Loud and gorgeous power chords and screaming vocals that seem to echo on forever. Just about every song on it is like this. I listened to it at least two times a day this past summer. The cover is really cool, too (yet even though the drummer’s name is Stephen, from the pictures inside the tape I can’t tell if it’s a boy or a girl). They are my new favorite band (besides The Beatles).
2. The Cult, “Sonic Temple”
I love The Cult. This is a mixture of their first two American albums “Love” and “Electric”, the former being very psychedelic and the latter sounding more like AC/DC. (They have one European release called “Dreamtime” I’m trying to save up for. Imports at Pure Pop are expensive.) It’s a good mix. When Ian says “This is where it all begins” during the first tune (entitled “Sun King”. I know. Weird, right?) you know this record is going to kick some ass. Make sure to save up for the CD version. I know it’s $6 more but it has the bonus track “Medicine Train” which totally rocks and is worth the extra dough. Also, they rocked at Memorial Auditorium opening for Metallica.
3. Lou Reed, “New York”
I read about it in Rolling Stone (my dad got me a subscription for Christmas). They gave it four stars and then some 15-year-old kid wrote in to say how much he liked the review. The review made it sound good and the cover looked good, so I asked my mom to buy it for me at Pure Pop on her way home from work (just like “Sonic Temple” and “0U812″). It was $6.99 for something I’d never heard so it was a risk, but it was totally worth it. I know they’ve been playing “Dirty Blvd.” on Triple-X, but there’s even better songs other than that one.
4. Beastie Boys, “Paul’s Boutique”
This is a very weird, different album than I was expecting. I actually didn’t buy it, I copied it off my friend Matt. The tape was ugly and orange. Pure Pop only got one cassette of it in and it wasn’t on sale, so I didn’t get it. Also, I heard it sucked and wasn’t anywhere near as awesome as “Licensed To Ill”. According to MTV they predicted they’d be doing this ’70s stuff back in ’86, and I admire that they weren’t kidding. It is weird, though.
5. Violent Femmes, “Violent Femmes”
This girl I secretly have a major crush on is really, REALLY into this band. She even wrote out all the words in a note she gave me before I even heard it. Then she lent me the tape and it was really good. I’ve been trying to get out of listening to so much metal lately. I keep asking that guy Rick at Pure Pop if they have anything different. I asked him about this band and he said they sucked. I don’t think so! I know it came out in 1983 (a really good year in music) but it makes my list anyway.
6. The Cure, “Disintegration”
I got this tape the same day I got “Nothing’s Shocking” and listened to it in my mom’s office on a Sunday (she was working extra hours) and it was really pretty, but also very sad. I got it because the girl I have a crush on doesn’t like me anymore (she got a perm and is now popular) and she said she liked them. I tried to get her to notice me having it in English class, but didn’t. Or if she did, she didn’t care. I really like “Pictures Of You”. I don’t have any pictures of her.
7. The Jesus And Mary Chain, “Automatic”
This tape is really cool, but too short even though it has two extra songs on it. It has a really neat rocking sound with electric drums. Triple-X has been playing “Head On” a lot but I like “Blues From A Gun” way better. I don’t care about the state of my hair!
8. A mix tape I made for myself.
I know I made it, but I like this tape. It’s got a bunch of stuff I like, like The Cult, Tears For Fears (it took me a while to get into them), The Clash, Talk Talk, and other new stuff I’ve heard. There’s this song called “Wave All Through The Nation” on it that I taped off of WRUV but they never said who it was that played it. If anybody knows who it is out there, please let me know. It’s a really pretty, slow song. I opened up the cassette and stuck a cool Powell-Peralta sticker ad inside from Thrasher Magazine. I know I don’t have a skateboard, but I like Thrasher. It’s cool.
9. Camper Van Beethoven, “Key Lime Pie”
I got this tape the same time I got The Jesus And Mary Chain” one because it has “Pictures Of Matchstick Men” on it, which is a wicked cool song. The other songs are kinda weird and country-ish. There’s this really pretty one called “All Her Favorite Fruit”. The words are sort of creepy, but I kinda get what he’s talking about.
10. Fugazi, “Fugazi”
This is a band I’d never heard of before, but my friend Haik videotaped them playing at 242 Main and it looked awesome, so I went to Pure Pop and bought the tape. It was cheap. The artwork looks crappy, but don’t judge a book by its cover. It’s really good! It’s an EP, but the songs are all awesome and they go perfect with each other. “Waiting Room” is the first one and it’s a killer. My favorite is the last song “Glue Man” because it’s very echoey and I don’t know what it means but it rocks. I hope they come back and play again so I can see them. I wish I knew what a Fugazi is.
Honorable mentions (sorry, some of them are from last year. I have to save up for them, you know!): New Order, “Substance”, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, “Mother’s Milk”, The Church, “Starfish”, The Stone Roses, “The Stone Roses”, Michael Penn, “March”. Thanks, everybody. See you next year (I hope)!
(and in no particular order)
Girls, “Album”
Phoenix, “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix”
Black Dice, “Repo”
Animal Collective, “Merriweather Post Pavillion
Dinosaur Jr., “Farm”
Lightning Bolt, “Earthly Delights”
Sonic Youth, “The Eternal”
Fuck Buttons, “Tarot Sport”
Karen O and The Kids, “Where The Wild Things Are”
The MP3 I have of The Boredoms show I saw in September
December 29th, 2009 at 5:45 pm
This is #1 on my top ten “top ten albums of the year” list.
December 29th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
this is amazing.
January 4th, 2010 at 9:35 am
“(she got a perm and is now popular)”
LOLZ