I do quite a bit of driving for my job and, as much as I enjoy nonprofit station
WNRN (103.1 Richmond, 91.9 Charlottesville), I sometimes tire of radio's redundancy and have to pop in a CD. Normally I listen to either an old favorite - RX Bandits, Minus the Bear, and mix CDs top the usual suspects - or a new artist that captures my attention. As I picked through my CD case last week before work, though, it struck me just how many records I own that
never get any play time. These albums provide a great insight into how my musical tastes have developed - some would argue regressed - throughout my life. My collection includes quite a few "Greatest Hits of the Eighties" compilations from a prolonged phase in high school and some "whinier" artists like Adema, Korn, and Godsmack from an even longer period in my mid-teens. Thankfully, discs like these make up the minority of collection, but there are plenty of other great CDs that I just never listen to anymore. Stuff like Outkast's "Stankonia," Jimmy Eat World's "Bleed American,"and "California" from Mr. Bungle simply do not catch my eye like they did a few short years ago.
With that in mind, I have committed myself over the course of the next month (or however long it takes) to listening to every single CD in my collection. This includes newer stuff that I love from TV on the Radio and the Whigs as well as past mistakes like Linkin Park and Adam Sandler's comedy albums. Hopefully by re-digesting these 100+ CDs I can either remember what I enjoyed about them in the first place or disgust myself to the point of throwing them out (I'm looking at you, Godsmack). The rule: Listen to every track in order unless the CD itself starts to skip.
Here's what I've covered so far:
1) Incubus - "A Crow Left of the Murder": Still my favorite Incubus album. "Here In My Room" is fantastic.
2) Rap Mix (2003) - Don't ask, though it does include the classic "Next Episode" by Dre and Snoop.
3) Damian Marley - "Welcome to Jamrock"
4) Cake - "Prolonging the Magic": An all-time favorite.
5) The Decemberists - "The Crane Wife": Why don't I listen to The Decemberists anymore? Seriously?
6) Mix 10 (Winter 2007): Lots of Kashmir, Pinback, The Return. Good stuff.
7) Brand New - 'The Devil And God Are Raging Inside Me"
8) Fire Proof - "Fire Proof": An old friend's self-produced hip hop album. Needs polish, but has some genuinely great tracks. "Like birds in the circus / We shittin' on clowns."
9) The Mars Volta - "Frances the Mute": Last good one they made.
10) Open Hand - "You and Me"
11) System of a Down - "Hypnotize"
12) System of a Down - "Mesmerize"
13) Foo Fighters - "One By One"
14) Tool - "10,000 Days": I'm more of an A Perfect Circle fan, but this is a great CD.
15) Mix 11 (Summer 2008): Plenty of songs that I'm still tired of hearing. This was the toughest yet to get all the way through.
16) Queens of the Stone Age - "Lullabies to Paralyze"
