I've spent much of my adult life casting about for music to listen to. Without the concentration of peers common in college, the discovery of quality bands has shifted a responsibility onto my own shoulders. No longer are people bringing music to me; I have to chase it down myself. This has only recently been made more accessible due to YouTube and Bandcamp hosting almost every album I've ever heard of, or could hear of. The days of piracy via peer-to-peer servers are over for me. No longer do I have to wait to hear one song, or at best three or four from a classic album. It's all right there, available for my listening pleasure as soon as I get around to it. The pinch point has shifted from attainability to a dearth of listening time. Household projects and routine chores, even doing my taxes or processing photos have become a boon as they allow me the time to sit down, do something relatively mindless while I catch up on recent and ancient releases. Much of the time, this attempt to LISTEN TO ALL THE MUSIC has been a grab bag. I'm all over the place. Bands people have mentioned recently, bands I've written down in the last decade that people mentioned, bands that influenced bands I like, brand new bands I never would have discovered myself are now touted on websites by writers I've come to respect. Finding music is easy. But in order to find great music, I have to wade through a lot of outdated ideas, terrible budget-recording demos, endless self-indulgence. It's worth it to me though, as there are a lot of great moments out there for the taking. I just have to reach and discover them. I'm always searching for the chance to hear my favorite album, for the first time, again.
Michael Azerrad wrote a book called Our Band Could Be Your Life. It set the tone for a lot of later musical journalism that I've read and enjoyed of not only talking about bands, but telling their history, and why they might be important to you. There are a lot of albums/bands mentioned that didn't click either the first or the 20th time, but I'm always willing to try. The following is a list of all the recordings mentioned in the book that I listened through as I read it. I've been at it for a few years.
Michael Azerrad wrote a book called Our Band Could Be Your Life. It set the tone for a lot of later musical journalism that I've read and enjoyed of not only talking about bands, but telling their history, and why they might be important to you. There are a lot of albums/bands mentioned that didn't click either the first or the 20th time, but I'm always willing to try. The following is a list of all the recordings mentioned in the book that I listened through as I read it. I've been at it for a few years.
Black Flag - Nervous Breakdown EP
Black Flag - Jealous Again EP
Black Flag - Six Pack EP
*Black Flag - Damaged
Black Flag - My War
Black Flag - Family Man
Black Flag - Slip It In
Black Flag - Loose Nut
Black Flag - The Process of Weeding Out EP
Black Flag - In My Head
Black Flag - Who's Got the 10 1/2?
The Minutemen - Paranoid Time EP
The Minutemen - Joy EP
The Minutemen - The Punch Line
The Minutemen - What Makes a Man Start Fires?
Black Flag - Jealous Again EP
Black Flag - Six Pack EP
*Black Flag - Damaged
Black Flag - My War
Black Flag - Family Man
Black Flag - Slip It In
Black Flag - Loose Nut
Black Flag - The Process of Weeding Out EP
Black Flag - In My Head
Black Flag - Who's Got the 10 1/2?
The Minutemen - Paranoid Time EP
The Minutemen - Joy EP
The Minutemen - The Punch Line
The Minutemen - What Makes a Man Start Fires?
