This line from the song ‘Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise’ by the Avett Brothers and it has been stuck in my head since I first heard. The song speaks to me in so many ways. Today I’m flying around on Airplanes on my way to be with God in the mountains and to break bread with three of the most important men in my life.
Do yourself a favor and listen to this a few times:
Music is a big part of my life. My wife is a serious music fan with really good taste. My kids are way into some good music like the Fleet Foxes, Monsters of Folk, Gorillaz and Spoon. I often find my daughter dancing around the house with her iPod singer here latest favorite.
As my kids come into their own in terms of music taste and start figuring out what they really like without mom and dad pushing music on them, I was thinking back at the music the I first got into when it was up to me to hit play.
Theses are the tapes that I wore out in my Walk Man when I was a kid in the early to mid eighties:
Pink Floyd | the wall
I’m pretty sure that I snaked this from my brother Mike when he wasn’t looking, or maybe he wisely slipped it into my Walk Man knowing he was mentoring the taste of a future Floyd fan. Either way, to this day, this is one of my favorite albums and rarely does a week go by that I don’t listen to a few tracks.
Bon Jovi | slippery when wet
Don’t hate, this album rocked your world too. What can you say about it other than it is loaded with hits that were are catchy and easy to listen to.
Dire Straits | brothers in arms
Not sure how I got my hands on this, I think it was my dad’s. This album was an early seed being planted that would make me want to play guitar.
What were some of the first albums you got a hold of as a kid?
I’ve never listened to the original version of this song. After I watched this, I watched Lady Gaga’s original…then I took a shower because I felt dirty, but that’s another story.
This kid blew up the whole room!
h/t Chad
People who would otherwise not come to church will give it a chance on Easter. At Gateway Church we use the opportunity to tell a story the way we know how…though art. This is a scene from our production call ‘See What Love Has Done’. It’s the story of the prodigal son through the music of U2.
after about 2 minutes of listening to the new Gorillaz album last Tuesday I immediately went to Amazon and downloaded it. Right away you new Stylo was going to be the first single. Great song. And based on the ending I bet you can guess which song will be the next video. And it’s also one of my early favorites.
The first decade of this millennium started off pretty weak for music. When I sort my iTunes by year and flip though the decade, the options from 2000 to 2005 are rather sparse, in 2006 I it picks back up again. I would also add that really good albums take a year or two to get traction in my collection so Veckatimist, Monsters of Folk, Hold Time and Blood Bank may have made the list if they came out earlier. So here you have it in no particular order:
In Rainbows | radiohead
I almost want to say that it is my favorite album of the decade, but it’s too close to call with Sky Blue Sky and Cease to Begin. Radiohead continued to progress and drop yet another album that is totally fresh and yet still Radiohead.
Sky Blue Sky | Wilco
I’m not a Wilco diehard; I came late to the party. This album might not be really high on the list for Wilco fans, but I love it. A really complete album that I love to listen to front to back.
Cease to Begin | band of horses
This one sat around in my iTunes library collecting dust for a while. I knew I liked it right away, I just needed to sit with it and get to know it more. The only bummer is that the album is only like 34 minutes long.
Fleet Foxes | fleet foxes
Music hasn’t seen much of anything earth shattering in terms of a fresh movement since grunge hit. From what I can tell the Northwest has delivered a ground swell again and we should feel blessed that it hasn’t caught on in the main stream. That movement is the Alt-Folk movement or whatever you want to call it. The whole genre has been a breath of fresh air and the Fleet Foxes are my favorite…my son’s too.
Bleed American | jimmy eat world
I think radio was in the middle of killing itself in 2001 and the web hadn’t quite become the source for new music that it is now. Bleed American slipped through the cracks of crap that was being played and showed everyone that good albums could be played on the radio.
Continuum | john mayer
To be honest I have to say that I can’t stand John Mayer prior to Continuum. He grew up or fired someone around him that was holding him back and put together what 20 years from now we might consider to be one of the best guitar albums of all time.
We Don’t Need to Whisper | angels & airwaves
I’ve said it before; I can’t figure out why I like this album so much, I just do. So there.
By the Way | red hot chili peppers
I know, every Chili Pepper’s album can get annoying, but this one is different for me. I think partially because I moved to Hawaii prior to its release and it was a perfect album for the place I was at in my life.
Silence | Blindside
I love me some hard rocking music. I first saw blindside when they opened for Project 86 and POD at a little club in 2000 and it was a refreshing spin on the genre. Was he singing? Was he screaming? Maybe a little of both?
Live at Stubb’s | matisyahu
The only reggae album you own is Legend, that’s okay, you’ll like Matisyahu. I’m still spinning tracks off this disc. And it was recorded right here in Austin at Stubb’s!
So what did I miss?
I just moved to Austin TX in June and I have met literally hundreds of people. In a highly artistic community like Austin, the conversations I have almost always end up in music. I have tried several times to describe my taste spectrum and it gets harder every time.
Here is a list of 11 songs that is a brief tour of my taste. Its not a list of my favorite songs…that changes weekly.
What 11 songs give a look into your musical taste?
