End of the Album Wars

For those of you unfamiliar, this is an album of Japanese disco tunes. And it’s fantastic.

When I showed up for the WDW College Program, I was put in an apartment with five other guys.  Apparently the only rule is that you have to be enrolled in college, and so there is no age limit.  We are all in our early 20s except for a Japanese gentleman named Moto.  We couldn’t figure out his story and he didn’t say much in the beginning, but soon he became intoxicated and showed us his drivers license, which, I believe, showed him to be 36.

After that secret emerged, the man became more talkative, but it didn’t necessarily make any sense.  Personally, I bonded with him over Journey, Sinatra, and this record. I don’t know if this was a series of releases, but I hope so.  Whenever I’m down, all I have to do is listen to some Japanese disco and it brings back wonderfully ridiculous memories of Moto.

He was fond of making fun of me for various things, most notably for being a vegetarian.  When this would come up he would take out his clever and chase the ducks outside, laughing maniacally as he threatened to kill them.  He never did (that I know of) but he certainly liked the reaction it got from me.  He is one of the strangest and most fascinating people I have ever met.

Moto - “Don’t think too much…drink too much!”

Please share your stories connected to this record.  In lieu of that, stories related to crazy men named Moto would be good too.

This was the soundtrack to my last semester of college, and the girl that went along with it.  We met during speech class and bonded over my t-shirt accusing George W. Bush of being a terrorist.  Afterwards we sat and discussed just about everything over a couple of fruit smoothies.  I couldn’t have been more excited, and when I reached my car at the end of that night, this cd was in it, and pretty much stayed in it the rest of the semester.

The ridiculously poppy “Skips a Beat (Over You)” seemed to epitomise the beginning of our relationship.  Then things started getting weird.

We were hanging out a good amount together, and everything was going well.  Then I received phone calls at 3am, which was apparently what she liked to do after some good coke.  While it was certainly something I would never touch, I just tried to ignore it.  One day I came to her apartment and we took her dogs to the dog park.  It was a beautiful day and when I was leaving I went to kiss her as normal, but I was met with a fist to hit my fist against.  It was one of the more bizzare moments of my life.  However, the next time I saw her, things were back to “normal.”

As the semester came to a close, I had a birthday party.  She showed up drunk and tried to get me to leave my own party and go to the bars.  After I refused she passed out on my couch.  Soon after she was out, her friends told me she was cheating on me and they wanted me to know.  I had a little fit, but felt better after we wrote things all over her and handcuffed her to herself, which she couldn’t figure out.  I can’t listen to this record without seeing her.  And it’s hilarious.

So wouldn’t it be nice if we could live twice in just one life
and then we’d know what to do when I’m shaking in my shoes
and my heart skips a beat over you…

Please share your stories tied to this record, music should be about community.

It is just a little sad that something which seemed to be so cool and so bad-ass when you were a child, ends up looking silly and lame - such as this band.

One year for Christmas I received a My First Sony tape player/recorder that had a microphone attached to it.  I was somewhere around 7 or 8 years old and it was just about the coolest thing ever.  Many days were passed in fantasies of being a radio DJ or a rockstar.  One of my favorite cassette tapes to sing along with was “Flesh and Blood.”

I don’t know what ever happened to that tape or really that much about it, but any mention of this record leads me to see myself in my bedroom with the small red mic in hand, rocking out.

The song that always stuck in my head was “Come Hell or High Water,” especially since I was raised a devout catholic.  While it was exciting to have a song with hell in it, I was afraid to sing that lyric.  Whenever the chorus came around I would just sing “Come —- or high water!” and hope my parents didn’t hear what he was actually saying.  I guess I can blame Poison for my downfall.  Sorry mom.

When I went to Florida to do an internship at Walt Disney World, I figured there would not be many metal kids on the program.  Thus when Slayer came to play at the House of Blues Orlando (which is on Disney property…the idea of slayer at disney always makes me smile) I was all set to go by myself.  When I mentioned the concert I found out this kid Nick, who was the boyfried of our neighbor, used to be a metalhead.  It was the last thing I would have ever thought - he looked like a typical college “guy” who wore sandals everywhere.

He hadn’t listened to Slayer in a long time so I lent him this record, which apparently awoke the sleeping metalhead within.  He was psyched to go to the show with me, and so we went.

The show itself was awesome, and afterward he wanted to try to meet Slayer, so I said sure.  As we walked the parking lot we ended up meeting Jamie Jasta of Hatebreed, who gave us shots of Jagermeister (it was the Jagermeister tour) and some autographed Hatebreed things.  No Slayer.  We kept walking and met Chino from the Deftones and one of the guitarists from Arch Enemy.  This produced a great picture of this huge swedish man giving devil horns, myself giving devil horns, and Nick looking, as my roommate later said, “like he is excited for doughnuts.”

Sadly, when Slayer finally emerged, they went straight for their tourbus and out of our petty little lives.  That was about the only time I hung out with Nick, but he will forever be in my heart for it.

I keep my bible in a pool of blood so that none of it’s lies can affect me…

Please share any stories connected to this record.  Music is much more that what comes out of the speakers.

In college I had a correspondence with a girl who I was rather enamered by.  We met while working at an internship together.  One night she mentioned/sang part of a song from the musical Oklahoma.  I had never seen the film or play, but knew it from my father’s singing of 50s musical tunes during my childhood.

At some point afterwards I purchased this record while intoxicated, thinking it was funny.  Once sober, I was highly critical of my choice of cds to spend money on.  But there it was, and there it sat.

After a series of events transpired, I decided I needed to travel some 2,000 miles to see said girl, and bought a ticket under the influence of maddog 20/20 and some friendly encouragement.  My flight was around 6am, which my friend Shira graciously agreed to drive me to.  It was about 4 or so when we left and it was one of the few times I heard birds in D.C.

The only thing I remember about the drive to the airport is darkness, Shira’s red car, and listening to the soundtrack of Oklahoma to keep us awake.  It was quite surreal, and utterly fantastic.  All great journeys should begin with an absurd musical soundtrack.

I have only had the pleasure of seeing Nile live on one occasion, but it was memorable, as were the events that occured afterward, which are intimately tied to this record.

My friend Josh and I headed out one summer night to see Nile play at a small club in the Chicago suburbs.  I had never seen pictures of the members before, and while I was initally taken aback by the fact that the guitarist resembled Kenny G, once they began playing it was all brutality.  Nearly every song was punctuated by the lead singer growing, “Are you ready for more?!?”  Hells yeah I was.

It was a great show.  On the ride home Josh began making fun of my driving, as it is normally very close to the speed limit.  While my anger was rising, I was not paying attention to my speed, which then brought flashing lights in the rear view mirror.  As I’d never been pulled over before (or since), I didn’t think it was for me.  That certainly didn’t help my case.

The officers (which were soon joined by two others) questioned us and I produced the proper ID and registration.  They then asked if we were smoking pot (we weren’t) and I explained we were at a concert where people were, showing my ticket stub as proof.  “I’ll need you two to step out of the vehicle.”

I was driving my grandma’s Buick Century at the time, and my inital thoughts began concocting a situation where she had left some of her pills in the glovebox and we get thrown to the ground.  While that didn’t happen, we were patted down (and I for one was violated) and the car was searched.

After leaving us standing on the side of the road for about 10 minutes, nothing was found they gave me a ticket.  I glared at Josh as we finally left, Black Seeds of Vengeance shouting in the background.

The scourge of Amalek is upon you, The seed of Amu hath oppressed you, They hath urinated upon you, And made you to eat feces…

Please share any stories you have related to this record.  Music is more than ones and zeros read by a lazer.  

One of the most beautiful records ever made.  This needs to be experienced in its entirety, preferably through headphones.

During college I dated a crazy girl who would do things like cry whenever I left her dorm room, even if we were on great terms and I was just going to class.  Afraid to escape the relationship I often dealt with it by regressing to childhood things.  One of those was my favorite book, Peter Pan.  When I was little I didn’t know what I wanted to be, but I knew I never wanted to become an adult - kids were mean, but you could fight and be best friends two minutes later.  Adults were mean, but they were vindictive and revengeful and generally horrible.  And so I often read this book to escape that world.

Leaving her dorm one day left me in a horrible mood and so I put on my headphones and listened to this record for (as far as I remember) the first time.  I went to the school’s library to see if they had Peter, and was amazed to find an early edition from the 1920s or 30s.  The smell of old books is one of my favorite in the world.

When I finally made it to the quad, I opened the book and the song “Make Friends With Time” was playing.  It was perfect and suddenly everything was alright.  She, and everything else negative, faded into nothingness, at least for the rest of the album.

Awhile after breaking up with her I was reading Alternative Press and came to the last page, which had a top 10 list of breakup albums.  Something was strange.  A number of the albums listed were more or less unknown, including “Angel Youth.”  Looking to the byline, I saw my ex’s name.  For this album, she cited the track, “Aspirins and Alcohol,” which I had put on a mix compliation for her.  Weird.

time. thought i’d make friends with time. that’s something that i would’t mind. to make friends with time.

 Please share any stories you have related to this record.  Music is not just notes, but community. 

I was first introduced to this band when my brother-in-law joined sometime prior to this record.  Immediatly I loved the idea of a vegetarian metal band singing about treating humans how we treat animals.  They have had some great album art, but this is my favorite.

Some years later, in my last year at college, I had to give a problem/solution speech.  Taking inspiration from “A Modest Proposal,” I presented homelessness as the problem, and eating the homeless as the solution.  It was also a creative way to make a pro-vegetarian speech without explicitly saying “don’t eat meat.”

We had to have a power point presentation, and so I created a slideshow to illustrate my points.  The speech began with facts about the number of homeless, etc, displaying the extent of the problem.  It was very serious with dire images of poverty and all was quiet in the room.  And then, “In order to solve this problem, my solution is to eat the homeless”- and a huge projection of this album cover was on the wall.  “Really, meat is meat, and could you tell the difference if your steak was from a human or a cow?”  There were several audible gasps and I had to pause and look down to keep myself from laughing at the reaction.

Although my teacher said she was digusted, I received an A.  It was the greatest speech I have ever given.

we have arrived/to infest and thrive/upon billions of lives/with forks and spoons and knives…

Please share any stories related to this record.  Music should build communities, not just be a commodity.

Way back in my freshman year of high school I went to my first show ever.  It was in a kid’s basement somewhere in the Chicago suburbs.  I did my best to act cool but I was extremely excited and this was just about the greatest thing ever.

I believe Landmine and Last in Line played, but the only band I really remember is Baxter.  They were the “headliners” that night and it was my first introduction to this world that I had only previously experienced on records.  Long before Tim became a rock star in Rise Against he was just another kid from the suburbs with giant, fluffy hair.  Most of baxter’s music was okay, but what really stands out is Tim’s voice.

That night, standing in that basement with my friend Wes against the back wall, watching kids doing what they thought the “wall of death” was, I knew this was what I wanted to be a part of (well, not the wall of death so much).  It was an idealized community made up of those who just didn’t quite fit anywhere else.  And it was amazing.

we know not why we try, we have no place to hide.  we’ve conquered all your lies.  we don’t know why we think this way…

Please share your stories related to this record.  Music is about community, not commodity.

The idea that kids could simply get bands to come and play in their basement was revolutionary to me.  It opened

After college I didn’t know what to do with myself and decided to move to Florida and fulfill my childhood dream of working at Disney World.  With me on the twenty-some hour long drive was my good friend Bob. We had initially bonded over shared love of punk rock and similar genres, ultimately playing a great number of those records at numerous parties that we threw.  Surely most of those were repeated on our trip.

While I was driving somewhere in Kentucky or Tennessee (or somewhere below the Mason-Dixon line) he was flipping though my book of cds and came across The Muppets.  It was one of those that I put in but did not expect to listen to.  Bob was happy to come with on the trip but had a healthy dislike of Disney, and I suppose I had figured the Muppets into that as well.  Much to my surprise he chose this record.

And so we drove, singing along to classic Muppets songs.  I had never before known he had a fantastic Swedish Chef impression, and that of Sam Eagle as well.  In the back seat was my cat, terrified of being in the car, curled up in his litter box, looking up at me saying, “Why are you singing?  Get me the hell out of here.”

Movin’ right along in search of good times and good news, with good friends you can’t lose…this could become a habit…getting there is half the fun, come share it with me…

Please share your stories related to this record.  Music is much more than notes on an album.