This pick has nothing to do with Molly Ringwald or Emilio Estevez or any '80s teen coming of age movie. This pick is based purely on the incredible song writing included in Simple Mind's Once Upon a Time (1985). Simple Minds really came together to form a tight band with great songs. Once Upon a Time is one of those albums from the '80s that transcends the pop synthesizers and that high-pitched screech of my particular version of the cassette. It was many years later through magic of digital music I wold discover that "Ghost Dancing" had no deafening screech interlude.
My crazy friend, Kelly, introduced me to this band at a time in high school when I had burned out on classic rock. Bob Segar and Thin Lizzy can only carry you so far. He said you have to listen to this tape. He let me borrow it and I wish to apologize here to Kelly: I don't think you'll be getting your tape back as I think I left it in my Camaro when I sold it. Also I always thought you had the best blond mullet I've ever seen.
Simple Minds, overall, is prolific band with 15 studio albums and a incredible library of solid, Irish flavored rock. Their chemistry is held together by Jim Kerr's vocals and Charlie Burchill's elegant guitar work. Since One Upon a Time Simple Minds has continually evolved with a contemporary sound and solid song writing.
Your School of Rock assignment is to listen to Once Upon a Time for a full week straight, right before finals. Afterward dig deeper into Simple Minds' catalog and give yourself a chance to become a fan.n Molly will be glad you did.
If you've ever been to a local music store guitar solo contest, you know when it comes. You hear the first chord and know you're about to hear yet another sixteen-year-old grind out "Eruption" in hopes of winning the free guitar. No guitar solo contest would be complete without "Eruption" rehashed by too much testosterone.
Another scenario: at some point in your life, you've substituted one your friend's names for Jamie's name in "Jamie's Cryin'", especially your overly dramatic friend named Jamie. How can you not? Here's a fun fact: the one-second drum intro at the beginning of "Jamie's Cryin'" is one of the most sampled pieces of music. Ever.
Van Halen's first and self-titled album (1979) is, without a doubt, one of the most influential rock albums of all time. Just forget for a minute that David Lee Roth has an IQ of 55 and Eddie Van Halen has thrown away nearly every good thing he had for the sake of his own ego. Also forget that Sammy Hagar added a much needed element to Van Halen that, at least to me, made them a perfect band. (Please let's not argue Roth versus Hagar; it's about as pointless as Apple versus Windows.) Van Halen is required listening at the School of Rock. You cannot pass without basic Van Halen 101.
Like a lot of things that get ruined by too much exposure, you may not appreciate Van Halen. Think of it like Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". You know the story because it's been imitated, remade, rehashed, brutalized, butchered, taped back together, and overplayed. However, if you clear your mind and go back read the actual "A Christmas Carol" story without all of the current pop culture associations, one thing is clear: it's a damn good story. Van Halen is a damn good album.
Gojira is a more recent discovery for me, but their sound wiped its feet in part of my brain I didn't know I had. I've never heard anything like them until a friend sent me a link to a video of theirs. Gojira's The Way of All Flesh (2008) is a must have. Gojira a French progressive death metal band. Yeah, I know but just go with me on this because they kick serious ass and do things a little differently than most death metal bands. While other death metal bands relish in the blood and guts of cats, dogs, people, and cattle Gojira's death descriptions are about the Earth.
You see Gojira is an environmental death metal band. Again, just keep going with me on this. They describe in vivid detail the destruction of the earth by mankind and it's refreshing. Their songs are serious and they have the musical chops to back it all up. It's progressive death metal that is tighter than anything I've heard. The guitar is insane with melodies that fry my brain.
The Way of All Flesh is their fourth album and my favorite. From the School of Rock perspective this is required listening. If you've never heard Gojira, then your assignment is to listen to it a minimum of five times in different situations: the car, at work, at your mom's house, while cutting the grass with your grass-blood-soaked lawnmower, and finally while on Ambien. Note: if you still live in your mom's house get a job and move out so you can complete the whole assignment.
Check out the video for "All the Tears". It's probably my favorite ever.
When I need to clean out some cobwebs and get some work done, I have some go-to albums. Static-X Wisconsin Death Trip (1999) does the trick. This is best-in-class industrial metal that makes White/Rob Zombie sound like kids banging on trash cans (which I think is how those recording sessions go for him).
"I'm with Stupid" is one of my favorite songs ever, but the whole album is serious web development music. I've tested it and it's passed the VIM, PHP, mySQL yes-this-is-a-production-server-but-oh-well, on-the-fly, overnight test on many marathon sessions since 1999. So I can vouch for its productivity enhancing ass kickery.
Kerry Livgren of Kansas is probably one of the greatest rock song writers of the twentieth century. If you look at the library of Kansas' music alone, his signature progressive rock sounds make up the best of their music. Around 1978 Livgren began to have issues with personal faith and there was a conflict within the band. Lead vocalist, Steve Walsh walked away from Kansas while Livgren was working on a solo project and pressing the band to update their sound. Most Kansas fans are familiar with the two efforts Vinyl Confessions and Drastic Measures with singer John Elefante that followed this period.
Before those releases, Livgren produced a solo album named Seeds of Change (1980). This was an important album because Livgren created songs that didn't sound like Kansas. If you go to the Amazon link, you'll see the CD is already a high-priced collector's item. Of the few LPs I kept, this is one of them.
Livgren pulled together some of the best musicians he knew. Various members of Kansas performed on the album, of course. Even Steve Walsh did vocals on "How Can You Live". But my favorite tracks are sang by Ronnie James Dio. Yes, you read that right. "Mask of the Great Deceiver" and "To Live for the King" are fantastic tracks and Dio kills on the vocals. Also of note are the songs "Whiskey Seed" where Livgren actually sang (I believe it's the only time) a duet with Mylon LeFevre and "Ground Zero" sang by David Pack of Ambrosia.
You can go on a quest for Seeds of Change and maybe pick up a used CD on eBay. Also the album is included in a compilation CD by Livgren called Decade released on a Christian label. Included are cuts from other post-Kansas efforts and they aren't bad at all. In addition, on Livgren's website he has pulled a George Lucas and has remixed and re-recorded the Seeds of Change album, which I find strange, but it's his prerogative. I haven't listened to it, but I'm kind of a purist with albums and think it stands on its own.
I find myself quoting songs from Cake's Fashion Nugget (1996) quite a bit. There is something about that album Cake hasn't quite recreated since. Fashion Nugget is a finely crafted album of art rock with poetic vision and catchy pop and rock hooks. It's solid from the opening track, "Frank Sinatra" to the bizarre, introspective "Sad Songs and Waltzes".
As I write this I'm listening to the album again and thinking how Cake is so beatnik. I want to snap my fingers and say "yeah man" in a mellow, luded out voice. I don't know any other group that could have pulled off a cover of "I Will Survive" and still be taken seriously.
Then there is my favorite track of all on Fashion Nugget: "Nugget". There have been so many people I have wanted to dedicate this song to. I'd probably have it as a ringtone if I didn't have young children.
I was going to put this album in my list next week, but with the passing of The Rev today, I thought I would dedicate this post to him. Avenged Sevenfold's City of Evil (2005) has been one of my favorites since I heard it four years ago. It is the perfect example of a good band becoming great. I was familiar with their previous two albums, but City of Evil was above and beyond them in both maturity and musicianship.
M Shadows' vocal coaching was the best thing to happen to them. While I like some good metalcore, I don't think most metalcore bands can pull it off and the results are usually mediocre. Avenged Sevenfold's first two albums were okay and more palpable than most new metalcore efforts. There was good song writing and arrangement. However City of Evil demonstrated that Avenged Sevenfold wanted to grow up and be a serious metal band.
While their self-titled follow-up is a good album and I like it a lot, City of Evil is a great album which I never tire of hearing. Avenged Sevenfold found their sound and pace and it may be their peak album. "Bat Country" is obviously a great song, but "Burn It Down", "Sidewinder", and "The Wicked End" are just as good and the other tracks hold the album together as a consistent rock masterpiece.
Obviously their future is uncertain with The Rev's death, but Avenged Sevenfold is a great band and City of Evil is a worthy addition to your collection.
Sadly, this is the last year I will be an Society for Technical Communication (STC) member after more than 15 years. This was a really tough decision for me to make, highly emotional. Because it was emotional I realized my continuing annual renewal was coming from a place of sentimentality and it was time to question the basics.
For me personally STC was of great benefit when I was living in Chicago and growing as a technical writer. Somewhere along the way having an STC membership became less of a relevant issue when finding work. I was no longer asked if I was a member when interviewing and being the Chicago chapter's membership manager burned me out as a volunteer. When I relocated to the Dallas/Fort Worth area I needed some personal time for health issues and to find my next career move. (Side note: my move was in 2003 during the telecom recession and I couldn't find work with benefits in Chicago.)
By the time health issues were dealt with and I had gainful employment again, a few years had passed. I attended a couple of STC meetings here and there. The Lone Star chapter is a great chapter with friendly people, but I presentations covered things I already knew from reading or previous conferences and chapter meetings in Chicago.
Now I'm not claiming I know everything. I'm actually kind of a generalist. However, my career has evolved to such a point that technical writing was a skill I used to help me perform other functions not covered by the STC umbrella. I am doing user-experience (UX) projects. This realization and introduction to the UX community was my career's second wind.
2009 was a tough year on STC. I know none of the decisions made by the STC leadership to save the organization has been easy. I also criticized STC's value overall. Sarah O'Keefe's "A Mercenary View of STC" is a great article defending the decision to remain in STC in spite of current issues. But I'm not an independent consultant anymore and her reasons don't apply to my situation.
The "value" I want is local interaction and to learn UX. The UX community in D/FW is fantastic and I have so much to learn. You probably know the 2010 STC Conference is in Dallas. I wanted to get back out and start speaking again, like my good-old Chicago days. So I submitted two proposals and told myself if I can speak at the conference and have the cost of the conference covered, I'll give STC the chance in 2010.
As it turns out my proposals were not accepted. Looking at the cost of the conference and the dues increase, I can't justify membership any longer. The Big Design Conference in 2010 is where I will volunteer and focus my attention as I get to know more people in the D/FW creative community. For me, it's about going in a new direction and redirecting career growth funds toward a place where I can get more in return for my investment.
My tiny pool of disposable income won't get any bigger this year and I've already raided my kids' piggy banks. So to STC I want to say thanks for years of helping me learn. I hope the organization survives 2010 better and stronger. I also hope the conference in Dallas is one of the best in the country for 2010. If somehow I can swing registration through some sort of cash windfall I will be there.
To other STC members, thanks for your friendships over the years. I will continue to be involved in the technical writing community but I will also be increasing my network to related fields who are doing the work I love so much. Let's all learn from each other.
You shouldn't be reading Walter Mosley just because it's Black History Month. Mosley is one of the finest authors of our time.about 2 hours agofrom TweetDeck
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Asleep by The Smiths