Best Debut Albums

While listening to Twenty One Pilots today, a thought hit me that an artist’s debut album is sometimes their best album. At the time I wasn’t aware that Vessel was their third album but after reading the info on Wikipedia, it’s clear why this album is finding radio play. “They worked with Greg Wells, producer of Adele and Katy Perry, on their first full-length album on Fueled by Ramen, Vessel.” Working with the right people can bring about success that unfortunately buries my argument but I’ll continue. I particularly like Holding on to You because the line “Holding On To You” is screamed in a way that makes it sincere.

I deduced that a brand new artist has no pressure, all the time in the world to perfect their music, and the ability to have a fresh sound without any interference. My idea is that a talented artist or group comes up with music that the public starts to dig, they work hard to produce their first album, then after success of their first album, they get put on a deadline by management to produce a second album. Thus subsequent albums are usually not as good and the success of the debut album is never lived up to. I’m going to provide 5 examples of debut albums that were far and away the pinnacle of their music. Not of their career, the actual music.

Panic At The Disco – A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out
PanicAtTheDisco-FeverCover
Released in 2005, A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out put Panic on the map. “The hit single “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” received massive airplay, and Panic! at the Disco’s success came to a high-point when they won “Video of the Year” on the annual MTV Video Music Awards in 2006.” Camisado, Time to Dance, and Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off has got to be one of the best upbeat trio of songs in a row for this music genre. Their next CD’s produced hits such as Nine in the Afternoon, Ballad of Mona Lisa, and Ready to Go (used in a Coke commercial) but weren’t nearly as tight as their first CD.

Gaslight Anthem – The 59′ Sound
The_Gaslight_Anthem_-_The_'59_Sound_cover
The 59 Sound was released in 2008 and rocks hard and croons soft and everywhere in between. “In December 2008, eMusic named The ’59 Sound the best album of 2008.” Each song deserves a listen which is something you don’t find much on full albums. I’ve probably listened to this album a hundred times through and it never gets old. Brian Fallon, who I’m sure no one knows about, is terrific and has a unique sound that people compare to Bruce but I don’t hear it. He’s his own Bruce. Great Expectations, 59 Sound, Old White Lincoln, The Patient Ferris Wheel, and Even Cowgirls Get The Blues are my favorite. Amazingly the follow up albums missed the mark. Hits such as American Slang, Boxer, 45, and Mulholland Drive were all good songs but I think their style got redundant. It’s not like they were bad, just no where as good as the 59 sound.

The Killers – Hot Fuss
Hot-Fuss
Hot Fuss starts with 5 songs that STILL get radio airplay all the time, Jenny Was a Friend, Mr Brightside, Smile Like You Mean It, Somebody Told Me, and All These Things That I’ve Done. Most bands get lucky to have a song off an album that gets play 9 years later. Hot Fuss introduced the Killers like an 8 on the Richter scale. It is estimated to have sold more than 7 million copies worldwide, including more than 3 million in the United States and more than 2 million in the UK, where it has been certified six-times platinum. The rest of their albums haven’t ever come close to the success of Hot Fuss. Sam’s Town produced crap like When You Were Young, Read My Mind, and Bones. Sawdust had Shadowplay… I actually liked all of Day and Age but not many hits beside Human, Spaceman, and Dustland Fairytale. I even liked most of the new album Battleborn but it got completely overlooked. This is one of the main problems with hitting a home run with your first at bat, not living up to expectations.

Weezer – The Blue Album
blue-album
All ten songs on the Blue Album should be listened to. You can never go wrong playing this album with a group of people unless they are completely lame. You know an album is good when the most popular song, Buddy Holly, is your least favorite. Surf Wax America, In the Garage, and Only in Dreams are my personal faves. To be perfectly honest, I never got into Weezer after this album. I heard their hits on the radio and never wanted to hear anything more. Island in the Sun was a good song… but everything else is worth only one listen to. Nothing Weezer has done after the Blue Album has been as good.

50 Cent – Get Rich Or Die Tryin’
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I used to listen to rap in my early college years and this CD was played everywhere. Eminem’s verse on Patiently Waiting is still one of the best around. In Da Club is another song that will never die. Less known songs that owned were Heat, Back Down, and If I Can’t. Wanksta was on here too… As of January 2011, it has sold eight million copies in the US, making it the fourth best-selling hip hop album in the US. 50 tried to ride the wave but it crashed early. Candy Shop, Ayo Technology, and Baby By Me were some of his hits after but it was clear that 50 let fame get to his head and lost his drive towards creating. I probably would do if I made a hundred million of dollars endorsing vitamin water.

By |2013-06-02T23:41:42-04:00June 2nd, 2013|Music|1 Comment

From Good To Bad

Everyone is a critic. Whether you want to be or not, at some point during whatever it is you experience, you have to decide whether you like it or not. Some people will go off their first reaction, others will dig deeper for meaning, and others still will analyze something until all meaning is lost. I tend to think I’ve seen enough movies, listened to enough songs, and experienced enough life that I can use my brain to produce original thought about something. I’m going to explore a few scenarios when TV, movies, or music start going south after being great. This happens fairly often when the initial story lines or newish appeal have been played out and the idea gets continued because it’s popular and makes a lot of money.

Django Unchained
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The movie that inspired the post because I watched it recently. Fantastic movie for 2 hours and then Christoph Waltz parted and the ending was abysmal. What I loved about the movie was the budding relationship between Waltz and Foxx, the attention to detail in their interactions, and the antagonist DiCaprio had me constantly wondering what he was thinking of doing next. Then the actual climax of the movie occurs when DiCaprio insists to shake Waltz hand, carnage ensues, and unrealistic nonsense follows. I lost interest when Foxx had 25 guns pointed at him and walked away. The ending just got stupid. No hero bullshit could keep me from caring at that point.

Dexter
dexter
I think Dexter WAS a 1st class television show. The Ice Truck Killer, Lundy and the Bay Harbor Butcher, Miguel and the Skinner (the Skinner was actually kind of lame), and then the zenith with the Trinity Killer and Rita. 4 seasons of pure gold. Every episode had you on the edge of your seat wondering how Dexter was going to get out of the jam he got himself in. After season 4, there hasn’t been a quality season. Lumen and Jordan Chase, Travis Marshall, and finally Hannah McKay was all crap. Dexter just got played out and I think the villains make the show and the latter seasons just missed the mark. I’ll still watch the show but I know that it’s not what it used to be.

Family Guy
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After 11 seasons and 205 episodes, this show has gotten whack. I absolutely loved the first few seasons. Their ideas were fresh, they took the jokes to a different level, and the 22 minutes of entertainment was delightful. Somewhere along the way Seth McFarlene became bigger than the show itself and the writers took over. This new thought doesn’t have the same pizzazz as Seth and the show isn’t as good. Same thing happened with the Simpsons over time. People start to lose interest. 6-7 seasons is a solid run but once the ideas start cramping, it’s time to quit.

Weezer
Weezer+Blue+Album+Weezer__Blue_Album
I would go as far as saying I hate every new Weezer song. The Blue album was top notch. Every song was worth listening to. Songs like My Name is Jones, Holiday, Surf Wax America and In The Garage were classics and they weren’t even the hits. Pinkerton was pretty average but The Green Album hit again with songs like Hash Pipe and Island in the Sun. After that it’s been complete crap with Beverly Hills, Pork and Beans, and Troublemaker. Strange how everything after their first album hasn’t been as good. Rivers must have lost his mind somewhere along the way.

U2
Boy, October, and War had a few decent songs (I Will Follow, Sunday Bloody Sunday, New Year’s Day) but the pinnacle of U2 is the Joshua Tree. I’ve included the full album below so you can listen to one of the greatest complete albums of the 80’s. U2 never actually went out of fashion and made good music since The Joshua Tree (Even Better Than The Real Thing, Mysterious Ways, Vertigo, Beautiful Day, One) but nothing in my estimation can match the Joshua Tree as a whole. One of my favorite albums ever. I think Bono is such a humanitarian that he doesn’t have as much time for the music and lost some passion along the way.

By |2013-04-18T12:18:09-04:00April 18th, 2013|Movies, Music, Tv|0 Comments

Uhhhh

This may be long winded and cover a cluster fuck of topics so if you aren’t in the mood for irrelevant bs I suggest you stop reading. If it’s right up your alley than by all means continue. Basically I had no plans this labor day weekday. I had a list of things to do that included buying some new clothes and some other easy to accomplish items. The only agenda item of my list to get crossed off was beer. I bought a variety pack of Stoudts which I thought was pretty decent. It was a bit pricey and made my shit really dark but they were quality beers if you like IPA’s. I also purchased a handle of goose and a fifth of aged Jameson. There’s probably no reason to spend this much on alcohol considering I can get just as bombed off a 20 dollar fifth of Captain but I reasoned “my body has grown acquired to the good stuff.” So that’s kind of a lead in to where my weekend was headed on Thursday night.

We played golf on Friday at Neshaminy Valley which was an OK course. Not to pricey but kind of laid out close together. I ended up with a 96 even though I struck the ball what I thought should have got me in the 80’s (this will be proven later on instead of all talk). The greens were unusual I thought and I probably 3 putted at least 9. The wagon beat me too which was obviously wtf.

I got bombed on both Friday and Saturday night. I honestly can’t recall any details from the later parts of the night. Blurs here and there but nothing concrete. I finished reading Tucker Max’s book and I just have to wonder how the hell he can be so descriptive in his drunken stories. My stories would be like “i started pregaming at 5, played some drinking games at 8, did some shots at 10 and then I woke up on the couch in my clothes and contacts at 11 am.” I’m dead serious my book would have to be told by other people. If I had a camera on my head going through the night and I watched it the next morning it would be like a brand new episode instead of a rerun. I used to feel embarrassed cause I probably say and do stupid shit that I couldn’t remember but now after reading Tuckers book I’m not even in the same ballpark of crazy shit. If this guy can wake up each day feeling fine, I’ll continue. I’ve sort of adopted 2 philosophies that won’t make me popular. 1) If I was drunk and don’t remember it, it didn’t happen. 2) I can’t change the past so lets forget it happened and move on.

I’m reading Artie Lange’s book now and I like reading about these fucked up people who I guess you could say made it pretty big. I don’t aspire to be like these guys. These guys are one of kinds who are smart enough to turn their stupidity into a job. I’m not in this category. I fall into the category of drunk, jackass who is lucky enough to have not done anything stupid enough to get him into real trouble. This may be a bit harsh but the booze definitely holds over me. I’m the player and it’s the house, it doesn’t lose. It’s funny because I realize it, but once I get it in my head to get smashed, there’s no stopping until my body forfeits (usually it’s my mind that quits first). I can’t remember if it was in Tucker Max’s book or somewhere else but you have to find the “zone” when your drinking. It’s in between sobriety and retardation. After 10 beers or so, if I just quit altogether and I could maintain some decency to myself. However the zone can be easily pushed through into black out. If someone could create something that shuts off your ability to consume more alcohol after being too loaded, you could become a millionaire.

I couldn’t even bring myself to drink on Sunday night. I shot an 84 at Limekiln playing white-blue which is somewhat legit. I’m driving the ball well and there was a hole I snowmanned which should have been an easy bogey. To say that I was nearing the 70’s may be a stretch as I caught a lucky break here. It’s a shame it’s so late in the season as I think I could throw up a number.

Finally an update on softball to the people on the team who read this post. I told you I wasn’t kidding about throwing the ball. I think I really surprised people with my throwing accuracy of a blind man firing at a target. This is my theory on how this happened. I stopped playing competitive sports when I was 16 or so. Basically when I started running track in high school I stopped all baseball, bball and everything else I played competitively. When I was 16 or so I grew from like 5-3 to 6-0 in one summer. Without really realizing it, there was no transition from the way I used to play sports to how I would have to relearn to play sports. With a new body, I never practiced sports. I never played baseball past 16. In middle school I was a point guard who liked to gun up 3’s. When I grew I was an undersized forward who couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, my shot never redeveloped. It was the same thing with throwing, I never threw a baseball in the past 10 years. So you can try to hide me at first and hope I don’t have to throw home, but don’t get your hopes up. I sort of break it down like, I could be better at these sports if I really wanted to by practicing, but what’s really the point. I don’t care about winning leagues or being the best, all I really care about is not getting hurt. I’m happy to contribute if I can but if you think I’m going to be in tip-top shape at 10:30 on a Saturday morning for Softball, (to quote Tucker) Hahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahaah. Now I know where you got this from Jeff.

I like to end with a good song because I think my taste in music is better than yours.
Re-check the one from the last post as I think that song is majorly overlooked.

By |2010-01-25T23:23:52-05:00September 8th, 2009|Music, My Brain, Sports|0 Comments

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