This One Goes to Eleven

I asked Jules what I should write about today and she said:

WXPN had people write in & they compiled the top 885 albums of all time - they are up to the 20s today - there has been much debate and people have been picking their top 10 albums.

I thought about it and thought about it but I had a lot of trouble deciding what the top ten are for me. So I went the wimpy way and decided to instead list the ten “go to” albums for me. What I listen to when I don’t know what I want to listen to, what I listen to over and over again. The music that I can rely on in a crisis and never tell me “I love you, just not that way.”

Here they are in no special order:

Buffalo Tom Smitten
Elvis CostelloMy Aim is True
David Bowie Aladdin Sane
The Bangles All Over the Place
Hoodoo Gurus Mars Needs Guitars
Rolling Stones Some Girls
QueenA Night at the Opera
Cake Fashion Nugget
Velvet Goldmine Soundtrack
T Rex Electric Warrior
The Jayhawks Hollywood Town Hall

I’m not saying that these are the most brilliant albums ever made or the best bands that ever existed. I love them all but hey WHERE ARE THE BEATLES? See, love the Beatles but I don’t run for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band when I am sad. I don’t know why, I just don’t. You know I have unnatural fondnesses for Boy George, Cyndi Lauper, The Clash and The Ramones. You know that I like all kinds of music. That Ella Fitzgerald is my joy, Nina Simone is my rock and that I have been in love with the memory of Chet Baker since the beginning of time. You know that I like dance music, and pop music and punk music and classical music. I even willingly listen to country and opera. But time and time again it comes down to these eleven.