This was a tough assignment. While finding four albums that describe you can be an easy task (fine four albums your love and Viola! You have the post) but in this case it was four album titles that best describe you. That is a bit harder. So I dug deep, did some real thinking, and went back into the recesses of my mind to remember which albums were actually in my collection to find four albums that describe me.
1. Strange Ways Here We Come – The Smiths
This album is one of my favorite albums of all time but also describes my life. I have lived in 8 states, lost my father to drug addiction, earned my doctorate, traveled to 49 states, been a pizza guy, fell in love, become a father, seen Depeche Mode 12 times, – I have lived a strange life. It has been wonderful and I look forward to the decades to come. This album typifies what my life has been like. Songs like Girlfriend in a Coma and Stop Me if You Think You’ve Heard This One Before create a story of how strange life is and the melancholy changes they bring.
2. The Lost Boys Movie Soundtrack
I consider myself a Lost Boy. I grew up moving all over the country, I often feel alone and disoriented. I have to be a bit of a chameleon to fit in and I don’t feel comfortable with the mainstream. This album and movie by the same name is about isolation and the vulnerability of not fitting in. While kind of about vampires it is metaphor for the kind of people who interrupt a person’s life when they are alone and vulnerable. So many times I was tempted by fitting in and I resisted. The music is also part of that equation — even if they were not sure at the time it meant anything. Echo and the Bunnymen doing a version of People are Strange, Though Shall Not Fall (Cry Little Sister) by Gerald McMann, and Good Times by INXS are all in reference to band leaders or singers who were painfully introverted but acted extroverted for their art. This lead to two of their deaths. This album shows my painfully shy and lost side.
3. Document – R.E.M.
I love R.E.M. For far more reasons than I have time for in this post. But I can tell you that this album does 100% reflect my personality. This album and it’s title is a celebration of historical context in political, social, and emotional context. Finest Worksong, The One I Love, Exhuming McCarthy, and King of Birds are all blue collar songs of memory and lesson that is mean to serve witness to those who cannot represent themselves. I believe that history is more important than the future and this album is an antebellum relic of that. R.E.M. Are southerners who have a real sense of who they are what their heritage represents. I hope I do too.
4. The Immaculate Collection – Madonna
In 1990 Madonna released a “Greatest Hits” album that was more than that. It had new songs like Justify My Love and also featured remastered versions of songs that spanned her early career. The reason I selected this album was because like her songs I am a collector of things that spark memory. Sports cards, record collections, playlists, AFI Movie lists, you name it I love to collect things. I am not a hoarder, quite the contrary. I am actually a person who lives a minimalist lifestyle. But what I do collect I do with completion and purpose. I think Madonna did that with this album. It was intentional on how it was ordered, the music selected, I have listened to this album perhaps 100 times. It’s amazing.
So these are the four albums that describe me.
Considering Outloud 