I was in my early 20s when this came out in 1996, which meant if it wasn't metal it was crap. I outgrew that attitude, thankfully, and grew to like some dance music, like Daft Punk, Justice, Royksopp and Robyn. Fatboy Slim's BLTC is good, and it has some tasty grooves, but as a whole, I doubt I'll listen to it again. Highlights for me were Song for Lindy, Going Out of My Head (the one song I'd heard before) and my fave song The Weekend Starts Here with a tasty sample of Black Sabbath's The Wizard.

Fleet Foxes popped onto the scene during the time roots music had its big moment with Arcade Fire and Mumford & Sons gaining huge popularity. So around the late-2000s-mid-2010s. Fleet Foxes had a nice little run as the little brothers of those two. My Morning Jacket kind of jump-started this trend about 10 years before it got huge, and frankly, MMJ does it better. This album is full of great harmonies and folk mixed with a dash of rock. As I’m listening back to it now, I’m finding it more enjoyable than yesterday’s listen. I enjoy this type of music, but I need to be in the right mood for it. The whole time I listened to this album yesterday, I thought, “I need to listen to more MMJ." Standout tracks for me on Fleet Foxes' self-titled debut are Sun It Rises, Ragged Woods, Tiger Mountain Peasant Song, He Doesn’t Know Why, with my favorite track being Your Protector.

I was never an Oasis guy when they first came out. I was a metalhead, so these guys were wusses. But I enjoyed this album. Definitely Maybe was Oasis’s debut album, so I had only heard one or two songs before my listen. But after listening to it twice, this will make it into my saved albums list. What struck me was, they reminded me of two bands I love, the Sex Pistols & the underrated hair/blues metal band, Junkyard. The similarities are all have a unique singer and the band plays simple rock ‘n’ roll, though Oasis has more bells and whistles. The standouts for me were Rock ‘n’ Roll Star, Up in the Sky, Digsy’s Diner and my fave was Cigarettes & Alcohol. Maybe I liked C&A because I’m a big Marc Bolan fan and the riff is straight Bolan.

Today’s album was one I’d heard a bunch, as I’m a huge Sabbath fan. Ir may be my favorite Sabbath album, tho they had a great run early on as their first 5 albums are classics. Vol. 4 was released in 1972, which blows my mind because it’s just so heavy. It was also the first album the band produced themselves. This was also one of the most drug-fueled albums they’d recorded at that point, see Snow Blind. All songs were credited to the band and bassist Geezer Butler wrote all the lyrics. The album was critically acclaimed when it was released. And there were no real singles released because A. Black Sabbath was not a singles band, 2. most Black Sabbath songs were too long for the radio and III. they scared mom and the kids. The most intriguing thing about this album, besides being great when everyone who made it was super-high on coke, is that at points it’s the heaviest ever and then you get a song like Changes, a slower, piano-driven ballad. Or you’ll get a very melodic bridge in the middle of Tomorrow’s Dream. The standouts on this album for me are….all of them. This is almost a perfect album. Even tho Sabbath had the same vibe on each record, this one has several curveballs, like Changes, the very weird FX and the amazing Laguna Sunrise. My personal fave is Snowblind. I’ve loved that song since the first time I heard it. It’s heavy and it’s about cocaine. Two things a young kid from the rural south is fascinated by. Black Sabbath Vol. 4 is a must listen in my opinion.

I never got into Neil Young; it’s the voice. But as I get older, I’ve softened on Young, especially after reading 1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music and listening to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young while I read it. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere was supposed to be Young’s 2nd solo album. He borrowed 3 guys from another band that he was supposed to help record their album, but after recording and touring with those guys, Young decided the album would become his & Crazy Horse’s 1st album, rather than a solo album. And the band he "borrowed" his bandmates from was finished. This album is a classic to me just because of Cinnamon Girl. I'm sure you've heard it. It has one of the best guitar solos of all time. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere does have its misses with Round and Round and The Losing End, but the other 5 songs are bangers. Down By the River, about a man killing his gf for cheating, is badass, tho some might say problematic with the subject matter. But I can assure you, Young didn't actually kill his gf down by the river…I think. Other standouts are the title track & Cowgirl In the Sand. This album is filled with folky country and hard rock. It will go into my regular rotation.

David Bowie became the Thin White Duke during this time in his career, less fun than Ziggy Stardust, but still as sexy. This album is less rock n roll and more funk, disco, soul of the Young Americans album but with more electronica which was hot in Europe at that time. This album is a masterpiece in which at no time did I want to skip ahead to the next song. This album was created while Bowie was in the throes of cocaine addiction, so there goes the thought that nothing good ever came out of doing cocaine. The standout tracks are all of them, but especially the title track, TVC 15, about being high and seeing the TV eat your girlfriend, and I loved Wild as the Wind which is practically a straight love song, but I guess I was in the mood when I listened last night. Station to Station is the best album I’ve heard so far. You need to hear it to.