Bradley loves lists and I hope you do to... aka... Top 5 Favorite Music Videos and British TV shows...

Wow… I can’t believe it’s been a month since I last posted. Feels like a week or so. But, what is time anyways? It’s nothing if not relative, right? One of the reasons I feel a lack of motivation to write is that so little actually changes these days. I’m still busy working on various things but don’t have release dates or anything fun like that to announce. Plus, I’ve been dealing with some not-so-brilliant depression for the past six months, or ten years, however long it’s been since Covid-19 came into our lives. It’s hard not to spend hours and hours doom-scrolling the news every day, which also doesn’t help matters. It would be very nice if there was ever some good news, but that seems to have gone extinct due to global warming. I feel like the constant stress and anger that consumes me most days has taken 10 years off my life. Luckily, they’ll be the ten years at the end, which I wasn’t totally looking forward to anyhow…

So, instead of spending the 200th consecutive day dwelling on everything that is going wrong in our country and world, I decided to do something a little more fun. As dedicated readers know, I am very fond of making lists. Seriously, check out these great examples:

So, what lists are on the docket for today? Hmmm… Let me think. What do I want to spend the next couple hours thinking and writing about? How about we go with:

  • Favorite music videos

  • Favorite British TV shows

Sound good? OK. So, as Joe Swanson from Family Guy would say “LET’S DO THIS!!”

Top 5 Favorite Music Videos

1) You Can Call Me Al - Paul Simon

Just everything. That’s my answer as to why this is my top music video. It’s my favorite song from one of my all-time favorite albums (Graceland, if you didn’t know). It’s a throwback to a time when Chevy Chase was still funny and not universally hated. The premise is simple and perfectly executed. Even on my darkest days this song and video can bring a smile to my face. This song, along with Come On Eileen, are my go to “instantly bring me an immense amount of joy” songs.

2) Thriller - Michael Jackson

This is probably on every top music videos list known to man and for good reason. I can’t believe there was a time when they spent this much time and money on music videos. It’s amazing. There’s nothing I can say that hasn’t already been said about this but Michael was the first musician I ever wanted to be like. I’d spend hours trying to moonwalk across the living and even more time perfecting my hat throw. It was probably weird when, as a kid, my answer to everything was either “HE HE” or “SHAMONE.” Seriously, it works for everything and means whatever you want it to.

“Bradley, are you going to the park?” “Yep. SHAMONE.”

“Did you see that person slip and fall on a banana peel?” “HE HE.”

But, in all seriousness, the video is just a work of fucking art. It’s an incredible experience. The dancing, the costumes, the story, the execution; everything is perfect. If not for my irrational obsession with the You Can Call Me Al video, this would be #1, hands down. It’s by far the greatest achievement in music video history and is unlikely to ever be equaled. It’s like Brett Favre’s consecutive games record (297 consecutive games in the regular season, 321 if you count the playoffs, which I do). It’s borderline impossible to think anyone will come close to breaking that considering today’s health protocols. And it’s equally impossible to think anyone will top MJ’s Thriller video. But, since this is my list and I do have an irrational obsession with You Can Call Me Al, this, unfortunately, has to reside #2 on this list. Feels like an injustice, but that’s life.


Also, if you haven’t watched me as a zombie in my Thriller jacket doing moves from Thriller, then please watch this video for Let’s Go Out Tonight. Trust me it’ll be worth your time. If you look closely in the video, you’ll see I have a Bandaid on my hand. The day before we started shooting, I was practicing the moves from Thriller in my tiny apartment back in Portland, OR. I was really starting to get into it and smashed my hand into my printer and took a chunk of skin off. Two days later, I’m getting buried in the ground and crawling around in the dirt. Cleaning the dirt out of my still open wound was not a fun reward at the end of the day, but totally worth it. I remember it was like 4 in the morning when we started doing the scene with the dance moves. We had to film overnight as most of the video takes place at night. We started setting up around 6pm or so, so we were definitely starting to get a little loopy after 10 hours and staying up all night for the second or third night in a row. So, I feel like Kevin Pietila (the director) was having me run the dance moves over and over because he thought I was so terrible it was funny. He was probably right, but you’ll have to watch the video yourself to verify.

3) Everlong - Foo Fighters

I’ve long been a huge Nirvana fan so, needless to say, I was fucking pumped when I heard Dave Grohl had a new project. That second record, The Colour and the Shape, just fucking hit me so hard when it came out. I mean, Monkey Wrench, My Hero, Everlong, what an amazing album. But, then I saw the video for Everlong and my head exploded. Not literally because then I wouldn’t be writing this right now. But you probably knew that. So, I probably didn’t need to say that. Dumb, Bradley. Dumb.

But seriously, that video was so good I completely tuned out the song while I was watching it. And I fucking love that song. It’s my favorite Foo Fighters song and would probably make a top 100 list for me. But, I love to judge a video based on that. If I completely forget about the song, the video is seriously sucking me in. And I’m not a visual person so that doesn’t happen often. But, it’s what happens when I watch every video on this list.

This video also began my obsession with Michel Gondry. I love everything that man does. All the Bjork videos (one barely missed this list), the other music videos, Science of Sleep (oh my God, I fucking love this movie. No one seems to love this movie the way I do. If you do, please comment and let me know I’m not alone.), Be Kind Rewind, obviously Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (one of two movies that made me cry in the theater. Though I’m sure the pot brownies I was eating while watching also contributed to my being overly emotional…); just everything. All of that eventually led to one of the coolest gifts I ever received which was a hand drawn picture of me by Michel Gondry. See below, it’s fucking badass and I love how he even did the big hand thing in the drawing which is featured in the Everlong video, which is apparently a real life nightmare he has.

4) Closing Time - Semisonic

One of my favorite 90’s one hit wonders. This video has such a cool split screen story happening and I eat up every minute of it. I love seeing this story told this way. There’s a movie that did this for the entire movie and it was amazing. It’s called Conversations with Other Women. If you haven’t seen that you should but back to the video. This is another of those songs that make me feel good when I hear it and the video was just so much more creative than a lot of the stuff we saw in the mid-late 90’s. That amazing conceit of being a couple long, uninterrupted shots, where the characters move between the two side by sides. It’s incredible. The video has like 92 million views on YouTube and I’m pretty sure at least 90 million are just from me…

5) Don’t Come Around Here No More - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

I mean, come the fuck on. How the hell did someone connect one of my favorite Tom Petty songs with Alice in Wonderland? It’s goddamn brilliant. There’s no other way to describe it. When she turns into a cake at the end, Jesus Christ, so bizarre but I love it. This whole thing, again, I just totally forget there’s a song happening. I’m just locked in. I don’t have much more to say other than I can’t believe this happened and we get to bask in its glory. Thank you Tom Petty and thank you whoever came up with this concept. I still can’t fathom listening to that extremely sad song and getting here but I love that this exists.

Runners-up: Virtual Insanity - Jamiroquai and Bachelorette - Bjork

OK, on to the second list!!

Top 5 favorite British TV shows

1) Monty Python’s Flying Circus

I know, a little predictable probably but it is what it is. It is without a doubt my favorite British television show. It comes in at #2 (behind Seinfeld) on my overall favorite shows list. I vividly remember purchasing the box set and religiously watching every episode in like 2 or 3 days. I was 15 or 16 and I can honestly say this show changed my life. I’ve written before how BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN’S “BORN TO RUN” CHANGED MY LIFE. Monty Python has had the same mind expanding effect on me. It recontextualized not only what a sketch comedy show could be but also creation and art in general. The limitless imagination of the human mind is fantastic. Sure, a few of the sketches are borderline insane and don’t really make sense, but that doesn’t take anything away from the brilliance of the all the rest. Even the mighty Bruce Springsteen has a few duds in the back catalog. Looking at you “Man’s Job,” which Springsteen played during his MTV Plugged performance (which was supposed to be “Unplugged” but the Boss does whatever the hell he wants) but suspiciously left it off his YouTube official channel even though he posted the rest of the concert… Hmmm…

2) The Office

The world’s first glimpse into the genius of Ricky Gervais. Man, the early aughts were just fucking stacked with good television. The Office, Chappelle’s Show, Arrested Development (the good years), Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Wire, oh my! But The Office to me was something I had truly not seen before. That mockumentary style was usually reserved for Christopher Guest movies and the dialogue was so realistic and natural that people assumed it was unscripted like Curb but it was actually the opposite. It was so meticulously and precisely worded that it almost felt too real. Every time I go back through the series (which I usually do once a year at least) I’m astonished at how uncomfortable Gervais is capable of making me even though I’ve seen this series at least 25 times. It’s true of all his shows but I still feel that this is his best work. I’ve never been able to get into the American version because I can’t not compare the two constantly which ruins the American series for me. I know they are two separate shows with different goals but I can’t get past the fact that this is so much better than the American version. Although, I’m sure to Gervais and co-creator Stephen Merchant love the American one just as much since that’s where they made most of their money from…

3) Fawlty Towers

I struggled so hard placing this and The Office. Fawlty Towers could easily be #2 (Ha! Poop!) on this list. In the end, I went with the show I watched more over the years (The Office). But, this show is not far behind, if at all, in terms of quality. It’s also amazing that John Cleese has 2 of my top 3 spots (although my favorite Python was always Michael Palin). There’s not a dud of an episode, but that is kind of to be expected seeing as there are only 12 episodes to begin with. Sure, the Major character is a little troublesome but that’s kind of the point. It’s such a simple premise that they somehow turn into these bizarre and hilarious ways. There are more than a few scenes that still make me laugh out loud even though I know they’re coming and I’m waiting for them. I find this is a show not all Americans know about, so I guarantee you it is well worth your time if you haven’t had the chance to watch this before.

4) The I.T. Crowd

This is the show that I probably quote the most on this list. My mom randomly sent the box set to me as a gift a number of years back. I hadn’t even heard of the show before receiving it in the mail but it has become one of my favorite TV shows ever. I love this show and the actors in it so much that one of the most exciting things that (almost) happened to me was when a song of mine was optioned for a movie starring Chris O’Dowd (one of the main characters in this show). I was more excited at the idea of soundtracking a Chris O’Dowd scene than I was about the potential money. Unfortunately, they picked a different song so I’ve vowed to never watch the movie; which is a bummer because it actually looks like a good movie. But, as anyone who knows me knows once I vow against a movie I never waver. I’m probably one of the last people on Earth that hasn’t seen Titanic, and I never will. Ever. Take that to the bank. The blood bank (any Steven Seagal/Hard to Kill fans out there? No. Me neither but I love that line. And I hate watch Seagal movies every now and again. The guy is a disgusting lunatic, look it up, but those movies are fun to make fun of).

Oh yeah, I was supposed to be talking about The I.T. Crowd. This is the perfect late night comedy show. Whenever I get Netflix anxiety (you know, too many choices) this is the show I turn to. I can pop on any season and any episode and be 100% satisfied with my choice. The interplay between the 3 main characters is so good you’d think they’d been friends for years in real life. As much as I love Matthew Berry (“What We Do in the Shadows” anyone?), I still prefer the boss from the first season but oh well. When Matthew Berry is the backup option, you’re doing pretty fucking well. When I watch the episode called Tramps Like Us, I always have to make sure I’m not drinking anything because there are a few scenes that still make me do a spit take (true story) after dozens of viewings. I’ll probably be popping on an episode later tonight once I finish writing this…

5) Spaced

Derek, another Ricky Gervais creation is probably my 5th favorite show on most days but I’ve been leaning heavily on comedies these days. And while Derek certainly has plenty of laughs, it definitely is a little too emotional for me right now so Spaced gets the nod. Also, because this is another show that I never hear anyone talk about and I always get a pretty “spaced” look when I mention it to people (ha! Puns…). I want to remedy that. No, it isn’t MY LIFE’S GOAL LIKE IT IS WITH NEWSRADIO but I do campaign hard for this show. For those who don’t know, which, again, is probably a lot of you out there (though I hope I’m wrong about that, let me know in the comments), Spaced was created by the guys responsible for Shaun of the Dead. Those two are already a formidable comedy team but this also has a hilarious Jessica Stevenson, who I believe co-created the show with Simon Pegg. I could look that up but I hate our generations addiction to always googling everything. It takes all the fun out of spirited debates about who was or wasn’t in such and such movie or what year Oregon became a state or whether or not you can see the Northern Lights from Wisconsin or any other fun, random facts that people kind of know but not enough to be positive about. I miss those days.

But, anyways, if you liked Shaun of the Dead or that style of comedy, you’ll probably love this. It’s directed by Edgar Wright as well, so it looks and feels very similar and does a lot of those awesome camera trick gags that they do in Shaun of the Dead. I can’t recommend this enough.

Come back next week for a couple new lists!

Michel Gondry is my hero... aka... Some awesome videos and my charmed life...

It’s been a while since I did a music night, so let’s do that. I love making lists, and making lists while listening to music is even better. This week I’ve been jonesing on some Michel Gondry, so that’s the theme for these tunes. These are not necessarily my favorite or my top 5 or whatever but they are the ones I want to listen to/watch tonight. Gondry was always a favorite director of mine but since I own a hand-drawn sketch of me done by the man himself (for real! See picture below), I’ll ride for Gondry til I die.

If you don’t know who Michel Gondry is, he is the director of one of my favorite movies ever (“The Science of Sleep”) but is probably most known as the director for “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” He has directed a myriad of amazing music videos so I’m choosing from those tonight. I know, I know, this list could just be all his collaborations with Bjork, but don’t worry, it isn’t. There’s so much to choose from, so let’s get going!

“Ride” - The Vines

Now this isn’t a crazy music video by any means, but I do miss/love the Vines. Their time atop the music world wasn’t long for this world but as a fellow Asperger’s, I can’t help but feel for Craig Nicholls (lead singer/songwriter). He is a brilliant musician but clearly struggled a lot. I hope he’s doing better now.

“The Hardest Button to Button” - The White Stripes

For sure, “Fell in Love with a Girl” is the more popular Stripes choice but this is such a cool/simple/brilliant idea. It’s so much fun to watch and was clearly a labor of love for the band/director. Gondry has such wonderful music taste. Man, I remember a time when the Stripes were my favorite band on the planet. They are still up there and they certainly put on some of my favorite live shows I’ve ever seen. It is strange to think of the first time I saw them (with about 200 other people) to the last time I saw them (fucking Madison Square Garden!). What a band. Jack White is truly a singular talent.

“A Change Would Do You Good” - Sheryl Crow

Still weirds me out that Sheryl Crow was a backup singer for Michael Jackson… Anyways, why does the OTHER VERSION of this video exist? This one is so much better and has so many famous people in it (Ellen, Jeff Garlin, Molly Shannon, Gail the Snail, or whatever her real name is, Andy Dick, etc.). It’s so silly and extraordinary and clever that I can’t help but forget about the song that’s playing. I miss when people used to invest in music videos like this.

“Hyperballad” - Bjork

What an incredible song. What an incredible video. Such a sad song though. It’s sometimes hard to listen to. But that’s not the case tonight.

“Everlong” - Foo Fighters

Man, that second Foo album was a killer. And this may be my favorite Gondry video. It’s so fucking imaginative and wonderful. And, it features his obsession with large hands (see the sketch of me below for more large-handedness). I’ve literally watched this video on repeat for hours. Maybe I’m the weirdo but damn is this fun.

“Fire on Babylon” - Sinead O’Connor

A very haunting tune indeed, but I actually watch equally for the video. The childish settings and themes placed against some truly terrifying imagery. There’s some dark shit in here. Takes the song to places I don’t know if Sinead even knew existed. The whole thing is fucking awesome. I know Sinead has taken a lot of shit from a lot of people but I stand by her originality and brilliance and bravery in songwriting and life. Also, never gets enough credit for her outstanding voice.

“Like a Rolling Stone” - The Rolling Stones

Ummm, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones? Yes, please. And throw my man Gondry into it? Hell fucking yes please! I don’t think I’ve ever seen this effect employed in another video and definitely don’t even have a fucking clue as to what it is. All I know is that it’s fucking awesome.

Anyways, I’m tired and you should enjoy those videos and the sketch of me below done by the man himself. Weird, right? But one of my favorite directors and writers on the planet drew me. ME. What the fuck? Sometimes I think my life is pretty fucking awesome…

(dictated but not read)

Michel Gondry Sketch.jpg

Insomnia and what cures it, for me, at least... aka music. Top 5 albums I fall asleep to...

Figured I'd give you the music right off the fucking bat in case you're one of those people that can listen to music AND do anything else, like read, at the same time. For me, music is a solitary focus only but I hear I'm a little weird with shit like that...

Well, it's Monday night (or whenever the hell it is when you are reading this), so it's time for your weekly dose of ol' Bradley Wik. I found out recently that, apparently, I was the last person on the planet still using two spaces after a sentence while typing, so I'm trying to get used to using only one. Forgive me if I add extra ones here and there. Fucking old habits die hard. I've had to delete three in this short-ass first paragraph already...

But, last week was a fucking weird one for me. I had an enormous fucking blister on my thumb which made it damn near impossible to pick a guitar/record (bourbon helps with the pain), I tried to start going through and mixing some of the recordings I made last week only to find they were, for all intents and purposes, unusable, which pissed me off to no fucking end, so I just wanted to relax and watch some TV but football is gone, baseball hasn't yet started, so I binged seasons 5 and 6 of "VEEP" and fell in love with Jonah and Richard Splett all over again. Which was nice, for a while. Then, I had an Asperger's attack/breakdown over getting a new tattoo because I really wanted to get it this weekend but I am going to Disney World in less than a week and was paranoid about it getting infected on the water rides. But, I had already made up my mind to go get it which means I spoiled almost two entire days pouting/freaking out that I didn't get to do what I had already planned on doing even though it was entirely my fault as I had completely forgotten I was going to Disney World so soon after. It likely would've been fine anyways, but I already don't heal particularly quickly (bourbon doesn't help in this case) and generally have shit luck with vacations in the first place. It literally only delayed the new tattoo by a couple weeks but Asperger's is a bitch sometimes and loves to fuck up my days with nonsense...

But, what I really wanted to talk about today was insomnia and my top five albums to fall asleep to. So, no reason to keep blathering on about nonsensical things when I could be blathering on about semi-nonsensical things...

Insomnia and me

I think it started shortly after I turned 18. I had spent the past 9 years sharing a room with my little brother who was (and still is!) 8 1/2 years younger than me. You'd think it would be a bummer for a high schooler to share a room with an 8 year old but it was actually the opposite. My brother and I got along swimmingly (and still do). Of course, it's much easier for me to get along with someone who has excellent (and very similar) taste in music, movies, television and video games. We hung out a lot of the time and I had control of the stereo and TV, so he didn't really have many other options, but, he definitely could've hated listening to Outkast's "Stankonia" on repeat while playing NFL 2K1 (Dreamcast for life muthafuckers!) for hours on end. But, he didn't. He even choreographed one of his first karate test routines to the fucking White Stripes. I think he was 7 at the time. What can I say, kid's a badass and he knows good shit when he hears it.

Leaving home was semi-traumatic as I crave structure and routine. Leaving was the opposite (though, ironically, leaving/moving would become my new routine so staying in one place became the difficult thing) as it forced me to sleep in some place new, eat new food (food I had to cook), go to new stores, a new job, and move into a shitty, college rental house. It turned out to be amazing and I could've lived there forever with Jake and Quinn, but life had other plans for us all.  But, just uprooting everything was jarring for a kid with Asperger's. It didn't sit right and sleeping became difficult. I moved from Horicon, WI, population 3000 to a busy street in Madison, WI, population a billion as far as I was concerned. The street noise, which would eventually become my friend, was such a shock that I couldn't tune it out enough to sleep. For the first month or so in Madison, I think I slept maybe 3 or 4 hours a night. 9 years was a long normal that suddenly disappeared for me. After the initial Asperger's shock wore off, I needed to normalize it. Jake and Quinn listened to music (quite loudly, I might add) as they dozed off. It dawned on me that I could use music, my one true love, to help me adjust to new surroundings. My routine could be the wonderful music that made me feel human, comforted me and gave my life meaning. You see, with Asperger's and its lack of empathy, "human-ness" was hard to come by. I always felt an outsider, a stranger to even myself and someone who didn't understand how other humans interacted and felt so comfortable amongst each other. I didn't  get it. They clearly understood or had something I did not. But music bridged that gap. Suddenly, I could surround myself with people who had the same obsession I did. It made me feel connected to the rest of the world in a way I didn't before. It helped me understand how humans made contact amongst one another in a friendly way. I needed it to survive. Now, it could help me achieve one of the most basic human needs for survival: sleep. For years, I couldn't sleep without music playing. I may not use it every night anymore (as most nights I pass out on the couch watching TV after a handful of bourbons), but when I do, it puts me out like a baby. I can hit the sack and within 20 minutes be sleeping like a baby with the right record. Which brings me to...

My top 5 albums to fall asleep to

 

Honorable mentions: Jeff Buckley - Grace, Portishead - Eponymous, The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound

Jeff Buckley's music has helped me in innumerable ways throughout my life, including saving it on more than one occasion, so it can occasionally be difficult to listen to passively enough to fall asleep. I've used it to soothe my soul on so many nights, but it's also kept me awake with its beauty on more than one occasion (whether by its pure musical magic or the memories it stirs in me) so I have to relegate it to honorable mention in this case.

Portishead is wonderful late night music. Unfortunately, it's also wonderful late night music for certain, R-rated things as well. So, it can't be counted on 100% to send me to slumberland as it sometimes sends me to excited land, which is not conducive to falling asleep.

The Gaslight Anthem's '59 Sound is like comfort food. It's not the most original, complex, inventive or brilliant album but it knows what it is and it does it fucking well. It's punk, Springsteen, storytelling and about as on the nose as a fucking handjob, but sometimes that's all you need.

Now, to the good stuff:

5. Palace Brothers - Days in the Wake

A record recommended to me by the kind (and musically-genius) folks at B-Sides records in Madison, WI. I came in for the Bonnie Prince Billy "I See a Darkness" record and they brought up his past projects and said I'd probably love this. They were right as fuck. I spent 6 months writing songs that could fit on the sequel to this album because it inspired me so much. The rawness, the honesty, the sometimes ridiculousness of it all were so beautiful. When I drink, I always play "I am a Cinematographer" and "I Send My Love to You" without fail. Just gorgeously raw music.

4. Neil Young - After the Gold Rush

 

This album isn't my favorite Neil Young album, it's not even in my top 3 (well, can be #3 depending on my mood and the day), but it has an effect on me that I cannot fully describe. It's calming and numbing (in a good way) and gets me out of my head in a way that is wonderful. I'll also never forget the night I drank, well, more than my fair share of wine and watched Arrested Development reruns until 3:30 am. I finally went to bed but needed to wind down from all the laughter. I popped this record on but being drunk, wasn't aware of the apparent volume. Turns out, my downstairs neighbor didn't appreciate the late night/early morning Neil Young; except maybe she did as she wrote me a letter saying to keep it down late at night unless I give her a call and invite her up for my late night "parties." If I wasn't with someone at the time, I probably would have. Other than that, I never had any interaction with my neighbors at that Portland apartment, though it was one of the last apartments that allowed smoking since it "had let people do it for so long, they couldn't ask them to stop now. Besides, they had extensive renovations to do (read: the apartments were shitty) so they'll deal with it then."

3. Joanna Newsom - Y's

This is such a strange album for me. My Asperger's brain struggles to figure this out. I don't have any clue how to make music like this and I keep trying to figure out how this came into existence. To me, it's like a crazy math riddle that I don't know the formula to. But, I love it. I love it so much. This vinyl is one of my most well-worn/loved. The CD didn't leave my Sony boombox for months and months on end when it first entered. I listened to this album incessantly on my iPod on the train to work when I live in NYC. Joanna has played some of my favorite live shows that I've ever seen. She truly is an artist in every sense of the word, and if you don't own the vinyl version of this, by God, sell your fucking children (or $20 or $30 worth of something else) to get it. You won't regret it. But, make sure you also get the CD so you can listen as you doze off to "Monkey and Bear." I rarely make it past "Monkey and Bear" when I play this late at night.

2. Bjork - Vespertine

"Homogenic" is far too upbeat and wonderous to fall asleep to. No, this is the album you need to whisk you away into a magical night of slumber and dreams. The majestic tone of this album set against those jagged but hypnotic soundscapes are just too much to fathom. Unlike "Y's" where my brain is trying to figure out the math, this just breaks my brain and it shuts off, in the best possible way when you're trying to turn off the day. If I make it to "Undo," I can't help but let a tear slip despite my eyes being tightly closed. If I could ever make a song like that (or anything on this album) I would immediately retire knowing I'd never achieve such heights again. Luckily for us, Bjork wasn't done reaching heights.

1. Stars - Set Yourself on Fire

This album puts me to sleep in the sadness, most nostalgic way possible. Back in Madison, WI when I was just figuring out the nocturnal magic of music, this was one of the first albums that lulled me to sleep. The reminiscing of high school times, which I was fresh out of, was too much, set against the pop-electronic rock concept while handing off singing duties/doing duets with an equally talented female was something I always wanted to dabble in. This album has all the teenage emotions a young person can handle: fleeting love, anger, lust, sadness, the feeling that somehow this is the best it will ever get, ambition, hope, youthful regret, the false permanence, underage drunkenness, etc. This album is likely not as good as I think it is (one of the 10-15 greatest albums ever made) but it means that much to me. I don't know why. It's just one of those time and place albums that is now so embedded and such a sense memory for all the emotions and experiences that time represents that it is indelibly a part of me. There's a sadness and a joy and a comfort in that. I like that this album keeps all that for me. I don't have to forget. I don't have to carry it with me. This album takes care of all that for me. I just have to place it, close the lid and let the lasers do the rest. That little piece of plastic keeps all that shit at a distance but within reach. God bless it. Thank you Stars for the countless nights that I've enjoyed sleep when I otherwise couldn't. It's a blessing and I cannot repay you enough for what you've given me. I once collapsed at work from lack of sleep, but then I found this album and it literally changed my life. Only a small number of records have done that and these sad, reminiscing kids from Canada did it. Congratulations. I'll probably die with this record on. Or "Born to Run" or "Bold as Love" or "Blood on the Tracks" or "Tonight's the Night" or "Grace" but it's crazy "Set Yourself on Fire" is even in that conversation...

(dictated but not read)

stars set yourself on fire.jpg