I’ve been keeping these in a separate MySQL database back when I was trying to code my own PHP website and WordPress was a new thing. I was using PHPNuke and that site got hacked due to a vulnerability in that platform which pretty much pushed me to no more custom coding and trusting WordPress. So anyway, in the interest of keeping things searchable and in one place, I’m going to just do this as a blog post. Here’s the DID list that I made about 20 years ago and to its credit, it hasn’t changed. I’d certainly add to it but I don’t think I’d remove any of them. And some of my comments are dated given what happened later. I’ll add a few footnotes at the end given 20 years of insight.
- The Shape of Punk to Come – Refused – 1998 – This album is the total package. It’s too bad they broke up before I could see them live. The singer moved on to form International Noise Conspiracy.
- California – Mr Bungle – 1999 – I had to have something with Mike Patton on it, so I decided on this one. It has a diverse enough sound that I wouldn’t get bored over repeated listenings. As with most of my choices, there’s not a bad song in the bunch.
- Bone Machine – Tom Waits – 1992 – Again, this was tough. I might have picked Swordfishtrombones or Mule Variations.
- The Low End Theory – A Tribe Called Quest – 1991 – One of the best hip hop albums ever. Like many other albums, it blended jazz with the rhymes and pulled it off the best, in my opinion. I might have picked the Roots – Do You Want More?!!!??!
- Blue Train – John Coltrane – 1957 – If I’m gonna be stuck, I’m gonna need something mellow. There are several that I might have chosen, but this is my favorite.
- Spiderland – Slint – 1991 – One of the many musicians that I played with while living in NYC turned me onto this album and Shellac’s At Action Park. I’ll be forever grateful.
- In On The Kill Taker – Fugazi – 1993 – This was a tough one. I’d really like to have the entire Fugazi catalog with me. They’re truly an amazing band. Probably one of my top 3 favorite artists.
- I Against I – Bad Brains – 1986 – This one combines hardcore with reggae and other influences. Can’t compare to anything at the time.
- The Fat Elvis – Big Boys – 1993 – This is a compilation that was released along with The Skinny Elvis. It encompasses three of their later albums. The greatest band to come out of Austin. Ever.
- OK Computer – Radiohead – 1997 – Most people seem to pick The Bends as their favorite. This one is mine. I don’t particularly care for the earlier stuff.
As I said, a lot has changed since I wrote that list but it still holds up. I’ll comment on each now that I’m posting them again in 2023.
- I did end up seeing Refused reunite at Fun Fun Fun Fest with Henry. My YouTube channel has video from that show
- Mr Bungle is back with Scott Ian and Dave Lombardo in the band. How cool is that? I haven’t had a chance to see that combo live. Tomahawk was probably happening at that time too but they’re amazing. And then that Dillinger Escape Plan album with Mike Patton is genius (Irony is a Dead Scene)
- Not much from Tom Waits lately, but Mary and I drove to Houston to see him on the Glitter and Doom tour. Totally worth it.
- Tribe being my hip hop choice is hard to defend because I’m only allowed one. Paul’s Boutique might win now. Or one of the Roots albums. Not sure. Or Madvillain
- I’ll just say that I like The Bends better than I did at the time that I wrote this but it’s still not better than OK Computer and they did a bunch of great stuff after that.
- I ended up getting a tattoo of the wolf spider from Spiderland on my right forearm so that tells you how much I like that album. It was a good sign that the guy that I picked to do the tattoo is also a huge fan of Irony is a Dead Scene
- Fanboy related to Fugazi and Slint, I’ve had social media / email interactions with Ian MacKaye and David Pajo. My photo from the last Fugazi show in Austin at Emo’s on Sixth is the shot that comes up when you google them due to my Creative Commons attribution and wikipedia picking that up. I’ve also contributed to Fugazi’s live archive with ticket stubs and photos.