The Morning After

The latest social networking autobio exercise floating around the internets tubes.

20 (or some people write about 25) important records to them.  So here are 20 important records to me.

01) Bruce Springsteen – ‘Born in the USA’
– not my favourite Boss record today, but when I was like 4, sorta a big deal

02) Chris de Burgh – ‘High On Emotion: Live From Dublin’
– the soundtrack to many a Baker family holiday.  My brothers and I can sing along to the whole thing.  Its kinda spooky.

03) Smashing Pumpkins – ‘Siamese Dream’
– one my earliest memories of being obsessed with a record.

04) Smashing Pumpkins – ‘Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness’
– I was now a Smashing Pumpkins fan and watched way too much Much Music.

05) Metallica – ‘…and Justice for All’
– I got a job at Subway and with my first paycheque I went CD shopping.  I don’t listen to a ton of Metallica today, but as a snot nosed suburban kid, Metallica was played A LOT.  Like a lot, a lot.

06) R.E.M. – ‘Green’
– Critically not the best REM record, but I was new to the band in high school and I must have bought ‘Green’ out of a discount bin.  I played it every night in my discman before bed… every night, until I got…

07) Alice in Chains – ‘Unplugged’
– I don’t think any one record has gotten more play in my life.

08 ) Headstones – ‘Picture of Health’
– the soundtrack to my grade 12 year.  Really their whole catalog got played, but this was the gateway album to my love of the Headstones.

09) Radiohead – ‘The Bends’
– this record has floating in and around my life for a long time.  I remember being into it mildly as a kid when it was on the radio and Much Music… then it was the sound track to pretty much every house party at Rusty’s place.  When Coral and I first started dating, she’d put this album on and we’d make out. awwwww, sick.

10) Propagandhi – ‘How to Clean Everything’
– started DJing at CiTR.  The show before The Morning After Show was called Vengence is Mine.  I was a mega nerd and hung out at CiTR all.the.time.  I’d sit around the lobby, drink beer and listen to Trevor play all sorts of bizarre music that my suburban brain had never processed.  Propagandhi was the band that cut through the noise.  I loved it.  I thought, “holy shit, anyone can make a record and get played on the radio…” then I heard…

11) Blink 182 – ‘Enema of the State’
– holy shit, ANYONE can make a record and some of them will even get famous.  I better start a band… then I heard…

12) Tool – ‘Opiate’ ep
– and then things clicked… like even Tool used to be a sorta half decent bar rock band.  And they practised and stayed true to their art and became the juggernaught they are now.  But listen to Opiate… not “brilliant” in the traditonal sense.  But my favourite Tool record.  My old band used to jam on “Jerk Off.”

13) Braid – ‘Frame and Canvas’
– by now I had been a Vancouver hipster for a bit and was starting to get into post everything rock… I dunno what to call it.  The CiTR monthy rag Discorder needed someone to interview Braid on like a Tuesday night and I was a glorified bum so I agreed to truck on down to the Starfish Room and hang out with Braid.  There might, MIGHT have been 25 people there and it didn’t seem to bother the boys.  They blasted through and unbeliveable set and left me a fan.

14) By A Thread – ‘The Last of the Daydreams’
-pretty much the bestest band I played on the Morning After Show.  Had a pretty big man crush on By A Thread’s style of post grunge rock hipster emocore?  sure.

15) Thursday – ‘Full Collapse’
– I was writing for an internet website, living in Burncover and later Commercial Drive.  The website was based outta Cape Code and all the scenesters there were into this band called Thursday.  And they were like, ‘Whoa, you’re form Vancouver, you know By A Thread!  You’ll like these guys.”  Yup I sure did.

16) Taking Back Sunday – ‘Tell All Your Friends’

– kinda the last major obsession I’d have with a band while in Vancouver.  The style of music Iwas into now had swung back to pop.  These guys are masters of pop rock and this record is a masterpiece IMHO.  I still put it on and smile.

17) Mission of Burma – ‘Signals,Calls,and Marches’
-I moved to Victoria to work on the Zone.  I bought a box set of 80 alterna rock and MOB had a song on there called “That’s When I reach for My Revolver.”  Changed my whole world.

18 ) Jimmy Eat World – ‘Clarity’
-Started dating Coral and she was a huge Jimmy World fan.  I said, “congratulations, ‘The Middle’ is totally awesome!’  She said, “wait a minute, you’ve never heard Jimmy Eat World’s ‘Clarity?’… for shame Jeremy Baker, for shame.”

19) The National – ‘Boxer’
– another game changer record.  I think the National is the best.  Tyson turned me onto the National on a pretty random day.  He comes over and brings me some new music.  A real shit mix of some of his favourite latest stuff.  ‘All The Wine’ from the National was in the mix and it stuck with me.  I had to get the new record “The Boxer” (new at the time at least) and it has remained my favourite record.  If someone asks, “what is Jeremy Baker’s favourite band?”  I say the National.

20) Grand Archives – ‘The Grand Archives’
– the soundtrack to my life when Madelyn was born one year ago (almost).