I've decided that with this entry and future entries the companion playlist will only be available on YouTube. Sure, it's neat to be able to take the playlists on the go with Apple Music or Spotify but after research and lack of subscribers to the playlists it didn't make sense for me to keep paying for those services. YouTube is free and you have a visual to go along with the audio in most cases. The playlists on the previous blogs are still available on apple music and spotify.
I'm not sure where to start with 1997. I finished my junior year of high school and a few months later I began my senior year of high school. I got my very first car in the fall of 1997, A 1986 Oldsmobile Delta 88 a.k.a. A Rocket 88 as sang about in what's considered the very first Rock N' Roll song of all time. I think it's very fitting to have a make and model of car that's a huge part of music history.
Earlier in the year The Notorious B.I.G. was fatally shot in Los Angeles. The Murder still remains unsolved to this day.
Great year for music.
Check out the companion playlist : YouTube.
On to the playlist....
1. Incubus - Redefine.
2. Incubus - Vitamin: I saw this band open up for 311 in 1997 at the WVU coliseum. Nobody knew who they were. I was scared of the name because in demonology Incubus means an invisible demon that seduces women in the middle of the night. Before they took the stage I kept wondering if these guys are some sort of Devil Worshippers that were going to sacrifice virgins and animals during their show. It didn't help that the beginning of their show consisted of tribal drums being brought out on stage and the band playing tribal rhythms before launching into their own brand of funky hip hop laced rock music. My fears were dispelled and my next thought was that these guys are going to be huge. They are now a household name in alternative music but they didn't become a household name until two albums later. Their song "Wish You Were Here" has become one of my all time favorite songs.
3. Incubus - New Skin.
4. Our Lady Peace - Clumsy: This is the song they became known for. It's a weird freaking alternative song, but it's also a really catchy ballad, and the lyrics don't really matter because it's such a great song. I still sometimes wonder what they mean; "I'll be waving my hand, watching you drown, watching you scream..." Weird!
5. Our Lady Peace - Superman's Dead: "Why iiiiiieeeeiiieeeyiii yeah is it in my head? Why eeeiiiiiiiiiiieeeiiieee" These guys were odd but they wrote catchy songs.
6. Mack 10 feat Tha Dogg Pound - Nothing But The Cavi Hit: One of my favorite hip hop songs of all time. I love the part in the music video when Kurupt does his dialogue bit.
7. David Bowie - I'm Afraid Of Americans: The legend paired up with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. A lot of Bowie purists don't like this song, but I like artists who try different things.
8. Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On: A big hit for this Canadian Artist.
9. The Offspring - All I Want:
10. The Offspring - Gone Away.
11. The Offspring - I Choose: I'm pretty sure I annoyed my sister and her friend on drives to school with this song, because they would always complain about it. It was my car and if they wanted a lift to school they had to suffer through my tunes.
12. Blur - Song 2: The genius child behind this song is the genius behind The Gorillaz. I was very fortunate to meet him and carry on a conversation with him in Pittsburgh.
13. Erykah Badu - Tyrone: "You Better Call Him." I watched Erykah Badu in a movie called "House Of D" where her character sang "Melissa" by the Allman Brothers. It is so beautiful. Check that movie out and check out her albums. She's great.
14. Veruca Salt - Volcano Girls.
15. LeAnn Rimes - How Do I live?
16. Marcy Playground - Sex And Candy: I have never liked this song. It's terrible and the people who like it have terrible taste in music.
17. Live - Lakini's Juice: I saw these guys live a few months ago and I'm seeing them again in another month. They are one of my favorite band's ever and I'm glad they are back together.
18. Sister Hazel - All For You.
19. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - The Impression That I Get: Easily one of my all time favorite songs. I've never gotten tired of it. It's a little hardcore punk, a little pop, and a little ska. I heard this song prior to it becoming a hit thanks to a high school friend lending me the CD. I knew the instant I heard it that it would become massive, and it did.
20. Scarface feat. 2pac - Smile: This is one of several singles released in 1997 to feature the late great Tupac Shakur. It's such a positive song.
21. Aerosmith - Falling In Love (Is Hard On The Knees).
22. Aerosmith - Hole In My Soul.
23. Aerosmith - Pink.
24. Ben Folds Five - Brick: I often wonder what happened to the "Folds Five." Ben Folds has had a lot more success without the five or is it the four since he made up one 5th of the 5.
25. Notorious B.I.G. - Hypnotize: It's sad that this was released after his death and he never got see what a smash hit it would become. This is a change of tone from his first album which is much darker and more about his experiences growing up in the ghetto. The second album is so much fun and just has a good time vibe to it. Sure there are songs like Ten Crack Commandments that are a little dark but it's definitely a much more positive sound, which is very cool being that he was part of a smear campaign launched by Tupac when he recorded it. I like it when people take the high road.
26. Notorious B.I.G. - Mo Money Mo Problems.
27. Notorious B.I.G. - Sky's The Limit.
28. Notorious B.I.G. feat. Bone Thugs-n-Harmony - Notorious Thugs: "It's Bone and Biggie Biggie..." I didn't like this song when I initially heard it 20 years ago, but I heard it on the radio the other day and it's so good that I had to include it even though it wasn't released as a single. It's one of those songs that got better with time.
29. Aqua - Barbie Girl: "Come on Barbie. Let's go party."
30. Third Eye Blind - Semi Charmed Life: One of the most addictive pop songs ever.
31. Third Eye Blind - Jumper.
32. Third Eye Blind - How's It Going To Be?
33. Buck-O-Nine - I'm The Man: I like this cover much better than the Joe Jackson original.
34. Millencolin - Lozin' Must: I guess the punk rock phase started a little sooner than I initially thought. I love this Swedish band and all the broken English glory of their lyrics. The songs are very catchy.
35. Hanson - Mmm Bop: I didn't jump on the Hanson train until their second album when they hit puberty and their voices deepened, but at that point their 15 minutes of fame came to an end. Their second album This Time Around is worth checking out. It's really good. It's sad that Mmm Bop made them a gimmick.
36. Smashing Pumpkins - Eye.
37. Warren G - I Shot The Sheriff.
38. The Misfits - Dig Up Her Bones.
39. Bruce Dickinson - Accident Of Birth: For the people that complained about the Blaze Bayley days in Iron Maiden, I would always say "Have you heard Bruce's Solo Albums?" Bruce put out some great stuff that was much better than what his former band was putting out at the time. Thankfully Bruce rejoined Maiden in 2000 and the rest is history but his solo stuff is wonderful especially the albums Accident Of Birth, and The Chemical Wedding. They definitely fill in the gaps in that dark two album period in Maiden's history when they were writing lackluster tunes.
40. Faith No More - Last Cup Of Sorrow.
41. Faith No More - Stripsearch: This song is a resident on many of my playlists.
42. Days Of The New - Touch, Peel, Stand.
43. Wu Tang Clan - Triumph.
44. Creed - My Own Prison: As much as people will deny ever liking this band, there's no denying that they released a rock album that would have crossover success on the pop charts too. I've never been ashamed of liking this band and it's a shame that other people are. They wrote great tunes, and sure they may have jumped on the so called "Grunge" bandwagon but that was the popular sound of the time.
45. Creed - What's This Life For?
46. Megadeth - Almost Honest.
47. Megadeth - Trust: Dave Mustaine is as great at writing pop songs as he is writing metal songs. I liked the change of direction on this.
48. Blink 182 - Dammit: I love their second album Dude Ranch. It's immature, it's sloppy, and it's one of the greatest pop punk albums of all time.
49. Wyclef Jean - Gone Till November (single version): I love this song. It's too bad the album it came from is not very good.
50. Sugar Ray - Fly: This song is cool. Everybody thought this band would be a one hit wonder, but just two years later they had several more hits.
51. The Prodigy - Breathe.
52. The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up.
53. Reel Big Fish - Sell Out.
54. Puff Daddy - Can't Nobody Hold Me Down.
55. Puff Daddy - I'll Be Missing You: This song serves as a tribute to Notorious B.I.G. who died earlier in the year of fatal gunshot sounds. It samples Every Breath You Take by The Police.
56. Puff Daddy - It's All About The Benjamins: This whole album is great.
57. Puff Daddy - Victory: I like it that the Training Montage from Rocky IV is the instrumental backdrop.
58. Limp Bizkit - Faith. - I like their cover of this song better than the original.
59. Cherry Poppin' Daddies - Zoot Suit Riot.
60. Missy Elliot - The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly): I love Missy Elliot.
61. Jimmie's Chicken Shack - High.
62. Puff Daddy - Been Around The World.
63. Insane Clown Posse - Halls of Illusions. - I was never down with the clown. I'm sure I'm going to piss off some Juggalo's by the following statement: I've always found these guys to be ridiculously lame, but they have a huge following of people that proudly display their hatchet man necklaces, and ICP T-Shirts. They obviously are very smart business wise because they are raking in the dough.
64. Smash Mouth - Walking On The Sun. - This was a minor hit for these guys. They achieved much better success on their second album with a song called "All-Star."
65. Smash Mouth - Why Can't We Be Friends?
66. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony - Look Into My Eyes.
67. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony feat. 2pac - Thug Luv.
68. Primus - Shake Hands With Beef. - I love Les Claypool. He has such a great sense of humor. I've seen Primus live twice, and they don't disappoint.
69. Bob Carlisle - Butterfly Kisses. - This song is hella lame.
70. The Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench. - This song has such a great punk rock vibe to it.
71. The Foo Fighters - Everlong.
72. The Foo Fighters - My Hero.
73. 311 - Transistor. - "If you want more beats for your buck there's no luck." Transistor is the one 311 album that's solid from top to bottom. I seriously love these guys. I think this is the album where they really started to define their sound. On previous albums (which I love by the way) their sound wasn't as focused, but they are definitely worth checking out.
The new album Mosaic is great. I'll get to it in my next blog entry.
74. 311 - Prisoner.
75. 311 - Beautiful Disaster.
76. Backstreet Boys - As Long As You Love Me.
77. Backstreet Boys - Everybody (Backstreet's Back). - The only BSB song I like.
78. Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta. - All he wanted to do was "publish 'zines and rage against machines", but he's "Paranoid that everybody's coming" to get him but "They never met" him, and they cut off his legs now he's "An Amputee Goddamn You."
79. Coal Chamber - Sway. - This is another song that contains an interpolation of The Roof Is On Fire by Rock Master Scott. I had never heard it done metal style though. I had a huge crush on their original bass player Rayna Foss. It's a way cool song.
80. Rammstein - Du Hast. - I don't speak german and I have no idea of what their lyrics are, but I love this band,
81. Rammstein - Engel.
82. Coolio - C U When U Get There.
83. Freak Nasty - Da Dip. - "I put my hand upon your hip when you dip, I dip, we dip."
84. Marilyn Manson - Long Hard Road Out Of Hell. - Great tune.
85. Master P - Make 'Em Say Uhh!
86. Cornershop - Brimful Of Asha.
87. Save Ferris - Come On Eileen.
88. Usher - You Make Me Wanna. - I love Usher.
89. Usher - Nice And Slow.
90. Busta Rhymes - Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See. - The album this came from is a masterpiece.
91. Busta Rhymes - Dangerous.
92. Busta Rhymes - Turn It Up (Remix)/Fire It Up.
93. Boyz II Men - 4 Seasons Of Lonliness.
94. Boyz II Men - A Song For Mama.
95. Janet Jackson - Got Till It's Gone.
96. LL Cool J - Phenomenon.
97. LL Cool J - 4, 3, 2, 1.
98. The Firm - Firm Biz.
99. The Firm - Phone Tap.
100. The Deftones - My Own Summer (shove it).
101. Mase - Feels So Good. - Mase's first album is one of the best hip hop albums of 1997.
102. Mase -What You Want.
103. Mase - 24 Hours To Live.
104. Three 6 Mafia - Tear Da Club Up.
105. Jay Z - The City Is Mine.
106. Jay Z - Sunshine.
107. Metallica - The Memory Remains. - I like Re-Load a lot better than Load.
108. Metallica - Fuel.
109. Metallica - Unforgiven II.
110. Will Smith - Men In Black.
111. Will Smith - Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It. - I'm hoping for a DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince reunion one of these days.
112. Will Smith - Just The Two Of Us. - Will Smith wrote this for his son.
113. Will Smith - Miami.
114. Def Squad - Rapper's Delight.
115. 2 Pac - Do For Love.
116. Rakim - Guess Who's Back. - Rakim, Eminem, and Notorious B.I.G. are my favorite rappers of all time,
Coming Soon: My Life Of Music Obsession: New Music.
To read other entries in the "My Life Of Music Obsession" series click here.
