30 years of music

There is a meme floating around the web... one where you pick your favorite album for each year you've been alive. One album per year - and it had to have been released in that year. Joel at Crummy Church signs has a great example of this meme on his blog (even if he broke it up into two separate posts). My sister-in-law put her own spin to the meme; she is posting books instead of albums... and she dedicated a single blog to that effort.

I've always wanted to do this meme myself. And every time I see some one else complete the meme, a couple of albums come to mind that must be on my list. In an instant, I think of Steve Taylor's I Predict 1990 from 1987, or Smashing Pumpkins' 1995 release Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. And, as I'm turning 30 in a couple of months, I thought this meme would be a great way to celebrate my age. Thirty years - thirty albums.

Two problems. The first is also the most obvious. I am music obsessive-compulsive. I don't think it's possible to pick one (and only one) album for most years - especially my high school years. So if I put together a list of my favorite albums for each year that I've been alive, it most likely would end up a top five or top ten for every year (plus a couple of honorable mentions). A list of the top 5 to ten albums for every year since 1979 would end up to be a very long (150 - 300) list. No one wants to wade through that mess.

I'd have to break it up. One post per year. And this is where the second problem exists. I suck at series. Not that the ideas I have for series are bad ideas, I just fail at follow through. There are two series on this blog that I started and never completed: in July of 2005 (shortly after I started this blog) I was going to pick apart Spin's list of the 100 greatest albums of the last 20 years but I stopped after two posts, and in August of 2007 I started a series of my favorite places in Western Washington but I only completed the first post.* And it's not just this blog. On What's Inside, I've only completed the first two (out of four) posts in my Far From God series. The good news on What's Inside is the one and only series that I've completed - How to Live in Four Easy Steps. One out of four - 25% completion rate... not a great track record.

Alas, I can't resist. But oi... 30 posts... I shake my head in peril. That's a lot of posts. But if I complete it I'll bring my completion rate up to 40% - so, that'd be a good thing, right?

Worst case scenario, you'll read along and think - "oh yeah... I like that album too." Best case, I introduce you to some great music that you've never heard before. And if you're not that into music or don't care much for my taste in music, keep checking back. I'm too ADD to stick with a single topic for too long, and there is plenty of blog fodder stewing in my noggin to keep me writing for a while.