190n120 - 30 Years of Music with Adam Johnson...Episode Six: "The secret of my influence has always been that it remained secret"

179. Queen - News of the World (1977)

Most musicphiles, like everyone else on Earth, usually began their relationship with Queen stomping and clapping along to the first two songs on News of the World; but it's the meat and potatoes that really make this album shine. Roger Taylor kept himself vital alongside Mercury's blatant genius, too.

Though not contextually schathing as Night At the Opera, there are some real burners here. Also, a very nice, albeit melancholy, song about a kitty-cat.

Recommended Listening: Sheer Heart Attack, Get Down, Make Love, It's Late

178. Urgehal - Goatcraft Torment (2006)

The only band at the time of discovery that sounded more evil than Slayer.
Urgehal: "THIS IS SATANIC BLACK METAL!!!"
Adam: "Alright, I'm listening..."

Righteous, ravenous, and all kinds of fun. Subtlety is not what these guys are about, and I love them for it. Aaron Finch gifted me with my first listen, and I've been a fan ever since.

My tastes in extreme metal vary quite widely, and I'm still becoming comfortable with discerning quality from quantity. There's a lot of super-samey contrived Cookie Monster-worship out there with few, true exceptions. What I find most intriguing about extreme metal are the compositional tropes. Most casual (or completely separate) listeners condemn all fast, heavy music as trite or lacking dynamics. Untrue, and unfair. From black metal to death metal, I continue stumbling upon groups like Glorior Belli, Behemoth, Aura Noir, and Carpathian Forest that both pummel and inspire; and I don't plan on hanging up my Benediction t-shirt anytime soon.

Play this album at 10 on a Sunday outside a Lutheran church somewhere.

Recommended Listening: Goatcraft Torment, Satanic Black Metal In Hell, Et Steg Naermere Lucifer

177. Portishead - Third (2008)

I was too young to really appreciate these folks during their formative first run, but when Portishead reappeared from nowhere like Brigadoon with an album full of perfection, I put on my Adidas shoes and jumpsuit and drank the provided Kool-Aid.

Even at their most beautiful, Portishead are unnerving, melancholy. Their approach to pop sensibilities are what really keep me coming back, though. They create electro-inspired pop music like composers, valuing dynamics and atmosphere over hooks or stadium-sized melodies. What the listener gets is a soundtrack to a movie that only exists in their head, their's to direct as they see fit. Portishead have already written the beginning, middle, and end.

Recommended Listening: We Carry On, Machine Gun, Small

176. Neil Young - Dead Man: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1995)

I have only seen this movie once, because it's a doozy, but Neil Young's blown-out freak guitar soundtrack didn't leave my listening rotation for over a year, and continues to enliven and inspire.

As a guitar player, discovering this music gave me a new lease on my art. 2006 found me away from home for the first time, able and free to fill my head and heart with anything I wanted. My first working band had also just come to its end, and I needed...something to keep my rock-and-roll dreams afloat. I didn't know a solo guitar could be so dynamic, so arresting, or so fucking loud.
I was used to the Pete Townsend method of song-writing: verse, chorus, verse, bridge, chorus. Tide and true, it worked for punk rock like a charm. Young's accompaniment, however, is totally improvised and totally magical. Dead Man is my launchpad to players like Marc Ribot, John Fahey, and Ben Chasny. "Solo" didn't have to mean 'remember we have two guitarists?', it meant "oneself". And I haven't looked back since.

Save yourself the nightmares from watching the film (although it is a great flick) - get a good buzz going and let Neil Young melt your senses with his fuzz.

Recommended Listening: Guitar Solo 1, Do You Know How To Use This Weapon?..., Guitar Solo 5