190n120: 30 Years of Music with Adam Johnson...Episode Twenty: "Time marches on"

130. Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros - Global A Go-Go (2001)

Artists like Joe Strummer were a dying breed, no pun intended. I've never been one to plant my flag in any one musical camp, so naturally I love Joe Strummer. Too passionate for the mainstream and too smart for his own good, Joe saved his best work for the last seven years of his life before shoving off this mortal coil. At least heaven finally has its DJ.

Recommended Listening: Global A Go-Go, Mega Bottle Ride, Mondo Bongo, Minstrel Boy




129. The Obsessed - Lunar Womb/The Church Within (1991/1994)

Any fan of heavy music comes by Scott Weinrich some time in their life. Whether he's croaking for St. Vitus, ripping a solo on a guest appearance, or piloting his own rock unit, Wino is an undeniable, albeit inimitable presence in the American underground.
The only thing more impressive than Weinrich's ethos (and recurring drug habit) is that guitar tone. The original tone hound has kept it hard and heavy for over thirty years, and these two official studio releases from his Obsessed are a testament to his road warrior legacy.

Recommended Listening: Neatz Brigade, Skybone, Back To Zero, No Blame, Touch of Everything, Lunar Womb/Embryo

128. Herbie Hancock - Headhunters (1973)

My high-school pep band would play "Chameleon" with gusto whenever we got the chance. Excellent boyant melody, miles of room for improvisation - plain fun. But the studio album exists in another hemisphere all together, less Pepsi and popcorn and more cold gin and cannabis.

Hancock's music runs deep through America's veins. Hell, RYKYGNYZYR owes much of its direction to the man's incomparable acid jazz.

Recommended Listening: Chameleon, Watermelon Man, Vein Melter

127. Howlin' Wolf - His Best: Chess 50th Anniversary Edition, Vol. 1 & 2 (1999)

Of all the great bluesmen, Howlin' Wolf is my favorite. Muddy Waters was suave, Lightin' Hopkins could play like a mother fucker, but Wolf was a force of nature. And his band never suffered for lack of talent, either. Willie Johnson and Hubert Sumlin provided the bite to Wolf's bark to an almost indiscernible effect. A whip of slide guitar was a whip of the tail, and on the steamroller went, mowing down grateful audiences packed into sweltering blues joints.

And that voice. If Chester Burnett had never become Howlin' Wolf, he would have made a fine vocal stand in for God.

Recommended Listening: Evil, Smokestack Lightning, I Asked For Water, Who's Been Talkin?, Spoonful, Killing Floor (Single Version), I'm the Wolf, The Natchez Burning, Tail Dragger, Commit A Crime

126. Black Flag - Damaged (1981)

I downloaded this album at age 12, burned it to a CD and took it to school with me. Convinced I was living dangerously, I suffered through Henry Rollins's braying over tinny angular noodling on the bus ride to and from school. Upon my return home, I shelved said CD with every intention of returning to it. I knew it was important, I just needed time. I went back to my Incubus and Pink Floyd in the mean time.

Five years later, I'm shopping by myself and decide to pop into the local Hot Topic. Why not? No one here to judge me, nothing else to do; and, I'll be honest, the girl working the counter is  quite cute. As I disastrously get my flirt on, I notice a bargain bin of LPs.
'Get your shit together before speaking again, why don't ya?' Alright, I'll browse through these mark down As I Lay Dying and Good Charlotte records while I think of something...say...Black Flag - I remember this. And for $10? Yeah--this is really why I came here.

After going through both sides a few times, I dug out that old burnt CD and put it into rotation in my car. Rancid and Green Day were usurped by Fear and the Minutemen, X and the Bad Brains. Thus began my retroactive listening trend that culminated with the singular discovery of the MC5 and the Stooges. As the old saying goes:
If we love something, set it free. But if it returns to us,
the bond was meant to be.
I love Damaged, and it loves me.

I just made that up.

Recommended Listening: Rise Above, Six Pack, TV Party, Police Story, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Room 13, Damaged II