Challenged by my friend Dave Murray, I've been picking at the notion of compiling a list of the 19 record albums that define me. Unable to settle on a singular definition of what defining me means, I've come up with two lists: The albums that had the most impact upon my rockin' pop development, and the albums that provide the best collective reflection of where I think I am and what this place has looked like over the course of 64 years and counting.
Today, we have a list of the albums that had the most impact. I usually exclude best-of sets and various-artists compilations from these sort of lists, but doing so in this case would distort the record into something far, far less accurate.
And I'm bumping the number up to 20, because I can't figure out what to discard in pursuit of that damned 19 count.
These are listed chronologically, not in order of their release, but in order of their moments of impact on my life.
HONORABLE MENTION: THE ROYAL GUARDSMEN: Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron
I'm pretty sure that the first LP I ever owned was the Saturday morning TV cartoon tie-in Secret Squirrel And Morocco Mole In: Super Spy. My first rock album was Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron by Ocala, Florida's phenomenal pop combo the Royal Guardsmen. I listened to that record a lot, and not just its titular Peanuts novelty hit single; I hung on the Guardsmen's covers of "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence" (which I already knew from my older siblings' Gene Pitney record), "Jolly Green Giant," "Battle Of New Orleans," "Peanut Butter," "Alley Oop," and "Li'l Red Riding Hood," plus songs like "Bears," "Sweetmeats Slide," and the lovely "Baby Let's Wait."
Should also deal an HM acknowledgement to the above-referenced Gene Pitney best-of, and to my second rock LP, Lesley Gore's California Nights. Each of these albums had impact.
But these are the 20 that ultimately had the greatest impact:
1. West Side Story [original movie soundtrack]
2. THE BEATLES: Beatles '65 and Beatles VI [I count these as one album, the US equivalent to the British Beatles For Sale]
3. GLENN MILLER: compilation
4. Jesus Christ Superstar
5. RASPBERRIES: Raspberries' Best
6. VARIOUS ARTISTS: History Of British Rock, Volume 2
7. THE MONKEES: Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd.
8. THE SEX PISTOLS: Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols
9. THE RAMONES: Ramones
10. THE KINKS: The Kink Kronikles
11. THE JAM: This Is The Modern World
12. VARIOUS ARTISTS: Nuggets
13. THE HEARTBREAKERS: Live At Max's Kansas City 1979
14. THE FLASHCUBES: unreleased live cassette
15. CHUCK BERRY: Greatest Hits
16. THE VELVET UNDERGROUND: The Velvet Underground And Nico
17. VARIOUS ARTISTS: The Motown Story
18. THE GO-GO'S: Beauty And The Beat
19. FOOLS FACE: Tell America
20. THE BEACH BOYS: Pet Sounds
We'll circle back to Part 2 in the near future, with a portrait of a music fan in 20 albums.
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Carl's book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/
If it's true that one book leads to another, my next book will be The Greatest Record Ever Made! (Volume 1). Stay tuned. Your turn is coming.
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, streaming at SPARK stream and on the Radio Garden app as WESTCOTT RADIO. Recent shows are archived at Westcott Radio. You can read about our history here.
What, no Southside Johnny? Signed, a friend
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