This was a big record for me in my musically-formative years. Of course, the arty, high-culture-of-rock-and-roll aspect of it was important, in a Sonic Youth kind of way, but it was David Byrne's mix of genres and influences that really left a mark. The undercurrents of this record gave me an exposure to the funk, soul and world music I'd been ignoring throughout my early teens, but more importantly, brought me back around to pop. Not long after discovering this record, I was soon to re-examine mid '70s Billy Joel and early '80s John Cougar, which brought me out of the metal and punk rut I'd been stuck in (I was soon to get into a long Grateful Dead/Allman Brothers/Widespread Panic rut, of course, but that's another tale). There cannot, it must be said, be a more accessible and danceable track to come out of the No-Wave scene than "Once In a Lifetime"...
#343, Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell: Meat Loaf is one of those artists that's indelibly imprinted on the psyche of anybody who grew up in Michigan in the '70s and '80s (he lived in Freeland for a time). It really doesn't matter if you like his music or not; like Bob Seger, Mitch Ryder or the Nuge, he's as big a part of you as your parents, your friends or your favorite high school teacher. "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" evokes many things for many people in many places, no doubt, but for Michiganders, it's a re-visiting of an often joyous, and often challenging, Rust Belt matriculation.
#344, Lou Reed's Berlin: This one was a bit of a departure for Reed, both in terms of concept and instrumentation. Predictably enough, it wasn't well received at the time of its release (and, to be honest, it took me a while to warm up to it as well). But subsequent listens reveal it to be a competent and ambitious record, if not one Reed's audience might've expected. 34 years later, Reed toured the record with a 30-piece band, which was filmed by Julian Schnabel (you can check out a clip of that here).
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