34. Breakfast in America by Supertramp

 34. Breakfast in America by Supertramp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-nrv4iVYFQ&list=PLIqdcWWN8Sl7YO-1CZeK5VBt19kiL9QRd

Three songs from this album are in my top 200 songs list, so yeah, it was destined to be on my Top 60 albums list. 

Of all the memories that my brain could dredge up about this album, for some stupid reason, it has chosen to remember that back at the beginning of the 9th grade, Breakfast in America was Piney Votzel's favorite album. I learned this from one of those student newspaper articles filled with factoids learned from a published interview with someone in the student body that warranted special attention. And at that time it simply struck me as odd that Piney would like Supertramp so much because one of my sisters had purchased Breakfast in America shortly after it came out in March of 1979, so I had heard the album plenty over the summer, and it just didn't seem like the type of album that would end up being the absolute favorite album of a girl like Piney Votzel. I guess I expected that she would have been into rock bands that didn't have album covers featuring a big glass of orange juice.  

Just to be clear about this, I never had a crush on Piney Votzel. Ever. And I'm pretty sure she never had a crush on me, either. She probably thought I was that annoying jerk that told pickle jokes in middle school and played his trumpet way too loud in pep band. I think I may have had her in some of my classes--probably something supremely forgettable like science or math or English. But I don't ever remember even talking to her at any time in middle school or high school. Piney wasn't in band or drama or track or any other extracurricular activity that I was involved in after school. As far as I know, Piney wasn't friends with any of the girls that I had a crush on, so I wouldn't have associated with her casually in the hallway. I don't remember her ever coming to Lava Hot Springs while I was lifeguarding during the summer. I did not ever dance with Piney at a school dance. I never sat next to Piney at lunch. No group project in any class ever put me and Piney into a forced exchange of ideas. I never unexpectedly ran into Piney at any store or restaurant in Pocatello. I do not recall ever seeing Piney at the truck stop in Downey. I never sat next to Piney on any bus. I did not ever drive to school and park next to Piney's car. No Halloween party or Christmas party or any other kind of party had me and Piney playing some ridiculous game together. Piney and I had zero friends in common. When my friends and I rated girls during our summer high adventure campouts, Piney was never a source of debate among us. I never had a fight with Piney. I never had a mutual laugh over something with Piney. As far as my addled brain can recall, I simply had zero connections with Piney. In fact, I have exactly four memories related to Piney Votzel. 

My latest memory is from when she got up at the one and only high school reunion I attended about 15 years ago and made a hilarious public speech in which she apologized for everything she had done in high school and expressed affection for everyone in the room. 

Before that, I remember running into her at the grocery store in Downey during those three weeks I was living in Arimo after my mission but before the family moved to Twin Falls. She was the cashier, and while I was paying for root beer and some Fig Newtons, she asked what I'd been up to since high school, and I said that I went to a year of college and then just got back from a two-year mission in Sweden. She gave the usual wow-Sweden response that I always got from people in Marsh Valley when they saw me and asked me why they hadn't seen me in three years.

I think I may have also had some dreams in which Piney Votzel had a guest appearance. But I don't remember the particulars of any of those dreams.

And the fourth memory is, of course, that Breakfast in America by Supertramp was her favorite album in 9th grade. 

That's it. That's all the Piney I've got. There ain't no more.

So why in the hell do I think about Piney Votzel every time a Supertramp song from this album starts playing on the radio?! I do have other memories associated with this album. Sometimes I'll remember hearing the songs on the way to and from scout camp at Little Lemhi. And sometimes I remember my sisters playing the album on the stereo. And once in a while, I'll think about drinking a tall glass of orange juice for breakfast. But I ALWAYS remember that this album was Piney Votzel's favorite. I just can't stop the thought. 

There are lots of other thoughts I could have about the album. Like how for those of us that like hearing keyboards in a rock song, this album is about as good as it gets. Or how the lyrics to "The Logical Song" and "Take the Long Way Home" only get better and better the older I get--and it's pretty much the same with all the other lyrics on the album. Or how even the non-hit songs on the album are pretty damn good and have a consistently high quality in both music and lyrics. Or how the album art is so clever and fun yet still communicates a rather serious message when you put it in the context of the lyrics of the songs on the album. I think the cover symbolized the way that people from other countries (like Sweden) look at America as some land in which they'll be welcomed with a smile and all of their needs will be taken care of and they'll find all of their fantasies fulfilled, but in the end, it's all an illusion, just like how all of the breakfast items look like the New York skyline when you see them from far away out the window of a jet plane, but up close, they're pretty common and colorless. 

But all those possible thoughts about the album take a back seat to the thought that Breakfast in America was Piney Votzel's favorite album in 9th grade. So what does that say about me? Why would my brain prioritize this fact over all the other thoughts i could have about this excellent album? Is there something wrong with me? Is this a sign that I'm losing my mind? And did I start losing my mind clear back in 9th grade? Is Piney a symbol of something deep in my subconscious mind that reveals how genuinely empty my relationships were with all the girls in high school? Or is she representative of the general disconnection I feel with all of humanity? Is Piney the Stranger that, like Billy Joel says, we all have to face at some point in our lives? Is Piney simply the Stranger that I just can't say goodbye to? 

The questions run too deep. I know it sounds absurd. But please tell me who I am.

Nardo

35. Purple Rain by Prince and The Revolution

 35. Purple Rain by Prince and The Revolution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXJhDltzYVQ&list=OLAK5uy_nZh8Bqp7b-jedaxIGOtSoNPwk_FnqtaCk

The summer between high school graduation and college was three glorious months of lifeguarding at Lava Hot Springs and driving tractor out in the fields. I didn't get to hang out with my friends as much as I wanted, but that's because we were all working on farms and making money for whatever was to come next in life. 

I remember that a lot of good music came out during that summer, but there was one album that I really found that I couldn't stand--Purple Rain. My friends and I had made fun of the Purple Pervert on his previous albums, so I was predisposed to dislike Purple Rain from the moment I first heard it. But it was impossible to go through that summer without hearing "When Doves Cry" and "Let's Go Crazy." And the album had hit its full stride by the beginning of my freshman year of college with "Purple Rain," "I Would Die 4 U," and "Take Me With You" dominating the airwaves. I remember that some of the girls I met at college REALLY liked Prince, and I just didn't get why. I mean, just look at the cover of the album! This doesn't look like any of the rock and roll singers that the girls in high school liked. 

I had not seen the movie, but I heard it was pretty bad, and I kind of figured that the rest of the album besides the hit songs played on the radio must really suck, so I never listened to it all the way through. And of all the videos I saw on MTV from the movie, the one song that I liked the most was actually by Morris Day and The Time's "Jungle Love"--oh-ee-oh-eee-oh!

https://youtu.be/N2FPQvwhSDY

Purple Rain also wasn't one of the albums that I got into after my mission, even though Prince had become a much bigger deal by then with lots of other hits. And I'm not sure why, but the producers of "Batman" decided that Prince would make the ideal artist to do the soundtrack. So we all had to endure hearing "Batdance" on the radio in the summer of '89, which turned me off to Prince even more. 

But about eight years later, I went to graduate school at Utah State, and I ended up buying Purple Rain because Julie said that she liked the album, and I was trying really hard to please her during that time, so I put aside my dislike of the Purple Pervert and gave the entire Purple Rain album a listen. And I was pleasantly surprised by how good all of the other songs on the album were, with the exception of Darling Nikki, which I still hate. But the rest of the songs grew on me so much that I got to the point that I even put "Computer Blue" on my Top 200 songs list. I also like "Baby I'm a Star" very much. Because I enjoyed Purple Rain so much, I ended up getting a Prince greatest his album, and I found that I liked even more of his music. Moreover, I found that I liked the music from his Purple Pervert days much more than the tamer music he put out once he got religion and joined the Jehovah's Witnesses in 2001. 

So this is one of those rare '80s albums that I hated in high school and college but eventually grew to appreciate much later on in life. Of course, I also rented "Purple Rain" the movie, and I discovered that my instinct that it would be a truly crappy movie was...absolutely dead on. It was about as bad as a movie can get--except for the music, which was very purple and very rainish. So it just goes to show that the old saying is true--you can't judge all perverts by their color.

Daren

36. Frontiers by Journey

 36. Frontiers by Journey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LatorN4P9aA&list=OLAK5uy_kve61SToeMDTxIrG__bH39SA4QAkdy-II

Both "Separate Ways" and "Back Talk" were on my Top 200 songs list, so it is no surprise that Frontiers makes it onto my Top 60 albums list. Ruth bought it, but I basically turned it into my record, playing it whenever I wanted at full blast in the basement while lifting weights, vegging out on the couch, or laying on my bed with the stereo speakers placed on two night stands on either side, and my head placed perfectly in between them so that I got the best stereo sound I could. 

This album was just about the perfect thing to listen to whenever I felt pissed off during my senior year, which covers basically all the time between November 1983 through May 1984. Ironically, it contains two slow-dance songs that reminded me of dates with the girls that made me perpetually pissed. the album did double-duty in dredging up painful memories. I'd torture myself listening to "Send Her My Love" and "Faithfully." But then the other songs would give me the psychological salve of driving rock guitars to accompany my angry weight-lifing workouts. "Chain Reaction," "Edge of the Blade," and "Balk Talk" were especially energizing. But the rest of the songs provided plenty of acoustic fuel to keep the workouts going for a couple of hours at a time.

The 2006 reissue of the album includes four more songs. "Only the Young," "Ask the Lonely," and "Only Solutions" had been originally recorded to be included on the Frontiers album, but then the record label guys wanted to save those songs for movie soundtracks instead. These are all quality songs that I think would have made the album even better than it was. "Ask the Lonely" and "Only the Young" both hit #3 on the Billboard charts when they were released after Frontiers. If they had been included on Frontiers, the album would have had had the following Top-40 charting songs:

Separate Ways
Send Her My Love
After the Fall
Faithfully
Ask the Lonely
Only the Young

Another song titled "Liberty" was cut from consideration, and frankly, I think it was wise to leave it off the original album. 

But there you have it. Frontiers was a great album when I listened to it back at the end of high school, but it could have been even better if it had included the stuff that was rather thoughtlessly cut out just because someone thought their future would be so much better without me them. 

Nardo

37. Eliminator by ZZ Top

 37. Eliminator by ZZ Top

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae829mFAGGE&list=OLAK5uy_lNkF0KnpICFVl079NmbTulL2wPaAexiVU

Toward the end of my junior year in high school, ZZ Top entered the charts with "Gimme All Your Lovin'," and over a year later after high school graduation, the album was still on the charts in the summer of '84 with "Legs." Other charting songs off the album included "Got Me Under Pressure," "TV Dinners," and the MTV monster video hit "Sharp Dressed Man." So, yeah, this album is definitely a big part of the senior year soundtrack. 

Strangely enough, one of the reasons I think it lasted so long on the charts is that none of the songs were big hits as far as chart-topping singles. That means that people didn't tire of hearing a bunch of songs from the same album all charting at the same time. Instead of getting cooked really fast on high heat on a front burner, this album sat slowly simmering away on the back burner. 

I didn't buy this album in high school, partly because I didn't want to experience the supreme embarrassment of having my sisters and mother ask about the appropriateness of the very unsubtle lyrics on "I Got the Six." But I did get a copy of the album from my brother-in-law after returning home from Sweden. I found that while I still enjoyed listening to the hit songs the most, the other songs had a pretty consistent quality with that signature ZZ Top sound. 

In a lot of ways, ZZ Top is a lot like another of my favorite bands, ACDC. They pretty much stick with one kind of music that works for them, and they don't stray too far away from that Texas Roadhouse formula. When Eliminator came out, some people criticized the group for using synthesizers and drum machines on it. But I think the essence of the band's sound is still there. I mean, you don't hear any song off this album and think, "Hey, is this a New Wave song from some English group with androgynous costumes and strange hairdos?" No, you think, "This sounds like those two guys with long beards form ZZ Top."

It was because of this album that I decided to give other ZZ Top songs a listen whenever they came on the radio. And that's why "La Grange" ended up being the only ZZ Top song on my Top 200 song list, even though the album Tres Hombres predates Eliminator by a full decade. 

It's the combination of all of the ZZ Top hit songs together--and the fact that all of those songs remind me of my high school years--that make this a Top 60 album, whereas no single song from this album made it onto my Top 200 list. But if I had to choose one song from this album as my favorite, it would have to be "TV Dinners," what with all those clever lyrics, including the best line of all, "I even like the chicken if the sauce is not too blue." That's the kind of lyric that lets you know this band is all about having fun, even though their music tends to sound like something that you would hear while two bikers in black leather jackets get into a fistfight, and one of them pulls out a switchblade, to which the other grabs a beer bottle and breaks off the bottom on the bar counter, and then the whole place erupts into an all-out brawl, but the band never stops playing.

Nardo

38. The Game by Queen

 38. The Game by Queen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_5O-nUiZ_0&list=OLAK5uy_kkHhuEInejU2gl6gTx1ALT7nb9UrmmBpo

While I do think Queen had other albums that were better artistically, this is their best selling album with their only two #1 hits in America with "Another One Bites the Dust" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love." But lets all face the facts--"Another One Bites the Dust" is the monster hit that made this their top-selling album. It's definitely the reason I bought this album at the beginning of 9th grade. 

This album got played a lot from 9th grade through 12th grade, but in the end I threw my copy of the album in the garbage. Why? Because although I had heard rumors that the album had backwards masking, I didn't believe it. But after Randy showed me how to play the records backwards, I discovered that on "Another One Bits the Dust" there is backwards masking that says "smoke marijuana" in the same spot where the lyrics "Another one bites the dust" is played. Because at one point in my senior year I got really mad about how Randy's marijuana smoking had basically ruined what could have been a really good relationship between the two of us. He knew he couldn't smoke around me, so he decided that I wasn't going to be his friend, even though we shared the same bedroom my whole junior year of high school. So in my fit of anger, I threw my copy of "The Game" into the burn barrel. 

But I'd already memorized all the songs on the entire album, having listened to it at least once a week for over 3 years. And eventually after my mission I got another copy of the album. I couldn't resist how it triggered memories of my youth. One of those memories is of sitting in on a planning meeting for a school dance, and some girl suggested that the theme of the dance be from a song that was over a year old. And Sean Haney--who for some inexplicable reason had been invited to take part in the meeting--said in a supremely sarcastic tone "Why don't we make 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love" the theme song?" It made the girl feel really bad, but I have to admit it was kind of a funny thing to say. Also, I admit that I would have really liked it if we had made "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" as the theme song for the dance. But the group opted for a new song that was starting to get radio play--I don't remember which one. Probably something really stupid by Air Supply. 

The one song on this album that I skipped a lot while listening to it was "Don't Try Suicide." That's because it had the problematic line "You can't be a prick teaser all of your life." That was just not something I could blast out of the speakers and not have someone else in the house hear it and report it to Mom. So, yeah, that song got skipped the most.

But I enjoyed all the other songs on the album quite a bit. There's a pretty good range of sounds from the different songs, from the Elvis Presley vibe on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" to the new Disco sounds of "Another One Bites the Dust" to a more classical Queen sound on "Sail Away Sweet Sister." It's got solid contributions from all of the group too. They all shine at one point in at least one song. 

If they just hadn't put on that damn backwards masking, I would have enjoyed the album throughout all of high school and into college. And in the end, throwing away the album didn't do a thing to fix the broken relationship between me and Randy. It was what it was.

And the album is what it is--a solid, all-around musical performance by Queen with a gigantic monster hit.

Nardo

39. Sports by Huey Lewis and The News

 39. Sports by Huey Lewis and The News

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7JVlpm0eRs&list=OLAK5uy_m_-Vy4Z_37aAqfRAwq0gYYnXhjc6reILA

This album came out in September 1983, and while none of the songs really hit that #1 spot on the charts--a respectable #6 was as high as any single song got--the songs consistently stayed on the Billboard charts all through senior year of high school, and the album itself hit the #1 spot on the Billboard album chart in June of 1984. 

"Heart and Soul" triggers lots of good memories of the beginning of my senior year--from August through October of 1983--which was actually a pretty damn good 3 months for me. It all went super-south in November, but for those 3 golden months, I was at the top of my game. And it's kind of amazing how much good music came out in those 3 months. Or maybe it was just that I was in such a damn good mood for all that time that the music just seemed so much better. 

"I Want a New Drug," "The Heart of Rock 'n Roll," and "If This Is It" all charted during high school too, with the last song being the one I remember John singing during a summer evening of cruising Arimo with Hondo Joe in The Hulk, only John changed the lyrics to "If It's a Zit!" "Walking on a Thin Line" hit the charts, but topped out at #18. I think it's got a solid beat, good guitars, and pretty good lyrics, so I don't know why it didn't chart higher. Maybe it was just the case that after a year of hearing the other songs on the album, and after the album itself topped out the album sales, people weren't as interested in buying the single anymore.

When I got back from my mission, I raided my brother-in-law's record collection and made a tape of Sports, which I listened to a LOT in my black step-side Chevy pickup during that summer and through college. So the album also is associated with good memories of dating Julie in college and living with Hondo Joe during the summer of '88. That's why I enjoy many of the other songs on the album that didn't chart. "Bad Is Bad" is not bad. "You Crack Me Up" is a peppy tune that makes a good workout song. "Finally Found a Home" is listenable enough to not fast forward through the tape. "Honky Tonk Blues" is the weakest link on the album, being a remake of a Hank Williams' song. Still, it's a fast-paced song that shows Huey Lewis and The News aren't afraid to country things up a little, giving us a little more sense of the musical range that the band had.

But I have to admit that one of the main reasons this album is on my list is because of how much I like "Heart and Soul." Whenever I hear it, I get this mainline emotional connection to that period of time when I was so blissfully in love with the girl of my dreams. It was, in retrospect, quite sickening. I guess I should have seen the bad end coming from the good beginning. 

However, musically speaking, I think the other reason I love this song so very, very much is because it is one of the greatest cowbell performances in all of rock and roll music! I mean, listen to how they make that cowbell sing! It's more subtle in some places than others, but the cowbell is woven throughout the song.

Why am I sure Huey used the cowbell in the song and not some other bell-like percussive instrument? 

Because this song is actually a remake of a song released by Exile on their 1981 album Heart and Soul, which does heavily feature the cowbell in the chorus.

https://youtu.be/pBCrrniVZZE

Apparently, 3/5ths of Exile think that Huey Lewis and The News' version of the song sounded exactly like theirs, and they are befuddled by the fact that they didn't have a bigger hit on their hands when they first released it in 1981. They even tried to stir up a controversy on this matter with the audience during a recent performance of the song back in 2016. And they do specifically mention Huey's use of the cowbell.

https://youtu.be/m9r7qVzeeJA

Here's the thing. Exile's version does share a lot of similarities with Huey Lewis and The News' version. I'll give them that. But Huey's use of the cowbell in the song is much more artistic with the way that it's mixed into the percussion track in lots of different ways. And multiple cowbells are used throughout the entire song, not just one cowbell on the chorus. So, no, Exile, Huey's harder rockin' version was a bigger hit because...and I can't emphasize this too much.. it's got MORE COWBELL!

End of controversy. 

Anyway, this song takes me back to the glory days of double-dating with Hondo Joe back when we both had high hopes of getting the high-school sweetheart of our dreams. Yes. The good life was good then. But after Halloween, it all turned bad. And like Huey says, sometimes bad is bad.

Nardo

40. The Long Run by The Eagles

 40. The Long Run by The Eagles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skC2GToR1uY&list=PLs9vIZChB0tcwRDcPSBPf3ugKtsZ_D-8c&index=1

The Long Run was another 8-track album abandoned by Renda when she went of to college. Released at the end of 1979, it was the last album the Eagles released before their break-up. Well, actually, they had kind of already broken up with Don Felder leaving the group in 1977. While the album had some hits, some critics said the album just wasn't as good as Hotel California. Yeah. They're right, of course. That's because Hotel California is FRICKIN' HOTEL CALIFORNIA! If you're going to compare the rest of The Eagles work to an epic album like that, then yeah, you're going to find lots wrong with it.

But lets talk about what's right with The Long Run. First, there's the song "The Long Run," which is a good song by most people's standards, but it's an excellent song by the standards of high school boys that run the mile and two mile in track. 

Second, if you can't immediately tell why "I Can't Tell You Why" is a masterpiece of late-night love-makin' yacht rock, well, then I can't tell you why. 

Third, "In the City" is the best Eagles song with Joe Walsh as the lead singer. That's because it features his signature voice AND signature guitar sound. "Pretty Maids All in a Row" on Hotel California is a good vocal song for Joe, but you don't get to hear his guitar playing on that song. And that's it. Those are the only two songs he sang lead on--until they put out another album in 2007, in which he got to sing two more. But let's be real, we're talking about classic 70s Eagles albums and songs here, and 2007 is about 30 years too late. 

Fourth, while I admit I don't find the music all that appealing, there is something completely irresistible about a song titled "The Disco Strangler." So, yeah, the title saved the song for me on this one.

Fifth, "King of Hollywood" is a scathing portrait of Hollywood producers that use their positions to satisfy their insatiable lusts and narcissistic cravings for power. But in my teen years it mainly reminded me of a few of the older guys I worked with at the swimming pool who were just the biggest man-whores you could ever imagine. 

Sixth, if you've never turned up the volume knob to full blast and tried to sing harmony as loud as you can on "A Heartache Tonight," then you simply just don't get The Eagles. On top of that, it's got the mother of all hand-clap-along drum beats, excellent Joe-Walsh steel guitar wailing, and there's a really fun "Woo-Hoo!" and a spoken "Break my heart" at the end. But the best part for a teenage boy is, of course, the fact that you can replace the word "heartache" with "fartache." 

Seventh, and the most important reason of all, is "Those Shoes" is the best damn Eagles song for jilted 17-year-old teenage me. I used to cue up this song on the 8-track, then I'd play "Miss America" and immediately afterwards pop in "Those Shoes." It was just the best song combo ever! And one night, decades later, as I was driving to Boise late at night and listening to the radio, I heard "Miss America" and thoroughly enjoyed it, but then I was thinking to myself as it came to a close, "I wish they'd play Those Shoes now." And they DID! It came on immediately after with no commercial breaks, just like how I listened to it in my basement in Arimo all those years ago. I nearly lost my mind! 

Eight, jilted 17-year-old teenage me was always delighted to belt out the lyrics to "Teenage Jail" while imagining it was a song about those girls that had done the jilting. 

Nine, "The Greeks Don't Want No Freaks" is a monster of a party song! Also, for a teenager boy, it was especially fun to sing the lyrics "You got down and did the gator, and half an hour later, you were barfing all over your girlfriend's shoes." As a teenager, I thought there just weren't enough good rock songs with the word "barf" in them. And adult me still thinks that's the case today. Gator!

Ten, while teenage me didn't have much love for "The Sad Cafe"--although when I was in a really depressed mood, it seemed to fit the bill quite well--the current old-man me thinks it's a pretty damn good song. And it becomes exponentially better if you imagine that "The Sad Cafe" is actually "Rand's Cafe" in Arimo.

The clouds rolled in and hid that shore
Now that Glory Train, it don't stop here no more
Now I look at the years gone by,
And wonder at the powers that be.
I don't know why fortune smiles on some
And lets the rest go free

Maybe the time has drawn the faces I recall
But things in this life change very slowly,
If they ever change at all
There's no use in asking why,
It just turned out that way
So meet me at midnight baby
Inside the Sad Cafe.
Why don't you meet me at midnight baby
Inside the Sad Cafe.

(Sax solo!)