#3: Parachutes
As great as The Lion King Soundtrack and Thriller are, they weren't enough to keep me from falling back into my "listen to whatever is around me" phase. Without any specific knowledge as to what I was looking for in music, I went through a pop music phase, an oldies phase, a mainstream rap phase, an underground rap phase, and listened to whatever else my friends at the time were listening to up until college. It's not necessarily bad, but I found that when the time came for me to choose what music I wanted to listen to on my own, I didn't really know what to do.
Fast-forward to Sophomore year at Fordham. My dear friend Andy Shea has been my musical guru over the past year, showing me artists that I may like based on the little information I could tell him about my tastes. Weezer. Elliott Smith. Bright Eyes. Damien Rice. Brand New. Some I liked, some I didn't, but at the time I was willing to listen to anyone that would add to my ability of naming artists I was a fan of. One day, Andy found out (unsurprisingly, I'm sure) that I had never heard any of Coldplay's albums (namely Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head). Not wanting to throw too much at me at once, he just gave me Parachutes and asked me to devote enough time to give it a good listen. Like Thriller, Parachutes was one of those albums that made me smile and go, "Cool." However, unlike Thriller, it finally helped motivate me to find an artist that I liked and do more research about him/her/them. "Everything's Not Lost" showed me what a great ending track is supposed to sound like, and left me feeling so satisfied (insert double-entendre here) that it became my favorite song on the album (and my favorite Coldplay song. The Live 2003 version is unbelievable.) It isn't a perfect record by any means (I don't care much for "High Speed" or "We Never Change"), but it's one that I am literally always in the mood to listen to.
Many people prefer Rush of Blood over Parachutes, citing Rush of Blood as an album with more "substance" (even Chris Martin doesn't seem to like Parachutes very much). I guess I know what that means, but substance aside, if I enjoy an album, I enjoy an album. I think that should be a cardinal rule of music; if you like something, then you like it. That's it. I think people make that a lot more difficult than it has to be sometimes. Of course, that doesn't mean someone can't like Rush of Blood over Parachutes; Rush of Blood is a fantastic album as well, it just didn't impact me as much as Parachutes did. I don't even think I've explained very well how and how much it impacted me, aside from gushing about how much I love the album. Long story (really) short, it helped me give me solid ground to stand on in terms of defining my musical preferences, which is something that this and the final 2 albums all have in common.
Yeah!
Mahna mahna,
Mai
As great as The Lion King Soundtrack and Thriller are, they weren't enough to keep me from falling back into my "listen to whatever is around me" phase. Without any specific knowledge as to what I was looking for in music, I went through a pop music phase, an oldies phase, a mainstream rap phase, an underground rap phase, and listened to whatever else my friends at the time were listening to up until college. It's not necessarily bad, but I found that when the time came for me to choose what music I wanted to listen to on my own, I didn't really know what to do.
Fast-forward to Sophomore year at Fordham. My dear friend Andy Shea has been my musical guru over the past year, showing me artists that I may like based on the little information I could tell him about my tastes. Weezer. Elliott Smith. Bright Eyes. Damien Rice. Brand New. Some I liked, some I didn't, but at the time I was willing to listen to anyone that would add to my ability of naming artists I was a fan of. One day, Andy found out (unsurprisingly, I'm sure) that I had never heard any of Coldplay's albums (namely Parachutes and A Rush of Blood to the Head). Not wanting to throw too much at me at once, he just gave me Parachutes and asked me to devote enough time to give it a good listen. Like Thriller, Parachutes was one of those albums that made me smile and go, "Cool." However, unlike Thriller, it finally helped motivate me to find an artist that I liked and do more research about him/her/them. "Everything's Not Lost" showed me what a great ending track is supposed to sound like, and left me feeling so satisfied (insert double-entendre here) that it became my favorite song on the album (and my favorite Coldplay song. The Live 2003 version is unbelievable.) It isn't a perfect record by any means (I don't care much for "High Speed" or "We Never Change"), but it's one that I am literally always in the mood to listen to.
Many people prefer Rush of Blood over Parachutes, citing Rush of Blood as an album with more "substance" (even Chris Martin doesn't seem to like Parachutes very much). I guess I know what that means, but substance aside, if I enjoy an album, I enjoy an album. I think that should be a cardinal rule of music; if you like something, then you like it. That's it. I think people make that a lot more difficult than it has to be sometimes. Of course, that doesn't mean someone can't like Rush of Blood over Parachutes; Rush of Blood is a fantastic album as well, it just didn't impact me as much as Parachutes did. I don't even think I've explained very well how and how much it impacted me, aside from gushing about how much I love the album. Long story (really) short, it helped me give me solid ground to stand on in terms of defining my musical preferences, which is something that this and the final 2 albums all have in common.
Yeah!
Mahna mahna,
Mai
Talk about holy trinity: Shiver, Trouble, and Yellow are three of my favorite songs ever. They're not back to back, i know, but SO GOOD.
ReplyDelete