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Kevin Kenealy

Ten Album Challenge Review


Between the Buried and Me Colors is one of my favorite albums of all time.

So I've been doing this ten-day album challenge, and it is truly hard coming up with only ten albums that defines you. At one time of day, I wanted to write for Rolling Stone magazine. In fact, the short story I posted yesterday is kind of based in truth. I did go to the library weekly to pick up my Rolling Stone magazine from the beautiful Booth Library from a nice elderly man who made chit-chat with me. I read every album review, every three thousand word feature, every political article.

I started collecting the mag when it was more of the tabloid size, and always looked forward to who was on the cover, and when it reduced size to catalog, I subscribed to it. I kept nearly every edition, and brought along a good portion of them to school, so my journalism students could peruse through them.

Anyway, for a few years, I hoped to break into the music reporting biz. I covered a concert on Anthrax and interviewed Frank Bello over the phone. It was one of the craziest shows I had ever been to. At the packed Chicago's House of Blues, a pair of jeans flew out of the mosh pit and near the top of the ceiling. It was so packed there, I felt claustrophobic, and I threw up on my way home from heat exhaustion.

At EIU, I formed a relationship with an agent who represented Grand Funk Railroad, Tower of Power, and Jethro Tull. She worked well with me, and got me interviews to Grand Funk drummer Don Brewer and a member of Tower of Power whose name escapes me.

It was in college when I first stumbled across Pandora and discovered a whole new realm of music, and it was then when my friend Eric turned me on to several artists that I may have otherwise never listened to: Between the Buried and Me, Gnarls Barkley, Danger Mouse, Ice Cube, Devin Townsend, Mike Patton, just to name some of them.

I couldn't get enough music. It was still in the days that I bought CDs. I loved seeing the album art and reading the lyrics. I always loved going into music stores, aka High Fidelity, and would just browse through all the artists.

So, how do you pick ten albums? I don't know. I guess it's the first ten that comes to my mind. I also understand that when I tag someone to post, that they don't do it either. Keeping up with the chain could be seen by some as annoying, or difficult, or too time consuming, or what have you. My cousin Paul, who I look up to greatly, is someone that knows just as much about music as they come. So when he tagged me, I couldn't say no.

In reality though, I could probably pick fifty top albums, or maybe even one hundred, and categorize them by genre. Funny thing is though, since I've gotten Spotify in recent years, I've noticed that I listen to less new music than ever. Maybe as we age we get more stuck in our ways. I'm trying to break that because there is so much out there, young and old that is just waiting to be heard. And now, it's only a click away on our phones. But in truth, I still prefer the sound of my record player and its light static as the needle moves steadily along its grooves.

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