Rants from the man who brings you DobberHockey and the Dobber Sports Network
Ahhh 1995. Those were the days. First year of university was in the books, and midway through the second year. This was the year that I moved in with three guys who became best friends to this day. This was also the year I was with my first serious girlfriend from the beginning to the end, from mid-94 through towards the end of ’96. She and I were both really into music and there were a lot of car trips/commutes when we listened to the radio.
In April of ’94 I broke up with one girlfriend and had another one in July. Both girls were in (or near) my hometown, whereas I went to university about an hour away in Guelph. So there was a lot of commuting involved, especially with girl number two (we became quite serious). Lots of commuting meant a lot of radio. And this is when I started to grow tired of classic rock (gasp – but it was just temporary, don’t worry!) and move more fully into modern alternative rock and grunge.
In 1993 I finished high school and started at the University of Guelph. I turned 19 that April, legal drinking age in Ontario. I was still into Classic Rock, with a lot of Tragically Hip on the playlist. But I was also exposed to Alternative/Grunge and was starting to appreciate it. By the time 1995 began, I was completely into that music. But it was a transition that took a couple of years and I never did lose my love of classic rock.
In 1971 it was the year of Stairway. The year of Imagine. The year for American Pie. A lot of great classic rock songs came out (at the time, they were just called “rock” I’m sure).
Just an episode away from finishing off the second season of the Netflix show Titans. I like it, I really do. But it could be so much better.
My favorite decade for music means a bigger list when compiling the best. As noted and explained in Part 1, I decided to roll with 200 songs.
My favorite decade for music means a bigger list when compiling the best. As noted and explained in Part 1, I decided to roll with 200 songs.
My favorite decade for music means a bigger list when compiling the best. I thought I would have a Top 100 list here but when I pulled out all the songs I had labeled “Awesome” I reached 143. Then I had the bright idea of going through the 250 or so “Great” songs and somehow pluck out seven more to get an even 150. It was quickly obvious that I wasn’t going to be able to reduce it to seven. By the time I got through them I had 77 more that I wonder if I should have given the “Awesome” designation to.
I nearly got demoted in mid-1999. At my job as a retail manager. Not because I was bad at it, but because the regional manager’s position was open and I was one of three people under consideration for it. I didn’t get it, and the person who did saw me as a bit of a threat. The repercussions of this impacted my life – and in the way I listened to music.
I am taking a quick moment to update you on my battle with leukemia and my recovery from a stem-cell transplant. I state the words “quick moment” and that’s a good thing. It’s not to gloss over anything that I went through or that others are going through, but to state emphatically that I am better, I am healthy and I am strong. I literally have no news to share, and in this case no news truly is good news.
While reviewing all music, year by year, I was curious about certain groups and artists and how I feel about their music today. I decided to rank the songs of some of the greats and after kicking things off with the Beatles, Zeppelin, and Nirvana, I have decided to do The Rolling Stones next. The band with the most longevity.
Continue reading “My 30 Favorite Songs by The Rolling Stones”
In late 1998 I met a woman who would become my girlfriend of over four years. It was at a bar in London called GT’s. She moved in with me relatively quickly, because circumstances (on her end) expedited things. We moved quickly in a lot of ways, but slowly in others, not the least of which was emotional attachment. No need to get into that, but she was a big part of my 1999. I got a dog in January, a husky I named Sable. We got the dog, actually. I paid for her, but after our breakup in 2003 I let my (ex) girlfriend have the dog for reasons I may explain in the 2003 segment if I feel it’s relevant to my life in music for that year.
While reviewing and cataloging all music, I was curious about certain groups and artists and how I feel about their music today. I decided to rank the songs of some of the greats and after kicking things off with the Beatles and Zeppelin, I settled on Nirvana, one of the greatest bands of all time.
Things people have said about this, that I don’t care about