June 21, 2022 by A.S. Van Dorston

Most of us didn’t have a parent or older sibling who could turn us on to amazing music hidden from corporate radio and media. What are the albums you wished you could have heard while your brain was still an impressionable sponge?

Being a tween is it’s own special kind of hell. Your resources and knowledge are limited, and you subsist on a drip feed of what you’re aware of through corporate radio and media, and what little allowance you have. Which is why every new discovery has that much more impact.

Every time I think I’ve heard all the best albums in the past that would ever be significant to me, I discover something, either by stumbling on it, or from very focused digging and research, and get just a bit of jolt of that old joy and euphoria. In recent pieces I’ve mentioned the difference between how new music affects you when you’re a kid, a teen, a young adult, and an ageing adult. Nowadays with streaming, it’s not uncommon for even casual music nerds to stuff at least a couple hundred albums a year into their brains, and many of us, well over a thousand. Is that a bad thing? Is it breaking our brains and crippling our ability to truly connect with individual albums in a significant way? Possibly.

However, I think our brains are like muscles and respond well to be exercised, and continuing to absorb new music well into our 40s, 50s, 60s and beyond is good for us, just like reading, playing cards and speaking other languages are good for our brains. Nevertheless, we can never quite replicate that feeling of experiencing things the first time like we did when our brains were still developing, and aflame with hunger and yearning for new experiences. In that context, there are a certain batch of albums that I discovered in college or as an adult that I wish I had heard as a kid, and had a more intense, life-altering experience. So what a waste, when some of that life or possibly brain altering power, was vested in the form of fucking The Eagles, or Journey, or Loverboy. Most of us had our favorites in the corporate rock canon, especially us Gen Xers in combo with the mail order record clubs.

Yeah, 1981 kind of went off the rails for me with the corporate AOR, as my limited budget had me relying on record clubs rather than continuing to discover more interesting punk, new wave and metal at the Astroid. I’d come back around in subsequent years thanks to a college radio station and the Trouser Press Record Guide. If only older me could just mail a care package of some cool records I would have loved had I heard them then!

Below is a snapshot from memory of what my record collection looked like by the end of 1981, about two and a half years after I bought my first album, Gary Numan’s The Pleasure Principle. For the purpose of this exercise, I’m going to count albums that were also owned by family and friends that had full access to.

The Beatles – All of them except for Revolver and Abbey Road
The Doors – Strange Days
The Velvet Underground & Nico
Bob Dylan – Greatest Hits
Donovan – Greatest Hits
Otis Redding – The Dock of the Bay
The Rolling Stones – High Tides & Green Grass
Chicago – Chicago Transit Authority
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band – Troutmaskreplica
Led Zeppelin – II
Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath/Paranoid
Yes – Fragile
Black Sabbath – Master of Reality
Led Zeppelin – IV
Chicago – V
Curtis Mayfield – Superfly
Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffitti
ELO – Face the Music
Queen – A Night At the Opera
Rush – Fly By Night
ELO – A New World Record
Rush – 2112
ELO – Out of the Blue
Queen – News of the World
Cheap Trick – Cheap Trick/In Color
Styx – The Grand Illusion
The Sex Pistols – Never Mind the Bollocks
Queen – Jazz
Styx – Pieces of Eight
ELO – Discovery
Styx – Cornerstone
Gary Numan – The Pleasure Principle
Elvis Costello & the Attractions – Armed Forces
Talking Heads – Fear of Music
Cheap Trick – Dream Police
ELO – Xanadu
Queen – The Game
AC/DC – Back in Black
Billy Joel – Glass Houses
Rush – Permanent Waves
David Bowie – Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
Prince – Dirty Mind
Billy Joel – Glass Houses
Alvin & The Chipmunks – Chipmunk Punk
The Eagles – The Long Run
Electric Light Orchestra – Time
Rush – Moving Pictures
Billy Squier – Don’t Say No
The Police – Ghost In The Machine
Van Halen – Fair Warning
Joan Jett – I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll
Journey – Escape
Loverboy – Get Lucky
Foreigner – 4
Go-Go’s – Beauty And The Beat
J. Geils Band – Freeze Frame
Styx – Paradise Theatre
Genesis – Abacab
Men At Work – Business As Usual

Some of these albums were immortalized with miniature bubblegum versions via Chu-Bops. I had Gary Numan’s Telekon in bubblegum version before the actual album.

A few albums I actually wasn’t quite ready for, including the Gary Numan, Talking Heads and Elvis Costello. They were a bit sophisticated for me just yet. I read about ’em in Creem and bought them at the Astroid record store, and they didn’t get all that many spins, though I tried the hardest with Numan, who’s cold, forbidding synth soundscapes were a far cry from the catchy “Cars.” Below are albums I probably would have have responded better to. I start with the year I was born, just to have some sort of limit on this thing. Otherwise this list could be twice as big.

I know I’ve mentioned this idea in the past, but never fully followed through with it. Last night I was watching a year-old YouTube video by Canadian Studmuffin, aka comedian/supernerd Larry Graves, with the idea that you’re going to prison for the rest of your life and you only get to take 15 albums. Similar concept to desert island in that, it may not be your top ranked albums, but rather ones that give the most comfort and trigger memories. I find that exercise too restrictive and depressing, and would love to see him and Pete Pardo try this one out.

So this Topster is me trying to restrain myself, whittling down my initial list of 111 albums to 64. Yeah, that would be quite a massive care package! I think my 12 year-old head would have exploded. By the way I love that Topster is still around. Much easier than assembling those collages manually. I used to do it old-school analog and lay out my favorite albums on the floor in a 5×5 or 6×6 grid, taking up the entire living room and driving my mom nuts. I just liked to admire ’em while listening!

I don’t feel up to writing about 64 albums, so let’s whittle this down some more.

T. Rex – Electric Warrior (1971)
Why not The Stooges’ Fun House, which I would eventually top my list of all the albums? It was more intense than I was ready for. Save that for my teen years. David Bowie’s catalog would eventually make a bigger impact on me, but for the same reason that tons of British kids initially fell in love with Marc Bolan, T. Rex’s music was deceptively simple, but genius in the way he could distill the basics of rock ‘n’ roll and groove with nonsensical but extremely catchy and fun turns of phrase. Electric Warrior was a perfect record, and a gateway both to the past (rockabilly), present (at the time, glam) and the future (punk).
Big Star – #1 Record (1972)
Funny how obscure an extremely melodic, Beatles-inspired band could be in the 70s. Alex Chilton should have had some promotional support, coming off the massive hit with “The Letter” via the Box Tops. But he was a quirky guy and probably resisted any management and advice. They’d go on to influence R.E.M. and the whole jangle pop scene, and side one especially, from “Feel” to “The Ballad of El Goodo,” “In the Street” and “Thirteen” was the best representation of what it felt like to be a young teen since, well the Beatles.
Funkadelic – Cosmic Slop (1973)
This isn’t my favorite Funkadelic album, but I think it’s the most accessible, and a perfect gateway for my 12 year-old self, who had some exposure to funk and soul, but would especially enjoy the weirdness and wildness of Funkadelic.
The Modern Lovers – The Modern Lovers (1976)
Jonathan Richman really nailed teen angst on this album, which was actually a set of demos recorded a few years previously. By the time this was released, two members left for The Cars and Talking Heads, and he’d retreated to even more child like music with his solo albums, some of which were pretty great, but he’d never match the power of these songs.
Ramones – Rocket to Russia (1977)
The first three Ramones albums are just about perfect. Joey Ramone and his bruddas didn’t really have any intention of kicking off a punk scene. He just wanted to have hits in the style of his favorite 60s singles, but with their own unique take. In a better world they would have had a dozen top tens.
The Saints – (I’m) Stranded (1977)
One of the best and earliest Aussie punk albums ever. They may not have known they were punks yet — just a bar band slogging through the same circuit as the likes of AC/DC.
The Damned – Damned Damned Damned (1977)
While Sex Pistols could come off as sourpusses at times, The Damned were the real anarchists, tricksters and jokers.
Devo – Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo (1978)
I had so many chances to get into Devo, and I dropped the ball every time. I read about them in 1978, amazingly, in one of those scholastic magazines for kids. They interviewed the band and even discussed their concept of Devolution. The album was available in Columbia record club for a minute, but I missed my window, and didn’t own it probably ’till college.
X-Ray Spex – Germ-Free Adolescents (1978)
Poly Styrene’s brilliant lyrics about disposable consumerism, sexual politics and identity were an uncanny mix of childlike innocence and sharp observation. Much of that may have gone over my head, but I think I’d have appreciated the day-glo aesthetic and deep sentiments like “Freddie tried to strangle me with my plastic popper beads so I hit him back, with my pet rrrrat.”
Buzzcocks – Singles Going Steady (1979)
Ah the punk Beatles, who were subversively groundbreaking when bi-sexual Pete Shelley wrote his love/hate songs with non-gender specific pronouns, influencing bands like The Smiths and Hüsker Dü. Even better, their melodic buzzsaw attacks packed more power than a mouthful of pop rocks and cola.
The Clash – London Calling (1979)
I actually taped the first Clash album because my junior high school library had it, amazingly. It took a while to sink in — despite reading many issues of Creem magazine at the A&P grocery store, their coverage was pretty loosey goosey, and did not instruct noobs on what was punk rock. Everything was just fair game for ridicule. But I would have loved this right away — a lot more fun than even The White Album.
The Specials – The Specials (1979)
The first major album release in the 2 Tone scene which loosely included Madness, The Beat, Bad Manners, the Bodysnatchers, etc. What’s not to love about the first and best wave of ska revival? At least until they went all sophisti-pop and maudlin.
The Feelies – Crazy Rhythms (1980)
As a tween I would have totally appreciated the nervous energy that escalates to the edge of neurosis that was The Feelies music in 1980. They bridged the gap from arty experimentalism of Pere Ubu, kosmische bands like Can and Neu and Brian Eno, to post-punk guitar feasts.
Echo & the Bunnymen – Crocodiles (1980)
It wasn’t too much later when I discovered Echo & the Bunnymen, but it would have been cool to have heard them right away out the gate. The Liverpool band mixed psychedelia and post-punk in an exciting, accessible way that was a gateway to the likes of The Cure, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Joy Division, The Sound, Comsat Angels, Psychedelic Furs and many more bands that would dominate my listening habits for years to come.
Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden (1980)
Thanks to early exposure to Black Sabbath, the seeds of metal were planted in my brain early on. Judas Priest was definitely the first true metal band to my ears, but Iron Maiden was the definitive band, and would remain so for decades.
U2 – Boy (1980)
Like Iron Maiden, I’d discover U2 soon enough. After War (1983) they’d duke it out with Maiden and Rush for the top spot as favorite band. I considered the first Replacements album, but I think I would have only connected with a few of the tracks. I only knew the tracks that were on the live album Under A Blood Red Sky until I taped this and October (1981) from a friend in ’86.

Full list:

The Velvet Underground – The Velvet Underground
The Beatles – Abbey Road
MC5 – Kick Out The Jams
The Stooges – The Stooges
Creedence Clearwater Revival – Green River
Van Morrison – Moondance
The Stooges – Fun House
The Velvet Underground – Loaded
The Who – Meaty Beaty Big & Bouncy
T. Rex – Electric Warrior
Alice Cooper – Love It To Death
David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders From Mars
Roxy Music – Roxy Music
T. Rex – The Slider
Big Star – #1 Record
Toots & the Maytals – Funky Kingston
New York Dolls – New York Dolls
Funkadelic – Cosmic Slop
Big Star – Radio City
Sweet – Sweet Fanny Adams
Sweet – Desolation Boulevard
Patti Smith – Horses
The Modern Lovers – The Modern Lovers
Justin Hinds & the Dominoes – Jezebel
Toots & the Maytals – Reggae Got Soul
Thin Lizzy – Jailbreak
Ramones – Ramones
AC/DC – High Voltage
Rainbow – Rising
Blondie – Blondie
Television – Marquee Moon
Iggy Pop – Lust For Life
The Saints – (I’m) Stranded
The Clash – The Clash
Radio Birdman – Radios Appear
Talking Heads – Talking Heads: 77
Ramones – Rocket to Russia
Ramones – Leave Home
The Damned – Damned Damned Damned
AC/DC – Let There Be Rock
Ultravox – Ultravox!
Ultravox – Ha! Ha! Ha!
Wire – Pink Flag
The Jam – In The City
Devo – Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo
The Cars – The Cars
Blondie – Parallel Lines
Elvis Costello – This Year’s Model
Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band – Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)
X-Ray Spex – Germ-Free Adolescents
Talking Heads – More Songs About Buildings And Food
Buzzcocks – Another Music In A Different Kitchen
Buzzcocks – Love Bites
The Jam – All Mod Cons
Judas Priest – Stained Class
Generation X – Generation X
The Flys – Waikiki Beach Refugees
The Clash – Give ‘Em Enough Rope
Buzzcocks – Love Bites
Van Halen – Van Halen
Buzzcocks – Singles Going Steady
The Clash – London Calling
The Slits – Cut
The Jam – Setting Sons
XTC – Drums And Wires
The Ruts – The Crack
The Damned – Machine Gun Etiquette
The Specials – The Specials
Motörhead – Overkill
The Undertones – The Undertones
The Police – Outlandos D’Amour
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Damn The Torpedoes
The Police – Reggatta de Blanc
Scorpions – Lovedrive
Judas Priest – Killing Machine
Blondie – Eat To The Beat
The Cure – Boys Don’t Cry
The Feelies – Crazy Rhythms
Echo & the Bunnymen – Crocodiles
Iron Maiden – Iron Maiden
X – Los Angeles
The Teardrop Explodes – Kilimanjaro
Black Sabbath – Heaven And Hell
The Soft Boys – Underwater Moonlight
Motörhead – Ace Of Spades
U2 – Boy
Madness – One Step Beyond…
The Selecter – Too Much Pressure
Pretenders – Pretenders
The Suburbs – In Combo
The Cramps – Songs the Lord Taught Us
Dead Kennedys – Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
Gary Numan – Telekon
Squeeze – Argybargy
Ozzy Osbourne – Blizzard Of Ozz
The Vapors – New Clear Days
Judas Priest – British Steel
Girlschool – Demolition
Adam and the Ants – Kings of the Wild Frontier
The Revillos – Rev Up
Devo – Freedom Of Choice
Iron Maiden – Killers
The Replacements – Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out The Trash
The Psychedelic Furs – Talk Talk Talk
The Cramps – Psychedelic Jungle
Black Flag – Damaged
T.S.O.L. – Dance With Me
Minor Threat – Minor Threat EP
Tom Tom Club – Tom Tom Club
Trio – Trio
Oingo Boingo – Only A Lad
U2 – October