CORB'S TOP FIVE OF ALL TIME

A band from Nebraska with certified hits?! Let's go. Down was just the gateway to their music that would become an obsession. Once Transistor dropped it was the only disc in my compact disc player for lengthy periods.

Say what you will about a large majority of their catalog, this album is like my 11th toe.

What could I possibly say about this album that hasn't been already?

This was the first music album I bought in a store with my own money ALMOST 30 YEARS AGO.

I still play it regularly.

Jerry Hsu's part in Osiris' The Storm video included a Stereo Lab backing track. I had no idea who they were but I loved the part, loved Jerry, and really dug the song. So, as a member of Columbia Music House at the time I ordered the most recent album from the obscure-to-Northeast-NE French band and when I received it became pissed to find that the song from the video was not on this album (the song is Outer Accelerator).

A few more listens revealed to me what an incredible group of musicians it was that I had discovered, and a timeless album that I still play (on vinyl, of course) late on Friday evenings after my wife goes to bed, listening wistfully with a tepid, watery old fashioned in my hand.

"Dookie" is second on this list and I was 10 when it came out. It's significant to me because I can trace a few blossoming fragrances of my adult personality to this album. For example, I still say dookie, A LOT.

I asked the record store employee if they had any "jungle" music because in Nebraska there wasn't a lot of that on the radio and they suggested this album. My initial thought was "wow only 8 songs?" but I bought it because at 12 you really want to impress people that work at record stores. The first track ripped a fucking hole in my head and the last track mended it. I then repeated this process 7,490 times.