Such a strong, attention-grabbing line, isn’t it?
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
‘You Must Hear.” Not “should” hear. Not “may want to” hear. Must hear. Okay. Damn.
I have to admit, I’m intrigued.
So I’m surfing Reddit one afternoon, as I am wont to do when killing time, and a post from r/InternetIsBeautiful popped up in my feed sharing a link to 1001albumsgenerator.com, a website that helps you track your progress as you listen to the aforementioned 1,001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
Now, I had no idea that this website was based on a book (one first published in 2005, that has been updated multiple times, including this year). Or that there’s a whole series of “bucket list” books bearing the same title and theme spanning all kinds of media and experiences.
All I knew is that it’s a free site, I have an Apple Music subscription, and that I love making impulsive decisions, so naturally I signed up.
And now I’m being assigned a new album to listen to every day.
For the next 1,001 days.
I still have no idea who wrote this list, what is on it, or what the criteria is to land a spot on this list.
But for some reason, I also don’t care, nor do I want to know what’s coming.
I like surprises, and so far, this experience has provided me with a delightful variety of albums both familiar and new.
Over the past few years, I have to admit that my musical tastes have narrowed significantly to classic hip-hop, punk, and various YouTube artists and acts.
Going through this list for a month has already expanded my horizons significantly. From Fela Kuti to Shuggie Otis, from Metallica to LCD Soundsystem, and from Iron Butterfly to Living Colour, I’m experiencing a broad swath of the best music of the last seventy years.
I’ve learned that I don’t like Joy Division (the crew from Ground Control’s going to pull my Goth card for that one), that Dusty Springfield was British, that Sufjan Stevens is going to score my next quirky indie film, and that David Bowie was even more of a genius than I knew.
I mean, just listen for yourself:
Also, it’s a very different experience, listening to the whole album in order rather than just downloading the singles and hits.
It’s proving to work out pretty well. I switch between the album of the day and podcasts while I’m in the car or doing maintenance down at the theater.
I think I’m going to start posting my album reactions on my Instagram. I mean, I don’t know what else to post there right now, so why not?
So yeah, I recommend 1001albumsgenerator.com as my Something Awesome for this week. Make it a resolution for 2022 to check it out and broaden your musical horizons.
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