Favorite Albums: 98 - 97

This isn't going to be the best post, because I have only gotten about 6 hours sleep combined the past 2 nights, but I wanted to at least get something done, because these should have been up Monday, and I still have yesterday's to get to at some point. My guess? next two tomorrow, then two more sometime over the weekend to get caught up. At any rate, here we go...

98. Mania by The Ramones (1988)

30 songs of pure awesomeness. Okay, maybe they aren't all awesome, but the vast majority of them are. I'm not going to get into each song, because for a lot of them it would take me longer to write about the song than the song actually is. The highlights of this collection are "Beat On the Brat", "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker", "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg", "Needles and Pins", and "Howling At the Moon". Of course the drunk frat boy anthem is here ("I Wanna Be Sedated") as is the "I'm cool because I know a Ramones song other than "I Wanna Be Sedated" track, "Blitzkrieg Bop". The only really weak songs are "Commando" and "Warthog", not because they are bad songs, but just because they aren't very memorable and don't really stand out, and "The KKK Took My Baby Away" and "Indian Giver" because they are bad songs. Other than those four, pretty much everything else on this album kicks some ass and makes this album a must have.
6 Best Songs: (I know, I'm cheating, but they're short.)
6. "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend"
5. "Needles and Pins"
4. "Howling At the Moon (Sha-La-La)"
3. "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg"
2. "Beat On the Brat"
1. "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker"

"I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend"


"Needles and Pins"


"Howling At the Moon"


"Bonzo Goes To Bitburg"


"Beat On the Brat"


"Sheena Is a Punk Rocker"


97. Social Distortion by Social Distortion (1990)

This is just a fun album, aside from the few parts where it gets rather preachy about drugs. Yeah, we get it, you were an addict and now you're sober, and want everyone else to be as well. Whatever. This album has one of my all time favorite cover songs on it. Their version of Johnny Cash's "Ring Of Fire" is awesome. Takes it from rockabilly to pure rock. "Ball and Chain" was the first song I heard off this album (Thank you, 120 Minutes!) and I went out that week and got the album because of it. I don't usually buy an album off the strength of one song, but this was one of those few exceptions. I remember the first time I listened to this album, "Story Of My Life" came on, and I ended up playing it for like an hour straight, just that song, until my dad came downstairs and told me to either play another song or just go outside. Good times. "Sick Boys" and "Drug Train" are kind of blah, the former just kind of boring, the second a tad too preachy. "So Far Away" and "A Place In My Heart" are killer tunes, good solid rock, as are "Let It Be Me" and "It Coulda Been Me". This is really just a nice solid album. No wimpy ass ballads or anything, just straight up L.A. rock. Love it.
5 Best Songs:
5. "Let It Be Me"
4. "So Far Away"
3. "Story of My Life"
2. "Ring Of Fire"
1. "Ball and Chain"

"Let It Be Me"


"So Far Away"


"Story Of My Life"


"Ring Of Fire"


"Ball and Chain"