Norman's Rockwell

Shut up already! Thirty years ago today, Prince unleashed the funkiest, most amazing artistic statement of his career: the double album Sign 'O' The Times . Music does not get better than this. I still get chills spinning this. I remember buying Sign after school the day it came out and racing home to play it undisturbed in one sitting. Mesmerized. It contains Prince's utterly genius "Housequake" and "If I Was Your Girlfriend" and so much more. Go dig it.

This took me a while, because I love music and I listen to a lot of it and I think about it almost as much as I listen to it. My friend Phillip Mottaz put me up to this and I accepted the challenge. Here are my Favorite Albums by Year for Each Year of my Life. I went by actual release year, not peak of popularity. They were not necessarily my favorites at the time of release. A few, like 1984, were no brainers (a right answer, as Phillip says). 1970, 1985 and 1994 became Sophie's Choice. As a result some of my all time favorite records are absent. Some favorite artists recur, proving they made consistently great albums that have influenced my listening habits perpetually. Steely Dan is here twice, but not my favorite Steely Dan record. I apparently enjoy Franz Ferdinand far more than I would have guessed. If I tackle this exercise again in 5 years or 5 weeks, I would expect about 3 or 4 to change. Here we go, as of today... 1969 - Abbey Road - The Beatles 1970 - ABC - The Jackson

Chuck Berry = Rock & Roll. My three cents. My first rock and roll 45 was "My Ding-A-Ling." A Christmas gift from a hip uncle and Chuck's only #1.  The first rock and roll number I performed on stage with a band was the Beatles' arrangement of Chuck Berry's "Rock And Roll Music." I've never looked back. For my 19th birthday, I bought myself a ticket to check out Chuck Berry in DC. Some college classmates laughed because I was going to see a 60 year old has-been. I saw the duck walk. I don't think Chuck Berry wouldn't want nobody to cry over him, he'd want you to turn that record up! Roll over, Beethoven and make way for Mr. Chuck Berry.