Who Invented David R?

The following is a list of the albums that I believe have created the songwriter I am today.  I'll note, first of all, that I've only included the first two hip hop albums that changed my life because if I were to include the influences on my hip hop writing, the list would be gigantic, and I'm already pushing it as is. This list is more geared toward the guitar based songwriting ive done.  I'd also like to note that they are a lot of books, films, poems and people that weigh greatly on the general direction of my writing that I've also discluded in the interest of brevity.  I've also left out albums because I didn't want too many artist repeats(the exception being Ryan Adams, which cannot be helped), and I've left out albums that have just recently inspired me toward my next wave of songs.  This is my attempt at explaining my songs to date, and also to describe albums that I feel a nerdish appreciation for as well as a sentimental one.  I've tried to list them in the order they impacted me, but I'm sure this isn't 100% accurate.



Jim Croce - Photographs & Memories

This is a record that was part of my old man's collection that I used to listen to when I was very young.  Certainly my earliest memories of music include sitting in the living room with that old record player and listening to albums like Steve Miller's The Joker, Burton Cummings My Own Way to Rock and the Eagles greatest hits volume 1.  Jim Croce though, is perhaps the largest influence on my writing aside from Ryan Adams.  His songs are brief, beautifully crafted snapshots of human moments that in my opinion are absolutely perfect.  His writing is clear, precise and plainspoken.  And his melodies are fantastic, as well as his imagery.  To me Croce represents my father's side of his generation; the hard-working, family-centric, always-in-love mustachioed fellas.  The other thing that kills me about Croce is the richness and feeling in his voice, and his unmistakable relatability.  He was a man of the people, that's certain, having been a truckdriver, a farmer and a general family man.  He was a hilarious storyteller and a light that should've burned much longer than it did.  He died in a plane crash just 3 albums into his career.


Elvis Presley - 30 #1 Hits

I include this as opposed to an album, or perhaps something 'cooler,' because Elvis to me as a child could not have possibly been contained to an album.  I watched his movies, listened to his records and tapes endlessly.  I had an Elvis teddy bear that song 'Teddy Bear,' an Elvis clock shaped like a guitar, Elvis pez dispensers...etc.  My grandmother, our family's matriarch and probably the greatest woman I have ever known, was a huge Elvis fan and in turn, Elvis had a huge impact on me as a child.  I thought that he was absolutely the coolest dude ever.  I wanted to be him.  My earliest public performances include my Elvis impersonations, alongside singing hymns in church and singing and dancing along with country hits of the day, particularly Achy Breaky Heart.  So this album feels appropriate because someone bought it for Mary for Christmas one year and it became our go-to soundtrack for crazy eights, or cooking or whathaveyou.  It's a good collection, of amazing songs, by a great vocalist.


Puff Daddy & the Family - No Way Out

This has to be included because it is the first album that I ever loved.  It's an awesome album.  It's got a lot of great verses on it by the likes of The Notorious BIG (author of the greatest hip hop album of all time, Ready to Die) as well as people that were really cooking at the time, like Ma$e, The LOX, and even a guest appearance by Jay-Z.  This album totally changed my perception about the relationship between words and music, revealing to me that the possibilities are endless, and that music should be fun.  I was 8 years old when I first heard this album and it still receives regular play from me.  I have to include it on this list if only for Biggie's verse on All About the Benjamins, which is one of my favourite pieces of writing ever.


Bush(x) - Razorblade Suitcase

I realize that I'm not winning over any hipsters in this list so far, and that maybe this is the nail in the coffin, but I can't deny this albums impact on my songs.  It's not a very good album, but it sounds good, mostly as a result of Steve Albini's production (or lack thereof).  For anyone that knows me and thinks that I'm being contrarian by including this, listen to Insect Kin from this album, and then listen to December from Believing In Iron.  Or Crowded Blue.  That's the most obvious example but you can find it in little pieces of my songs here and there.  I think it's just because I've been listening to it for so long.  That being said, some of the stuff on this album is totally great, like Bonedriven.


Eminem - The Slim Shady LP

This album is totally fantastic.  I first got into it when I was 11, and although I didn't understand much of what was going on, I got a lot out of it.  First of all it was the first album by a white rapper that I ever heard, and I remember being thusly convinced that I could totally participate in hip hop.  Also the album cover is one of the greatest of all time.  It represents the music it contains, while remaining somewhat mysterious and vague.  Even though it is a literal interpretation of what might be the most disturbing song on the album.  Eminem's first three albums contain a lot of my favourite writing that's ever occurred in popular music, despite the homophobic and misogynistic thread throughout, but this album must be included because it came out first, I got into it first, and it was my first real interaction with the concept of writing music from a fictional character perspective of your own design.


Nirvana - Unplugged

When I first heard this album I had already been writing songs to some extent for at least 5 or 6 years, but I had no goddamn idea what I was doing, or even what I was trying to do.  This helped point me in some kind of direction.  It taught me a very important lesson in simplicity, and it revealed to me that I could write music I like using an acoustic guitar, which I hadn't done at that point.  Furthermore, it brought me a total infatuation with Cobain, which helped me a great deal when it came to writing songs, and also putting together music.  Cobain inspired me to experiment, to be weird, to make noise, to break stuff.  All valuable lessons in music creation.  He also introduced me to Leadbelly, which eventually led to my discovery of country/blues and Appalachian folk.  Pretty goddamn important as far as this whole songwriting thing goes.


Port City Allstars - Hello...In Mono!

So this isn't the album cover, but I'm mainly using this album as a way to encompass the huge impact that this band, and in particular Adam Mowery, has had on me as a songwriter.  PCA were loud, hilarious, catchy, beautiful poppy music that totally kicked ass.  As far as Saint John music goes, this is as good as it has ever been.  Seeing them live totally changed my idea of what you could get away with in a small band, and their songs led me to further appreciate the possibilities in simple, catchy music.  You can hear Adam Mowery's influence pretty clearly in a lot of my stuff, and he continues to inspire me today.


Pixies - Wave of Mutilation (best of)

Mary bought me this, at my request, for my 15th birthday, and it totally blew my mind.  It had features I had at that point only really experienced from Nirvana but in a way that was much more obscure and interesting, at least as far as 15-year-old me was concerned.  It led me to appreciate surf-rock, and 80's hardcore.  Was probably also the first thing I heard that was awash with biblical references, that was not religious music.  Which was perfect for that period in my life where I suddenly hated the shit out of religion.


Elton John - Best of

My mother bought this at Costco when I was probably 15 or 16, and I ended up just stealing it from her.  For a long time Elton John was the only thing my mother and I had in common.  Elton John has a true gift for melody and arrangement, and Bernie Taupin is a fantastic lyricist.  There are a lot of really great EJ albums, many of which I own, but this one is most appropriate to list here for it's impact on me.


Joel Plaskett - La De Da

This remains my favourite of Plaskett's material.  It was probably the first album I loved that was created by a maritime musician, that I hadn't heard from going to shows in Saint John (which led me to hear albums by people like Hospital Grade and the Organizers, both great) which is important for obvious reasons.  It listed people and places from his town that were comforting in that Stompin Tom kinda Canadian way.  Also it's beautifully produced and written.


Johnny Cash/Willie Nelson - VH1 Storytellers

When I worked at McDonald's I used to walk over to HMV with my paycheck every two weeks and buy stuff.  This is one of the things I bought having never heard of it, and it's amazing.  It's a good choice for this list because it's two of my favourite songwriters who ever lived and it's live and stripped down, showcasing the base of the songs, and what makes them so great.  Willie Nelson is one of the greatest songwriters of popular music, and this features some of his best stuff.  JR obviously kills it as well.  When I was still listening to post-hardcore from DC and The Wolfnote every day I was going to sleep listening to this every night, and remains in regular rotation with me, particularly in a vehicle.  Also these two fellas make a rather charming pair.


The Smiths - Louder Than Bombs

This is another album I bought at HMV.  It was in a cheap bin and at the time I didn't own anything by the Smiths but I knew that I should.  Obviously Morrissey was an incredible lyricist and Johnny Marr an incredible guitarist, and as a team they wrote a lot of songs that I will love forever, particularly Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now, which is my favourite Smiths song and is featured on this collection.  In fact, my very dear friend Jeremy Smith put that song on a mix CD he made me when we first met, and it was the first Smiths song I ever heard.  Jeremy also introduced me to Ryan Adams, and a plethora of country greats, and therefore I owe him a great debt of gratitude for the way I write.  The Smiths were a big part of my total willingness to make sad bastard music.


Black Eyes - Self-titled

Nobody sounds like this band.  They only made two albums, both of which are amazing and both of which were produced by Ian Mackaye, so they sound incredible.  Black Eyes toured extensively with Q And Not U, which is another post-hardcore DC band that I love the shit out of, and that Jeremy told me about.  These guys featured two drummers, and two bassists, and were therefore very rhythmic and loud and noisy and dancey and I love every second of both of their albums.  They also had great lyrics.  They always had really interesting references and wordplay and the images within their lyrics were usual stark and unsettling in a way that I really like.  Also they referenced Yusef Komunyakaa, who ended up being my favourite poet, displacing E.E. Cummings from the rank.  I went on to steal from Yusef on several occasions, most notably on That's the Way the Cards Fall, which is almost entirely Yusef lines. Also Believing In Iron is the title of one of his poems.


The Weakerthans - Reconstruction Site

I had never heard this band when I bought this album, but Jeremy told me they were good and the CD was like 5 bucks at Secondspin so I bought it and popped it into my discman for the busride home.  It blew my damn mind, and remains one of my favourite albums.  As my good friend AP put it when we were touring, there is not a wasted word on this album, it's written beautifully, in a way that's totally literary and Canadian, and set to music that draws from all over the map to create a truly unique and remarkable pop album.


The Libertines - Self-titled

Once again, I'd never heard this band, but bought the album based on Jeremy's recommendation.  I took to it immediately, eventually leading to a totally pathetic obsession with Pete Doherty.  Doherty remains one of my favourite lyricists, and trainwrecks, as far as rock n roll goes.  This image is totally iconic at this point, and is another one of my favourite album covers.  Super fun combination of The Clash, The Pistols, The Smiths, and a bunch of other shit.  It's too bad that he's turned himself into a cliche, as he truly was a gifted lyricist.


Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker

Another iconic album cover that I totally love.  Ryan Adams wrote a lot of good songs before this album, particularly as part of the band Whiskeytown, which released an album called Stranger's Almanac that also had a huge impact on my writing, as it combined classic country with stuff like Fleetwood Mac and Bruce Springsteen in an as yet unparalleled way.  But this album hit me pretty hard.  It's an elegant and emotional album of sparse and superbly produced songs that are all excellent.  This album completely reshaped my songwriting and allowed me to focus my love of country in a way that I more closely related to.  Really can't say enough about this album.


Tom Waits - Rain Dogs

Tom Waits is a bonafide genius, and has a ton of amazing albums under his belt.  This one is the second he made after getting married to his equally amazing wife, who it seems, encouraged him to go full on with his experimental leanings.  This album has it all.  It draws from totally obscure influences and puts them all on one album that remains totally cohesive.  Waits is perhaps the best narrator in the history of rock n roll, creating dark and vivid characters from America's underbelly that come to life on his albums and show you exactly what he means.  Along with that there's his staggeringly creative arrangements and kickass voice.

 

Ryan Adams - The Suicide Handbook

Ryan Adams is absolutely my favourite songwriter who ever lived.  This is one of the unreleased albums, that was originally intended to be the follow-up to Heartbreaker.  Subsequently many of the songs on here appear on Gold, but I prefer these versions.  There are also songs on this that ended up appearing on nothing, and they're all excellent.  It's all sad and sparse songs about girls, and that pretty much sums up most of my music.  I love this record.  The first time I had a panic attack I was listening to this album in my headphones, and somehow that makes me love it more.

Ryan Adams - Jacksonville City Nights

I had to include this as well, because it further focused my love of country music, and more or less taught me how to write songs in the classic country vein, using that Mother Maybelle way of playing rhythm guitar.  This album inspired a lot of material for me.  It's also recorded very quickly and very well, and it applies the sad bastard over-emotional aesthetic that I learned from vocalists like Paul Anka to classic country character portraits and torch-songs.  I'd like to mention as well that I think Adams is criminally underrated as a lyricist.


Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska

This is an obvious choice for any singer/songwriter.  Springsteen is one of the greatest of all time, and this album showcases the writing ability underlying every song he makes.  It's also a very intimate home recording that really helped me to proudly release recordings before I had the luxury of using proper equipment.  My favourite of my own albums is basically an ode to this album, that I wrote during a time when I was totally obsessed with it.

I could go on forever, but I'll leave the list there for now.  There's a lot missing, like albums by people I know personally, who've inspired me throughout the years to create better music.  Writing a song is absolutely my greatest passion in life, and easily the thing that I'm most skilled at, and if there ever comes a time that I'm somehow successful at it, it will be as a direct result of the albums on this list, as well as many others.