Freshman Year Albums, A Retrospective

This is an article on the albums that were the most dear to me my first year of college. They aren't necessarily the best records I heard (though they're certainly among them), but rather those defined freshman year for me. They are roughly in chronological order of when their influence was most pronounced. Collectively they tell the story of my year pretty well. The lyrics are also YouTube links if you're into that.

Honorable mentions

Letting the days go by… into the silent water

Remain in Light by Talking Heads

Remain in Light can be a bit of a placeholder for Talking Heads in general. If there was one band to define my entire freshman year, it’s Talking Heads.

Amusingly, the first time I listened to Remain in Light was actually on the drive to college. It was about halfway, somewhere along the Oklahoma/Missouri border. I had heard Once In A Lifetime enough to check the rest out, and quite frankly I was pretty bored. I ended up getting into the more accessible Fear of Music first, but I still sort of regarded Talking Heads as a novelty band, a fun thing to throw on that didn’t require much thought. Remain in Light though, that thing was a little more serious, and it took a couple of songs to get to Once In A Lifetime. I came back to it sometimes, as I wore out Fear of Music and needed some more David Byrne. Gradually Remain in Light started growing on me, as I starting noticing songs like “Seen and Not Seen” and saying “ok, this one is really worth the hype actually.” I don’t think it was until November that I fully realized… they’re all worth the hype.

But Once In a Lifetime though… that was my encouragement for a few months.

Surprised, you were human

Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem

Sound of Silver is the most definitive album of any season of my life, and I knew it would be as soon as I heard it. I remember walking across campus late one night, headphones in, listening to Someone Great and honestly saying to myself “this is the song I’ll remember this semester by.”

I was right. Sound of Silver is fundamentally an album about an insider feeling like an outsider in what he perceives as a desperately sick, oblivious culture. It is the sound of loneliness in a crowd, of fake friends, and identity crisis in the face of a society screaming to be someone and no one at the same time. Never before have I heard a more self-aware record, a record more in-tune with what it represents, and more conscious of the fact that it in itself quite possibly perpetuates what it criticizes. It’s full of sadness, bitterness, and hopelessness, to which it begrudgingly suggests a party-it-out solution, while being every bit aware that that’s exactly what got it there to begin with. It is the anthem of everything it opposes, and it knows it. James Murphy knows, and he hasn’t a clue what to do. 

I heard a voice that was alone in a crowd, a voice that was flung into a culture it saw so much sickness in. 

Seems like a big deal now, but you will get over...

Reflektor by Arcade Fire

I think a lot of what Reflektor did for a while was just keep me mentally occupied. Arcade Fire are one of the most hype/backlashed bands around I guess; everyone that talks about them seems to think they're the world's best rock band or the world's most incredibly overrated hipster trash. Reflektor is a complex record because it's so easy to both praise and criticize, both on a musical and conceptual level. I was torn upon first listen, totally unsure of what to think. It took a long time for me to realize what parts of the mixed bag were good and which weren't, but I feel like the length of time that I spent puzzling over it justified it to me. Somehow about three songs sort of came about to define the last bit of the first semester for me, and I'm not even sure I can say they're at all the best songs. But there was a period of quite literally months starting in late October where the bass of Supersymmetry was omnipresent in my mind. Four-or-so notes were stuck in my head for three-plus months straight. Quite honestly, I'm not sure where this record stands for me now, but it seemed like a big deal then.

Everything and everyone, and in the end we all are one, the truth will not be denied

The Rising Tide by Sunny Day Real Estate

Still fresh off my first album-with-a-statue-on-it experience, The Rising Tide pummeled everything else I had been digging as soon as I heard it. It's one of the most balls-out rock albums you'll ever hear, bordering on ridiculous and stupid at times. It's anthemic and catchy to a fault, but I really needed that starting the first semester. I was turning the corner on my college experience, and I really needed something like this to give me confidence and keep me warm. 

Daydreaming days in a daydream nation…

Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth

Daydream Nation is the definition of a masterpiece. I was a little less fuzzy-feeling and sad by now. I remember baseball starting and hearing the opening chords of The Sprawl play in my mind every time I ran on the field. It was the sound of good things starting to happen more and more frequently. There's less to say about it because it didn't really personally impact me so to speak, but when you hear a record this good it sort of engrains itself in you regardless. I'm inclined to say this was defining album for me second semester.

Fears be gone, it won’t be long, there’s a light in the sky

#1 Record by Big Star

I think #1 Record was sort of the happy ending to my year. Winter finally broke, the snow melted, and I biked around campus with pop songs in my head. I had found my stride, and Big Star jammed the soundtrack. I suppose this was the first time I really experienced full contentment away at college. I enjoyed my alone time instead of feeling oppressed by it, and I went from place to place seeing people I knew at each place, and they knew me. I was finally seeking out solitude instead of socialization, which is a much better place to be. There’s an optimism I found both in my life now and songs like “When My Baby’s Beside Me” that kept me going at full energy. It was a little bittersweet to see it end having finally found a groove. 

It’s ok to look outside

the day it will abide

and watch the sunrise