#mprlife

On the heels of the Current's Most Essential ‪#‎893albums‬, this seems especially relevant and I'm sharing this article because I feel like it's a kind of cowardice to snipe at what art might have shaped someone else's personal experience.

(Disclaimer: This rant assumes a person's definition of "essential" is roughly: something which shaped the person they are today.)

As I was saying...

#1. Nobody's too cool for their teenage self and #2. Your big list is lame enough already without including whatever offending Objects of Snark drew your derision.

I don't begrudge anyone their personal life's experience (their Current faves are another story), but snide comments about whatever first piqued someone's now undying love for EDM, neo-soul, or whatever incarnation of mouth-breathing Appalachian regurgitation you're on about these days is 13 year-old smoking pathetic.

Because everybody starts somewhere, be it Lisa Loeb, DMB, Blink 182, Mariah Carey, TLC, Goo Goo Dolls, David Gray, or the fucking Eagles--you can't spin Foo Fighters' every new release and pretend you're somehow not catering to recovering (or current) Creed fans. Ditto the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, et al...

OR: When the Velvet Underground doesn't break your top 20 (h/t Star Tribune) and your supposed bonafides are "hey, Nirvana's #1" you've kind of forfeited your edge, assembled a more traditional Rolling Stone-type round up than anything deserving the oft-repeated, snarky descriptor or name-calling: "hipster," and maybe it takes just as much cool, honesty, self-awareness, or whatever to list Pink Floyd as it does Counting Crows. 

Or TLC as Tune-yards. David Gray as Elliott Smith.

Inspirational Quote (from linked article: