1999 (Prince)

1999
Prince (1982)

Top Tracks: “1999”, “Little Red Corvette”, “Automatic”

If I could go back in time, I’d do many things. One of them would be to be a little more open about how much I enjoyed Prince during the 1999 era. My friends and I were little rocker kids, and Prince was just too pop to be cool among my immediate peers. I’d been spending most of my time listening to Van Halen and AC/DC and the like, and now here was this incredibly groovy funk/R&B/rock stuff that I loved at the time, and love much more openly now. Prince was a genius and he stayed that way throughout his life. Special memory: playing as the band for our high school’s Jazz Chorale and doing “Little Red Corvette” on synth and vocals with Mike Burns on a very out-of-tune guitar. Good times (May 2020).

Californication (Red Hot Chili Peppers)

Californication
Red Hot Chili Peppers (1999)

Top Tracks: “Scar Tissue”, “Otherside”, “Californication”

I can tell you, I was going through some heavy shit in 1999 when Californication came out. Let’s not get into the details, but having this dark album be a near constant part of the soundtrack of my life then was very fitting for me personally. It holds up too; listening to some tracks in preparation for this list while in the midst of a global pandemic was completely apropos (May 2020).