My introduction to the Goo Goo Dolls was back in 1998 when their then-new single, “Iris”, debuted on VH1’s Top 10 Countdown (yes, it was a top 10 back then. I don’t think they changed to a top 20 until around 2000-2001). I had no clue who they were but I absolutely LOVED the song. They quickly became one of my favorite bands as I was loving everything they released – “Slide”, “Black Balloon”, “Here Is Gone”, etc. After 2006, they went a little downhill for me but I still liked them (“All That You Are” reminded me of something they would’ve released sometime between 2002-2006), but they didn’t get into “No. Just no.” territory with me until that shit from last year. “Rebel Beat”? Seriously? Leave that boring indie crap to Lorde. I still love their old stuff though, and “Iris” is still an all-time favorite of mine.
When I was five years old, she was my favorite artist ever!! I used to see the video for “Torn” on VH1 all the time and I loved it SOOO much! I remember going to Borders one day with my family and I saw one copy of her
Left Of The Middle album left and I begged by Dad to buy it for me.
He did and I loved the whole album!! “Wishing I Was There”, “Big Mistake”, “City”, “Smoke”, “One More Addiction”, “Intuition”, that whole album reminds me of my childhood and is still one of my favorite albums ever! I loved her so much, I even wrote a fan letter to her – I didn’t expect anything back and I didn’t even know that fanmail was a thing back then, but I was a kid and I wanted to write to my favorite artist.
About a week or two later, I got an autographed photo in the mail. I was SOOO happy!! Too bad that and the autographed photo I received of Gloria Estefan a few months later both got lost when my family and I moved from New York to Florida in 2002. In retrospect, I do think that MAYBE she should’ve been a little higher on here because of how much she impacted me in the beginning, but while I did love her 2002 album
White Lillies Island and 2005 album
Counting Down The Days, they were no LOTM, and I was very disappointed in her 2009 single, “Want”. I really hope she comes back with new
non-EDM music soon. My Mom even asked me recently whatever happened to her.
We had a conversation about the first artists we ever loved, and that for me would be Natalie and the Spice Girls (who are still to come). Up until I got into Lita Ford in 2007, this was my favorite song of all-time:
During a time when my favorite artists were Madonna, Christina Aguilera, and Hilary Duff, my music tastes went a bit out-of-character when I fell in love with this band’s first hit, “Bring Me To Life”, back in 2003. I think Amy Lee is an EXTREMELY underrated vocalist. She has SUCH a beautiful voice. They were huge favorites of mine in 2003-2004, as I LOVED their
Fallen album. I liked
The Open Door too and don’t really understand the hate for it – I especially enjoyed “Call Me When You’re Sober”. Their self-titled was good too. But
Fallen was definitely their best album. At this point, because of all the member changes, I don’t care if they continue with Evanescence or just Amy Lee solo since it’s kind of the same thing now.
But whatever happens, I hope the music is still great. I keep switching between “Bring Me To Life” and “Going Under” as my favorites from them, but I think I’d give the slight edge to BMTL.
Like Bush, my introduction to Alice In Chains was through my Launch station – actually, it was their own 90’s rock station, but meh.
Sometimes when I was bored with my Launch station I’d listen to the 90’s rock station on there, which played “Man In The Box” all the time and I loved it. I was eventually introduced to their other hits, including “Rooster”, “Down In A Hole”, and the one that
Courage is dying for me to mention, “No Excuses”.
I was a little unsure when I heard that they were going to come back with a new singer after Layne Staley’s 2002 death, but William Duvall is also a great singer (and he sounds like Layne
)! I loved “Check My Brain” and especially “Your Decision” (which was a #1 on my chart). My favorite song from them, however, would be this one from 1992:
I always liked Bon Jovi, but I didn’t really become a BIG fan of theirs until 2006 when I started getting into 80’s music. As overplayed as “You Give Love A Bad Name”, “Livin’ On A Prayer”, and “Wanted Dead Or Alive” are, they are undeniably classics. It’s crazy how they are the ONE band of the 80’s who did not suffer any kind of backlash after Nirvana and grunge exploded – they were still getting hits! I mean, you could also make a case for Def Leppard, but they got destroyed when they tried to change their sound with their 1996 album
Slang. Some other songs from them that I really love include “In And Out Of Love”, “Keep The Faith”, “It’s My Life”, and my favorite…
COMING UP: