Record Rewind 2.0

On September 11, 2001, the world was forever changed when Ben Folds released his debut solo album, “Rockin’ the Suburbs.” The album left an immeasurable impact on those who listened to it and continues to do so 23 years later. For me, the impact was immediate, as I discovered my favorite song in its opening track. “Annie Waits” is a brilliant showcase of Folds’ songwriting chops, both in terms of storytelling and composition. The lyrics play with perspective really well. Initially told in third person, we meet the eponymous Annie, a young woman looking for “the one.” Unfortunately, she constantly finds herself being stood up by guys and waiting fruitlessly for them to show up. She makes excuses for her dates, avoiding putting them at fault. She even ponders if it would feel worse if her date got injured or simply forgot about her.  As the ghostings pile up, Annie resigns herself to a life of loneliness and imagines herself as an old lady feeding birds and playing bingo. She dreams ...

Welcome to Record Rewind 2.0! The idea for this blog originated in August 2022, when I finally decided to use the Liked Songs feature on Spotify, but with a twist. Following a friend's advice to start listening to classic rock in chronological order, I decided to go back and listen to a ton of albums released from the 50s and 60s to present day, adding the songs I liked most from said albums to my Liked Songs.  I started mostly with Beatles and other early rock records and worked my way through albums I wanted to listen to. I revisited albums I had already heard, from Tapestry  to Thriller  to Nevermind , and I listened to iconic albums for the first time, from OK Computer to Is This It  to To Pimp a Butterfly .  I did not listen to every album ever, because I knew trying to do that would've driven me crazy, but I have managed to listen to almost 10,000 songs over the past couple years. I finished last month by catching up on albums released last year.  My ...