via BroBible
Why do you like the music that you do?
I’ve been unpacking that question a lot lately. It’s a hard question to answer.
- Why do I love Jimmy Buffett and the Grateful Dead?
- Why have I been listening to Dire Straits, Steely Dan, and Don Henley on repeat lately?
- Why do I listen to Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds beginning to end weekly?
- Why, beyond general enjoyment and a deep sense of community, have I seen Phish 140-something times?
There’s no easy answer to any of these questions… But I sure love searching for them.
I recently hung out with Andrew McMahon, the frontman from Something Corporate, Jack’s Mannequin, and Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, here in Los Angeles at a speakeasy bar called Old Lighting. I used the occasion to ask him about all kinds of stuff, including his top 5 most influential albums. The mezcal was flowing in our hour-long conversation while cameras rolled, so I asked him about all sorts of stuff: the early Aughts rise of Something Corporate in the pop punk scene, his current crusade against ticket resellers, working at In-N-Out as a teenager. One of my favorite questions was about his most regrettable early ‘Aughts fashion choices being the emo-era studded belt.
But on the subject of music itself, I love asking artists about their Top 5 most influential albums. Their answer maps out their musical journey and definitely beats the usual boring small talk of “so, who are your influences?”
Everyone has a musical origin story, including the artists that make the sounds that we love. This sense of taste is usually shaped by albums they listened to at a young age, which sparked it before they knew they had one.
Here’s what Andrew told me in our conversation:
- Billy Joel, Greatest Hits Vol 1 & 2
- Counting Crows, August and Everything After
- Tom Petty, Wildflowers
- The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
- Ben Folds Five, the self-titled debut on Caroline Records
He noted that Ben Folds Five was so influential on his career because it was the first time it made the “piano feel like a punk instrument.” I love that answer, and I think all of us piano-rock-loving pop-punk millennials can agree.
Anyway, here’s the clip over on my Instagram:
This is the first episode of @BroBible SIDE QUESTS, my new series where we talk music while doing the stuff artists actually love. In this case, we drink rare, delicious mezcals, including a bottle that was aged in Pappy Van Winkle bottles.
I’d be stoked if you watched the full episode over on the BroBible YouTube.