Definitive

Taken from Akak's

definitive music for every year of my life since 1997

1997 - I'll Be Missing You (back when he's known as Puff Daddy)
A pivotal moment of my life, when I stayed up late at night for that Billboard 100 show on TV2. The album became the first cassette I ever bought. Played the whole album to death, with this song on super heavy repeat.

1998 - Sex & Candy (Marcy Playground)
This year was quite a blur for me musically, but I was still pretty much hooked on Billboard 100. Slowly drifting me away from the local radio content. I always waited for this song to play, hoping I could see naked people. Hey, excuse my 13 year old hormones. But it's still a kick ass song. With France beating Brazil to lift the Cup, it was a kick ass year too.

1999 - Silverchair, Butterfingers
There's not much different between these 2 bands. They were deeply rooted in grunge, but went skywards with respective releases that year. Neon Ballroom was so edgily futuristic you keep making sure that you're on planet Earth. Transcendence? Well, it was on another planet entirely.

2000 - Nirvana
Grunge was the first music I paid attention too back in '95, thanks to Abang Aidil's Unplugged in New York cassette. But it took me 5 years after that to fully immerse myself in all of the band's 5 releases. If there's anything I got out of this phase besides knowing that 4 chords can make a global hit, it tought me patience. I starved for 2 weeks for a cassette. It was food for the soul.

2001 - Slipknot, Marilyn Manson
Hafeez was broke, so he decided to offload his CDs. These 2 were my first CD buys and boy was it love at first sight. The aggression of both bands worked well with that 'in limbo' year between PMR and SPM. It was my first few tastes of heavy music.

2002 - Pearl Jam, WOWFM
Humaimah got me into Eddie Vedder's brooding baritone. I already picked up playing the guitar by this year and Pearl Jam widened my musical conscience with their basic approach, showing me that even with simple chords you can make deep thoughtful music. I don't need to elaborate on Wow. The name speaks for itself.

2003 - The Smashing Pumpkins, Explosions In The Sky
Every chord I strum and every note I pluck after this year was all thanks to the Chicago quartet. They gave me the gift of soft/loud dynamics. Something that another quartet from Texas also does so very well. Like what was written on their demo tape; fucking destroys.

2004 - Deftones
I skipped the whole White Pony era for some reason. But their self-titled (which was their 3rd or 4th album I think?) changed things for me. Hexagram is undoubtedly one of the best album openers ever. By this time Chino and the boys were such masters of their own sonic carvings that it's easy for anyone to regard them as Gods of Intelligent Metal.

2005 - Shitload of local stuff
I've been collecting local releases since '01, with the help of Music Exchange, CD Exchange and the legendary Music Magic. But this year that I was in UiTM, I met Boy and Potter. We were trading stuff by the truckload. They were largely responsible for the mass of my mp3 collection.

2006 - Fletcher
This wasn't my first band. My first will always be Hefleft. But this is the first band that I was involved with after years and years of exposure to a myriad of genres and styles. The fact that we went post-rock on this one even made it better for me. We lasted 2 songs. But those 2 songs got me where I am today.

2007 - Umbrella (Rihanna)
This was Telephony Delivery's year. Played tons of shows after the release of our EP. Most of it were at KL Jam Asia. Each time I drove my way there, this song kept playing on the radio. The song's awesome, and it was definitive for me. It reminded me of our mini Singapore tour, and also the first time I saw her in December.

2008 - The Dillinger Escape Plan
I've grown tired of the normal stuff I listened to my whole life. I was musically drained and uninspired. And then this band dropped a monster of an album that was Ire Works the year before. It got me listening to music again. It saved my life.

what are YOUR definitive music for the years of your life?