Crowd shot masthead ApologetiX Logo Keith Haynie plays bassBill Hubauer plays lead guitarJ. Jackson sings leadJimmy Vegas Tanner plays drums
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03.18.24Get Multiple Downloads for One Donation
03.18.24USBs Include New Single & Next CD
03.18.24How to Donate Online or by Mail
03.18.24Over 1650 Tracks for $100
03.16.24Influential Albums: 1402-1408
03.16.24New CD Slightly Delayed, BOGO Continues
03.16.24How to Get the ApX Library, USBs, Multiple Downloads
03.16.24This Week's Bible-Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
03.16.24Easter Season Playlist 2024
03.12.24This Week's News Bulletin
03.09.24Influential Albums: 1395-1401
03.09.24This Week's Bible-Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
03.09.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
03.05.24This Week's News Bulletin
03.03.24New Single: '74 Solo Smashes
03.01.24A Serious Problem We're Trying to Address
02.29.24All About Our Next CD
02.29.24Influential Albums: 1388-1394
02.29.24This Week's Bible-Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
02.29.24Clues for 2024 Single #5
02.25.24This Week's News Bulletin
02.22.24Get Ready for Our Next CD
02.22.24Influential Albums: 1381-1387
02.22.24This Week's Bible Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
02.22.24Wayne Is Retiring, What's Next for Him and Us?
02.22.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
02.19.24This Week's News Bulletin
02.19.24New Single: Billy & The Beach
02.16.24Influential Albums: 1374-1380
02.16.24This Week's Bible Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
02.16.24Remembering ApX Friend Paul "Doc" Nigh (1956-2024)
02.16.24Clues for 2024 Single #4
02.10.24Influential Albums: 1367-1373
02.10.24Fans Making Plans to Attend Our Big Show September 1
02.10.24This Week's Bible Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
02.10.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
02.06.24This Week's News Bulletin
02.06.24New Single: '74 & '83
02.03.24ApX Lead Singer/Lyricist Shares His Testimony 36 Years Later
02.03.24Influential Albums: 1360-1366
02.03.24This Week's Bible Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
02.03.24Latest CD Added to iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, Etc.
02.02.24Clues for 2024 Single #3
01.29.24This Week's News Bulletin
01.26.24Influential Albums: 1353-1359
01.26.24How to Get the ApX Library, USBs, Multiple Downloads
01.26.24This Week's Bible-Reading and Rock Thru the Bible
01.26.24Flashback: J.'s Vision for ApologetiX in 2014
01.26.24J.'s Vision for ApologetiX in 2024
01.26.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
01.24.24Checking in With ApX Alum Drummer Fred Behanna
01.22.24This Week's News Bulletin
01.22.24New Single: '70s #1 Hits That Remade '60s Top 10 Hits
01.19.24Influential Albums: 1346-1352
01.19.24Encouraging Message from Longtime Fan in Oklahoma
01.19.24This Week's Bible-Reading & Rock Thru the Bible
01.15.24This Week's News Bulletin
01.12.24Influential Albums: 1339-1346
01.12.24The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
01.12.24Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
01.12.24New Testament Reading Started Wednesday
01.11.24New Worship Songs Available from ApX Alum Bill Rieger
01.08.24New Single: '81 & '83
01.08.24New CD BOGO Ends Sunday
01.08.24New USB Thumb Drives on the Way
01.05.24Clues for 2024 Single #1
01.05.24Influential Albums: 1332-1338
01.05.24Have You Heard About the Other Music City Miracle?
01.05.24This Week's Bible Reading & Rock Thru the Bible
12.29.23Influential Albums: 1325-1331
12.29.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
12.28.232023: A Record-Breaking Record-Making Year
12.28.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
12.26.23This Week's News Bulletin
12.26.23New Single: 1974 & 2008
12.23.23Influential Albums: 1318-1324
12.23.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
12.23.23ApologetiX Updated Christmas Playlist
12.18.23This Week's News Bulletin
12.18.23New Samson CD Mailed to Fans, New Orders Sent as They Come In
12.16.23Influential Albums: 1311-1317
12.16.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
12.16.23New Story
12.16.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
12.11.23This Week's News Bulletin
12.11.23New Single: '83 & '84
12.11.23ApX Apparel: Order by Tuesday with Express Shipping
12.07.23New ApX Apparel and More: Order Soon for Christmas
12.07.23Influential Albums: 1304-1310
12.07.23Just Reword CD Added to iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, Etc.
12.07.23Clues for 2023 Single #25
12.04.23This Week's News Bulletin
12.02.23Influential Albums: 1297-1303
12.02.23This Week's Bible Reading & Rock Thru the Bible
12.02.23The Stories Behind the Songs on This Single
12.02.23New Shirts & Other ApX Merch Coming Soon
12.02.23Rock Thru the Bible with ApX This Week
11.28.23This Week's News Bulletin
11.28.23New Christmas Single: All '80s
11.24.23Influential Albums: 1290-1296

Influential Albums: 519-525
Fri., Oct. 15. 2021 6:37pm EDT

J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here again.

Here are the latest entries in the "albums that influenced me" series I started writing in May 2020. Rather than listing the albums in order of preference or excellence, I'd been listing them in chronological order of when they influenced me, as best as I recall. We were well into 1987, and you'll start seeing a lot of Christian albums once we get to 1988.

However, in May 2021, I realized that I'd neglected to include many influential albums along the way, so I've been catching up on those for a while before we get to that momentous moment in '88 when my life and musical trajectory was forever changed. You'll still see plenty of secular albums after that, but music was never the same for me after.

519. Cosmo's Factory – Creedence Clearwater Revival
Released in July 1970, Cosmo's Factory was CCR's second #1 album and their most successful, spending nine weeks at #1 and selling four million copies. I bought a used one at Backstreet Records while I was at IUP. It featured three double-sided singles that hit the Top Five: "Travelin' Band/Who'll Stop the Rain" (#2), "Up Around the Bend/Run Through the Jungle" (#4), and "Lookin' Out My Back Door/Long as I Can See the Light" (#2). It also contained Creedence's 11-minute cover version of the Motown classic "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," which became a hit on album-rock stations and was later released as single in 1976 and went to #43. I have fond memories of my sister Gayle singing "Lookin' Out My Back Door." I got a chance to sing "Travelin' Band" in 2009 when ApologetiX spoofed it. Other memorable tracks included the seven-minute opener, "Ramble Tamble," the equally rhymey "Ooby Dooby," and "Before You Accuse Me." The album's title refers to a warehouse where the band used to practice. CCR's drummer, Doug "Cosmo" Clifford nicknamed it "the factory," because lead singer/lead guitarist/lyricist John Fogerty made them rehearse there almost every day.

520. The Sound of Music - Original Soundtrack
This soundtrack album was released in 1965 and went to #1 for two weeks, but the original cast album came out in 1959 and stayed at #1 for 16 weeks! Then again, Mary Martin and the original cast weren't competing for the top spot with The Beatles like Julie Andrews was. Come to think of it, Julie had two #1 albums that year, thanks to Mary Poppins. When I was growing up, my family owned the movie soundtrack. As with most musicals, I can thank my sister Kris for my familiarity with the contents. Yeah, I know it has classics like "The Sound of Music," "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," and "My Favorite Things," but my favorite things were "The Lonely Goatherd," "Do-Re-Mi," and "Maria." It's hard for me to hear the song "Edelweiss" now without thinking of the creepy version they used as the theme song on the dystopian alternate-history TV series The Man in the High Castle. Meanwhile, thanks to my wife, it's hard for anybody in our family to hear "Do-Re-Mi" now without thinking of the Animaniacs version, which includes the classic line, "Dough, some cash, a wad of cash … Ray, a guy who fixes cars." With apologies to Julie Andrews and Johnny Mathis, my favorite version of "My Favorite Things" is Will Farrell's imitation of Robert Goulet doing it.

521. Tango in the Night – Fleetwood Mac
Poor Fleetwood Mac. How many other bands could put out an album with four Top 20 singles and have it regarded as a sidenote to their career? But that was the price they paid for setting the bar so high with four Top 10 singles on Rumours. Then again, Tango in the Night did manage to sell 15 million copies worldwide … which is extremely impressive until you compare it with 40 million copies of Rumours. Those hits were great: "Big Love" (#5), "Seven Wonders" (#19), "Little Lies" (#4), and "Everywhere" (#14). I especially liked the last three, and I bought "Seven Wonders" on 45 soon after its release, in the summer of 1987. A fifth single, "Family Man," only went to #90. Two other tracks hit the Top 40 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart: "Isn't It Midnight" (#14) and "Tango in the Night" (#28).

522. Never Mind the Bullocks Here's the Sex Pistols - The Sex Pistols
I remember one of my eighth-grade classmates, Jay Beltz, showing me a magazine devoted to the British punk-rock movement in 1978. He said it was going to take over the United States, too. I was horrified and terrified. Of course, the planned revolution never happened on this side of the pond. But in eleventh grade, one of the kids in my art class, Gerard Dominick brought in Never Mind the Bullocks Here's the Sex Pistols for us to listen to. I distinctly remember the last song on the album, "Problems," because I had trouble figuring out what Johnny Rotten was saying; I thought the song was called "Rob Roy." Punk didn't seem nearly as scary by then, although I still didn't like it much. College expanded my tastes a bit, and I actually grew to like the sound of The Sex Pistols' U.K. hits (they didn't have any in the U.S.) on this album, "Anarchy in the U.K." (#38), "God Save the Queen" (#2), "Pretty Vacant" (#6), and "Holidays in the Sun" (#8). I still didn't like the lyrics to "Anarchy in the U.K.," but ApologetiX eventually fixed that problem for me when we spoofed it in 2018.

523. Baby Boomer Classics: Lovin' Fifties – Various Artists
I bought this album in college as part of my continuing quest for #1 hits. Eight of the 12 tracks reached the top of the charts. My favorite was Tommy Edwards' 1958 classic "It's All in the Game," the only #1 song written by a former U.S. Vice President or Nobel Peace Prize winner. Charles G. Dawes, who wrote the melody almost 50 years earlier, was both. Three other tracks on Lovin' Fifties hit the Top Five. The remaining track, "True Love Ways" by Buddy Holly, never charted for him. Nevertheless, it's considered a classic. It was one of four songs recorded at his last-ever recording session and has since been covered by many artists, three of whom had significant hits with it: Peter & Gordon (#14 pop in 1965), Mickey Gilley (#1 country in 1980), and Cliff Richard (#8 pop U.K. in 1983). For a complete track listing, go to https://www.allmusic.com/album/baby-boomer-classics-lovin-fifties-mw0000112892

524. Baby Boomer Classics: Electric Sixties - Various Artists
As its cover plainly states, this cassette featured "12 electrifying hits of the sixties." The Baby Boomer Classics series was released during the latter half of my college years. The main attractions to me on this one were "Time Has Come Today" by The Chambers Brothers and "I Got a Line on You" by Spirit, a song ApologetiX eventually spoofed in 2020. By that time, we had already redone two other songs on this cassette: "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream and "Born to Be Wild" by Steppenwolf. I also really liked the two songs Steve Winwood sang: "Well All Right" by Blind Faith (a cover of the old Buddy Holly song) and "Dear Mr. Fantasy" by Traffic. For a complete track listing, go to https://www.allmusic.com/album/baby-boomer-classics-electric-sixties-mw0000196939

525. Slippery When Wet – Bon Jovi
I'll level with you: I thought "You Give Love a Bad Name" was very noisy song when it first came out in the fall of 1986. I remember a reviewer writing about how the lyrics were laden with cliches … and they sure were. But it hit #1, so I had to buy the single. The second single, "Livin' on a Prayer," was written by the same three people and also hit #1, but I probably would have bought that 45 regardless. I fell for the dramatic intro, the catchy chorus, the underdog storyline, and that crazy talkbox, which conjures up images in my mind of the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz. If you've been following this list for a while, you know that an album's third single often turns out to be my favorite, and Slippery When Wet was no exception: "Wanted Dead or Alive," man. I thought that song was ultracool. It only went to #7, but I bought the single and got the guys in my band at the time, Nice Piranha, to learn it so we could play it live. A fourth song on the album, "Never Say Goodbye," managed to make it to #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart without ever being released as a single, which was almost unheard of at the time. I thought that one was kind of noisy, too, though. In time, ApologetiX would spoof all three singles. In fact, we did a couple of them two different times, because I wasn't satisfied with our first attempts, although in each instance we waited over a decade to do so. In case you're wondering, my favorite Bon Jovi songs not on this album are: "Keep the Faith," "Blaze of Glory," "Lay Your Hands on Me," and "It's My Life."

Note: Just because the albums on my list influenced me back then doesn't mean I give them all a blanket endorsement now. I started actively listening to music in the early 70's and didn't become a born-again Christian until early '88. However, I hope you'll see (as I do) how God's hand was at work behind the scenes from the start, preparing me for the work I believe He intended for me to do.