Temporal Displacement

For the first few months after getting "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die" I was not planning on listening to the albums in chronological order.  It didn't take long for me to get frustrated with the essays in the book about how "Maggot Brain" was so ______ or how "Endtroducing..." was more ______ than any other ______ since ______.  I soon figured I would only be able to fully appreciate each album if it was in a historical context.  Before I decided this, however, I'd gotten pretty familiar with quite a few of the albums.  Here's the list of albums I listened to during the Summer and Fall of 2009, during the "Quarrymen" / "Good Morning Miss Bliss" / "Pacific Air Flight 121" phase of the mission.

2Pac - Me Against the World
Afrika Bambaataa & Soul Sonic Force – Planet Rock: The Album
Air – Moon Safari
Air – Virgin Suicides: Original Motion Picture Score
Aphex Twin – Selected Ambient Works 85-92
the Avalanches - Since I Left You
Bauhaus - Mask
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath
Brian Eno – Ambient 1: Music for Airports
Butthole Surfers – Locust Abortion Technician
Byrds – Younger than Yesterday
the Circle Jerks - Group Sex
the Damned - Machine Gun Etiquette
the Dead Kennedys - Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
DJ Shadow - Endtroducing…
Elliott Smith - Either/Or
Elvis Costello - My Aim is True
Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley
Foo Fighters – Foo Fighters
Frank Sinatra - In the Wee Small Hours
Frank Sinatra - Songs for Swingin' Lovers!
Funkadelic - Maggot Brain
Gorillaz - Gorillaz
Lloyd Cole & the Commotions – Rattlesnakes
the Louvin Brothers - Tragic Songs of Life
Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On
Metallica - Metallica
the Minutemen - Double Nickels on the Dime
Mudhoney - Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Nirvana - Nevermind
Run DMC – Raising Hell
Serge Gainsbourg – Histoire de Melody Nelson
Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness
Spiritualized – Ladies & Gentlemen, We are Floating in Space
Various Artists - A Christmas Gift For You from Phil Spector

Needless to say, the temporal displacement brought on by listening to all these albums out of chronological context caused all sorts of problems.  In addition to being confused about the true value of each album, I would experience headaches, double vision, nosebleeds, and an inability to distinguish between the past, present and future, just like in Season 5 of "Lost".  Thankfully, I was able to design for myself a constant, and the temporal displacement symptoms have since stopped.