Counting down my 100 favorite albums of all time...

#13) The Modern Lovers - The Modern Lovers (released in 1976, I totally can't remember where or when I got this CD, but it was either late 8th or early 9th grade)

If you're able to express a unique perspective in clear language over treblicious guitars and energetic grooves, I'm probably going to like you. If you're obsessed with girls and nerdy, I'm probably going to enjoy your music even more. If your song about your relative lack of self-destructiveness is backed by a hysterically caffeinated distorted pulse, that song's probably going to be my favorite. If you've got a slow ballad about telling a girl you don't do drugs, it was probably my favorite in high school. If you somehow end up dignified and old 30 years after your initial recordings rather than tired, comeback-hungry and old, you're probably Jonathan Richman. And while I'm impressed by your consistency over the years, I have to admit that your initial burst of unabashed dork nervous romanticism tops everything else you've done because you had one of the best bands in the world backing you up. You also had a better drone strum than Lou Reed.