Hi Everyone,

This week I wanted to take a break from talking or even thinking about the logistics of the “Music Business”, (or sometimes lack thereof) and instead take a second to just talk about MUSIC- which is the reason most of us got into this game.

Time for a throwback Thursday…

It was Thanksgiving 1991. I was thirteen years old. My parents had just gotten divorced the year before, and my brother was with my dad, so it was just me and my mom. I had already gone vegetarian (which my parents both just loved, but supported) so, we were giving thanks for our favorite Chinese restaurant being open.

I went to the restroom, and as I was washing my hands, in the mirror I saw the reflection of one of those yellow industrial mop buckets with wheels pushed over in the corner. I looked at the image I had already seen a million times in my short life- the little figure within the triangle with the exclamation point above his head worried about just how bad that fall was going to be. In that exact moment, a light bulb went off in mine. I looked at the word above… it was in German which I didn’t really know a bit of until that. I smiled to myself and thought, “Ah-ha! So that’s what it means…. Attention Baby!

Thirty years ago today, U2 unleashed Achtung Babyupon the world. I already liked the band, but this was something else and it was the one I fell for. You had the Dan Lanois/ Eno/ Flood production trifecta. There was the mystery to the sounds that came out of Hansa Studios. We got Zoo TV which I was obsessed with, and we met “the Fly” (This is my absolute favorite Bono and I still think it was the coolest he ever looked). What I learned years later, which makes me love it that much more, is that this was the album where it was all on the verge of falling apart and instead it solidified them as one of the biggest bands in history.

I randomly asked the other members (separately) of the ThinkIndie crew what their three favorite U2 records were. For two of those albums, we made different choices that spanned the bands career, but this was the favorite for all of us. No hesitation, no debate, this was the One.

Music… it is how you find your people.

So, Happy Anniversary to this masterpiece of an album, and to many others that changed our lives and are celebrating big anniversaries this year. There are too many to get into now without going down a total rabbit hole, but 1971, 1991, 2001 you were really fantastic years for music. Oh yeah, and Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have a safe one with all of your favorites.

Here are the charts,
Andrea

Andrea Paschal
Executive Director
Coalition of Independent Music Stores
ThinkIndie Distribution
3738 4th Terrace North
Birmingham, AL 35222
Phone: 205.595.1932 x.208
Fax: 205.595.1938
Email : andrea@cimsmusic.com
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