Track 29: "Soup" by Blind Melon

You gotta do your best to decorate this dying day...this dying day

It's kind of awesome how your musical tastes can change so much over time, but certain bands will just always stick with you.

As much as the public in general seems to complain about their high school years, those memories for me are almost inevitably tied into music. Sure there was plenty of that adolescent awkwardness (hell, I'm 33 and still have plenty of awkwardness), but I think the mid-1990s were a great period for music.

And as much as my high school years were filled with classic rock bands like Led Zeppelin, The Who and Rush (I still get giddy when either of those artists pop up on the ole Ipod shuffle), several of my other favorite bands came about during my formative high school years.

I'm sure I'm no different than anyone else in saying that "No Rain" was the first Blind Melon song I'd ever heard. How can you not recall the "Bee Girl" video? The song was a mega-hit, and the band's self-titled debut album (which is all together superb) reached quadruple platinum.

I even got to see Blind Melon open for the Rolling Stones at Williams Bryce Stadium in Columbia, SC in 1994. And sadly, I wish I could go back and pay more attention. Shannon Hoon died in October of 1995 and the band put out "Nico" in 1996--a collection of unreleased songs and a really dreary take on the otherwise sunny and happy "No Rain."

I'll always think Hoon had one of the best voices ever in rock and the first time I heard the track "Soup" it literally sent chills up my spine. The beginning is just so pretty and the song also rocks a bit. And though it's sad to think of Hoon writing a line like "I'll pull the trigger and make it all go away," it's nonetheless a great song. And a band that will always take me back.