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"What do you want from me?"


Day two of the 10 Best Albums countdown is our # 9 pick: Monaco's debut album, Music for Pleasure.

Released in 1997, during New Order's extended break, Monaco was made up of David Potts, and legendary New Order bassist Peter Hook. In all, Monaco would have only one more release, in 2000, but this was their masterpiece.

I love the sound of Music for Pleasure. Not every song is necessarily single material, but they all come together to create a certain feeling. There is a passion to this music, yet also some reserve. Perhaps it is how -- no matter how loud or crashing the synths and guitars become -- their is a clear and distinct rhythm and melody. Everything is precise about this album.

Music for Pleasure also weaved its way into my heart and brain by manner of its lead single, What Do You Want From Me? As the music soars and the synths rise, the chorus of the song kicks in:

What do you want from me?
It's not how it used to be
You've taken my life away
Ruining everything

In the way that songs can mean different things to different people, What Do You Want From Me? spoke to what I was going through in late 1997/early 1998. The album was released in June of 1997, at which time my father was losing his fight with cancer. He died in August of that year. Three months later, my maternal grandmother -- whom I loved very much -- was diagnosed with cancer, and she died in March of 1998. In my head and in my heart, I angrily sang the lyrics of What Do You Want From Me? to a God I wasn't sure existed, but whom I was frustrated with nevertheless.

Music for Pleasure means a lot to me.


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