1997

1997 was the year I started junior high and spent afternoons playing NHL 98 on Sega Genesis and watching Jenny Jones.




Albums

Rank Album Artist Title Label Impression
1 blink-182 Dude Ranch Cargo

This album was my introduction into punk music after I heard Dammit on Much Music and things would never be the same.

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2 The Aquabats The Fury of The Aquabats! Goldenvoice

Tell your mom, tell your dad that we were super rad!

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3 Mineral The Power of Failing Crank!

Gloria is silent and glory is a silent thing.

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4 The Promise Ring Nothing Feels Good Jade Tree

1997 was a great year for emo and Nothing Feels Good was used as the name of the book by Andy Greenwald covering this time period.

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5 Pennywise Full Circle Epitaph

Bro Hymn is an anthem for getting bros stoked with all those whoas making this a necessary inclusion.

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6 Modest Mouse The Lonesome Crowded West Up

Back before Float On Modest Mouse released this indie rock classic.

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7 The Mighty Mighty Bosstones Let's Face it Mercury

The Impression That I Get was the other ska song I played during a high school talent show and had a lot of fun skanking and dressing up in thrift store suits.

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8 Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind Elektra

Third Eye Blind may be best remembered as a 90's radio rock band, but this whole album is solid front to back.

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9 NOFX So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes Epitaph

One of the more ska NOFX albums with a great Champs Elysées cover that they would play every time I saw them play in Canada.

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10 Great Big Sea Play Warner Music Canada

I remember borrowing this cassette from the library and playing it all the time in my dad's car.

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Books


Rank Book Title Author Impression
1 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone J. K. Rowling

J. K. Rowling sucks, but the Harry Potter series is still really good. I tried to avoid it for a long time because it was so popular so I never read it until much later and yeah I was wrong.

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Movies

1996 was a weak year for movies, but things turned around in 1997.

Rank Movie Title Impression
1 The Fifth Element

Get your Multipass ready because this movie is non-stop fun from start to finish.

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2 Gattaca

90's sci-fi that is quickly becoming reality, well the genetic discrimination part at least.

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3 Contact

Wow 1997 was a really good year for sci-fi. This one is more serious, but still really enjoyable.

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4 The Game

A really interesting film about a rich banker participating in a game where the lines with reality are blurred.

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5 Princess Mononoke

An anime with an environmental message and forest spirits. I think this was the first Ghibli film I saw.

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6 Starship Troopers

I didn't get the facism in the film the first time around, but it was more poignant on rewatching.

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7 Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

It was hard to avoid the cultural impact of this film when it came out. I didn't even realize that Mike Myers played both Austin Powers and Dr. Evil. It's still funny.

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Video Games

Rank Game Title Developer Impression
1 The Curse of Monkey Island LucasArts

I remember getting a PC Gamer magazine for my 13th birthday that had a review for this game and I wanted to play it so bad. I've replayed it many times over the years and the humor and artsyle are so good.

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2 Goldeneye Rare

it took many years and tries, but beating this game on 00 Agent is still one of my greatest gaming achievements.

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3 Blade Runner Westwood Studios

The Blade Runner video game is surprisingly good with multiple possible endings and draws from both the movie and the Philip K. Dick book.

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4 NHL 98 Electronic Arts

I still only had a Sega Genesis when this came out, but I used to play that version in the afternoons all throughout junior high with my friends and get into fights over the game.

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5 Zork: Grand Inquisitor Activision

The Zork series started out as a text adventure, so it's impressive that this FMV game turned out as well as it did.

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