Most Influential Albums: Day Eight

Probably the first album which introduced me to the concept of a "various artists" album was 1988's Gold & Platinum Volume 4. Not unlike just listening to the radio. Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, Gloria Estefan, Billy Joel, Grateful Dead, Beastie Boys...and if that wasn't enough, Kenny G and Bruce Willis!!!!  A few years later, armed with my own music collection and a dual-cassette stereo I was able to start creating my own compilations. 

I think my dad had an extra copy of this because I wound up with one that I still have in my possession. In fact, I listened to it on a recent car trip. Well, van trip. Our minivan has a cassette deck. And so we'll probably keep the van forever. 

The last song on Side A is "The Final Countdown" by Europe and in the late 80s if we wanted to rock out we would put this tape in and crank it up to 11. After all, what was gonna stop us? What would stop us from doing that right now? What would stop us from just listening to the whole album of classic late-80s tunes?

Nothing. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.