After cigarettes, Sparks is the most dangerous, addictive and delicious product legally available in the United States. It has more caffeine than a double espresso, more sugar than a duffel bag of cotton candy and more alcohol per volume than most malt liquors. One out of five liquor stores in Montclair carry it. I asked why the others don’t, and I was told they believe it brings out undesirable customers. My advice to Sparks addicts: Wear your nicest suits and dresses and head to the liquor store as if you’re searching for fine wine, ask for Sparks and request they start carrying it or you’ll take your business elsewhere. When they refuse, drive your ass down to the ghetto and get yourself a Sparks!

I live off this stuff. Gross, I know.

Singers and songwriters have been mimicking Dylan’s style for the last 40 years and with good reason. He’s clever and bohemian, but never pretentious. This doesn’t quite belong on my heavy rotation list, but I’m glad its in my library.

I’m sorry. I still cannot get into the Beatles.

I’m not going to win any friends with this statement, but I believe the Beatles might be the most overrated band of all time. As a disciple of punk rock music, the 60s seem like a drug-induced, love fest that belonged to my parents’ generation.

Nonetheless, Revolver, the first Beatles album I’ve listened to from front to back, was an interesting listen. I understand how much of a profound influence this band had on popular music and I understand why rock and roll historians can basically split rock history into two segments: Before the Beatles and after the Beatles.

Revolver gives credence to Indian music (Love To You) and it was nice to hear a few of the more notable tracks (Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Eleanor Rigby) in their proper context.

I doubt I’ll ever join the converted and catch “Beatlemania,” but I am now giving Sergeant Pepper a shot and, so far, I like it much better.

My favorite Beatles song is “Helter Skelter.” If one song on Revolver remotedly reminded me of “Helter Skelter,” I’d give it a thumbs up. None of them did.

This is the Clash album you should listen to. Forget any compilations of singles or whatever. Forget “Rock the Casbah” and “Should I Stay or Should I Go” for now. Listen to this album and feel these songs make the hairs on your arms stand up. This is the Clash’s punk album. It is also the best selling album import in the U.S. (yes, it’s not the Beatles). This is the real British invasion.

So I heard a track of their last release called “Multitude of Casualties” and lost my mind over it. So I picked up “Boys and Girls in America” and none of the songs hit my as hard as that song.

The Hold Steady are indie rock’s answer to Bruce Springsteen. It’s dancey, the vocals tell beautiful stories through poetry in an almost drunkenly slurred rant and the album reeks of true blue American rock and roll.

I should probably give these tracks more time to grow on me, but overall, this album sounded cleaner and more rock and roll than punk rock compared to “Multitude of Casualties,” so I think I’d better pick up their last album quick.

The first album from Jersey’s best punk rock band since the Misfits is a non-stop sing-a-long. This is the music that goes straight to your heart and makes you want to swing your fists in the pit.

To me, The Bouncing Souls were a band that broke down the doors. Skinheads, ska kids, crust punks, indie rockers and casual listeners of underground music could (and still can) go to a Souls show and feel right at home, grinning ear-to-ear shouting “East Coast, fuck you!”

While I’ve been a Souls fan for years, I never heard this album cover-to-cover until today. There were a few gems I had never heard before that I think would get under my skin as deep as “Kate is Great,” “Cracked” and “Serenity,” but there will always be a few tracks that put me at Birch Hill or Klub Krome or the Stone Pony on a Friday night screaming my lungs out while running around in circles to the sounds of this band’s beats.

For anyone unfamiliar with (and I’m gonna go out on a limb on this one) the best punk band to come out since 1990 (tied with Dropkick Murphys) the self-titled album is a fantastic place to start.

As a north Jersey guy, I am biased towards this band. You’ve heard of six degrees of separation? In NJ, it’s two. These dudes played in my basement 6 years ago on Halloween and I thought, wow! These guys sound much different than the other Thursday rip-off bands that play in town. They’re actually doing something NEW, and with STYLE!

Then one day I’m in the grocery store and see Gerard on the cover of teen beat magazine. Friends who I know who said they knew the guy described him as a driven guy who was destined for stardom, so I thought hells yes. That guy deserves it.

The Black Parade did not surprise me. Their sound has stayed consistent and consistently unique (re: pop punk meets thematic cabaret music meets, dare I say it, “screemo”).

I won’t be putting their posters up on my wall any time soon and judged as any other band, I’d say this album is worth a listen or two, but not many more. The dark lyrics set to circus music sometimes comes off as silly and overall, the album could rock MUCH harder than it does from start to finish.

Judging this band for the teen-pop superstars they are, I’d say the “kids today” are finally listening to something with talent, creativity and originality. When Gerard yells, “Teenagers scare the living shit out of me,” he means you. The world needs more bands like My Chem.

So someone gives me a $20 gift card to Best Buy for Christmas. I walk into Best Buy and see two CDs sitting on the front rack. “Best of 2Pac Vol. 1: Thug” and “Best of 2Pac Vol. 2: Life.” They were priced at $9.99 each.

Needless to say, I walked home with my first two 2Pac albums. They sat on my dresser for the better part of a year before I uploaded them to my iPod and listened to them on a long drive.

I would hardly call myself a hip-hop aficionado, but these albums gave me a new respect for the genre and a deeper respect for the late Tupac Shakur.

The collection goes through years of Tupac singles in no particular order. In my mind, I break it down into three segments.
1) His earlier stuff, like “Brenda’s Got a Baby,” explicitly takes on social issues with the kind of bounce you’d hear from 80s hip hop.
2) His middle stuff (I think) is dark, violent and tough, like “Hail Mary,” and details what he calls “Thug Life.” Murder and suicide are common topics.
3) His later stuff, like “Still Bawlin’” and “How Do You Want it,” includes some upbeat party songs with R&B-fueled lighter tracks.

No matter how you slice it, Tupac has an intense wit and portrays himself as a kind of flawed god. Read up on the man, and you’ll see his persona as an entertainer and his real life are inseparable.

RIP