Top 10 All-Time Favorite Albums

Hey!  Remember me?

I haven't blogged in a really long time but a few people have reminded me lately that I actually really enjoyed it and was healthiest when I was writing on a regular basis, so I'm going to try to make it a habit again.  To get things started, I thought it would be fun to write about my favorite topic, music.  

A few friends of mine have been doing a "Top 10 All-Time Favorite Albums" countdown on Facebook, and I thought I'd join in.  This is like choosing my favorite child, so I had to pick albums that had a significant impact in my life.  And, since I couldn't possibly pick an absolute favorite, they are in chronological order.

Bon Jovi

Slippery When Wet (1986)

I am relatively certain that this is the first cassette tape I bought with my own money.  I remember going to Sam Goody in Mankato on a Friday night and buying this with the biggest smile on my face.  I played it relentlessly.  "You Give Love a Bad Name" was my absolute favorite song for many years.  I remember singing it at the top of my lungs at The Red Barn, a fishing/camping resort in Sauk Centre, while my sister's and I played pool in the dingy restaurant that smelled like booze and stale cigarettes.  This album reminds me of care-free childhood summers filled with sun, fish and the lake. 

The Premiere Collection: The Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber (1988) 

This album is bittersweet for me.  On one hand, it reminds me of my arrogant ass of a step-dad at the time.  Who, by the way, is the only person in my life I've ever told to "F*$K Off"", and that was at the age of 10.  In case you're wondering, he totally deserved it.  On the other hand, I wouldn't have fallen in love with these songs if it weren't for his presence in my life.  So I'll take the good parts and forget the bad parts.  

Can we take a moment to appreciate the musical genius that is Andrew Lloyd Webber?  The man is brilliant and these songs and the musicals they come from are so incredibly brilliant and moving.  I break out into "I Don't Know How to Love Him" and "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" on a somewhat regular basis.  

I have an Andrew Lloyd Webber for Easy Piano book that I used to play through pretty religiously on Friday and Saturday evenings during middle and high school, cause I was cool like that.  

Garth Brooks

In Pieces (1993)

Oh, Garth.  I forgot how much I loved you.  It was hard deciding which album to pick, but as I was going through boxes of old CDs tonight and realized I had two of this one, I decided that it was likely my favorite.  "Standing Outside the Fire" and "The Red Strokes" are amazing songs.  I would listen to them over and over.  My most vivid memory of this CD was listening to it on my Sony Discman in the gym of New Ulm Junior High School while waiting to go on stage during the musical, Li'l Abner, in which I was a very proud citizen of Dogpatch, USA.   

Do you remember the video for "The Red Strokes"?  The white grand piano, clothes, etc and then the blood red paint oozing out of the piano....it was amazing.  

Garth is the master of the bridge, I swear, the minute any bridge hits in his songs, I just belt it out. 

Boyz II Men

II (1994)

This entire album is solid gold, man.  There are soooo many great songs on it.  "Water Runs Dry", "Yesterday", "I'll Make Love to You" and "On Bended Knee" are just a few of the examples of pure ear worm goodness on this baby.  I listened to the entire album every single morning in 8th grade as I was getting ready for school.  It took a REALLY long time to spiral curl my hair every stinking day.  It was the only way to make a botched layered haircut before they were cool, look cool. 24 years later (WHAT???) and I apparently still know every single lyric.  I remember feeling like this album was slightly scandalous because "50 Candles" is baby making music and my awkward 13 year old self didn't quite know what to do with that.  This album tour was also my very first concert, so it holds an extra special place in my heart.   

*NSYNC

*NSYNC (1997)

I think it is safe to say that this album changed the trajectory of my life.  Seems a bit dramatic, but I'm pretty sure it is true.  If it weren't for this album and my love for them, I wouldn't have discovered my love for live music.  I remember listening to the nightly countdown on KDWB and freaking out when "Tearin' Up My Heart" would win over "My Heart Will Go On" (Sorry, Celine).  I swear the opening of that song still gives me goosebumps.  My love (obsession?) with them was probably not healthy, but man, it was fun.  My little sister and I (and usually my mom) waited for hours in lines to get tickets for concerts outside of the Rainbow Foods in Burnsville.  We saw them four or five times, the first at The Orpheum Theater (with Britney), which isn't really built for Pop music, and I didn't know about ear plugs yet and everything sounded like Mickey Mouse when we walked out of there.  We must have worn out this album in the CD player of my mom's teal Oldsmobile, listening to it on every trip to Target or the Mall of America. 

Good Charlotte

Good Charlotte (2000)

There was actually people out there making music who knew what it was to struggle, just like I was.  My love of Good Charlotte opened the door to small venue concerts at places like The Quest,, 7th Street Entry, Trocaderos, and all of the others that have come and gone.  These were my people.  Sad looking kids with dark hair, piercings and Vans.  Kids who didn't quite fit in anywhere else found a home in concern venues filled with others just like them and for a few hours, felt like they belonged.  

Being a "good girl" was fun while it lasted, but eventually, life caught up with me and I turned into a jaded emo-kid.  I'm pretty sure my little sister discovered them first, but I fell in love with them.  They were singing about all of the things I was feeling in my heart.  I'm pretty sure the first time I heard "Little Things", I was sold.    

Dashboard Confessional

The Swiss Army Romance (2000)

This album.  It found me, I didn't find it.  It put to words and music so many of the things I was feeling.  The heartache.  The angst.  The loneliness.  The pain of growing up. It is all in here.

I first heard this album through the heating vents in my dorm room in Crawford Hall at Mankato State University.  I heard it crawling up the vent from the room below me one Saturday morning from the boy's floor below me.  I was alone, so I could act like a fool and no one cared.  I literally had my ear pressed up against the vent trying to hear more of it because it was speaking to my soul and I needed to know what it was.  I tried to hear enough of the lyrics to look for it on the internet, but this was pre-Google and I had no luck.  I NEEDED to know what this music that spoke to my soul was, and so I did the most terrifying thing ever and went downstairs, knocked on a door, and asked a complete stranger what they were listening to.  "Again I Go Unnoticed" and "The Sharp Hint of New Tears" became my anthems.  I blasted them in my dorm room as I sat in the dark, alone on the weekend evenings.  The early 2000's were a really dark time for me as I tried to navigate college life with social anxiety and without drinking and partying, but this music got me through it.

Damien Rice

O (2002)

This album signified a new chapter in my life.  I bought it at Cheapo on one of my first dates with James (my now husband) and we listened to it over and over while driving around, spending as much time together as we possibly could. The entire album is hauntingly beautiful and tender.  "Cold Water", "Volcano" and "Cannonball" were the soundtrack to our blossoming love and the start of our life together, so they will always hold a special place in my heart.

Brand New

The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me (2006)

I had been a Brand New fan for quite a few years before this album came out, and the first time I listened to it, I hated it.  It was a lot darker than their previous albums.  A lot less poppy and a lot more distortion and grit.  But, eventually, it grew on me and now, it is easily my favorite adult album.  It was one of the albums that James didn't mind listening to, so we listened to it together on countless trips to the North Shore.  It is one of those albums where I know very few of the actual track names because I just always listen to the entire thing.  My favorite song on the album, and possibly one of my favorite songs in general, is "Jesus Christ".  The entire album is songs about wrestling with knowing God's love, but feeling unworthy of it.  "You Won't Know" is one of my favorites to run to.  Some of my favorite lyrics of all time are from "Jesus Christ"

I know you think that I’m someone you can trustBut I’m scared I’ll get scared and I swear I’ll try to nail you back up(and you won't know)So do you think that we could work out a psalmSo I’ll know it’s you and that it's over so I won't even try

Manchester Orchestra

Hope (2014)

  

This album is the acoustic version of Cope, which is also a favorite.  While I love the edgier sounds of Cope, this album has the ability to completely calm me down when I am in the middle of a freak out.  We have it on vinyl, so when I've had a rough day at work, I pop this baby on while I'm making dinner and the world immediately turns into a better place.  Andy Hull, the lead singer/songwriter, is easily one of my favorite songwriters and just an all around good dude.  Much like Brand New, Manchester Orchestra aren't a Christian band, but many of their lyrics have Christian undertones and are honest about the conflict that can exist in many of us, and this album is full of songs like that.  "The Mansion" and "Cope" and "The Ocean" are my favorites on this album, but the whole thing is good.   

I'm sure as soon as I hit publish, I'll come up with ten others that were equally as important, but I think these had the most impact or stir up the most emotions and I look back on my life.  How about you?  What are your favorites?