High Class Lowlife

Music.

There’s a thing going around Facebook where you’re supposed to list the 25 most influential albums in your life.  I’d do it there, I’ve been tagged to do it there, but I don’t really like Facebook all that well, if we’re going to be honest, so I’m doing it here instead, because I think it’s a cool idea.  These are in no particular order.  It’s stream-of-consciousness, or something.  Also, I’d like to note that they’re “most influential,” not favorite, so I’ve noted some of the discrepancies. 

1. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Greatest Hits- Yep, it’s lame to have a greatest hits album on your list of most influential albums, but I can’t help it.  I’m honest, and it was pretty much ever-present in my childhood.  I think it really shaped the music I listened to as I got older.
2. Radiohead The Bends- I still cry every time I hear Fake Plastic Trees.
3. Death Cab For Cutie The Forbidden Love EP- It’s not technically an album, but it’s what got me really listening to Death Cab, who are still one of my favorite bands.  It’s catchy and clever, and I really have nothing bad to say about it.  I like every song (which is good, because there are only five of them).
4. Nirvana In Utero- For a while in middle school, I listened to In Utero every day, even though Kurt Cobain had been dead for years by that point.  It was my introduction to Sonic Youth and the Pixies.
5. Alkaline Trio Maybe I’ll Catch Fire- It’s one of those rare albums on which every song is good (in my opinion).  And it’s angsty.  Bonus!
6. Something For Kate Echolalia- I knew most of the songs before the album came out in the US because of Glen sending me a mixed CD of the band’s stuff, so it already seemed familiar to me the first time I listened to it.  Seven years later, the lyrics still resonate.  It’s rare that an album that’s so poignant when you’re seventeen still hits you the same way when you’re twenty-four.
7. silverchair Neon Ballroom- It’s not my favorite silverchair album; it’s actually my third favorite, but in the summer of 1999, it was my go-to album.  It marks the turning point in the band’s sound, and they’ve just gotten better and more interesting since the Neon Ballroom was released.  It’s another one that I can listen to straight through.
8. The Beatles Abbey Road- Music is one of the few things upon which my father and I can agree.  We used to listen to Abbey Road on the way to his house after he picked me up from my mom’s.  My mom likes the Beatles, too, as does pretty much everyone in my family, but for me, it always has been and always will be a father-daughter thing.
9. Fuel Sunburn- It’s not a band I even listen to anymore, but without this album, Glen and I would have never met.  It changed my life in a very literal way, and most certainly for the better.
10. Bright Eyes Fevers and Mirrors- Back when I was in high school, I truly believed that Conor Oberst was going to be the next Bob Dylan.  Now, I just think that he’s amazing in his own right.
11. Jimmy Eat World Bleed American- It could have just as easily been Clarity, since both were equally instrumental in helping me to vent my (often romantic) frustrations during high school, but I associate Bleed American with the more significant incidents in my life.
12. No Doubt Tragic Kingdom- It’s not my favorite No Doubt album, but it’s the one that got me started listening to No Doubt, which to this day remains one of my favorite bands.  Gwen Stefani is my fashion (and life?) inspiration, and I wish I looked half as good as she does in red lipstick.  It was my first exposure to angry girl music, and eventually prompted me to start listening to Bikini Kill, L7, and some other “riot grrrl” bands.
13. Elliott Smith Either/Or- It’s hard for me to pick an Elliott Smith album, but at one time in my life, I listened to “Alameda” for hours on end.
14. The Shins Chutes Too Narrow- I know, big shocker, it’s everyone’s favorite Shins album, but for good reason! As much as I loved Oh, Inverted World (maybe even a little more than I love Chutes Too Narrow), this album came out at the right time in my life.  I remember listening to it for the first time, and pulling into the parking lot of the Wooster Wal-Mart to cry the first time I heard “Pink Bullets.”  Seriously.
15. Motion City Soundtrack Commit This To Memory- I probably relate more to I Am The Movie in terms of subject matter, but when I got back from Australia the first time, after meeting Glen and feeling the excruciating pain of being in a long distance relationship, this album was all I listened to for months.  It’s upbeat, but the lyrics are appropriately downcast.
16. Idlewild The Remote Part- The lyrics are simultaneously esoteric and gorgeous.  It’s the perfect album for an English major; I keep finding new literary references to this day.  For instance, I remember when I read As I Lay Dying  I thought (I Am) What I Am Not was a Faulkner reference, then, this year, I realized that it may actually be an Othello reference.  Who knows? I don’t, but it’s fun to guess!
17. Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind- This was my favorite album (and my favorite band) in 1997.  I still listen to the album from time to time, and I’m still impressed by the music, but most of all, I’m impressed by the lyrics, and the fact that 12 years later, there are still way more lines that are brilliant than lines that seem tired.  Third Eye Blind was the band that made me realize that lyrics matter, and while there are bands I listen to now that have better lyrics than they do, I don’t think I would have the appreciation for lyrics that I do if it weren’t for them.
18. Epicure Main Street- Better than Goodbye Girl but not as good as Postcards From a Ghost.  It reminds me of the first time I was in Australia, the first time I met Glen, and springtime.  The first (and probably only) song I’ve ever had dedicated to me (and Glen) at a gig came from this album, and “Lyla’s Kisses” remains one of my favorite songs of theirs.  The future of the band is pretty up in the air right now, but they will always remind me of  one of the most important experiences of my life.
19. Hanson Middle of Nowhere- Go ahead and laugh.  Yes.  It’s funny.  But it was the first album I ever really wanted to buy, and it got me listening to music that my parents didn’t foist upon me (although my mom was always cool enough to buy me pop music that she thought I’d like; she’s the reason I started liking No Doubt and Alanis Morissette).
20. Green Day Dookie- Back when I only had a tape player in my car, and no iPod, I listened to my cassette of this album a lot.  ”She” is still one of my favorite songs, and I loved “Longview” way before I ever knew what it was about.  Same with “Basket Case.”  The boy I had a crush on in fourth grade’s favorite band was Green Day, which was why I initially started listening to them.  Thank you, Dave Margolis.
21. Jay Z The Black Album- “99 Problems” made me realize that I can actually like hip-hop, which I never thought I’d be into before.  The rest of the album is awesome, but “99 Problems” is still my favorite song (and sometimes ringtone).
22. The Music The Music- See what I said about hip-hop above? The Music made me feel the same way about dance music.  Even though it’s not real dance music, and is apparently just indie pop.
23. The Postal Service Give Up- More dance-y than the aforementioned album.  It’s the first album I listened to as an adult that had obvious canned beats, and I actually liked it.  The album made me grow to love the wafer-thin female voice singing back-up that was fairly popular in the earlier part of this decade.
24. Brendan Benson The Alternative to Love- The first album I listened to that made me realize that you can pair sad lyrics with upbeat music.  It’s grown to be one of my favorite musical juxtapositions, and as much as I love the Raconteurs, I think I love Brendan Benson more as a solo artist.
25. Gin Blossoms New Miserable Experience- This is one of the few albums I remember from when I was younger.  My mom and I both love the Gin Blossoms, and they’re one of the first bands (other than Fuel) that Glen and I  bonded over.  ”Until I Fall Away” reminds me of when I was little, because I remember hearing it in the car all the time, and the lyrics of “Hey Jealousy” are still compelling to me seventeen years later.