20 albums that changed my life.

Remember that Facebook meme that circulated about a gazillion years ago about 25 albums that changed your life? I had planned on zipping out the meme and posting it some Friday. Then I actually tried to think of 25 albums and realized I suck am much more of a song person. That must be it, because it took me forever to fill up even just 20 albums. So I changed the required number just so I could post this sometime before I died. In no particular order, I bring you:

20 Albums That Deeply Affected Who I Am.

1. Total Eclipse of the Heart (LP single) – Bonnie Tyler. This was the first record I owned. (Well, it is if you don’t count Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.) I remember buying the album at Stewart’s, or Fayre’s, or whatever the heck that store was at the time. I was 4-years-old and I listened to that record over and over and over again. Love at first listen, ’twas.
2. True Colors – Cyndi Lauper. I still know every singly word to every song on this album. I can still hear the opening 80′s notes of Change of Heart, the campiness of Maybe He’ll Know, and my old favorite Faraway Nearby.  I can’t remember who bought this for me that Christmas, but I do remember getting up early enough so I could play one side of the tape each morning before school.  It must have been true love to get me up even five minutes early. I wouldn’t do that now for chocolate, sex, or cold hard cash. (Well, maybe for cash. If there was enough of it.)
3. Automatic for the People – R.E.M. Aaaah. An old classic I could still listen to on an endless loop. This album makes me think of sitting on my bed during high school, having meaningful conversations with my sister and my best friend. “Nightswimming” will always be one of those songs that takes my breath away and brings me back, no matter how much time has passed.
4. Wildflowers – Tom Petty. This was the first Tom Petty album I ever owned. I’d been a fan for awhile, and when I saw he had a new album out, I bought it impulsively. Maybe it had (more than) a little to do with the fact that my crush was big into Petty, but it soon evolved into a for-real kind of appreciation. And even though I now legitimately name Petty as my favorite artist when pressed to choose someone (remember, I’m a song girl, not an artist or album kinda girl), Petty still holds the power to make me remember my former crush and he always will.
5. Slippery When Wet – Bon Jovi. Going back a ways again, this was probably the first “rock” band I felt in love with. My dad (who inspired All Things Music in my life and, well, really that was the only role he played) bought me two posters of Bon Jovi for me to put on my wall. I kissed them. Just because I thought you were supposed to. God, I can’t believe I thought he was dreamy with all that hair. But now? You want to instantly put me in a great mood, you put on one of these songs. I can’t help but smile (and regress).
6. Greatest Hits – Simon and Garfunkel. Yes, I’m following up Bon Jovi with Simon and Garfunkel. My tastes have always been eclectic. S&G was one of my mom’s faves. We would listen to their records whenever we could convince her to give Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond a break (which wasn’t often). The lonliness and love in “Sound of Silence” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” respectively struck a chord again in high school. And then it stuck. Their Greatest Hits cd was the easiest way to hear all of my favorites together.
7. The Black Album – Metallica. I remember making fun of Michael Baldino in elementary school for saying Metallica was his favorite band. Then, all throughout junior high and high school (and maybe a good bit of college…and beyond), I couldn’t get enough. My high school sweetheart tried to talk me into naming our future baby boy James Hatfield – and the idea didn’t sound that bad. Metallica’s music is a bit too hard for me now, but listening to it opened me up to a whole new genre and this was the album that did it.
8. Nilsson Schmilsson – Harry Nilsson. This was my mom’s album, but my sister Kim and I were fascinated. My dad’s favorite, played during music appreciation nights, was “Put the Lime in the Coconut.” We thought that was hysterical and started requesting it from the first song. My mom’s was “The Moonbeam Song,” another great choice but somehow not the same. Still, the was the record that taught me that my parents maybe knew what they were talking about, musically speaking.
9. Boys for Pele – Tori Amos. My high school sweetheart bought this for me as a gift. I had no idea who Tori was, but he thought I liked her. His mistake was the start of my Tori-love and my fascination with singers who weren’t quite mainstream.
10. Purple – Stone Temple Pilots. This album really kicked off what I thought of as my WAAF days (the rock station of my high school days). My sister was the one who bought into STP first, and I remember it best playing through the shared wall of our rooms. Any song from this album will make me instantly stop channel-surfing in the car.
11. Immaculate Collection – Madonna. Another compilation album, but really, that was the best way to get the most for your money when you were but a poor child. (Heh, still works for me now that I’m a poor adult.) This tape played over and over and over. I’m not a big Madonna fan now, but this was one tape Kim and I could always agree on, and if we didn’t have music in common, who knows if we ever would have hung out?
12. Born in the U.S.A. – Bruce Springsteen. I almost claimed Slippery When Wet was the first rock album I owned, but it was this one. My dad bought it for me, just happy that he had passed on his love for rock. (Secret: When MTV was born, it was my dad who would sit for hours and watch music concerts and videos. He would call me into the room anytime The Boss came on.)
13. Mirrorball – Sarah McLachlan. Could I be a girl and not like this album? Okay, yeah I could, but I love it anyway. This album always reminds me I can be girly and sexy and me all-the-way-to-the-wall and still say SCREW YOU! love if things weren’t going my way. “…You’re such a beautiful, beautiful fucked up man…”
14. Hangin’ Tough – New Kids on the Block. I so much wanted to leave this confession out. But I can’t. Damn you, NKOTB. (Wow, and I may or may not have just danced all the moves from the video. So sad, really.)
15. Born on a Pirate Ship – Barenaked Ladies. You couldn’t be in my dorm room for any length of time without hearing this CD. I think my new carefree attitude has to credit Barenaked Ladies at least a little. I mean, who can listen to them without smiling and dancing?!
16. Greatest Hits – Tracey Lawrence. You can’t pick the albums that end up affecting your life. This certainly wouldn’t have made the list. But, the same year that I became infatuated with Barenaked Ladies, I was also listening to this. My roommate Audra (god I miss her) was into country music. We listened to this album constantly. And then I started adding some country music to my mix. I’m still a classic rock girl at heart, but I can appreciate some of the less twangy country music. And it all goes back to this.
17. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts’ Club Band – The Beatles. My dad bought this album for me for my eighth grade graduation. I thought it was pretty random at the time, but I was a Beatles addict the minute I started playing it.
18. Ode to my Family – The Cranberries. It’s (mostly) light and melodic (umm…except the song I linked). It’s a girl rocker. It’s something my sister would listen to. This got a lot of airplay during high school.
19. Sixteen Stone – Bush. One of the first CDs I bought. It was rock. My crush liked them. And “Everything Zen” was the first song I heard on WAAF. It was so edgy and just…us. After listening to it in the car with my friends, it was quickly added to the soundtrack of my teenage years.
20. Yes I Am – Melissa Etheridge. My best friend Julie Pickles was a die-hard Melissa Etheridge fan. Julie fancied herself a poet and with her I discovered the power of lyrics over as opposed to just finding something with a beat. No one understood unrequited love quite like Etheridge. This album is still in heavy rotation, 15 years later.

There you go. 20 albums that stand out above all the others. Some I’d rather hide in the dark of the night and never mention again…but I can’t deny that they helped shape me into the Crazy Lady I am today. Blame them, mkay?

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Tags: Music, nostalgia