Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. When I recently upgraded my cell phone I lost a lot of music that I had imported from my CD collection and transferred from computer to phone for years. I also lost one of my favorite audiobooks that I listen to repeatedly. This has me pondering if I should pull out the old CDs or if I should just pay for these again in a digital format that can live in the cloud. Of course, when it comes to music, I am also a subscriber, so I find myself making more playlists and stations and not buying albums. Sometimes I neglect my love of music because I am so busy listening to audiobooks, but lately I’ve been feeling prone to stress, depression, and panic attacks, so I’ve been giving my brain a break and busting out some of my favorite tunes.
I go to a lot of concerts. One my pro-tips is to look up the set list on setlist.fm and make a playlist of all the songs for all the bands for a show. This allows me to refresh myself on my favorite songs and brush up on the lesser known acts. I recently made this playlist for an upcoming Breaking Benjamin show. I had a ton of their albums on my old phone. I also recently saw Bush (playlist) and Gavin Rossdale asked how many people had their Sixteen Stone album. It was one of the first CDs I owned. All of this got me thinking about how we rarely buy or even stream entire albums anymore. I assume this changes the way albums are made, and I found this Forbes article that agrees with me.
Considering all of this, I wanted to reflect on some of the albums that shaped my life that I will always feel a need to own and listen to in album form. Most of these are motivated strictly by nostalgia with very little musical expertise behind my decision. Bear with me, then share your favorites in the comments.
The Grand Illusion – Styx
This is the first album I owned that didn’t have an image of Strawberry Shortcake or a Care Bear on it. One of my older sisters either gave this to me or left it behind when she moved out. Either way, it was mine, and it was sort of creepy and weird, and I loved it. Some of Styx’s greatest hits come from The Grand Illusion, but if you haven’t listened to the entire album, you are missing out. When I saw them in concert, I lost my mind when they started with the actual song “The Grand Illusion,” because I have attended a LOT of concerts and at the beginning of each one I have had this song in the back of my head…
Welcome to the Grand Illusion
Come on in and see what’s happening
Pay the price, get your tickets for the show!
I was seriously ecstatic. Plus, my tickets were free, but we all know there’s deeper meaning to that “pay the price” lyric, don’t we? If I could see Styx perform this album from beginning to end, that would seriously be a highlight of my life, but starting their show with this familiar old favorite that started the album definitely took me back to my childhood. This album is almost as old as I am, and we both still have a lot going for us. I recently woke up with Fooling Yourself stuck in my head, and my family only thought it mildly weird that I was busting my moves to it while making my breakfast. Every song on this album is wonderful, and there are only eight of them. If you want your kids to grow up appreciating music, introduce them to this Styx album early.
Licensed to Ill – Beastie Boys
If you were a teenager in the late 80’s/early 90’s, chances are you already own this and have owned numerous copies of it over the years in various formats. This was a monumental album for me, because, let’s face it, I was a (lower) middle class white girl growing up in a small town in Arkansas. Thank god for the little while that our cable company provided MTV, because it introduced us to things like this. Brooklyn was like a foreign country to me, and showing a rap video that featured a guitar solo by Slayer’s Kerry King… let’s just say this was a brilliant way to capture the attention of my metal head friends.
This is one of those albums that I listened to end-to-end so many times that when I hear a song from this album when it ends I automatically start to sing the next song. Paul Revere is probably my favorite rap song ever. I have no shame. I am sure there are better songs and better albums, but this was literally the soundtrack to so much of my youth. It’s a keeper.
Doolittle – The Pixies
I first learned of the Pixies when a boy put “Here’s Comes Your Man” on a mix tape for me, and I still wasn’t sure if this boy liked me or not… I just thought he had killer taste in music. To be frank, no one ever liked me, so assuming he didn’t like me was perfectly reasonable. It was also reasonable to buy Doolittle on my next trip to the “record store” and proceed to wear that cassette out. This is an album that runs like one big, long, complicated song to me. You start with Debaser, end with Gouge Away, and everything in between is sort of a blur. But it’s awesome. When I listen to my iPhone music on shuffle and it gives me just one song from this album, it’s just weird. You have to listen to the whole thing.
True Blue – Madonna
I have never listened to much pop music, but EVERYONE listened to Madonna. This was new when I was about 10 years old, so I have no idea how I came up with the money or got to the store to buy this cassette, but I owned this and listened to it nonstop. I even sang these songs over the phone to my very first boyfriend. He must have thought I was really cool… because he eventually married me. Thanks, Madonna!
An Innocent Man – Billy Joel
This is another one that someone gave me. My dad was a Walmart truck driver, and working for Walmart meant we got to go to the “Sample Store.” One glorious day my mom came home from the Sample Store with a reasonably sized boom box and a cassette. This was an official upgrade from my record player, because I could take it outside! Nevermind that it had a nice big “S” melted into the side of it to designate it as a sample… my music just got portable! Thank goodness my mom had the foresight to understand that a portable cassette player called for a cassette! She probably picked whichever one was cheapest, but however it happened, she brought home Billy Joel. This was prior to whatever spending spree helped me get True Blue. Let’s just say that my friends and cousins were subjected to a LOT of Billy Joel. I might still remember the dance we choreographed to Uptown Girl.
State of Euphoria – Anthrax
Now, when we start to get into metal, we run the risk of this list going on and on and on, so I will wrap up today’s list with State of Euphoria and let’s assume there might be a related post somewhere in our future. This was not my first metal album, and it doesn’t necessarily tie to any significant event in my life. I never even saw Anthrax in concert until a few years ago. This is just a really good album, and I have been listening to it for 30 years. I think this was the album that made me realize how smart heavy metal could be. It includes references to books I had read and movies I had seen. I was 100% certain that me and these guys would have been friends. It also had a brilliant song that used the F word a lot. To my 12 year old self, this was glorious. But I could play the A side of this album without getting in trouble, and I played it so much that my mom would hum along to Be All, End All. This is just a brilliant album that every metal fan should own.