5-10-15-20

[righteousdnk]

Tyler - 20


At five I was listening to whatever my dad was listening to a lot. I don't know if it was this album or not, but my first memories of music are Aerosmith and the ocean sounds CD my mom had.

At ten I started to love fast music. Blink182 was another favorite at this age, but Operation Ivy and Suicide Machines were what I liked best. This album just represents such an awesome time of life for me. I was in fourth grade and the swing sets were my stage. At the time I had no idea what it meant, but Unity was my theme song.

At fifteen I was a hardcore kid. I was straight edge, went to shows all the time, hardcore danced, the whole deal. I was on the posi side though if that makes any difference. My favorite memories come from this period of my life and this album means so much to me. Where Eagles Dare were local and I'd get to see them all the time. Before I found music festivals, the best shows I had ever been to were Where Eagles Dare shows. I'm gonna stop typing because I could go on for awhile about that time in my life. I saw so much happen in that scene, good and bad, and it just kills me to know what happened to it and how it ended for me.

I also have to choose this for my right now. It doesn't really represent all I listen to right now, but it's dark, creepy, electronic music and that is a lot of what I've been listening to the past couple years.

[Drinkey McDrinkerstein]

This is a really fun thread.

5 - I can't recollect at this early on agae specific albums or anything like that, but I do know that were ALWAYS listening to the Beatles in my house and in the car, and a lot of it specifically came from a long-running syndicated radio program called Breakfast With the Beatles


10 - this was just before I starting really getting into music in a big way, which i have long pinpointed happening at 11. BUT I fucking died laughing when i saw this damn movie and was able to scrounge up enough money to buy the cassette and sing "Bohemian Rhapsody" a billion times a day.



15 - Before purchasing this I was really only familiar with "21st Century Digital Boy" and "Infected" because KROQ had been playing them, but listening to this album, a "best of" at that point, changed everything for me. I had never heard things said like this in music before. it was extremely defining for me.


20 - My early years of college I was getting heavily into hardcore, grindcore, metalcore, death metal, etc. There were a ton of guys at the CC I was going to that were into all of it and we would go to shows at the Showcase, Chain Reaction, Glasshouse, and backyards and rec centers all over San Gabriel Valley. This album was the most amazing thing I had ever heard at that time.


25 - I had always had an eclectic taste in music, and by this point I had had so much access to much stuff because of Napster and being in college. I think this album just solidly defines that for me. This was an important year for me as well because I graduated from college, finally moved out on my own, and started my career as an audio engineer


I was also OBSESSED with that album when it came out.

I turned 28 less than two months ago, so it's far too early to post another.

[clumsy342]

Mike - 24

5

Yup. That's about it for 5. I loved this song because it scared me.


10

I know, I know.. and it was actually more like 11. But at the time, their darker and slightly twisted sound was extremely appealing to me. I clearly remember plagiarizing "Car Crash" for a poetry assignment. (shortly hereafter I became OBSESSED with Garbage.)


15

This is when shit got good. Elliott Smith will always remain one of my all-time favorite artists. This was my introduction to Elliott Smith. And with each album I discovered, I only fell more deeply in love with his music. I can't quite recall if I had gotten into Radiohead at this point (probably right around here), but this definitely marks a point of maturing in my musical tastes.


20

Hands down. This came at just the right time for me. And really knocked me on my ass. I remember going out to buy this album, and as I drove away listening to the first track it sent chills throughout my body. I am so attracted to their sense of life. They make me feel like a human in a really great way.

[daftsquirrel]

5
pretty sure I came out of the womb listening to The Beatles


10
started playing the trumpet


15
fell in LOVE with edm

and alison goldfrapp


20
I finally realized how amazing this is

[algunz]

Alessandra -38

5

My dad used to play this album whenever he would come home a little tipsy. I heard that album a lot around 5 and loved it. My dad was a fun drunk.

10

This was the first album I bought. I still have it on vinyl, cassette, AND 8 track. I waited in front of the tv when they were playing the video on the hour every hour. That was the same summer I discovered Duran Duran, so this was a bit of a battle.

15

High School was tough. I discovered A LOT of music and many bands could define these times, but this album for some reason really connected with me. I actually wrote a paper on it my freshman year, but my teacher didn't appreciate my genius as much as I did. She gave me a B+, bitch.

20

91 was a crazy and wondrous year. This album defines my world at the time in soooo many ways.

25

These later years I had to go by albums that came out around the time and I can easily say this was one of my favorites of the time. Beck will always be my superstar, but he was a close tie with Bjork (Homogenic). Beck won out, because I listened to this album more.

30

I discovered The Flips back with Soft Bulletin, but this was and always will be my go to bar song.

35

I can't wait to see them in a few weeks.

[miscorrections]

5:

I don't have one particular album for this, but during Sunday breakfasts my parents would always switch on the radio to some gospel program. I absolutely loved (and still love!) gospel because even if it's about Jesus, who none of us ever cared about, it is fucking fun.

10:



I know, I know. I didn't have my own music taste yet so I just glommed on to what my friends were listening to. Whatever, it could've been worse.

15:



tied with



14, 15 was when I actually started developing tastes through a variety of different sources. These two albums were some of the first non-mainstream things I'd ever heard and I couldn't believe how a) different and b) amazing they were (although I didn't appreciate AAS to the degree I do now). Both albums are still in heavy rotation. The Lemon of Pink and The Sophtware Slump are runners up here.

20:



I'd heard this when it came out, but in 2006 I was still more of a straightforward indie rock/pop fan. After being exposed to a bunch of new shit in late 2006/2007 I was ready to go back and listen to things I'd initially thought were weird, including this. I couldn't believe how actually not-weird and incredible this thing was, and it propelled Liars into one of my favorite band slots.

It's sort of a shame this is by 5 years because they were, except for ~15, not my most landmark years.

[rage patton]

Josh - 21

5:


I am not sure if I was exactly, but I was probably 5 or 6, my parents took my sister and I on a road trip to Disneyland. They bought this tape for the trip and all I wanted to do was hear it over and over again. Years later, the Beach Boys are still one of my favorite bands

10:

From the Beach Boys to the Backstreet Boys. Talk about a step backwards. My mom was a top 40 person and always had the local top 40 radio station on, and for some reason I connected with the Backstreet Boys. Oh well. A year later my cousin would introduce me to Rage Against The Machine and everything would change.

15:

I started getting really getting into music when I was 11-12 when a new alternative rock station launched in Vancouver. I started getting sick of my mom always listening to the top 40 station, so I started listening to this station. Partly to rebel, partly out of curiosity. While it was a step in the right direction, I still had a long way to go. Quickly my favorite bands became Nickelback, Sum 41, Creed and basically whatever the rock radio station would play. That all stopped when I was 15 and discovered The Mars Volta. I discovered Francis The Mute first, but bought Deloused... a couple days after because I loves Francis... so much. I choose Deloused... because I feel it is the better album and it ad the greater overall influence on me. This is the album that made me start actuvely searching for music on my own and not depending on the radio to find new music.

20:

After I first attended Coachella in 2007, my music horizons expanded greatly. Thanks to the festival and this board, I started finding out about more indie and experimental bands. That is when I was 18 though. This is about when I was 20. Well, in 2008 I discovered Yeasayer and they broadened my horizons even further. They are now the second most listened to band in my library. Without Coachella though, I don't think I would have ever gotten into Yeasayer.

That was fun.

[clumsy342]

hah, I could have gone with Beach Boys when I was 5 too. But I remember hating them. And to this day, I still can't reaaalllyy get into them.

[chiapet]

(Lengthy because I had already typed out some background/explanation, so read it if you like or skim and view the album covers).

I'm 33, so:

5 - Beatles - St Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band


I don't think this requires a lot of explanation. My parents were huge Beatles fans, this one was a favorite, and the lyrics definitely inspire a child's imagination.




I also have to give honorable mention to the Human League's Dare. I was lucky enough to have a father who "stayed current" and liked synthpop and new wave a lot. When I was in grade school I thought it was so cool that he listened to contemporary, popular, COOL music. Most of my friends' parents either listened to "oldies" or country. I quote "stayed current" because in retrospect, he was about my current age at the time. I imagined that people in their 30's had no idea what went on at the world. (At age 5! You can imagine what an asshole I was by the time I was a teenager.)

(Don't worry, I won't keep selecting 2 albums for each milestone).


10 - Madonna - True Blue



This album came out a few months before my 10th birthday. I was NOT allowed to have it or listen to it. ("Papa Don't Preach" was one of the early singles, and my parents really didn't care for the song or Madonna in general.) Fortunately my friend's parents were really permissive, and not only did she copy the tape for me, but her parents let me watch Desperately Seeking Susan and even DRESS like Madonna too. I kept at her house a whole wardrobe of things that would have given my dad a heart attack.

When it came down to it, I was more into Cyndi than Madonna, BUT I listened to Madonna more because I wasn't allowed to. This is the first instance I remember of having something my parents forbad me to listen to (or read or watch), hiding it from them, and enjoying it all the more for being forbidden. This would be a trend.

Also my first and only instance of receiving corporal punishment in school was due to said friend and I dancing on our chairs singing True Blue, while our teacher was trying to teach.

Finally, that same year, being quite precocious with the ladies, WHILE listening to Madonna, I taught, hands-on, a slightly older girl how to masturbate and then got her to let me kiss her for a couple of minutes before she panicked and told on me. That was my first kiss.

15 - Nirvana - Nevermind



It's cliched and could find a spot on most of our lists at some age or another, but Nevermind was released the week of my 15th birthday, with the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" single breaking couple of weeks earlier, so it definitely fits.

During this school year, I had '''advanced art''' first period of the day. In a school of less than 500 people, 'advanced art' translated very directly to 'do what you like as long as you turn in something at some point in the semester'. Our teacher was exceptionally lenient with us, so we frequently spent the period playing cards, reading magazines, playing pranks, ... and always, ALWAYS, playing music. We'd bring in cassette tapes and take turns playing albums or mix tapes we'd made. (Tapes were still really popular at my school because no one had CD players in their cars).

There was this guy that we never much paid attention to, until he got hold of the classroom tape player and put on a dubbed copy of Nevermind. We only made it halfway through the album before our teacher turned it off (asking "What *IS* this filth?" during 'Polly'), but we were hooked. Grunge-mania swept my school, and it stuck. Eventually my obsession moved over to Alice in Chains, but even 3 years later, almost everyone I knew was completely engrossed in Nirvana, Mudhoney, STP, Hole. Everyone's school pictures were flannel shirts, chucks or clunky combat boots, and stringy hair.

It's worth noting that even a year earlier, you would have found me in black clothes, black hair, black lipstick, listening to Disintegration over and over and over again. (And I did go back there again later ).


20 - Belle & Sebastian - The Boy with the Arab Strap



I was in college, and about 6 months past the point where musically I'd broken away the tastes I'd built and borrowed from family and friends when I was growing up. I'd done the punk thing, the goth thing, the grunge thing, the college rock thing, and had settled on twee, having found my way there from college friends' mix tapes.

The problem was that none of it was very popular state-side, so there were rarely any shows in my Midwestern city and no albums carried in my local record stores. I'd hit a dead end with the twee thing, having already checked out everything I could find via zines and band websites. MP3s were just starting to become traded - large P2P services weren't used too much because most people had slow internet connections. In the absence of huge networked services, there was a lot of direct file sharing. One day I connected to an acquaintance's computer... and 3 weeks later on that same connection, I had his entire music library. Overwhelmed by HUNDREDS OF MEGS ;-) of music, I asked what I should start with first: Belle & Sebastian.

I used to listen to this album almost every day. And during a really bad period when I hid from the world and mostly stayed fucked up all the time ("A Summer Wasting" in fact), I'd listen to it on repeat cajoling myself to re-join the world. That sounds melodramatic, but at the time I really didn't feel I'd be okay, and can say with certainty that music got me through it.

Anyway, though I don't listen to them much anymore, at the time they opened up my eyes to the wider world of indie music beyond the specific niche I'd found.


25 - Momus - Folktronic



I'd gotten into Momus about 5 years back (via the same friend who introduced me to Belle & Sebastian, and really who largely shaped my current taste in music), and really enjoyed the quirky themed albums with their frequently brash lyrics and catchy tunes. P-i-n-g Pong (from my 20th year) was a favorite, but I became obsessed with Folktronic upon its release.

From start to finish one of my most favored albums (that's a slight exaggeration - there are a couple of mediocre songs in the middle). It sent me into giggling fits over the overly dated in-jokes about technology. It's one of the few albums that I push on people regardless of their musical interests and also the only one I can think of that almost everyone I've suggested to actually enjoyed. I saw him multiple times on this tour, where he opened for Stars (and NOT vice versa, despite being FAR more established versus Stars with only one crappy LP -- as at the first show we caught, my friend and I loudly complained to these guys standing nearby, who smiled politely and later when they took the stage, we realized were, in fact, Stars. They didn't seem offended -- they were Momus fans too).

Anyway, you should definitely listen to this album if you haven't before, preferably dancing like a karate-kicking maniac in your underwear, a fur-lined ski vest, and optionally an eye patch.


30 - Gogol Bordello - Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike



This one is kind of a cop-out, not reflecting more on the last couple of years, but -- It ws over this year that I started going to festivals and large concerts. Before then, ..uneasiness with crowds but also partially snobbery kept me away from what I'd refer to as "big" shows. The combination of Bjork and Rage Against the Machine got me to my frist Coachella, but I really embraced lineup research. One of the first bands I checked out (largely due to the name) was Gogol Bordello. I picked Gypsy Punks first because my coworker owned it and loaned it to me. They quickly became one of my most anticipated acts. When the set times came out, I despaired. Bjork was scheduled at the same time as Gogol. What to do?

I ended up making a game-time decision to see Gogol Bordello instead of Bjork. I didn't realize I'd go on to see them a half dozen times within the next year, or I *might* have gone to see Bjork instead, but I don't regret the decision because that first show at Coachella was the best set of theirs I've seen, one of the best Coachella performances I've seen, and easily in my top 20 concert moments. I don't really listen to them much now but I was pretty hooked on them for that whole year.

[higgybaby23]

higgy, 34

A pop journey through the years...

5:



Hall & Oates seemed pretty funky to my 5 year old ears. This album prepared me for 82’s “Maneater” which will always hold a special place in my heart.

10:



I was still completely immersed in American top 40, but lo and behold a classic hip hop nugget enters the collective unconscious. Plus, two of the three Bboys are named Adam. I can identify with that.

15:



1991. The year grunge was coined. What a pivotal year for the young rocker I had become. What musical path should I take? Unfortunately Guns and Roses had become dinosaurs by November 91, I received Nevermind for xmas and didn’t look back until my 20’s. When I went from Motley Crue/GnR/Metallica to Nirvana/Pearl Jam/NIN, I thought I was sooooo cool.

20:



Wow. We worshipped this album. Constant repeat through summer, fall and winter of 96. I was even able to see Beck at the Celebrity Theater in PHX for the Odelay tour…all for FREE. Almost too good to be true. Ahhh, memories.

25:



Shit, even my 9 year old sister was down with the Gorillaz. Yet another great pop album.

30:



2006 was my first year at Coachella. Gnarls Barkley was my third favorite performance that year, and this album stuck with me for some time after. First and second place performances went to Daft Punk and Amadou & Miriam respectively.

[fiopadp7791]

29... But I'll cheat a little-

5 (1986)- I was actually 6, but my parents bought Michael Jackson's "Bad" on cassette for me. I was a victim to what my parents let me listen to, and this was sooo cool back in the day.


10 (1991)- "Dangerous" Michael Jackson. I loved Jacko. Me and my friends even had a sleepover in 5th grade, because one of them was cool enough to have HBO so we could watch Michael Jackson: Live at Wembley stadium. This was a huge deal!!!!


15 (1996... although 1997 was so much cooler)- A tie between "Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" Smashing Pumpkins, and "Tragic Kingdom" No Doubt. I was a relatively happy high schooler, but every kid listened to these... When I was 16, and Puff Daddy blew up... awww shit! I was all over that too.


20 (2001)- "2001: A Funk Odyssey" Jamiroquai

Like 99.9% of most other Americans, after "Virtual Insanity" a few years before. I knew nothing else about this group. Then I heard a few of these crazy cool dancey tunes at a party when I went to school in South Dakota. This voice sounds familiar. Who is this? Jamiroquai. I decided to do some in-depth sampling, and pretty much bought every one of their albums through Columbia House lol. THEY are to this day, still my favorite GROUP. I have this album to thank for it. Coachella 2011 please? US tour too...

25 (2006)- I need to say that... beside albums, a local radio station, 89.3 the Current http://www.thecurrent.org http://www.thecurrent.org/playlist hit the airwaves in Minneapolis, and broadened my music tastes in ways I never could've imagined in 2006. It made me wanna go to Coachella for the 1st time that year. I still listen to it religiously, and I'm a supporting member of it for that reason (no commercials, member supported public radio)
"Late Registration" Kanye West, "Be" from Common and "Silent Alarm" Bloc Party... they technically came out the year before. But I got so infatuated with these 3 albums, there wasn't much else I listened to beside these for a long time.


29- A lot of what I'm listening to the past few months was in relation to Coachella. The XX, Miike Snow, Passion Pit, Corinne Bailey Rae, Mayer Hawthorne, Gorillaz, Phoenix... I've gone on a CD buying binge (I still live in the non-napster 90s and buy cds, I don't have an Ipod). I still listen to the Current for great new acts... my tastes are all over the place these days. With the occasional guilty pleasure like B.O.B.- it really is a mixed bag.

[bebop]

I'm 23

5


Grew up with my Grandparents and my Grandma had a tape and a cd of this compilation and listened to it at least once a day. The songs really grew on me and I still listen to it every so often. It was great listening to the oldies station too.

10


Another one of my Grandmas many played albums. For some reason this one really appealed to me. I was really starting to dig the country/folk rock sound at the time. I was also listening to a lot of Beatles, Stones, CCR among other 50's, 60's, 70's groups. Friends gave me a lot of flack for not knowing or being into the music that was typically played on KROQ or any modern band/rapper.

15


Of all the great punk albums I was getting into, this one was definitely getting the most plays. It had the same energy as groups like Minor Threat and Bad Brains but without the aggro. Plus, getting drunk with friends and singing along to "Take Warning" is one of my best teenage memories.

20


I was listening to a lot of hip hop and this became my favorite hip hop album as well as one of my favorite albums in general. Very smooth.



Lots of honorable mentions and albums in between such as OK Computer, any Beatles album, Slanted and Enchanted, Unknown Pleasures, yada yada

[amyzzz]

We all know you're older than that.

I went by what was in the title.

[roberto73]

Rob, 37

5 (1978)

For someone as obsessed with music as I am, my parents are some of the most unmusical people I know. The only Beatles LP they own is Magical Mystery Tour ("too weird," my mom sniffed recently), and that's as adventurous as they got. They did, however, own a boatload of Neil Diamond, which I credit with my continued appreciation of his music.

10 (1983)

I don't know what possessed my parents to buy me this cassette for Christmas when I was 10, but I wore that sucker out. I had a tape deck by my bed, and I'd listen to it every night. I know they're now all kitschy and cool to like in a smugly ironic way, but man: "Kiss on My List," "Maneater," "Private Eyes," "You Make My Dreams." Dudes could write a catchy tune.

15 (1988)

U2 was the first band I was truly fanatical about, and – for better or worse – I remain fiercely defensive of them to this day. They introduced me to the idea that music could be about something, and more so than the bands that just featured pretty melodies, U2 was a band I could believe in. I also credit U2 (along with R.E.M.) for turning me into the whiny, bleeding-heart liberal I am today.

20 (1993)

One of the best bands hardly anyone has ever heard of. I went all-in with my love of British music in the early 90's and never looked back. Kitchens of Distinction were sort of shoegazey, but with a romantic core that many similar bands ignored in favor of icy detachment. And guitarist Julian Swales is/was (even though it's probably blasphemy to say it) every bit Kevin Shields' equal. Not their best album, but the one I was listening to most at the time.

25 (1998)

You know that feeling when a band you've casually followed for a few years finally makes the album it seems like they've always had in them? That's Deserter's Songs for me. As wonderfully weird as their earlier stuff, but just focused and constrained enough to set it apart from the rest. (Side note: I could just as easily have listed Eels' Electro-Shock Blues, which I played nearly as often.)

30 (2003)

It came out the year before, but I listened to this for a year and half, easily. Like the Mercury Rev album, The Last Broadcast was the sound of band achieving liftoff. Alternately downbeat and euphoric, it hit just the right notes as I went through all the usual angsty "Woe-is-me-I'm-turning-30" stuff.

35 (2008)

I still can't stop listening to this album. As I get older, I appreciate the energy and enthusiasm of the young punks, but I find myself drawn more to the gravity and complexity of the older dudes. Just as my twerpy teenage self found solace in The Smiths and Joy Division, I just find that old guy music has more to say to me. Unabashedly romantic yet unafraid of mortality, The Seldom Seen Kid speaks to me in a way most current albums don't. (Side note: Depending on what day you ask me, The National's Alligator could also slide in here.)

[Courtney]

Courtney - 27

5. Barnes & Barnes, Voobaha

Do you remember that song "fish heads, fish heads, rolly polly fish heads"? I freaking loved that song. I remember sitting on this hideous plush mauve carpet in my my parents' house in Rochester, New York, listening to some weekend morning children's show on the radio booming out of their big wooden-cased stereo system. The fish head song would come on and I would go absolutely crazy.

10. Annie Lennox, Diva

If the timing had fallen a year later, I would have had to say Take That, so I'm pretty grateful that we're talking about 1992 here. My family was living in Saudi Arabia at this point, and we were socializing mainly with British and French expats. We had the BBC and about about 25 stations of Muslim prayer on television, but for some reason my parents had this Annie Lennox album. Whenever given the choice, I would always play this above my father's massive Van Morrison collection or my mother's Taj Mahal. I especially liked the song "Walking on Broken Glass." I had never even heard of the Eurythmics.

15. PJ Harvey, To Bring You My Love

High school was my girl power music phase. There was Tori Amos, and then PJ Harvey, followed by some serious Bikini Kill adoration. I was at a boarding school in Connecticut. On the outside, I went through the motions of what I thought I was supposed to be doing -- getting good grades, playing varsity sports, and worrying about what boy was going to ask me to whatever dance we inevitably had coming up. But inside, there was one seriously angsty teenager brooding. I wore big boots and short short skirts, was pretty angry at the world, and liked to put my headphones on and rock out to PJ Harvey's explosive, raw tracks.

20. Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

This spot could easily be Radiohead or Spoon too, but I think I probably listened to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot the most. I had this amazingly tank-like old Volvo station wagon that I was driving around the Hudson Valley area where I went to college at the time, and I remember Wilco being my favorite cruising tunes for the massive amount of driving I did either up to Annandale and Woodstock for parties, or down to Beacon for my part-time job at this new art museum that was just opening.

25. The National, Boxer

I was OBSESSED, all caps, with this album when it came out. I think I probably listened to it hundreds of times. It astounds me how it seemed like the perfect happy music when I was happy, and the perfect sad music when I was sad. I was living in Los Angeles at this point going to grad school, listening to a lot of smaller bands and noise and going to a lot of shows at the Smell and the Echo, but Boxer somehow became my go-to album for anything from wandering around MOCA preparing a lecture to bicycling along the Venice beachwalk.

[TomAz]

I really like this thread.

[chiapet]

I do too. It's making me re-consider some albums I haven't listened to in ages.

[algunz]

This thread is the best thing to have happened to the board in years. Although every time someone posts their list I realize that there are SOOOOO many other albums I could have easily included on mine. But first instincts are usually most accurate.

[PlayaDelWes]

FIVE


My Aunt and Uncle were in the Elks and we would join them in all of their motor home trips around San Diego County. They listened to Johnny Cash religiously and somehow I had no idea who I was listening to at the time, but I do remember “A Boy Named Sue” was my favorite song. I was naïve to the fact it was recorded in a prison, but I clearly remember the live audience laughing.

TEN


I also went through The Beach Boys phase, but I clearly remember my 3rd and 4th grade friends talking me out of The Beach Boys and into The Specials. Those were the Elementary School hay days. We were running a casino out of my friend’s garage, scalping the fireworks he’d buy in Utah, and ran the school lottery while “Dirty Old Town” followed us everywhere as our theme song. My first show of theirs was this year at the Main Stage.

FIFTEEN


Boingo had been growing on me for years and Dark at The End of the Tunnel was the preamble to my Boingo peak with their self-titled album “Boingo”. This is likely around the time of my first concert of theirs at the SDSU Open Air Amphitheatre. This was around the time I started linking actual lyrics with meanings in my life. I’m still inspired by “Out of Control” and “Try to Believe”.

TWENTY


I had no musical identity in college. The kids down the hall from me were discovering Dave Matthews while I was still latching onto Tori Amos because I thought that’s what would attract the chicks. (She did, just not the ones I wanted). This dude who sublet from us one summer and dropped acid every day left the Jimmy Cliff CD when he moved out and it remains one of my favorite albums. Jimmy Cliff turned into jamiroquai and then somehow I took a 90 degree turn and started liking punk and stupid shit like Kid Rock. My favorite movies at the time followed suit with Kids and Basketball Diaries.

TWENTY FIVE


I was trying to latch onto EDM, but I had no idea how. I had been to Ibiza, and the only way I could figure out to get in this stuff was to bring back “Clubber’s Guide”, “Ibiza Annual”, “Café’ Del Moar”, and other compellations. I had no idea who anyone was. None of my friends were into this stuff and all I could do was rave away in my own apartment.

As an honorable mention, I need to include this, because my roommate and I each chipped in $1,200 Cadillac Bills and pulled the trigger on a ’74 Cadi Eldorado. We would drive around West LA blasting this:

in our

THIRTY


Tunnels.

[fiopadp7791]

What I realized about myself when replying to this thread, is in the span of 5 years how much your tastes can change/differ. Also, their were big influences in between the 5 years. I tried to stick to the rules though.

Like- I put Michael Jackson albums for ages 5 and 10, because I really listened to all of his stuff religiously when I was younger. But I remember when I was 8 (1989), I bought LL Cool J's "Radio" on cassette. It was on sale at Target for like $5. It was the 1st cassette/record/cd I ever bought. Also around the same time- MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice... I listened to them a lot. I remember not bein able to get "Have you seen her?" outta my head lol. I also listened to a lot of Weird Al too lol.

When I was 10, in the 5th grade, like Drinkey, I could've said the Wayne's World soundtrack. Yes. Me and my friends headbanged to "Bohemian Rhapsody". I unfortunately didn't get really introduced to Queen until a few years later.

Like when I was 12 or 13... I was listening to Death Row stuff and Nirvana just like every other kid my age.

I think it was 1999 or 2000... the 1st years in college when I wasn't liking the whole Boy Band and Nu Metal (although I warmed to Nu Metal more than I'd like to admit, and I'm seeing Korn in Minneapolis on Monday lol) dominated pop-scene, that I tried to start venturing out a little more to see what else was out there.

[fiopadp7791]

As an honorable mention, I need to include this, because my roommate and I each chipped in $1,200 Cadillac Bills and pulled the trigger on a ’74 Cadi Eldorado. We would drive around West LA blasting this:

in our

Yes!!!! The opening verse in "Southern Hospitality" is killer! It's ridiculous, but it's sooo good!

[Still-ill]

Top 5 albums of this decade, easily.

[liquidsnake28]

5:

Before this it was all about Raffi. When I was 5 thought, I finally was introduced to music that I thought was cool. I vividly remember dancing to this album many times as a young'un and thinking it was the coolest shit ever. We'd always fast forward Have You Seen Her because it was the slow and boring song. It's pretty funny in retrospect that I used to yell, "She's soft and wet!"

10:

The first cd I ever bought besides movie soundtracks. I remember listening to my older brothers Nirvana cds at this age and wondering what the hell Kurt was always so pissed about (they later became one of my favorite bands.) These guys were upbeat and very accessible so I dug it right up.

15:


It's not an album, it's a compilation but this is what introduced me to them and I listened to it the most. I remember the first time I heard it on the way home from school thinking, "this is it, this THE music I've been searching for." They quickly became my favorite band and remain my favorite band to this day.

20:

20 and 25 were both really hard for me to do because when I was a late teen I began listening to such a wide variety of music and I continue to. My best friend died when I was 19 and I mostly just became angry and full of rage over it instead of depression, guilt and the other stages that everyone supposedly goes through. I also played drums in a metal band at this time so this album got quite a few spins.

25:

I turn 25 in a couple months. I caught on to the shoegaze thing really late and I absolutely love this album.

[algunz]

MBV

[amyzzz]

Robert, I have heard of Kitchens of Distinction! I had a friend who adored them so much that when KoD opened for Suzanne Vega, I got an interview with KoD through my college radio station so she could meet them and ask questions. Memories.

Also, I am going to edit more shizz into my original post now that I understand the rules better.

[TomAz]

Top 5 albums of this decade, easily.

which decade?

[BlackSwan]

Matt - 26

5:

Talking Heads - Remain in Light



I feel really lucky that I had/have such a cool mom. I remember being in the car as a kid and hearing this album. I didn't really understand how awesome it was until later, but I could tell that it was something really special. I didn't have much of a lifetime at the time, but I remember really loving "Once in a Lifetime" and it is still one of my favorite songs... ever. According to my mom, this was also around the time that I turned to her in the car one day and asked, "Mom, do people really believe that god is a bearded white guy in the sky?" You may find yourself on a beautiful Earth, and ask, how did I get here? I guess so.

Honorable mention: Bob Marley And The Wailers - Legend

10:

Green Day - Dookie



Green Day, Rancid, and Rage Against the Machine marked the beginning of my rebellious phase. I seemed to hit all the typical growing up stages a bit early, so at 10 I thought everything people told me was stupid and hormones were in full swing. There was hair spiking, ripped clothes, patches, and an eventual mohawk involved. I went to my first show around this time (Rancid with my cool mom), and I became notorious at school. This image attracted interesting girls, but the popular ones I thought were hot.

Honorable mentions: Rancid - ...And Out Come the Wolves & Rage Against The Machine - S/T

15:

Radiohead - Kid A



Somewhere in between 10 and 15, I discovered electronic music. It started with Prodigy-Orbital-Underworld-kind of stuff, but that led me to Massive Attack, Tricky, and Portishead, which led me to DJ Shadow. Endtroducing... got me majorly into trip-hop and downtempo, so when I heard Kid A, the world of rock that I was more accustomed to before my electronic phase collided with my current obsession in a major way. I went to a very arty high school, so I remember spending half of my week in this corner of the art class listening to Kid A and Amensiac on repeat. Those were good days.

20:

Thievery Corporation - The Mirror Conspiracy



Thievery Corporation became important to me at a time in my life when I had just burnt out on studying other cultures, but still idealized them. I spent a lot of time doing documentary-style street photography under the tutelage of a protégé of Henri Cartier-Bresson, and eating large quantities of hallucinogenic mushrooms as part of my anthropological/ethnobotanical studies. I would spend hours in the darkroom listening to Thievery Corporation and Gotan Project, and dream of living somewhere cooler than Binghamton.

Honorable mention: Gotan Project - La Revancha del Tango

25:

LCD Soundsystem - Sound of Silver & Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid



I think 25 is right around the time my bright-eyed optimism died. Halfway through my 20's, I finally felt like I was getting older. I started to get sick of the largely instrumental music I had been listening to and wanted music with more substance with lyrics that I could relate to with these new feelings. LCD and Elbow provided me with the two sides of the coin that I needed to get through this time.

[amyzzz]

Edited my post on page 1, if anyone cares.

[shermanoaksyo]

5


Memories of dad's hi-fi.

10


K, R, O, Q. Honorable mention goes to Blind Melon.

15


Angry overprivileged white teenager music! Honorable mention: Garbage Version 2.0

20


the most anticipated/important album of the napster era. honorable mention: ambulance ltd., learning the entire bob dylan catalog obsessively over a NYC winter

25


music tastes deepened a bit thanks to post-college NYC life. honorable mention: In Rainbows, Get Behind Me Satan, Funeral

[Still-ill]

which decade?

Ok, if you're gonna nitpick.