I’ve begrudgingly reached the chapter of my life when the grocery store is always playing my jams-- Lifehouse, Staind, end list. That being said, I have been to Hot Topic a handful of times over the last year. That’s still cool, right? One time, while Manson was playing, I noticed all the dads singing along, so you tell me. Maybe that same mall trip, maybe a different one, I saw someone’s mom wearing a My Chemical Romance shirt. Can you believe it? I still go to the mall. Also, I was shocked that moms are into that stuff now. Then I realized I am, in fact, an age that could comfortably have a highschooler and I am probably older than that woman. My apologies to her, kudos to her taste in music.
Being a current-music Luddite is full circle from 21 year old me transferring schools to pursue Music Business because, as my LiveJournal states, “it remains the only consistent part of my life. it makes me feel.” So after mainlining live shows at Summerfest as a teenager and risking all of my PCs to Limewire’s wrath, I stopped listening to new music sometime around 2009. I think it was when said laptop finally succumbed to a virus or could no longer bear the shame of hosting my Clay Aiken collection.
Brian, my former House of Blues coworker turned close friend and regular concert companion, challenged me to post 10 albums that have influenced my musical taste. While I am supposed to post them to Facebook, one a day for so many days with no explanation and no review, I am obviously not one to follow the rules of music decorum. Further, I think it’s assumed that these choices will be landmark albums that change the course of music forever. Clearly, that is not a rule I will follow either. Here are the albums that made me feel things.
Matchbox 20- Yourself or Someone Like You
Sure there was NKOTB and occasional songs I’m sure I loved before the age of actually forming memories (it’s 16 for everyone, right?), but the first band and song I remember having those “special” feelings for was “Push” by Matchbox 20. I’m sure I found it on the light rock station that my dad loved in my youth, but I continued to shove “3AM” and “Real World” deeply into my brain with foam headphones from the back seat of my grandparents’ car, the straight lines of the tree farms whizzing by on our way up north. And lest you think it was a quick love affair, in 2001 I quoted from MB20s second album, Mad Season, in my senior yearbook and, just recently, I impressed a much younger coworker by blasting the Rob Thomas Pandora station to an expression that read, “What is that, oldies?”
Fugees- The Score
Now I know I insinuated that there wouldn’t be any “greatest” or “influential” or “good” albums on this list, but let me quickly divert from the questionable train to bring you the only CD that lived in the darkroom during my photography class senior year of high school: a love affair. I have many regrets in life but possibly none as heart-wrenching as not admitting my feelings for my fellow student Tim and his mushroom cut. There’s a chance that our feelings were actually mutual, it’s hard to decipher if our incessant teasing was, in fact, flirting, but at the end of one school day, as I was walking up the stairs to my locker, Tim called out trying to get my attention. I’d waited for that day, a relationship outside of that dark room. And with all that anticipation and anxiety, I ignored him. This album will forever be the anthem for our unrequited awkward white lanky love, the precursor to my other lifelong unrequited love with Lauryn Hill.
Smashing Pumpkins- Adore
My mother used to drop me off at my friend Amy’s house at the butt crack of dawn on her way to work, before Amy and her family even woke up. Those early hours allowed me some sweet parent-free time to watch MTV which I did not have at home. This is when I first saw and fell in love with “Bullet With Butterfly Wings,” obviously because of all my 7th grade rage. After all is said and done, and Smashing Pumpkins are done reuniting, Adore is my favorite album. Seeing Billy around Chicago are my most vivid memories, once making eye contact and shrugging my shoulders at him as a rabid fan followed him around Barnes & Noble, my place of employment, as I made my way to the breakroom.
Alanis Morissette- Jagged Little Pill
You could tell me it was only the “Ironic” video alternated with the “Bullets With Butterfly Wings” video on MTV for this entire part of my life and I would believe you because they are the only two things that mattered to me next to JTT. Obviously I understood the raw anger and frank portrayal of female sexuality due to the latter. That, or being made fun of in the gym locker room for not wearing a bra. Humming “Hand in my Pocket” to myself, walking from that same locker room to class, shares that same memory space.
Incubus- Make Yourself
I can’t exactly remember when Incubus came into my life so I’m going to go ahead and assume I jumped on the “Drive” train like everyone else, although my S.C.I.E.N.C.E disc is so beat up that I have to scream sing “Vitamin” acapella. The reason I can’t pinpoint an exact date of consummation is that Incubus is a soundtrack for my walking to kickboxing class during highschool, hanging band clippings on my dorm wall freshman year, and standing front row, alone, at their Lollapalooza show in 2003. Also, just last year, I discovered that Morning View is a great way to start any workday when you’re alone in the office.
Greenwheel- Soma Holiday
To catch lightning in a bottle means to accomplish a nearly impossible task, like finding a favorite band simply by attending a random show with a friend. Riding the moderate success of their song “Shelter” on the Spider-Man soundtrack (the one with Nickleback’s “Hero” you guys!), I first saw Greenwheel on the Lazer 103 stage at Summerfest in 2002 while they were on tour with Our Lady Peace. Which is a far cry from eventually running their street team, blacking out on the table while selling their merch, and taking a solo road trip to St. Louis to see their next iteration, Go Van Gogh. Most importantly, I continue to prefer their version of “Breathe” over the Grammy-nominated Melissa Etheridge version, and it takes a lot for me to betray the OG lez.
Good Charlotte- The Young and the Hopeless
Aside from the fact that Billy served as the prototype for the boy I hoped to date and the girls I would eventually end up with, Good Charlotte fits the bill of an artist that influenced my musical taste as they were the gateway drug to a pop-punk period in which I listened to Story of the Year and Something Corporate. The year I worked at Marcus Amphitheater during Summerfest, I called in sick the day GC played so I could use my credentials to sneak backstage. Mind you, that same year, Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, and Peter Gabriel also played. Again, I chose to sit in on Good Charlotte’s soundcheck. Couldn’t name a favorite song for you really, but I could probably nail down a favorite haircut.
Gavin Degraw- Chariot
So if we instead call my actions towards Good Charlotte “normal,” the actions any self-respecting fan would take to get closer to their favorite artist, then whatever it was I did after discovering Gavin Degraw is probably considered scandalous. My memory sheds very little on the subject since it coincides with my unhealthy relationship with alcohol, but the later years of my LiveJournal tell stories of making friends with tour managers and roadies and footing the bands’ bar tab. After Chariot came a subsequent album Chariot (Stripped) and I remember scream-singing the acoustic versions of the song at 4am on my way to work at Starbucks during my gap year between colleges.
Will Hoge- Blackbird on a Lonely Wire
While following Gavin Degraw may have enabled some less than healthy activities, it also served as a means of connection. During that time in my life, I was moving from living back home to Chicago to finish college at another school. On a trip to Chicago for my orientation, I went to an instore for Gavin where I met a friend who eventually introduced me to Will Hoge. It was an easy transition from creeping in the backs of dive bars to having a partner in crime. One time, on one of many road trips to see the band, her and I ended up selling merch for different bands on the same line-up. It went from music to my lifestyle and, while burnout was inevitable, I am forever grateful for that time of my life and the soundtrack that goes with it.
Jeff Buckley- Grace
I must have been trying to impress a crush because there’s no way Jeff Buckley squeaked into my repertoire on its own. And like all of my other music infatuations, I let this one go a little too far. Because of its proximity to the Metro in Chicago, the nearby cafe Uncommon Ground was famous for an intimate show Jeff Buckley had performed in 1994, before the release of Grace. The bar has since held an annual Jeff Buckley tribute night that, once I found out, inspired me to apply and work at the cafe for that sole purpose. Turns out, that’s not the best way to gauge a job and I ended up quitting before I could even attend the next, but I was well on my way to making a lifetime of questionable adult decisions.
At some point, these albums and their songs served as momentary loves of my life. And when the songs in my earbuds didn’t suffice, I would physically follow the artists in an attempt to chase that dragon. While my eventual stint working in the “music business” handed me an array of random favorite singles and albums from boxes of promotional CDs, I slowly stopped listening to new music by 2009 and became beholden to what I found on the radio or at the local lesbian bar. Spoiler alert, it was all Lady Gaga. Each day I was supposed to nominate someone else to post life-changing albums but, in reality, I should ask, for the love of god, send me the albums I missed over the last decade. If not that, luckily they still play Lady Gaga at the grocery store.