So I’ve been tagged on Facebook by a bunch of my friends to come up with a list of 15 significant albums. 

I mostly picked albums that I related with specific memories and times in my life.  These are not necessarily my favorite albums by a given band, nor the best, or even the one I’d most recommend.  Just ones that I have specific memories about.  The years signify the year the album came out, not when I listened to it, however, the list itself is chronological, as it pertains to my life. (How very High Fidelity of me.)

1. Alanis Morrisette – Jagged Little Pill (1995)

Like a lot of girls my age, this was the first album (and it’s probably obvious, but I mean CD) I ever bought with “my own money.”  I can still remember the first time I heard the opening harmonica/guitar riff on the first track (standing in the now long gone Tower Records on Grand River in East Lansing) and thinking, “this sounds different than anything I’ve ever heard before.”  It’s still one of my favorite albums.  I also do a damned fine Alanis at karaoke, if I do say so myself.

2. Jewel – Pieces of You (1995)

This album probably affected me more than any other on this list, and no one who knew me in high school would be at all surprised to see this on this list.  Specifically though, I have extremely fond memories of listening to this song while working on my first ‘zine, the summer after my freshman year of high school.

3. Jimmy Eat World – Clarity (1999)

Clarity will forever remind me of driving around Jackson, a crisp winter, working as a projectionist at “the ghetto-plex” and falling asleep next to the first person I ever really loved.  This album always makes me think of wintertime, and inspired an annual tradition of making “Chill” mixes at the end of each year.

4. The Hippos – Heads Are Gonna Roll (1999)

I never listened to a lot of ska, but I loved this album (still do!), and remember driving around listening to it in the Purple Steed.  I also remember sewing a Hippos patch onto Justin’s bomber jacket with a secret note folded inside saying that I’d always love him.  I have no idea if he ever took the patch off to find it.

5. The Impossibles – Return (2000)

No need to reiterate.  My favorite album by my favorite band.  The memories associated with this album span years.

6. The Weakerthans – Left and Leaving (2000)

I’m not sure I’ve ever officially called them this, but the Weakerthans are probably my second “all-time favorite” band.  I have a number of memories relating to this album, too, also spanning several years.

7. Beck – Sea Change (2002)

Tod and I had met in Chicago, but I lived in Michigan, and he in California.  The opening chords of this album still send a chill down my spine, and conjure memories of candle-lit long-distance bubble bath phone conversations.  Very bittersweet, but undeniably powerful to me.

8. Death Cab for Cutie – Transatlanticism (2003)

Same time period.  We saw Death Cab at MSU and the chorus of “I need you so much closer” meant more than I could even put into words.  When I moved to San Diego and we drove over the mountains watching the sunset as the title track played, Tod and I both cried and that moment was both an end and a beginning for both of us.  It’s probably the most important moment of my life.

9. Elliott Smith – From a Basement on the Hill (2004)

Hard times weren’t over though, and the changes of moving cross-country brought on some major depression for me.  I bought this album the day it came out, and it signifies both my depression and finding the strength to begin to overcome it.

10. The Flaming Lips – At War with the Mystics (2006)

We’d moved back to Lansing, and were spending the first year of our marriage in the tiny YAC-partment, making art and comics, having parties and great times with our Michigan friends. 

11. Devo – Q: Are We Not Men? A: We are DEVO (1978)

This album doesn’t have as strong of associations as most of the others, as I’d known most of the songs on it from our playlist.  But re-realizing it as an album opened some big musical gateways for me.

12. Oppenheimer – Oppenheimer (2006) + The Shins – Wincing the Night Away (2006)

Moving to Virginia and starting over again.  I’m not sure that I’m far enough away from this time period yet to really describe my feelings yet, but these two albums definitely signify a time of learning how to be independent and strong.

13. Talking Heads – ‘77 (1977)

This album, and the Talking Heads movie, True Stories (also an album), brought me peace and helped me to understand the Universe a bit differently after Jonah was born.  It seems almost cliché, and I probably wouldn’t have put it into these words then, but there was a short period where I really believed that having a baby meant I had to give up my career and my art.  The scooter accident cemented that for a while.  But once again, I started over and now things are better than they’ve ever been.  Not on this album, the song “Dream Operator” was the first song that Jonah heard after he was born.  We played it in the car as we drove home from the hospital and once again, Tod and I both cried.

14. The Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique (1989)

For years I swore I hated the Beastie Boys, but a mini-comic by Jim Mahfood inspired me to give this album an honest shot.  When I did and loved it, it opened my musical horizons in a big way.  It also taught me that if I stand up and dance while I make art, my art is way better and I have more fun. ;)

15. Black Moth Super Rainbow – Eating Us (2009)

One of my current favorites, though I’ve listened mostly on Pandora and play lists.  I feel like this band will probably always signify the real beginning of PAPERCUTS * and big personal changes for me.

 

* Although as an unfocused project, PAPERCUTS itself was named for and inspired by this song back in 2006: