Turn up the music! (With a screwy layout)

If you've learned anything about me from my blog, I hope that you know how much I love music.  As I've mentioned before, I've always had a soundtrack to my life.   So many songs and albums mean so much to me, and move me in incredible ways, because they represent a place, a person, or a time in my life that I'll never forget.  A good song can always take me back to the moments I'll always remember.   

These are the top 15 albums of my life... so far.   Some of them inspire me, some of them remind me, and some of them just transcend time.   So here they are....

1. The Cranberries 

 No Need to Argue.

This is the first CD I ever bought. I was probably 13 or 14 and I listened to it non-stop. I was awkwardly coming into my teenage years and the emotional and somewhat dark lyrics fit me perfectly at the time. I still love "Zombie," and the lyrics to "Empty," "All of my plans, they fell through my hands. All of my dreams, it suddenly seems, empty."  Haven't we all felt that way?

2. No Doubt 

Tragic Kingdom.

I thought Gwen Stefani was so extremely cool and I so desperately wanted the polka dot dress she wore in the "Don't Speak" video. This was the second CD I ever bought. I jumped around to "Just a Girl" in my bedroom, pretending to be a rock star. 

3. Fiona Apple 

 Tidal.

I still think Fiona Apple is amazing. Her deep voice is jazzy and strange, and I love it. When I was 15/16 and just discovering music and art, I would listen to her while I wrote in my journal and attempted to be a poet. These were my "artzfartz16" days for those of you who know what that means. ; ) I think it's amazing she wrote "Never is a Promise" when she was 15 and I still love everything about that song. Listening to her always reminds me of my best friend growing up, Chelsea Aines. We both loved her and tried to be artsy and deep like the lyrics of her songs. One of the last things we ever did together was go to her concert in Michigan. I still have in my journal the "No Fur" stickers that PETA gave out at her show. It's still the cd I grab when I feel like being sad.  Am I the only one who does that?

4. Tori Amos  

Little Earthquakes. 

"But maybe I'm a mermaid in these jeans of hers with your name still on it, but I don't care cause sometimes I said sometimes I hear your voice and I've been, here, silent all these years."

...It made perfect sense to me at 15. 

5. Matchbox Twenty 

Yourself or Someone Like You.

Ok, I don't even like this band at all now and even I'll agree that it's ridiculous for this to be on my list. However, I will say that one song on this album, I still think is great.... "Hang." I listened to my friend Jamie play this song on his guitar and I fell in love with it. It was the first of many times in my life when I would use a song to try to say something that I just I couldn't. When I broke up with my first boyfriend at 16, I played him the song and told him to listen, and that it would explain how I felt. "She grabs her magazines, she packs her things and she goes. She leaves the pictures hanging on the wall, she burns all her notes, and she knows, she's been here too few years, to feel this old." (He didn't get it.)

6. Dashboard Confessional 

Swiss Army Romance.

Once I got out of my angry girl music phase...I finally found amazing music. The acoustic guitar, the lyrics, it was all, and still is, perfect. It reaffirmed my love for music and it was the soundtrack of a great summer. Sing-a-longs in my basement, riding with the windows down, and quoting favorite lines. "You're dying to look smooth in your tattoos but your plastic just like everyone, you could be anyone." Chris Carrabba is awesome.  I love every album of his and he is hands down my favorite artist. 

7. Natalie Cole 

 Unforgettable

Mine and my dad's album. He loves Jazz and introduced me to her and others at a young age. Anytime it was just me and him in the car we'd put in this cd, roll down the windows and sing. He'd be Nat and I'd be Natalie.   We danced to "Unforgettable" at my wedding and recently went on a little date together to see her in concert. 

8. Jake and Mike Volume 1

This was a 2 CD set that was given to me and my friend Natalie, by my husband  Jake and his best friend at the time, Michael. They came to visit us when I was 18 and we had all just began to hang out. I was my first musical education and my introduction in "Indie Rock" music... music that was emotionally charged in a way I adored... and still do adore. It included Rufio, Saves the Day, The Get Up Kids, Thursday, The Stryder, Slingshot 57, Juliana Theory, and so many others that I had never heard of and have come to love.  This CD was playing when Jake and I had our first kiss, and we danced to "Slingshot 57" at our wedding.   

9. Taking Back Sunday 

 Tell All Your Friends.

Just listen to "Cute Without the E" and you'll know what I mean. Love. If you've never heard of them, do yourself a favor and go download them right now.

10. Emery 

The Weak's End.

It's the first time I ever appreciated and actually enjoyed listening to "screaming music," as I liked to call it.  When I actually sat down and read the lyrics to their songs I fell in love. Their voices are amazing and so is every song on the CD. "Fractions" still makes me stop what I'm doing and listen. "You keep coming back disassembled and I keep losing this fight." One of the best bands I've seen live.  Their music moves me.   

11. Brand New

 Deja Entendu

Best lyrics ever. "I am heaven sent, don't you dare forget....we are entirely smooth, we admit to the truth we are the best at what we do." Every song is amazing and makes me close my eyes and sing as loud as I can.  If you appreciate lyrics, you will love them.

12. Death Cab for Cutie 

 Transatlanticism.

"A Lack of Color" is a favorite. "And when I see you, I really see you upside down." I still love the last line, "I should have given you a reason to stay."  Sigh.

13. Chiodos 

 Alls Well that Ends Well AND 

Bone Palace Ballet

I can't choose between the 2, they're both amazing. Craig Owens is an amazing artist and they might be the absolute best I've seen live. Every show I've been to has been nothing short of awesome.   One of the most emotionally driven bands I've seen and each line of every song reflects that. It's all about the lyrics to me and they have some of the best.  They broke up this year, but their music will always get to me.   "We make the sun...shine." 

14. Straylight Run 

 Demo.

Listening to this made me want to be in a band and play piano. I don't care how many times I hear "Existentialism on Prom Night," the opening piano part always moves me. "Sing like you think no one's listening, you would kill for this, just a little bit, you would."

15. Cyndi Lauper 

Twelve Deadly Cyns...and then some

"Time After Time" will always be my favorite song.   It says exactly what I've always wished I had been able to say to the people I've lost in my life. "True Colors," "What's Going On."  I love Cyndi.

   

Some of my favorite songs of all time aren't even on any of these albums...and I'm afraid that to list all of the music that I love would take all night and would be a post you would not take the time to read!!!  But... these are some of the top ones for me.  If I have mentioned any that you don't know about, download them, and let me know what you think.

What's on your soundtrack?


P.S. I copied and pasted this post from word, so the layout and text are all screwy.  Sorry bout that!  The one downfall of having a mac.

Oh, and I totally want to win this cute dog bed for Yoda that
Life in the Fulmer Lane is giving away!