Another meme...

Here's another one going around Facebook. I posted there but thought I should share via blog so my kids forever have documentation on their mother's musical tastes...

My 15 Influential Albums...

1. John Cougar Mellencamp - Uh-Huh
This was the first album I ever purchased. I think I wanted to buy Michael Jackson's Thriller but my dad talked me into this since "Johnny is a Hoosier". I was easily influenced and since I'd seen him on American Bandstand I bought it. I still have memories of listening to it with my dad who loved the lyric "I remember when you could stop a clock" from Pink Houses. He said it reminded him of my mom. That's a little depressing...

2. Michael Jackson - Thriller
Again, my dad tried to talk me out of this. I think he wanted me to buy Don Henley or something. But I held my ground and I'm so glad I did.

3. Prince - Purple Rain
I bought this album after hearing it at a friends house. At the time, I didn't understand the lyrics to Darling Nikki. I was so naive growing up!

4. Meat Loaf - Bat Out of Hell, Side 2
This was my dad's album and he used to listen to it all the time. I knew every lyric on side two by the time I was 6.

5. R.E.M. - Green
R.E.M. was the first concert I ever went to. My best friends brother took us and I think I was in eighth or ninth grade. Most of my friends hadn't heard of R.E.M. so I felt like listening to their music made me feel grown up and part of an elite club of progressive rockers.

6. The Cure's Greatest Hits
I'm still a big fan of The Cure although I don't listen to them nearly as much as I'd like to. In high school, I was always looking for alternative music that shied away from the pop I listened to in middle school (think Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, and New Kids on the Block). I definitely got this with The Cure.

7. Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes
Love, love, love this CD. My dad used to get upset when he heard Add It Up so I'd have to skip that song when he was around. I'm not sure Add It Up is worse than Paradise by the Dashboard Light but I suppose it's more sexually obvious. I copied this CD multiple times for a friend who's mom would take it away everytime she found it. I still listen to it and my kids love it. (Of course I skip track 4.)

8. Indigo Girls - Rites of Passage
I heard Galileo driving home one night after working late at Wendy's when I was 17. I was listening to some alternative music show on a random radio station. I fell in love with the song but unfortunately didn't know the artist or title. A few months later, I was at Shipshewana and was browsing through the cassettes. (Remember when you could buy Shipshewana cassettes for $2.50??) I saw the song titled Galileo and hoped it was the same one I remembered from the radio. It was and I wore that tape out. Later that summer, I had an exchange student from France live with me for a month. We would drive down 427 belting out the lyrics to Chicken Man.

9. Nirvana - Nevermind
This CD epitomizes the lost of innocence in my life. (For no particular reason, it's just that I did a lot of growing up during it's popularity.)

10. INXS - Kick
Every single song on this CD is outstanding.

11. Lenny Kravitz - Mama Said
This CD taught me about falling in and out of love.

12. Alanis Morrisette - Jagged Little Pill
To me, this CD seemed so raw, so truthful. I appreciated that.

13. Indigo Girls - 1200 Curfews
This would be the one CD I'd choose if I was stranded on a deserted island.

14. Mighty Blue Kings - Meet Me At the Uptown
This is the CD and type of music (swing) I was in to when I fell in love with my husband. He and I will always have a special place in our lives for the Mighty Blue Kings.

15. The Fratellis - Costello Music
I've been listening to a lot of pop music lately. (Think Fergie, Katy Perry, Britney, etc.) I'm embarrassed by this because I used to be so INTO music. But as I grow older, I'm less likely to explore what's out there. When I get interested in a musician or album, I really invest myself. And with a life consumed with my family, my career, and everything else, I just don't have the energy to really develop and expand my musical horizons. Instead, I opt for easy. The Fratellis are anything but easy and they signify that I can still rock it out when I'm so inspired.

Honorable mentions: Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, Against the Wind; Willie Nelson, Always on My Mind; Blood, Sweat, & Tears, Greatest Hits; They Might Be Giants, Apollo 18; Dixie Chicks, Wide Open Spaces; No Doubt, Tragic Kingdom; Steve Miller Band, Greatest Hits 1974-1978; Rave Til Dawn.