Last time I did a Music That Made Me post (well, the only time until now, really), I talked about the top 5 albums that had an influence on me at various periods throughout my life. I even mentioned a few runners up! But I think it’s worth talking a little more about some of those runners up – and a few others I completely neglected to mention but were still very important to me growing up. When I say “growing up” I mainly mean high school. Because it seems like that’s the time when music most has an influence on us. When songs from these albums come up at the right time, I get a little nostalgic. Not that my high school years are THAT far behind me (scarcely over a decade, really), but I don’t know how else to describe the feelings they give me. It’s comforting and familiar. So without further ado, I present another round of 5 for Music That Made Me!
1) Dirty Vegas, Dirty Vegas
I got really super into EDM towards the end of high school and into early college – at that time I just called it “techno.” For Dirty Vegas, I think it’s technically “house.” Anyway, silly labels I’ll never get right aside, this was one of my FAVORITE albums at the time. I’d take any excuse to listen to it – so I listened to it all the time. My brother and I would even put it on while we played video games. It took me to a different mindset. I remember being hooked from the first track “I Should Know.” I still get good vibes when I hear it. As I mentioned last time, I got my first taste of Dirty Vegas from a Mitsubishi commercial (featuring “Days Go By”) and I instantly knew I had to get the album. So I did.
2) Sheryl Crow, The Globe Sessions
I mentioned this in the last Music That Made Me! It was tough picking between this album and the eponymous Sheryl Crow, but this one definitely came first for me. I remember it being a constant presence in my freshman year of high school. I loved this album so much. Her voice, the acoustic sound of the instruments, the sadness in (a lot of) the songs…I just felt it all deep in my bones and my heart. I still get that when I listen to tracks like “Riverwide” and “It Don’t Hurt.” Great production on this one. This was a really mature album for me to be listening to at the time, now that I think about it. I guess I (occasionally) had mature tastes? I say “occasionally” because…
3) Blink-182, Enema of the State
This is the album that comes next in the list of Music That Made Me. Haha, I don’t believe you should ever be ashamed of the music you listen to, but I’m maybe a little embarrassed this is on here? Oh, this was a high school album alright. It came out in my freshman year and might very well have been the first album I bought with my own money* (given to me by my parents so I could spend an afternoon at the mall). I played the heck out of this one too. I knew all the words. Once in awhile, a Blink-182 song will come on and I’ll think to myself that I don’t want to hear it, but if I don’t move fast enough to change it, I’ll realize that yes, indeed, I do want to hear it. This is probably the bro-iest album I own? Oh, dear.
4) Télépopmusik, Genetic World
More EDM/techno/whatever you want to call it! (Wikipedia says it’s electronic, trip hop, downtempo. Okay.) Again, as I mentioned before, I discovered these guys in a Mitsubishi commercial by way of “Just Believe” towards the end of high school. This one fascinated me because it wasn’t the type of techno that I was used to – but I still really, really liked it and I played it a lot. Angela McCluskey’s voice was heavenly to me (it still is) and her tracks are probably some of my favorite off of this album. These guys haven’t put out an album since 2005. That’s just 2 albums in 14 years! But each one is so deliberate – I remember noticing that even 11-12 years ago (or whenever it was that I bought it).
5) System of a Down, Toxicity
I didn’t listen to a lot of metal in high school. Maybe because nothing came as close to the perfection that this album achieved! Wow, this is still such a great album. And another one I listened to quite a lot. The politicalness (I couldn’t think of the right suffix for this??) went completely over my head at the time. I remember hearing about this band getting a lot of crap when 9/11 happened. But I didn’t make the connection. All I thought amounted to “Hey, it’s just music and I like it, so whatever.” Ah, teenage ennui. “Chop Suey!” got me into this album. I had a roommate who would call it “Self-Righteous Suicide” and got disgruntled when corrected because “Chop Suey!” made no sense and wasn’t even mentioned in the song. Heh.
That’s all for now! No honorable mentions this time – Oh, I definitely have more albums that influenced me, but I think I’ll save them for another time! This increments of 5 works well for me. Till next time!