Someone posted this on facebook. I like doing these little quiz-type things, but I rarely post them. This one really got me thinking so I thought I’d go the extra mile. Here are the directions:

Rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen albums you’ve heard that will always stick with you. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.Tag fifteen friends, including me because I’m interested in seeing what albums my friends choose. To do this, go to your Notes tab on your profile page, click “Write a note”, paste title and rules in…

And after the appropriate 15 minutes, here was what I came up with:

1. Joe Firstman- War of Women   01 Introduction to _The War Of Women
2. Sarah McLachlan – Mirrorball Building a Mystery
3. Dido- No Angel All You Want
4. Andrew Lloyd Webber- The Phantom of the Opera Soundtrack The Phantom of the Opera
5. Jewel- Spirit Jupiter
6. Carole King- Tapestry So Far Away
7. Love Actually Soundtrack God Only Knows
8. Alanis Morrisette- MTV Unplugged Head Over Feet
9. Veronica Mars Soundtrack We Used To Be Friends- The Dandy Warhols
10. Granian- On My Own Two Feet Contagious
11. Carly Simon – Coming Around Again As Time Goes By
12. Maroon 5- Songs About Jane The Sun
13. Teitur – Poetry & Airplanes Rough Around the Edges
14. Moulin Rouge Soundtrack Elephant Love Medley
15. Ally McBeal: For Once In My Life featuring Vonda Shepard You’re the First, the Last, My Everything

Honestly, I surprised myself with some of the answers. I was thinking of entire albums and not just favorite songs or favorite bands (most of which didn’t even make the list!). Also, the thing all fifteen of my choices have in common is that the entire album is strongly linked to something in my life…a place, a time, an event, etc. As a result, most of them are from my past…when I actually listened to entire albums obsessively and before the majority of my music came in its live form.

I’ll never forget, for example, listening to The Veronica Mars Soundtrack in my car quite heavily the last few months of college…or having Sarah McLachlan’s “Surfacing” on repeat while getting lost in Washington DC on a Girl Scout trip…or listening to Jewel’s “Spirit” while playing Pokemon on my Gameboy. Then, of course, there is the album I listen to whenever I am deeply upset because it can be the only thing that makes me feel okay (that would be Joe Firstman’s “War of Women”, also strongly connected to what I still consider to be the best day of my life).

I could go on, but all of these albums make me feel something above and beyond the music itself. I’m sure it’s that nostalgic link that will keep these albums firmly implanted in my brain for years to come.

~ Kristen