Top 25 Albums

My friend Tim recently posted one of those notes on Facebook, you know, the ones everyone seems to post every single day (somehow almost always involving music). His note was entitled simply "25 Albums," and in the note was a list of, you guessed it, 25 records, and the following instructions:

"Take no more than 15 minutes to record your top 25 albums. Implicit to this exercise is the notion that you will pick the albums that come to mind first, thus the albums that have been the most formative for you for various reasons. This is NOT a list for critical thought. Just do it!!!!!!!!!!"

Tim's list bounced all over the place, ranging from the Byrds to Camera Obscura to Fugazi. Inspired by Tim's endeavor, I decided I'd do my own list. I haven't posted it to Facebook, figuring it was more appropriate to put here. When I was done with my list, the overwhelming realization I came to was pretty entertaining. I'm fairly certain you'll pick up on it.

In no particular order, here are my top 25 albums, as per the criteria given above:

*The Verve - The Verve EP

*The Verve - A Storm in Heaven

*The Verve - A Northern Soul

*Supergrass - I Should Coco

*The Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street

*Radiohead - The Bends

*Primal Scream - Screamadelica

*Joy Division - Closer

*Oasis - Definitely Maybe

*The Black Angels - Passover

*Spiritualized - Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space

*The Rolling Stones - Beggar's Banquet

*Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - BRMC

*The Dandy Warhols - Come Down

*Tschaikovsky - The Nutcracker Suite

*Cat Stevens - Tea for the Tillerman

*My Bloody Valentine - Loveless

*Super Furry Animals - Fuzzy Logic

*Depeche Mode - Violator

*Iggy Pop - Lust for Life

*Pulp - Different Class

*Jeff Buckley - Grace

*Magnetic Fields - 69 Love Songs

*Nada Surf - Let Go

*The National - Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers

So, friends, do you see the overall theme of the above records?

Another interesting thing to think about is how different this list would have been ten years ago. Certainly, some of the same albums would have been included, but I can bet you ten years ago at least a quarter of my top 25 would have been Beatles albums. It just goes to show how one's tastes can change.