42 Albums.

Alright - so on Facebook, I completed this little 15 albums activity. Basically it required that one note the 15 most influential albums of your life. I did not even get close to 15, but I had a great time reflecting on the albums that made me. . . me. Being a history dork, I organized my albums by specific time periods, with the scope being age 9 to present. The coolest thing was that every album made me think of important people in my life at the time. So upon finishing my list - I was feeling the nostalgia. Here it is:

1986 - 1988
(This time period is noted for the extreme influence that me older brother had on my taste. Now that we are about to have another little boy, I think about the amount of influence that my older brother had on me in the early years of my life, and it is astounding. It is cool though, because I was introduced to Kiss!)

Kiss - Alive I
Def Leopard - Pyromania
Iron Maiden - Number of the Beast
Beastie Boys - License To Ill
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin II

1989 - 1990
(My eighth grade year was an important one, as I met a young man named Mark Van Ness. He lived in an apartment complex with his mother, just behind my neighborhood, and rode my bus. We became quick friends. He taught me how to do many things that no 13 year old should ever know. But he did introduce me to punk rock music, via his older brother who was a in a punk band called "Unfound Logic" in Chapel Hill. I loved Mark, but we lost touch when we went to high school. It was probably for the best, as I cleaned up my act a bit. But when Callie's Paw was playing in Chapel Hill sometime in 1997, I ran into Mark on the street, and it was great. His best legacy is my remaining love for the Descendents.)

Descendents - I Don't Want To Grow Up
Charlatans UK - Some Friendly
All - Allroy Saves
Black Flag - Loose Nut
The Sundays - Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic

1990 - 1995
(This spans my wonderful time at West Forsyth High School. I was full on into playing in somewhat bad bands throughout these four years, but I was listening to great music. My favorite was certainly Sonic Youth, and that opened many musical doors for me. I met some really amazing people (Jay, Kylie, Vernon, Leslie, Dominique, the Faulkners, Marian, etc.), and they really influenced my musical taste heavily. I was also working pretty hard to emulate many of these musicians, while playing "punk" music in run down clubs, VFWs, and skateparks in Winston-Salem during this time. But I did open for Squatweiler a few times, and I remember it like it was yesterday.)

Sonic Youth - Goo
Superchunk - Incidental Music
Indigo Girls - Rites of Passage
Jayhawks - Tomorrow the Green Grass
Charlatans UK - Up To Our Hips
The Pixies - Doolittle
Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking
Dillon Fence - Outside In
Dinosaur Jr. - You're Living All Over Me

Squatweiler - New Motherstamper

1995 - 1999 (This list documents my time at UNC-Greensboro. I had a fantastic time at college, and this list truly feels like the soundtrack to that period of my life. I can not count how many times we went to see Jump Little Children and Phish, or how much money I spent doing it. I was playing in Callie's Paw throughout this entire time period, and these records below, left a huge footprint on the CP catalogue. Like the high school list, these albums mostly make me think of people though (Jessica, Heyward, Kari, Paul, AB, Walker, Sean Russell, Furches, Page, Katie Roche, Chelcy, Terri, Eliza, etc.) One of the best moments was when Superchunk played in the Cone ballroom at UNCG in 1996. I would guess the audience to have been in the range of 75 - 150 people. It was small enough where we were able to sit on the stage beside Laura Ballance, as she destroyed most of "Here's Where the Strings Come In" on the bass. I learned a lot of songs watching her play that night.)

Superchunk - Here's Where The Strings Come In

Jump Little Children - Licorice Tea Demos
Air - Moon Safari
Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
REM - Eponymous
Son Volt - Trace
Whiskeytown - Strangers Almanac
Replacements - Let It Be
Phish - A Live One
Wilco - Being There
Big Star - Number 1 Record

1999 - 2009 (This list documents my time in Asheville -which essentially documents my time with Jessica. This list is close to my heart for many reasons, and each record holds great memories. The majority of these albums are releases that Jessica and I got way into together. Guster, Coldplay, Ryan Adams, the Hives, the Shins, and Spoon are just Ben and Jessica music. . . period. My favorite music is the music that Jessica and I rock out to together. Ryan Adams, the Indigo Girls are probably our collective favorite, in that they always work for both of us. And when I moved to Asheville is when I met Jason - and Grand Champeen is an amazing band, that still makes me think of him. Jason used to play in Eddy with a guy from Grand Champeen, so we went to see them in Charlotte sometime around 2001, and it was one of the best rock shows I have ever seen. I remember that we drove back to AVL that night and talked about the golden age of Athens and modernism for two hours straight, while Jessica slept in the backseat. Was she not captivated? :) In addtion, Merge Records is well represented on this list, remaining our favorite indie record co.)

Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Grand Champeen - Battle Cry For Help
Guster - Keep It Together
Coldplay - A Rush of Blood To The Head
The Hives - Veni Vidi Vicious
Band of Horses - Cease to Begin

Portastatic - Bright Ideas
The White Stripes - Elephant
New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
Ryan Adams and the Cardinals - Cold Roses
The Shins - Wincing the Night Away