Albums on Repeat, Part 1
Most children tend to enjoy the same music their parents listen to. Although my parents listened primarily to country, there were several non-country albums that I just couldn’t stop listening to. These are the albums that I frequently listened to on repeat throughout my youth. |
| 1 |  | The Cars
Candy-O
The Cars are my favorite band from my youth. Although I listened to all of their albums as a child, Candy-O was the most enjoyable. My dad made several copies on cassette and he gave me a copy for my kid’s cassette player. The player was a piece of junk and had a cheap microphone that you could sing into. It wasn’t until I started collecting vinyl albums later in life that I discovered the album art for Candy-O was somewhat risque. |
| 2 |  | U2
The Joshua Tree
My dad frequently traveled for work. I loved listening to this album with him while we traveled across the state. I don’t have many memories of my father from my childhood so this album is special to me, compared to other albums. |
| 3 |  | Journey
Greatest Hits
I received this album on cassette as a gift from my grandmother. Although most Journey albums contain songs that are hit or miss, in my humble opinion, this is one of the best “greatest hits” albums to ever exist. The track list is perfect. I couldn’t even guess how many times I have listened to this album in my lifetime. |
| 4 |  | Bon Jovi
Crossroad
My older cousin introduced me to Bon Jovi. This is the only album that I wanted to listen to for close to the duration of a year. |
| 5 |  | Green Day
Dookie
Shortly following my parent’s divorce, my dad purchased this album for me on cassette. Somehow, I think this was my father's Hail Mary attempt to win me over, while also sending one last bitter farewell message to my mom. I listened to this album on repeat and discovered that it’s actually a decent album for coping with dumb stuff. |
| 6 |  | Real McCoy
Another Night
This was the last album that I ever purchased for my Sony Walkman Cassette player. Thinking back, I’m glad that this type of 90’s house/dance music faded away, but it certainly was addictive during the mid 90’s. |
| 7 |  | No Doubt
Tragic Kingdom
I received a Sony Walkman Disc Player for Christmas and my grandma offered to purchase a CD for my new player. This was my top choice at the time. |
| 8 |  | Radiohead
OK Computer
My cousin was a fan of Radiohead’s hit song “Creep”. He thought this album was a hot piece of garbage so he gave the CD to me. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, OK Computer would become my most played album of all time and prompt me to listen to more diverse bands. |
| 9 |  | Savage Garden
Savage Garden
Organized school dances were the absolute worst. Not much was guaranteed at a school dance, other than the fact that at a minimum, three Savage Garden songs would be played. I purchased and memorized all the songs on this album so I could impress the girls. It didn’t really work, however my wife is equally impressed and disturbed that I went to such lengths. |
| 10 |  | Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind
This was the second CD I purchased. At the time, I only knew Semi-Charmed Life, but the whole album is packed full of hits. It’s unfortunate that Third Eye Blind never managed to reach the same height as their debut album. |
| 11 |  | Catch 22
Keasbey Nights
My band teacher introduced me to ska. I’ve listened to my fair share of bad ska, but Keasbey Nights is easily one of the best ska albums. |
| 12 |  | Less Than Jake
Hello Rockview
My band teacher challenged our jazz band class to learn a song on our instrument by merely listening. Needless to say, I spent many months listening to this album so that I could learn all of the horn sections. |
| 13 |  | Red Hot Chili Peppers
Californication
It’s not a perfect album, but it perfectly captures society pre-Y2K. Unfortunately, a classmate stole this disc out of my Walkman during a school trip. I never got the CD back, but ended up buying it again because it’s a good summer jam album. |
| 14 |  | Blink-182
Enema of the State
I couldn't turn on MTV without hearing “What’s My Age Again?” Curious to hear the rest of the album, I purchased the CD from a local music store and quickly decided that I needed to learn how to skateboard. |
| 15 |  | Linkin Park
Hybrid Theory
Let’s be honest...who doesn’t own a copy of this album? |
|
