It’s time for an epic post. I’ve mentioned it before but I thought I would lay out a few albums and songs that have this weird profound affect of pulling me back into a moment or memory from when I first started listening to them. This by no means is a list of my favorite albums or songs since I’m actually embarrassed to talk about some of them. They just happen to be buried in my memory for whatever reasons.

Pearl Jam – Yield (1997)
This by far is my favorite Pearl Jam album and nothing brings me back to 1997 like hearing a track off of it. Listening to this conjures up memories of “The Piece”, a high school cover band that I had with all my friends, or wearing flannel and corduroys despite grunge being out of date for years. It also makes me distinctively think of a night in high school where we walked from Pat’s house to Kohl’s to buy some Sobe Eroes which I had convinced myself would make me crazy with all the weird herbal tea in it. We went to the high school football game after Kohl’s and then back to Pat’s for more band practicing. That night pretty much summarizes my first two years of high school. This was also about the time that I started getting into vinyl records so this became the first new album I ever bought in the true “LP” format.

The Verve Pipe – Heroes (1999)
By this point I had started to let go of grunge. This was the first album outside of Pearl Jam that I had been able to really get in to for years. I bought the record the morning I was leaving to visit family and friends in Europe. Upon arriving in Frankfurt I left my entire 200 CD binder on the plane but had the Verve Pipe CD in the CD player, hence it being the only thing I listened to for 2 weeks straight. I have a very fond memory of falling asleep and waking up in the car while speeding through the European country side. It was the first time I had been back to revisit the town in Germany where I lived before moving to Wisconsin so hearing this record reminds me of the apartment and street where I had lived as a little boy. It also makes me think of our family friends the Dauers who took me on that trip. We all had a great time and listening to this makes me want to go back to Europe with them again.

Blink 182- Take Off Your Pants and Jacket (2001)
This one is a little embarrassing but it always reminds me of Senior year of high school and working at both Best Buy and Abercrombie. One of the Abercrombie managers loved Blink 182 so she would always make us listen to bootleg concerts that she brought in. I worked a lot of overnight shifts with her so I was constantly exposed to this album. I never understood how I worked so much between the two jobs and school but it paid off and I didn’t have to work at all the first year I was in college. This small obsession went so far as to actually make me go to a Blink 182 concert at Summerfest in 2001. Shortly after that the final full summer in Brookfield began with all of us staying up to crazy hours of the night, playing Gran Turismo on Playstation and otherwise generally being juvenile. Maybe it’s not a coincidence that American Pie came out that year after all (a couple songs from this record were on that soundtrack).

Better Than Ezra – Closer (2001)
This was the first record that I really got in to after going away to college. It makes me think of starting to work at Radio K and getting back in to music after befriending Chris. Around the same time I remember spending a full day in Madison at the Starbucks on State Street during a huge snow storm. I couldn’t drive and Dave, Pat, Dan and Amanda were all in class so I read a book and listened to this album all day. I’ve walked past that Starbucks since and tracks from Closer start slipping into my head without even realizing it. This whole record obsession culminating in Arun, Dave, Erin, Amanda and I going to see them play at the House of Blues in Chicago where I was pulled up on stage to play guitar with the band on a song. I’ll never forget that 5 minutes of fame which was one of the best nights of my life.

Cadillac Blindside – These Liquid Lungs (2002)
I found out about Cadillac Blindside way too late. It was the first local Minneapolis band I liked after working at Radio K and ironically I saw them play their last show in Milwaukee at The Globe. I know someday when I leave Minneapolis this record will make me think of the time I lived here. They had a couple songs about deciding to leave or stay in Minneapolis which was something I had thought about all through college. The other memory I have of this was with Kris. We drove home late one summer night blasting it on my stereo with the Windows down. We both listened to the whole CD straight through without saying a word to each other. That was some quality male bonding time.

Emo Stuff (2001-2003)
Here’s another one I’m a little embarrassed to write about but it marked a distinctive point in my life. This generally reminds me of freshmen and sophomore year of college, hanging out with Chris, starting out at Radio K and seeing shows 3-4 nights a week. It marked my full re-entrance back in to music which I had given up on after grunge died. I’m going to mainly blame this one on Captain Emo (Chris) but if it wasn’t for this stage (and him) I probably wouldn’t never moved on to love Bloc Party, CSS and all the other junk I love now. I’ll probably be saying the same thing about those bands as I do for these emo ones 5 years from now but at least I don’t hate music anymore.

Sia – Breathe Me (2006)
This song reminds me of Six Feet Under of course. But it also reminds me of what was going in my life at the time I was watching Six Feet Under. Namely buying my first condo and living by myself for the first time. It makes me think of beginning my internship at Veritas and getting my first job there. So basically it summarizes my college to real life transition. Too bad it doesn’t make me fast forward and see the rest of my life and death like the show did. Plus with Nate Fischer (or the actor of Nate Fischer) living in the same city I work in it wraps the whole work / Six Feet Under connection up.

Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
Wow, I never realized what a ridiculous album title that was until writing it out just now. At any rate, I remember the first time I heard a song off of this at Chris’s first apartment with Jes. He told me I would love it before I even heard it and he was absolutely right. The memory I associate with it though is the biggest snow storm we had last winter. I bought the album at Cheapo late on a Sunday and heard that there was going to be a huge snow storm overnight that would make my normal 10 minute morning commute horribly longer. I loaded up the iPod with the album and went to bed around midnight. I didn’t think the storm would be that bad since it hadn’t started snowing yet. I woke up to over a foot of snow 6 hours later and my drive in took me over an hour. I listened to the whole album twice while creeping along with cars in the ditch and jack knifed trucks all over the freeway. Work was dead as I was one of the few that made it in so it was almost like a snow day with all the meetings canceled and watching the snow continue to fall.

Pearl Jam – s/t (2006)
Pearl Jam’s 2006 self titled record was an unexpected surprise. I had nearly given up on them after discovering a whole new world of indie music through Chris and Radio K. Listening to this brought back all the memories of my Pearl Jam obsession in which I bought hundreds of CD’s and went to almost a dozen shows. The record also came out at the same time I visited Seattle with my family last year. It had been the first time I had been back there since I was born so it was a nostalgic trip that made me want to come back for good some day. The last song “Inside Job” is slowly becoming one of my favorite songs by them ever.