Identify the 43 albums I couldn't do without

Johnny Cash’s “At San Quentin”

What was it about Johnny Cash that made him so effing cool? He was more country than the people who lived down the dirt road from my house, and yet somehow he’s one of the most rock-n-roll bastards that ever lived. He was the best of both worlds, and nothing suits whiskey drinkin’ nights more than his performance at San Quentin State Prison.

Everything about this album is perfect: the music, the prisoners’ reactions, the song choices. Even though Johnny Cash never served any prison time, you get the impression that he really related to what those men were going through. And the prisoners were just freakin’ thrilled to have him there. I think their reactions are my favorite part of the whole thing.

Back in the day when I had long drives to and from school, I’d listen to nothing but Johnny Cash. All his albums are good for the road, but this one was made for it.

Favorite track: San Quentin

Aretha Franklin’s “I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You”

This is one of the albums that I put into heavy rotation in the springtime. Sometimes it feels like there’s nothing better than driving around in cool sunny weather with Aretha on the radio. Just this afternoon I sat in G’s living room with the door open, a breeze blowing in and feeling all right the world for as long as the music lasted. There’s just something about it that makes me undeniably happy.

Favorite track: “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)”

Bob Marley and the Wailers’ “Kaya”

The late, great Mitch Hedberg once said, “I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too.” That about sums up all my memories that are linked to Bob Marley’s music.

I really can’t think of anything else that needs to be said about this one.

Favorite track: “Easy Skanking”

Big Star’s “Third/Sister Lovers” (also known as “Beale Street Green”)

There are five reasons I love this album:

1. It’s known by three different names. I once met a guy a long, long time ago who listed Big Star as one of his favorite bands. I said, “Oh, I love ‘Third!’” and he was like, “You mean ‘Sister Lovers?’” So we googled it and discovered we were both about one-third right. I really hope to meet someone one day who claims their favorite Big Star album is “Beale Street Green.” It would complete the circle.

2. I was introduced to Big Star and given this album by a guy I was totally in love with. He would write poetry for me, and then we’d spend entire evenings talking about the perfection of Alex Chilton’s voice. Big Star is romantic to me now.

3. This album includes both an awesome cover of a Velvet Underground song (“Femme Fatale”) AND an original tune that was later covered by Jeff Buckley (“Kangaroo”). It links to other people I love which is cool in my book.

4. Alex Chilton’s voice. Holy lord.

5. The song “Jesus Christ” has a really interesting sound that I would never, ever associate with Jesus. When I was first getting into this album, I always referred to it as the “Jesus on a bicycle” song, ‘cause that’s what I always thought of. Anything that can put that image into my head is OK by me.

Favorite track: “Holocaust”

The Band’s self-titled album

Some music is made for crowded bars, and some albums are meant to be heard at loud parties where someone will inevitably end up naked on the front lawn. The Band’s self-titled album is back-porch music for breezy Saturday afternoons when the only “work” that has to be done is picking up another case of beer at the gas station.

It boggles my mind that a band in which four of the five members were Canadian could make music that settles me into my Southern roots. I loathe country music about cheating wives and pickup trucks, but the Band some-fucking-how made music that to me is perfectly Southern and yet totally rock. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN? I just don’t know. I know Levon Helm grew up in Arkansas, so maybe that’s how it happened. I’m going to stop looking this gift horse in the mouth before I end up ruining it for myself.

Favorite track: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

The Strokes’ “First Impressions Of Earth”

A few friends who don’t like the Strokes have told me that it’s because all their music kind of sounds the same. I don’t think that’s totally true, but even if it is, I’m cool with it because I obviously dig the one sound they’re putting out.

“First Impressions Of Earth” is one of my go-to Saturday night albums. When I put it on, I get ready to rock my white-girl ass all over town. Whenever I hear “Ize Of The World” I think back to seeing them in concert when they opened with that song and how it made me feel like spinning in circles. I still feel like spinning in circles when I hear it. Sometimes music just makes you feel good, you know?

Favorite track: “Ize Of The World”

The White Stripes’ “Elephant”

It should be impossible for just two people to make such a loud noise together. It seems like a band would need at least three members to reach this level of rock, but all it really takes is Jack and Meg White. That’s enough.

A few summers ago when I finally got to see them live, my friend and I got into a car accident on the way to show and I ended up cutting my foot on a broken beer bottle, but it was STILL one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to. That’s how good the White Stripes are.

Every time I get close to thinking rock and roll is dead, I’ll listen to “Elephant” and it convinces me otherwise. Jack White is one of the best guitarists ever, and this was the first album that he actually did solos, so while I love all their records, this one holds a special place in my heart.

Favorite track: “Ball and Biscuit”

A Perfect Circle’s “Mer de Noms”

Yet another album indelibly linked to my younger and wilder days, “Mer de Noms” was in constant rotation the summer before and the entire year of my freshman year of college. From the first time I heard “Judith” on the radio, I was hooked – absolutely, freakishly, as-only-an-18-year-old-can-be hooked. I spent an entire summer riding around with J with this album on repeat, worrying if we’d lose touch when we started different colleges, and then I spent countless nights in college sitting in one dorm room or another engaging in the neverending Tool v. APC debate, making friends that are still around to this very day.

A Perfect Circle is just one of those bands that snuck up on me and rattled my skull. I still think no other band comes close to such a perfect mixture of heavy and soothing sounds. Plus, it’s got Maynard James Keenan doing vocals. How could it not be awesome?

Favorite track: 3 Libras

Bob Dylan’s “Bringing It All Back Home”

You know how sometimes you hear somebody say, “This new hair gel changed my life” or “This new diet soda changed my life” and you think to yourself, “That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” but then one day you find something that rattles your soul and all of a sudden you feel bad for making fun of hair-gel guy and diet-soda girl?

Yeah…

This album changed my life.

Bob Dylan’s music didn’t sneak up on me. I went out searching for him as a teenager, determined to figure out what all the fuss was about. I didn’t have some cool older friend hand me a mixtape and tell me, “This is gonna blow your mind.” No, I had a worker at the music store say, “You actually like this stuff?” At the time I didn’t know if I did or not – but I sure as hell acted like Dylan was my favorite thing in the world that day just to not look like a fool in front of the idiot behind the cash register.

The thing that really gets me about “Bringing It Back Home” is that you can hear Dylan changing from the straight-up protest singer to the more rockin’ style of the rest of his work in the ‘60s. The first half of the album has Dylan backed by an electric rock-and-roll band (heresy!), and the second half is acoustic, so you get to two phases of his career on one album. What a deal!

Favorite track: “She Belongs To Me”

Tool’s “Ænima”

I clearly remember that this came out when I was freshman in high school. I was OBSESSED with Tool at that age. As a matter of fact, I still go through periods of Tool obsession. I had gotten my hands on my older brother’s copy of “Undertow” and it was like a door in my mind was blasted open. OK, in retrospect, it probably wasn’t that important, but at the time, I thought no music could ever be more significant than what I was hearing at that moment.

Now almost 13 years later, this album still gets me all riled up. I’ve seen Tool in concert 3 times (I think. There are a few blurry years of my early 20s when I went to concerts all the time but remember absolutely nothing about.), and every time I get the most excited when they start to play things off “Ænima.” It takes me back to being 15, AND at 27, it still rocks my socks off.

Favorite track: “Ænema”