There was a thread on a music message board I regularly participate on that asked, “What are the 10 most influential albums for you?” It got me thinking and really took me back. Here’s what I came up with…

Soundgarden/Superunknown
I remember being an angsty teenager and my parents picking up and moving me away from all my friends to a completely new and strange town. This album — as dark as it is — got me through that time.

The Offspring/Smash
I was a sophomore in high school when this came out and my snot-nosed little brother and all his dorky friends were super into Green Day. They listened to Dookie non-stop, so I hated it on principle. Then I found this album and it opened up the whole punk world to me. I remember us all piling into the mini-van with the one guy in our group who was old enough to get his learner’s permit, blasting Bad Habit out of the crappy, factory speakers.

Less Than Jake/Pezcore
I saw these guys play at the Shelter in Detroit when this album came out. I had never been into ska before, but there was so much energy in the show and on this album. It was like nothing I’d ever heard before.

The Suicide Machines/Destruction By Definition
This came out a while after I had started seeing live punk shows (starting with these guys at a basement show). I was already kind of into punk, but the Suicide Machines made it all real. It wasn’t just coming out of my CD player anymore, it was live, and it was amazing.

Jurassic 5/Quality Control
I was 100% opposed to anything having to do with hip-hop until I heard J5. They showed me that it wasn’t just about P. Diddy stealing other people’s songs.

Travis/Singles — B-sides/
This album was the only good thing that came out of a relationship I had in college. At that point it was all about punk and ska for me. Listening to this showed me that there was other music out there.

The Weakerthans/Reconstruction Site
I started listening to this band because they had a song about how shitty Winnipeg is (and I hate that fucking city). Listening to this album got me listening to other similar bands. Again, opening up doors I previously probably wouldn’t have walked through.

Nirvana/Nevermind
I remember hearing Smells Like Teen Spirit the first time like it was yesterday. I was 12-years-old, riding down a back-country, dirt road in rural Kansas in my neighbor’s beat-up pick-up truck. We’d bug my friend’s dad to put on the local college radio station because we though it made us cool. Once this song came blasting out of the radio, it was like no other band in the world existed. Until then I was a bratty little kid who listened to whatever pop/alt/metal garbage they played on the radio. This is the album that made me love music.

The Beatles/Rubber Soul
I think I was about 13 when I broke into my parent’s record collection for the first time. This is the album that showed me that music isn’t just about what’s new, it’s about what others did before and how it influences everything that comes after. It gave me perspective that helped me appreciate music a lot more.

Husker Du/New Day Rising
What I said about the Beatles is the same reason this Husker Du album is important. I knew about, listened to and liked the Ramones, Sex Pistols and the Clash, but Husker Du got me into bands that weren’t as big, bands that were a little closer to what punk rock in those early days was all about.

The Gaslight Anthem/The ’59 Sound
I’d gotten to the point where I was content to listen to the same bands I had in my iTunes for the rest of my life. This album got me excited about listening to and discovering new music again. I can’t wait to see them in a couple weeks!