Tuesday, March 10, 2009 – 7:44pm – Tracey’s couch, Vancouver, BC

This is a paste-in from a note that I posted on Facebook and I thought it’d be good to have it in my actual journal since it really encompasses a lot of different times of my life. Music really has been the soundtrack to my life and there’s always a song or album that I associate with most any time in my life.

Think of 25 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world.

Journey – Escape (around 1980-81)
My mom used to play this album while we were going to sleep when I was about 7 years old. I know all the songs, even though only a few of them were singles.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – You’re Gonna Get It (around 1984)
This is another album that I used to listen to a lot when I was a kid. Though I had no idea about what a lot of the lyrics meant at the time, I would sit on my first acoustic guitar’s "shoulders" and pretend the headstock was a microphone and sing along to "I Need to Know" and "Listen to Her Heart".

Tina Turner – Private Dancer (around 1984)
Another cassette in my Mom’s playlist that I listened to a lot when we still lived in the apartments on Vincent Road.

Wham! – Make it Big (around 1984)
Another one that I loved to sing along to when I was about 10 years old or so.

Robert Cray – Strong Persuader (around 1985-86)
The songs from this album remind me of driving to Waynesboro with my Dad when I was probably 11 or 12. He was always listening to music in the car and I remember this one being played several times. I still have "Strong Persuader" and "Smoking Gun" on my playlist.

Eurythmics – Eurythmics (around 1983-84)
This is another album that reminds me of my Dad. This was around the time when MTV was first coming out and I remember how far-out the video for "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" seemed back then. My Dad has always been into electronics and video-related gadgets, so he was always recording things and we were all mesmerized by MTV when it came out.

Prince – Purple Rain (around 1984)
What 80s kid doesn’t remember this album with some sort of nostalgia???

Journey – Raised on Radio (1986-87)
This album reminds me of the year that my Mom and I had moved backto Mississippi when I was 12 and I was terribly homesick and missing my best friend, Emily. We didn’t have a phone, so I’d go up to the gas station and call her collect and I would cry because I missed Denham Springs and my friends. They had a TV special on during this time about this album and I recorded it and would watch it over and over again. I even drew the Raised on Radio logo on the outside of the plastic case. I was obsessed with the idea of having a tux jacket with tails like the ones Steve Perry was wearing during the tour for the album.  Too cool – that whole video is on YouTube now. 🙂

Poison – Look What the Cat Dragged In (1987)
I first heard "I Won’t Forget YOu" when we were pulling away from the cemetery after my great-grandmother’s funeral. After that, I got really into Poison and ended up taking more interest in playing the guitar.

Poison – Flesh & Blood / Open Up and Say Ahh (1989-91)
These two albums I firmly believe kept me out of trouble when I was going through a lot of difficult times during high school. Instead of getting up to all of the no-good a lot of my friends were, I could most often be found in my room with my BC Rich strat, playing along with these two albums.

Motley Crue – Dr. Feelgood (1990-91)
Another of the frequently played CDs in my room during my high school years.

Air Supply – Greatest Hits (1990-92)
Any time I hear songs from this album, it transports me back to the time when my Mom first started having mental health issues and I became really close friends with Bonnie. She was the person I leaned on to get me through those times, which were really difficult and continue to leave a significant imprint on my life.

Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians – Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars (1990)
I only ever listened to this album until I went to Donaldsonville with Bonnie once to visit Jill. Seems like we listened to the whole album while we were there and I still listen to songs from this album when they come up in my iPod’s playlist.

Madonna – Erotica (1993)
I think this album is Madonna’s best EVER. It reminds me of my first apartment at Broadmoor Plantation and also of ditching class at LSU to stand in line at Cortana Mall the day the Madonna "Sex" book came out. It was a big scandal back then!  There was a news crew there and they talked to us and we were on TV. The album itself has a lot of great songs. Two of my favourites are "Rain", which I still love to listen to with headphones and my eyes closed, and "Bad Girl" which I think has an awesome video.

Natalie Merchant – Tigerlily (1993)
I remember being so moved by the visuals conjured up by the lyrics of "San Andreas Fault" and having my heart ripped out by the words of "Beloved Wife". Her voice is so unique and rich and the songs are very visual in their storytelling.

The Cure – Mixed Up (1996)
This reminds me of the time around the breakup of my first long-term relationship and one occasion in particular.

Tori Amos – Boys for Pele (1996-97)
I started listening to this album around the time I met Manon and it still reminds me of that time when I listen to it.

Republica – Republica (1997)
This song reminds me of when Will first sat me down in front of a computer that was running Windows and first got me onto the Internet. I was talking to a group of people and this one girl from Brazil sent me a Republica song and I rushed out and got the tape. I listened to it while driving around Denham and Baton Rouge like a maniac because I was so pumped up from the energy of the album.

Celine Dion – D’eux (1998)
This was the first French-language album that I bought. When I met Manon, I became really fascinated with learning French and first heard "Les Derniers Seront Les Premiers" and was hooked on French music after that. I found it helped to listen to French music and read the lyrics at the same time to learn to recognize the pronunciation of French words. It’s a great way to help learn a new language.

Elyzabeth Diaga – Elyzabeth Diaga (1998-99)
This is another of my favourite French albums. I learned a lot of the words and would sing along in French to this while I was working in the frame shop at Betts Fine Art in Baton Rouge. Oddly, Elyzabeth Diaga now does English music and is on MySpace under the name Diaga now.

Fleetwood Mac – Greatest Hits (1998)
I hadn’t listened to this album for years until one of Will’s friends was listening to it in her car. While I didn’t know her long, she made a lasting impression on me for some reason and I still think of her when I hear any of the songs from this album.

Hooverphonic – New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular (2000)
I first heard "Barabas" played on KLSU in Baton Rouge and called them to ask who it was. I got the album and have been hooked on them ever since. I think this album was probably my first foray into a more electronic style of music, which is one of my favourite genres now.

Coldplay – Parachutes (2002)
This album reminds me of the last time I lived in Montreal. In particular, it brings back images of getting in my truck and driving to the Metro station to pick Manon up when she got off work.

Tori Amos – Scarlet’s Walk (2003)
This album came out not long after I moved to Vancouver and quickly became the soundtrack to a period of time when I really regretted how I handled things.