these albums changed my life at paper graffiti

So, on our river adventure we attempted to pass some time by talking about the top 5 albums that changed our lives. I had trouble thinking of a 5th, but I think I finally have them all:

Tori Amos - Little Earthquakes (1992) : When we were in 7th grade, my friend Elizabeth introduced me to the greatness that was Tori Amos. I rapidly fell in love with her music and discovered the greatness that was The Adventure Club on 94.5 The EDGE in the years 1992-1994. The next year Elizabeth gave me a tape that had Little Earthquakes on one side and Under the Pink on the other. Little Earthquakes was one of my first CD purchases when I finally got a CD player of my own. I am still a Tori fan to this day, and she was the first artist to introduce me to music that really moved me and inspired me to create on my own.

Depeche Mode - Violator (1990) : One of my most vivid memories of junior high is walking into my first junior high dance and hearing “Personal Jesus” being played. Was that the only good memory from said dance? Maybe. But I loved Depeche Mode then and I love them now. A conversation in the car on our way back to Dallas yesterday made me remember that Violator needed to be the 5th album to round out my top 5. Depeche Mode was a really big break from what I normally listened to back then, and it started me on a journey that culiminated when I finally saw DM live back in 2001 on the Exciter tour.

Patty Griffin - Flaming Red (1998) : This was the first I heard of Patty Griffin, who is one of my musical idols. After collecting all her albums, I can definitely say it was a big change from the more dulcet acoustic tones of Living with Ghosts. But this album shook me up. It changed the way I looked at being a musician. It made me want to rock out with a guitar. I saw Patty open for the Dixie Chicks when I was in college right after this album came out and I wanted desperately to be just like her. Her song “Fly” (recorded both on her own album and on the Dixie Chicks’ same-title album) was my anthem when my college boyfriend and I broke off our long-distance relationship. Well, that and a lot of angry chick-rock and melancholy REM, Counting Crows, and Live. 1000 Kisses and Impossible Dream are my favorite Patty albums, but Flaming Red will always be my first.

Sarah McLachlan - Fumbling Toward Ecstasy (1994) : I originally put my first Beatles album in my top 5, but while that was life changing (hello, first Beatles album!) it didn’t directly shape me in the way that Fumbling Toward Ecstasy did. It was the first album I bought at the greatness that is CD Source, and I used to listen to it on my Sony Discman on repeat while I holed up in my room and wrote teen angst-filled poetry in one of my many journals. I was listening to this album when I wrote the first poem I ever read in public at a writer’s group. I might not be as prolific a writer today if I hadn’t written that, because it introduced me to my favorite teacher in high school, who encouraged me and taught me and helped me more than she may ever know, and a group of amazingly creative students that I may have never connected with otherwise.

Puccini - La Boheme (recording feat. Pavarotti, 1990) : This is lauded as the greatest recording of Puccini’s famous opera, and I am inclined to agree. It was also the first time I heard La Boheme in its entirety and it inspired me to want to study classical music and someday become an opera singer. Now, I may not have accomplished all of that, but I still have an enduring love for La Boheme. It fueled my love of its modern cousin RENT and I desperately wanted to see the 2002 Baz Luhrmann production of the opera, since I love his lavish creation on Romeo+Juliet, Strictly Ballroom, and Moulin Rouge. It’s too bad my voice has changed enough that I can no longer pull off my favorite Puccini arias with quite the same aplomb.