10 favorite albums

Puppy challenged me to list my "top ten favorite albums of all time" yesterday and I've been thinking about this list for several hours. He gave me the following reasonable qualification and sent me off: "For purposes of this task, the word "favorite" does not mean "best." For instance, Radiohead's "the bends" may be their best work but not your favorite album of theirs."

Many songs came to my mind, but not many albums. And of course on the short list were titles by Michael Jackson, Christina Aguilera, The Pixies, Joy Division, Pearl Jam and even Danity Kane, but I decided these would be my top ten (At least for now. I'm a changeable panda.):

10. Rhythm Nation 1814, Janet Jackson - To be fair, this was nearly a tie with Whitney Houston's debut album. But I remember riding in a bus on the way home from a swim meet in Reno and listening to this album non-stop on my Sony Walkman (the yellow sports variety, of course) and when a certain hunky high schooler defended my choice of music to a particularly insulting teammate, I was smitten. Plus, the video for "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" was uber-sexy.

9. Faith, George Michael - Boy did I crave getting my ear pierced and wearing a cross earring in it! I remember sitting in the back of the classroom, giggling with my friends as we read the lyrics to "I Want Your Sex" and thinking we were so rebellious!

8. Post, Bjork - She was the first person I ever saw in concert (when she was with The Sugarcubes) and I've continued to love her since. Truthfully, this and Debut sort of merged into one album for me but the video for "It's Oh So Quiet" is so fun and bouncy and ... unexpected.

7. Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos - Something about her voice on "Crucify" can still give me chills to this day. And for some reason, I found it much easier to write papers in high school and college while this album played in the background.

6. Live Through This, Hole - The last track of this album, "Rock Star," was one that I loved to blast and sing along with over and over again during some angsty moments in high school. I also remember listening to this in the car with SameBrain and she always made me skip a certain track that she found offensive.

5. Metallica, Metallica - Every single song on this album was awesome, especially "The Unforgiven." And we had a running joke about how Metallica should cover "My Lovin'" by En Vogue.

4. Singles, The Smiths - I don't know if it's fair to include a greatest hits album, but I'm doing it anyway because I had a poster of Morrissey in my dorm room when I was a freshman in college and I think every proper gay boy of the '80s could appreciate the melodious angst of The Smiths. Plus, the intro to "How Soon Is Now" still gives me the goosebumps.

3. Baby One More Time, Britney Spears - I love me my cutesy teenage girl-woman singers and Britney is the ultimate! Although this obsession began with Tiffany and Debbie Gibson, Britney brought it to a whole new level and "Born to Make You Happy" is still a frequently played song on my iPod.

2. The Immaculate Collection, Madonna - I'm surprised this CD even survived college, where it was played to death at every single swim team party (among other important occasions). The weird, screechy interlude in "Like a Prayer" irritated me at first, but I grew to love it.

1. Siamese Dream, Smashing Pumpkins - I was obsessed with this album in late high school and was thrilled to finally see Billy Corgan and friends perform live during my senior year. This may be a bit morose, but I had a vivid plan to end my life very dramatically and "Disarm" would be blasting through my home when my poor family would stumble upon my lifeless, teenage body.

So, there you have it. My ten favorite albums. As you can tell, it's as much about the memories as it is about the songs. Any surprises? Any startling omissions? Comment away and let me know yours!