Albums With a Personal Importance Completely Disproportionate to Their Musical Greatness

Interpol; Antics

I kind of liked Turn on the Bright Lights when it came out, but Antics just must have came out at a particularly vulnerable time of my life, because anytime I hear any song off of that album, I turn into a stuttering, emotional mess.  In the alternative, Antics turns me into the most giddy, bouncy person you've ever seen.  Upon reflection, Antics quite rightly reflects my own volatile situation around the time it was released.  That said, Our Love to Admire kind of sucked and the two times I saw Interpol live, they were terribly emotionless.  However, play Evil, Slow Hands, or C'Mere around me at your own risk - chances are those songs will elicit some sort of extreme reaction, and you might not like it.

Saves the Day; Through Being Cool

Most close acquaintances know that I was pretty intensely emo between the years 2000 and 2004, give or take.  Saves the Day certainly was not my favorite emo band at the time, (The Impossibles) but they are the band that has endured the best in public appraisal and my own regard.  Just to bolster my emo cred, I was in a band that, after my very appropriate departure, developed into a pretty solid emo band in its own regard.  (And by that I mean they played at the Vienna Community Center a few times.)  Anyway, I've seen Saves the Day probably about four times live, all during high school.  I don't think it's terribly crazy to have developed some sort of subconscious vulnerability to the tunes that contextualized your adolescent years.  Their other albums are also pretty badass.  However, My Sweet Fracture, The Last Lie I Told, and Rocks Tonic Juice Magic just totally slay me.  God, I wish I had the Saves the Day shirt I bought back at St. Andrews.

The Magnetic Fields; 69 Love Songs

This album is difficult for me to talk about for many reasons.  First of all, it is simply a complex album that would take me quite a while to completely explain on its own terms, regardless of any personal meaning.  The fact that this album devastates me on a personal level only adds to the intricacy.  Needless to say, if you want me to go crazy, put on How Fucking Romantic.

Weezer; Pinkerton

Like everything else Weezer, the memory of their old albums is comprehensively tainted by their modern albums, which are inferior in every way.  However, I would be completely remiss if I did not mention the relevance Weezer had on my life in, say, 2001.  Pinkerton possesses all of the most emo qualities of Through Being Cool times twenty minus its temporal and physical immediacy.  So there's a bit of balancing going on.  

? and the Mysterians; 96 Tears

This might be the one song whose importance to me personally is equal to its musical greatness.  On a daily basis while studying abroad, I woke up to 96 Tears as an alarm clock.  I'm almost certain that my roommate (we shared bunk beds) was driven crazy by the song, especially the day that I was away and he later admitted to me that he listened to the song three consecutive times.  Beyond its mechanical importance, as an emo kid and a classic rock kid, I can totally empathize with the sentiment of crying "too many teardrops for one heart to be crying."  Furthermore, 96 Tears reigns as the greatest karaoke song ever made, given the right performer, i.e., me.

The Specials; More Specials

Particularly, I Can't Stand It.  Breaks me up every time.

The Smashing Pumpkins; Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

It would really be disrespectful of me to address a band that had such an important impact in my life in the last entry of a subdivided blog post.  They deserve about three posts of their own, but I can't finish this particular post without at least mentioning Billy Corgan's excessive emotional outburst.  

Ghostface Killah; Strawberry

Some things are best left unsaid.