Everyone is doing it. And Peer Pressure™works! Our friends and fans have been posting their top 10 high school albums all over the web, listing off the records they spun the most in their teenage years. It got our memories jogging (or "yogging" - it may be a soft "j") and we couldn't help but share our favorite teen obsessions, no matter how embarrassing, dated, or nerdy they are. (Some of us (ROB!) don't have to worry about that. Look how cool his picks are. Though his music taste probably got him beat up in high school. All the nerds come out on top eventually!) And yeah, in case it's not obvious, we have a generationally diverse staff.
Complete with audio! Have fun listening to our collective awkward phases.
Co-Chief Nan Warshaw (a hippy-activist-turning-punk, yet on the Dean's List)
These dozen are my most listened to albums from ages 14-17 (I graduated high school at age 16, so I included the next year here).
Patti Smith Horses
David Bowie Hunky Dory
John Hartford Aereo-Plain
John Prine John Prine
Grateful Dead American Beauty
Shel Silverstein Freakin' At The Freakers Ball
Human Sexual Response Fig. 14
Lene Lovich Stateless
The Mothers (Frank Zappa) Just Another Band From LA
The Who Quadrophenia
Elvis Costello Our Aim Is True
Dead Kennedys Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables
Co-Chief Rob Miller (the quiet punk kid)
Look, I’m not trying to play it too cool for school with this list, but I really DID NOT listen to music with anything other than a glancing interest until I picked up a Devo record; before that it was all comedy records and my own dark thoughts. I guess you could put “important” albums like Dark Side of the Moon and whatever fucking Zep record had “Stairway to Heaven” on it, cuz I found it all to be sooooo boring I turned off the radio. In hindsight, they had value.
The Cramps Songs the Lord Taught Us
The Gun Club Fire of Love
Otis Redding/Jimi Hendrix Experience Live at Monterey
Chuck Berry The Great 28
X Wild Gift
Black Flag Damaged
Dead Kennedys Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
George Carlin Indecent Exposure
Sex Pistols Never Mind the Bollocks
Devo Are We Not Men?
Publicity Pirate Josh Zanger (the marching band geek)
Hum You'd Prefer an Astronaut
Weezer Weezer (Blue)
Snoop Doggy Dogg Doggystyle
The Jimi Hendrix Experience Axis: Bold as Love
Braid frankiewelfareboyagefive
Primus Frizzle Fry
Ben Folds Five Ben Folds Five
Sunny Day Real Estate Diary
Blue Meanies Full Throttle
Shellac At Action Park
New Media Maven Mike Smith (the in-betweener)
At The Drive-In Relationship of Command
Atmosphere Seven's Travels
Death Cab for Cutie The Photo Album
Guster Keep It Together
The Honorary Title Anything Else But the Truth
Incubus A Crow Left of the Murder
Jimmy Eat World Futures
Jurassic 5 Quality Control
Minus the Bear Menos El Oso
Thrice Vheissu
Atmosphere Seven's Travels
Death Cab for Cutie The Photo Album
Guster Keep It Together
The Honorary Title Anything Else But the Truth
Incubus A Crow Left of the Murder
Jimmy Eat World Futures
Jurassic 5 Quality Control
Minus the Bear Menos El Oso
Thrice Vheissu
Radio Wrangler Elise (the outcast)
Fresh from my CD binder.
Alkaline Trio Goddammit
Gorillaz Demon Days
Yeah Yeah Yeahs Fever to Tell
Brand New The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me
Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere
Black Flag Damaged
Cursive The Ugly Organ
TV On The Radio Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
Against Me! As the Eternal Cowboy
Aesop Rock Labor Days
Retail Ranger Pete Klockau (the chain wallet guy)
Beck Odelay!
Gwar Scumdogs of the Universe
White Zombie Astro-Creep 3000
Amazing Royal Crowns Amazing Royal Crowns
Slayer South of Heaven
Primus The Brown Album
The Cramps Bad Music for Bad People
Misfits Collection 1 & 2
Reverend Horton Heat Smoke 'em If You Got 'em
Bloodhound Gang One Fierce Beer Coaster (you know you had it, too, 90’s people.)
Warehouse Warrior Justin Hertner (the metalhead)
Showbread No Sir, Nihilism Is Not Practical
Norma Jean Bless The Martyr and Kiss The Child
The Chariot Everything Is Alive, Everything Is Breathing, Nothing Is Dead, and Nothing Is Bleeding
Blindside Silence
August Burns Red Thrillseeker
At All Cost It’s Time To Decide
ZAO The Funeral Of God
The Blood Brothers Crimes
My Chemical Romance Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge
The Faint Wet From Birth
Promotions Purveyor Nina Stiener (the class president)
Cheers to honesty and my horrible early music taste.
Taylor Swift Red
Green Day 21st Century Breakdown
Mumford and Sons Sigh No More
Kanye West Graduation
Adele 21
Mat Kearney City of Black and White
Lady Gaga Born This Way
Eric Church Chief
Paramore Brand New Eyes
Beyoncé 4
Incredible Intern Max Abner (the theater kid)
Wilco Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Bob Dylan Blood on the Tracks
Tom Waits Mule Variations
Pixies Doolittle
Neil Young Rust Never Sleeps
Kanye West My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Van Morrison Moondance
Randy Newman Sail Away
David Bowie The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Sparklehorse Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
