Top 5 in music

They say the music you listen to between the ages 17-20 is the music that you compare everything else to for the rest of your life, and nothing else ever quite stacks up against it. This must be true because my lists appear rather out-dated. It's not that I think everything was so much better in the past. There's been a lot of new music released in the last few years that I absolutely love (e.g. Spoon, M. Ward). I just haven't had the chance to connect with it on the same level as the albums/songs listed below. When I was in high school, buying/receiving a new album was a big event, and I played the heck out of each one. These days I feel over exposed to a flood of new music and probably don't give one album/song a chance to develop so many associated memories. But who knows -- maybe 10 years from now bands like The Decemberists or Sufjan Stevens will become my nostalgic favorites.

I could write an essay about each of these. I'm limiting myself to about one sentence for each just to keep this under control.

Favorite albums:

1) Achtung Baby by U2 - Simply put, a perfect album then and now; a complete reinvention for the band and for what music could mean to me.

2) Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins - The inspiration for almost everything creative I did during high school.

3) The Joshua Tree by U2 - Reminds me of driving up the north shore with my dad, driving home from the last day of school, driving down to Mobile to be with R, driving...

4) OK Computer by Radiohead - I started with an obsession over The Bends, but this is the one complex enough to keep me returning to it regularly after all these years.

5) Funeral by The Arcade Fire - A relative newcomer that brings the nostalgia with it.

Honorable mention: Disintegration by The Cure - This album is probably the most representative of my favorite style of music: downbeat, atmospheric, electronically tinged.

Favorite songs:

1) "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak - Too self-serious and dated? Or an atmospheric masterpiece? You know where I stand.

2) "One" by U2 - I love a lot of obscure U2 songs too, but just because this one is well known doesn't make it any less powerful.

3) "1979" by The Smashing Pumpkins - Ah, the freedom of youth -- my favorite topic.

4) "Falling" by Julee Cruise - Memories of Twin Peaks blend into my own.

5) "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones - This may surprise some people because I'm no more than a casual Stones fan, but this song just blows me away every time (I feel similar about Aerosmith's "Dream On").

Honorable mention: "Human Wheels" by John Mellencamp - Dark and poetic; an underrated gem.

Favorite concerts:

1) Mason Jennings, 2001 @ UST. This was practically a private concert for us and maybe 20 other people in the basement of a building at St. Thomas. The next year we were sardines.

2) Neko Case, 2006 @ Winnipeg Folk Festival. The perfect soundtrack to the storm that rose and then fell during the show, revealing a full moon.

3) U2, 1997 @ Metrodome. Eventually, I had this entire concert memorized, including the onstage banter and every electronic touch added to the songs.

4) The Smashing Pumpkins, 1998 @ The Hennipen Ave Block Party. The music was better when I saw them two years earlier in the Target Center, but making a day a trip out of this one with two good buddies in pursuit of adventure makes it a favorite of mine.

5) Damien Rice, 2004 @ Historic State Theatre, MN - This one is on the list for the music.

Honorable mention: Andy Stochanksy, 2002 @ UST. An opening act that, in my opinion, stole the show (from the headlining Matt Nathanson).