At the point of me writing this essay I am 32 and having my fourth and last child.  I have a passion for music and would love to have a monument to the albums that have meant the most to me.  Here is my comprehensive list of my favorites.  In ten years the list will be different, with some albums losing the spot in my heart and others finding a place in it.  To my children: I hope you enjoy these on some level, even if it’s not the same enjoyment I got from them.  To other music fanatics and crazy list people: enjoy, share your list with me.  To everyone else: consider the things you love so we have something to talk about in the future.

I am challenging myself to write one or two sentence explanations of why I love these, I could go on and on if I wanted to about any of them.  I don’t have the time and neither do you.

1. There is Nothing Left to Lose- Foo Fighters: The summer after 8th grade was extremely formative to my musical tastes, this album was the crown jewel of that season and many seasons to follow. They are one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time, and this was their finest hour.
2. The Shape of Punk to Come- Refused: My favorite live show memory ever is seeing Refused playing songs off of this album. It’s passionate and intense, and contains some of the only lyrics I’ve ever considered tattooing onto myself.
3. Time Out- Dave Brubeck: The night before my oldest daughter was born my wife and I listened to this on repeat in the car.
4. Pet Sounds- The Beach Boys: This album only made sense and was beautiful after I got engaged to my wife.
5. Sea Change- Beck: I have always loved Beck’s voice on this album, but I have really loved how I sound while singing along to it.
6. Engage- Stretch Arm Strong: How do you feel most alive when driving down the interstate? By listening to this album loudly, shouting along with the windows down.
7. This Year’s Model- Elvis Costello and the Attractions: The story about Elvis Costello getting kicked off of SNL for starting a song, stopping and saying “I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, there’s no reason to do this song here,” and then playing “Radio, Radio” is one of my favorites. Pure pop goodness, perfect punk sensibility, eternally emotive album.
8. OK Computer- Radiohead: I tried to reject Radiohead because I didn’t understand them in high school, but senior year I stopped being so dense and let OK Computer into my life. I sometimes say that ‘Amnesiac’ is my favorite by them because I love risk taking, but this is their masterpiece.
9. Sketches of Spain- Miles Davis: It feels like I’m watching cinemas greatest offering through my ears, I wish I could adequately explain what I mean by that. Perfect for dozing off to or purposely listening to, I have loved it both ways.
10. The Body, The Blood, The Machine- The Thermals: One of the first and few albums my girlfriend who would become my wife bonded over. It just gets better with time.
11. How To Start a Fire- Further Seems Forever: I wrote how I felt about this album in one of my earliest blogs in a confessional embarrassing way. I stand by my statement.
12. The Sounds of Science- Beastie Boys: My introduction to everything not ‘Licensed to Ill’ by the B Boys in 9th grade resulted in my lifelong love of the greatest hip-hop group of all time.
13. Forty Hour Train Back To Penn- The Movielife: The most important album to my senior year of high school, seeing these songs played live as an adult was very fulfilling.
14. Gutter Phenomenon- Every Time I Die: When something goes really good for me in life I love to blast this, it’s like a party being thrown for you by a pack of maniacs.
15. First Four Years- Black Flag: There is nothing like sitting in your office as a youth pastor and listening to this, pretending to be a brooding angry youth.
16. I Love You, Honeybear- Father John Misty: In one of the toughest seasons of my life this album soundtracked my long drives to the landmark of my anxiety and the healing I found in counseling.
17. Our Love- Caribou: I bought this when I was on a super fun date with my wife and we heard it playing in the record store. It was my favorite stuff to play before youth services for my ministry.
18. The ArchAndroid- Janelle Monae: This was different than anything I was listening to at the time, and completely surprised and fascinated me. It is a timestamp of our time in Wisconsin.
19. A Love Supreme- John Coltrane: It blew my mind the first time I ever heard it and pulled me in for a deeper love of jazz.
20. Weird Tales of The Ramones- The Ramones: This anthology box set was my most expensive music purchase ever and was well the worth the money. The Ramones have grown on me more and more as the years go by.
21. Bless The Martyr, Kiss the Child- Norma Jean: My first metal show was Norma Jean and they, along with this album shifted my tastes for the next few years to this brand of gnarly music.
22. Bloom- Beach House: It rained all night after I bought this CD at Twist & Shout in Denver, whenever it rains I listen to ‘Bloom’.
23. Kristin Kontrol- X-Communicate: When I can connect with my wife and kids on something it is special, this album is a high point of connection for us.
24. Transatlanticism- Death Cab for Cutie: This came out when I was in high school, but I didn’t hear it until I was in college. I didn’t intentionally listen to it until I was a husband, and I started to love it when I had children.
25. Beggars- Thrice: I got this for Christmas the week after my oldest daughter was born, and it was the perfect transition album made by a band who was transforming their sound.
26. Relationship of Command- At the Drive In: Essential pizza/sandwich delivery music, listening to this helped food get to the place it belonged and the roads be a bit more dangerous.
27. The Battle Of Los Angeles- Rage Against The Machine: Sitting alone in the school library for the first few months of high school was pathetic, but it’s where I invested a ton of listens to this album that still makes me want to holler at a librarian.
28. Overgrown- James Blake: I got this when my wife went to London for a week and left me with my two oldest daughters. My wife and I a rarely apart, so something had to soundtrack this unique time.
29. In Reverie- Saves The Day: Saves The Day has several good albums, but this one is great and unique in their discography. I’ve always had an emotional connection to these songs.
30. Joshua Tree- U2: When I lived in Ireland I got really annoyed by the American kids who thought U2 were gods among men and almost lost any love for this band. Joshua Tree is so good that it can kill the distaste of even the most pretentious of liberals.
31. New Found Glory- New Found Glory: Summer after 9th grade was one of the greatest summers of my life, and this album is a perfect fit for that formative season.
32. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou- Various Artists: Wes Anderson movies have such great soundtracks, this one is my personal favorite.