The “post 10 albums in 10 days with no commentary” thing has been going around Facebook again. I was thinking about posting mine, but then, Dylan Lloyd went ahead and nominated me to do it. I am not going to choose anyone, but I will do is share here how the album influenced my life.

This is Album/Day Seven

You may have wondered when I would get to some 90s music.

There is a test on Facebook that posits that whatever album/song was #1 on your 12/13/14/15th birthday represents your life. I looked mine up. It doesn’t. But there is something about the music that shapes you as a teenager.

As you’ll guess from many of my post that music from the Christian scene/market is what I listened to the most as a teen. That probably made my parents happy (though much of what I listened to, the lyrics were indiscernible), but to be honest it made me happy as well. As a teen, though, I did hear quite a bit of music on the radio and while I was with friends. I loved grunge music and most of 90s rock.

The funny thing about all this is that I really only knew the songs that got played on the radio. Smells Like Teen Spirit, Evenflow, Jeremy, Dead and Bloated, Sex Type Thing and the list goes on. I didn’t know the “B” cuts of the bands or anything else that was on an album. Sometimes, I didn’t even know who the artist was. For the most part, that was ok. I wasn’t entering any trivia contest about song titles or artist names.

As an adult, though, I have gone back and purchased some of the albums that shaped my teen years: Nevermind by Nirvana, Core from Stone Temple Pilots and Ten from Pearl Jam are at the top of the list. Even though I could hardly name most of the songs, the more I listened the more I realize how much their music played a role in shaping who I am- especially in my musical taste. Let’s be honest, I have Sirius XM radio in my car. I’m in my second year. The reality is that I really only listen to three channels: Lithium (90s Alternative), 90s on 9, and ESPN Radio. I do jump around some. I try to listen to some current alternative/hard rock music- but for better or for worse, I go back to my 90s rock.

Side note: I cannot tolerate Christian Radio. It all sounds the same. It’s overproduced. It is, generally, not good musically. 

If I had to put this down to one album, it would have to be Nirvana’s Nevermind while I was a teenager. Today, it would probably be Pearl Jam’s Ten. But for these purposes, I will take most of the genre as defining “albums.”

What was your defining 90s album?