In celebration of my 48th birthday earlier this month, I am doing three special posts: one on my 48 favorite books for the 48 years of my life, which published this past Sunday; then, my 48 favorite movies, this past Wednesday; and my 48 favorite albums, here today.
I compiled this list roughly from elementary school to high school to college to the present. I tried to think of the albums that I’ve listened to a lot, either on the school bus when I was a kid or in the car (whichever one I or we had at the time). When I was a teen, I went through a phase of Christian rock, which is represented, as well as metal. Much of the latter part of the list can be attributed to finding music via Pitchfork. As much as possible, I also tried not to include collections, but had to include a few that were too important not to exclude.
- Kenny Rogers – 20 Greatest Hits
- Elvis Presley – His Hand in Mine
- Styx – Paradise Theater
- Michael Jackson – Thriller
- Prince – Purple Rain
- RUN-DMC – Raising Hell
- Bon Jovi – Slippery When Wet
- Petra – More Power to Ya
- Mylon Lefevre & Broken Heart – Sheep in Wolves’ Clothing
- Stryper – Soldiers Under Command
- Tonio K – Romeo Unchained
- The Call – Reconciled
- The Beatles – The White Album
- U2 – The Joshua Tree
- R.E.M. – Green
- Vinnie Moore – Mind’s Eye
- Joe Satriani – Surfing with the Alien
- Queensrÿche – Operation: Mindcrime
- Metallica – …And Justice For All
- Temple of the Dog – Temple of the Dog
- Soundgarden – Superunknown
- Pearl Jam – No Code
- King’s X – Dogman
- Lone Justice – Shelter
- Dwight Yoakam – This Time
- John Mellencamp – The Lonesome Jubilee
- Larry Norman – Something New Under The Son
- Etta James – The Essential Etta James
- Donna Summer – On The Radio – Greatest Hits
- Blind Willie Johnson – The Complete Blind Willie Johnson
- Grateful Dead – American Beauty
- Pink Floyd – The Wall
- Terence Trent D’Arby – Symphony or Damn
- Public Enemy – Fear of a Black Planet
- Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska
- Johnny Cash – American Recordings
- Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
- Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear
- Burial – Rival Dealer
- Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
- Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra – Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything
- Todd Terje – It’s Album Time
- Kanye West – Yeezus
- Bon Iver – 22, A Million
- Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly
- Beyoncé – Lemonade
- Beach House – Bloom
- Max Richter – Sleep
And here is one song from each album, minus one: Beyoncé’s Lemonade, which isn’t available on Spotify.
If you had a list of favorite albums for the number of years for every year of your life, what would be some of those you’d have to include? Any crossovers?