Middle School
Currently in 9th grade, and looking back at what I used to like. I've wanted to make this list for a while. |
| 1 |  | The Beatles
Revolver
5th grade - The first band I ever liked. This album especially really opened my eyes to how great they were. They were basically all I listened to for a year (including solo stuff, I especially dug Band on the Run, RAM, VEnus and Mars, Cloud 9, All Things Must Pass, and Imagine). At the end of the year, I knew everything from them. |
| 2 |  | U2
The Unforgettable Fire
6th grade - Once again, I only listened to these guys the whole year. My dad left a copy of this in my CD player, and I really loved the atmosphere on this album, especially on A Sort of Homecoming. By the end of the year, I also knew their entire catalogue like the back of my hand. |
| 3 |  | Green Day
American Idiot
7th Grade - This really marked the departure in my music taste, as this year I started listening to (gasp) multiple bands. My friend gave me this 20 track sampler of their stuff and I loved it. Within a couple of months, I learned every Green Day song by heart. This band I think is one of the most important in my music taste, because it was my gateway into many other bands, and really made me love music. While I now understand that they're not that special and there are many better bands out there, I still have a deep appreciation for what they've done for me. |
| 4 |  | The Clash
London Calling
Liking Green Day can take you down two different roads (or in my case, three, which I'll get to later). The listener can get into pop punk, or less commonly, punk rock itself. Green Day got me really intriuged with punk rock, and I was quick to jump right into this masterpiece. However, I never really bothered to dive into more punk until a couple months later. |
| 5 |  | The Who
Who's Next
A very hit or miss band for me, as I think that both Tommy and Quadrophenia are failed efforts. However, I listened to this album a lot around Christmas in 2013. After checking these guys out, I was quickly dragged into the work of the Stones. |
| 6 |  | The Rolling Stones
Sticky Fingers
Moonlight Mile remains as one of my favorite songs. I was able to listen to a ton of their work immediately, because my dad owned most of their albums. This one stuck with me best. |
| 7 |  | My Chemical Romance
The Black Parade
I haven't listened to this album in a really long time, but for a while it was the only thing I listened to. Since their hits album came out around the time I checked them out, I got sucked into their discography pretty quickly. At time I thought it was a perfect album. Obviously, it's far from that, but (based on how I remember it) it does flow well and end very strongly. |
| 8 |  | Boston
Boston
The guitar work here always impressed me. My band (which at the time was practically a Green Day cover band) formed around this time, and I would always insert random Boston guitar solos into what we played (in a terrible reworking of 21st Century Breakdown I tried to insert the More than a Feeling solo, you can imagine how that went). |
| 9 |  | Blink-182
Greatest Hits
Since I liked Green Day, people told me to check these guys out. I did, and they quickly became one of my favorite bands at the time...once I grew to tolerate Tom's awful voice. |
| 10 |  | Weezer
Weezer
Remember when I said liking Green Day can bring you down two roads? Well, they brought me down a third, one that shaped most of my taste. I got into 90s alternative from them, and the first 90s alternative band I tried after Green Day was Weezer. The blue album perfectly captured the DIY attitude of alterntaive for me (until I got into Pavement). I never really dug their other stuff (Pinkerton eventually grew on me), but this album did a lot for me. |
| 11 |  | Ramones
Greatest Hits
I'm surprised it took me as long as it did to get around to these guys, being their heavy rotation on the classic rock station in my area. |
| 12 |  | Journey
Greatest Hits
Love their guitar work. Pretty solid band. |
| 13 |  | Nirvana
Nevermind
Our band played a gig at our local church and apparently recieved awesome feedback from the crowd. Smells like Teen Spirit was the opener to our show. My voice felt dead by the end of the show. Afterwards, I listened to this album over and over and over and over again. While In Utero and Incesticide are all album I prefer to it, I still really enjoy this album. |
| 14 |  | Rush
The Spirit of Radio: Greatest Hits
Band is made up of musical gods. Our drummer can play Tom Sawyer perfectly. He is too good for me and our bassist. The Spirit of Radio was a track I was determined to learn on guitar. It took a long time. |
| 15 |  | AC/DC
The Razors Edge
Thunderstruck was another track I was too determined to learn. I finally did a month later! |
| 16 |  | The Offspring
Greatest Hits
As 7th grade ended, I decided to give this band a try. I hated them at first listen. About a month later, I couldn't stop listening to them. Smash, Americana, and R&F, R&G recieved heavy rotation in my room the whole summer. |
| 17 |  | Sex Pistols
Never Mind the Bollocks...
Anarchy in the UK quickly became a favorite of mine. |
| 18 |  | Foo Fighters
Greatest Hits
Went on a family vacation, and my cousins introduced me to a lot of bands that quickly dominated the rotation in my room. This was one of those bands. |
| 19 |  | Soundgarden
Telephantasm
Another band that quickly became a favorite of mine. This compilation introduced me to the world of this wonderful band that has since become one of my favorite bands. |
| 20 |  | Pearl Jam
Vitalogy
Within my parents CD collection, I found Ten, Vs. and Vitalogy, the latter soon becoming one of my favorite albums at the time. I even loved the filler tracks, especially the sheer creepiness of Stupid Mop. Additoinally, Last Exit and Corduroy are incredible tracks |
| 21 |  | Stone Temple Pilots
Thank You
Vasoline was the first song I learned on bass guitar. |
| 22 |  | The Cure
Disintegration
When I first listened to Blink 182s self titled, All of This became my favorite track, because I loved the guest vocalist. When I found out it was Robert Smith from the Cure, my interest in the band grew, and I immediately checked them out. While it took a while for me to dig them as much as I do now, Disintegration eventually became the album I listened to every night to go to sleep (it has since been replaced by The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me, but I discovered that album in 9th grade, so it won't be covered on this list). |
| 23 |  | Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin IV
One fantastic record. When the Leeve breaks is such a stong closer. |
| 24 |  | Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold
8th grade - a week into my 8th grade year, I first heard Nightmare. I was blown away by the heaviness of the track (I understand that it is not heavy at all, but I never listened to metal before, and even now I'm not that into the genre anyway). Their self titled album became one of my favorite albums at the time, and I especially loved the compactness of the band. Syn inspired me to master the guitar (which I haven't done lol), but they helped me further appreciate musicianship. Granted, self titled is now one of my least favorite records of theirs, but it is a milestone in the history of me listening to music. |
| 25 |  | Sum 41
All Killer No Filler
Fat Lip was the anthem for me and my friends. We were (and still are) so stupid. I liked this band and album way too much. |
| 26 |  | Joy Division
Substance
I was beginning to get mildly depressed at this point, thinking that my life was useless and no one really cared about me, feeling like somewhat of an outcast within my group (which was weird for me to have thought because I'm not at all), but for some reason I just felt empty and depressed, and that's when I bonded with this group. Curtis is a fantastic lyricist and this band was stellar. It's a shame Curtis killed himself. |
| 27 |  | Fall Out Boy
Take This to Your Grave
Discovered these guys around Christmastime. Dead on Arrival became a staple to my band's setlists. The only album I ever liked from them. |
| 28 |  | All Time Low
So Wrong, It's Right
A band I got into pretty shortly afterwards. I thought Alex was a great pop punk vocalist. |
| 29 |  | New Found Glory
New Found Glory
Another band I got into pretty quickly. Ballad of the Lost Romantics was the first song I learned on drums. I don't listen to these guys that much anymore, but that song is still wicked fun. |
| 30 |  | Alice in Chains
Jar of Flies
I love this group. This EP espiecally recieved heavy rotation in my room. |
| 31 |  | Tool
Aenima
Where do I begin with this group. I first saw the Vicarious music video, which then made me super interested with the group. After listening to Lateralus and Aenima, they became one of my favorite bands of all time (and still are). I thought they were perfect musically, were fantastic lyrically, and knew how to put an album together really well. |
| 32 |  | Simple Plan
No Pads, No Helmets... Just Balls
Why did I ever like this band? |
| 33 |  | Boys Like Girls
Boys Like Girls
Again, don't get what I saw in them |
| 34 |  | The All-American Rejects
The All-American Rejects
Once again, I don't see what I saw in these guys. But they are better than Simple Plan. |
| 35 |  | Hoobastank
Hoobastank
The only value this band has to me anymore was introducing me to Incubus. |
| 36 |  | Linkin Park
Meteora
Ah, I'm sure most people have gone through an LP phase during their middle school (or possibly younger) years. I thought Hybrid Theory and Meteora were both perfect records that accurately captured teen angst, and I loved the way Mr. Hahn and Shinoda incorporated rap and turntables into heavy music (obviously I knew nothing about nu metal at the time). I still revisit them from time to time. |
| 37 |  | Taking Back Sunday
Tell All Your Friends
As 8th grade was coming to a close, I started listening to this album so much. Although I never reallly got into anything else from them (as I still find everything else they've made is worse than this), this album clinged to me pretty quickly, and I absolutely loved it. Tracks such as Timberwolves at New Jersey and Bike Scene especially became staples to everytime I played my iPod. |
| 38 |  | Rise Against
Siren Song of the Counter Culture
Right as my 8th grade year came to a close, this album became a staple to my rotation. Rise Against is one epic band. |
| 39 |  | Incubus
Make Yourself
This is one major album for me. Incubus to me was the perfect mainstream rock band. Carrying tracks with the incredible vocal performance of Brandon Boyd, with lyrics about breaking away from what everyone else wants, with the provided atmosphere used with guitar effects, DJ effects, and Dirk Lance's incredible bass work, I love this album so much, and it's a very important one in my music taste. |
| 40 |  | Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind
Yet another very solid mainstream rock band. Jenkins is an extremely unique vocalist. |
| 41 |  | Muse
Origin of Symmetry
I loved the interstellar sounds from this band, Bliss especially. |
| 42 |  | Yellowcard
Lights and Sounds
Don't know why it took such a long to time to get into this band, but they eventually made me dislike pretty much all of that pop punk stuff I used to like. |
| 43 |  | Nine Inch Nails
The Downward Spiral
This for me was an eye opening album. The way everything perfectly flows together especially made me rethink everything I liked before, and eventually shaped my music taste completely. Trent Reznor is a musical genuis and redesigned my taste in doing so. |
| 44 |  | Brand New
The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me
9th grade - Here I am now. Obviously, my music taste was cringeworthy sometimes, but changed a lot overtime. How did your taste evolve overtime? If you read my ratings, you'll see a lot of stuff that isn't here that I started listening to this year, cause a lot of stuff here I haven't listened to in a while, but it's sometimes interesting looking back at what you liked before, based on what you were like before, and what it made you and your taste now |
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