My Top Ten Albums of All Time

For many years I have often asked myself the question: what is my favourite album of all time? The answer has never come easily and the number one position changes regularly. I eventually came to the conclusion that the question was, in fact, impossible to answer. I mean, how do you take every musical experience throughout your entire life and narrow it down to just ten albums? You can’t. And so I’ll be honest before the start of this list and say that almost every album here has been number one at some stage of my life.

And that’s where the greatest difficulty lies. If I’d compiled this list when I was 13, I’d have had Bon Jovi, Nickelback and Blink-182 making up the top three positions. So the real trick to this top ten was to find a way to bring all of those albums into the equation, along with my more recent favourites. Therefore, a few rules guided me in my decisions. Please remember to bear these in mind when looking at my selections:

•      No group to be repeated twice. There were a couple of bands I considered putting more than once, but I opted against it. Each group/artist only needs one album here because they are already represented and it was hard enough choosing ten albums without multiple entries.
•      I tried to rank albums based on the extent of their impact on my life. If I stubbed my toe one time and listened to Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” as I cried myself to sleep, it was not considered. I wanted to try and choose albums that have been there for me through multiple life experiences.
•      Musical impact was also a factor. Albums that drastically changed the way I perceived music were put in higher positions as they naturally changed the course of my musical development.
•      I just generally tried to achieve a nice balance between my old favourites and my later ones. As I mentioned above, I didn’t want to exclude any albums based on my feelings for them now. Some albums I have grown to strongly dislike over the years but I really wanted to put my feelings aside and include them anyway. Fortunately, this is not the case for any of the albums here as I still enjoy all of them on a regular basis (some more than others, though). 
•      Instead of trying to ‘review’ each album, I focused on one profound experience I had and honed in on that. It was way too difficult to try and explain the broader impact every one of these albums have had on me, so I chose one memory for each one that would accurately convey my feelings for them.
•      Condolences to: Blackwater Park - Opeth (no. 11), Welcoming Home the Astronauts – Flickerstick (no. 12), Bleed American - Jimmy Eat World (no. 13), El Cielo – dredg (no. 14), and Dizzy Up the Girl – Goo Goo Dolls (no. 15) for all just missing the cut.

Well without further ado, here are my top ten albums of all time:

10. No Name Face - Lifehouse

Saying that the battle for this number ten position on the list was titanic would be an understatement; it was a full-blown existential crisis. I originally had Opeth’s magnificent Blackwater Park album here, and then very nearly changed it to Flickerstick’s Welcoming Home the Astronauts, but in the end I just had to go with No Name Face to round off the list. 

What I’ve always loved most about Lifehouse is their honesty. Nowhere is that more apparent than on their brilliant debut album. Musically safe, yet consistent, and lyrically poignant, No Name Face was the ultimate collection of songs to get me through my days at Bisley Park Primary School. The long journeys to get there each day were accompanied by a tape of this album in the car, and it always got me ready to walk through the school gates and survive another day. The more introspective tracks always hit home and they were the perfect soundtrack to that particular time in my life. Still to this day they never fail to bring back the nostalgia, and for that reason they deserve their place among my top albums of all time.  

9. Hybrid Theory - Linkin Park

I couldn’t stand Linkin Park the first time I heard them. What was with all the screaming and anger? A few months later and Hybrid Theory was my favourite album. I remember sitting down in the living room one day with my portable stereo system and the lyric booklet, determined to learn the words to all the songs. I can still take you through a good 90% of the album’s lyrics off-by-heart and can quite proudly rap all of Shinoda’s verses in “A Place for my Head” to perfection (trust me, I’ve tested myself on many occasions). Hybrid Theory wasn’t just good music to me, it was my first experience with harsh vocals and I absolutely loved them. Who knew screaming could cause such an adrenalin rush?

8. Californication - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Having had the title track on a mixed tape for a few years, when I finally got to hear the full album it was akin to a religious experience. Every song was perfect and I loved listening to the album from start to finish. One time, at the ripe old age of 11 years old, I was helping my mom with some work in her classroom, and while I sat with a bunch of papers in front of me I played Californication again and again, in awe at how one album could be so brilliant. It was one of those moments that made me realise how much I love music and I often return to it as a reference point when I’m in need of inspiration.

7. The Changing of Times - Underoath

Here’s where we start getting really deep, folks. If there’s one album I can honestly attribute to keeping me sane during the darkest days in 2010, it is this one. Not because it is musically flawless – in fact, this is pretty standard post-hardcore – but because unlike a lot of other music I was listening to at the time, The Changing of Times really spoke to me. The two standout tracks, “When the Sun Sleeps” and “Alone in December,” were all I really needed but by bookending the album they allowed the rest of the songs to feel like a worthwhile journey. This album was of greatest significance one particularly dark day, when all I could do was run from everything I knew. I ditched the cellphone and took nothing but a bit of money and my iPod with me on my pilgrimage of sorts. I listened to this album many times over, just allowing the lyrics to speak for me and tell me that I wasn’t alone. In that moment it was the closest thing to a friend or a god that I knew, and for that reason I will forever cherish The Changing of Times.

6. The Colour and the Shape - Foo Fighters

Having been a favourite of mine since as long as I can remember, it’s difficult to think of only one moment when this album really hit home. However, I vividly remember a long drive to Cape Town when I had a whole case of CDs and my old-school walkman with me. I listened to many albums during that trip, but the most memorable was when I put on The Colour and the Shape as we were getting close to our destination. I remember driving through a long, dark tunnel just as the build-up in “New Way Home” started, and Dave Grohl’s screams began as soon as we exited. It was a simple, yet undeniably epic moment that I have never forgotten.

5. Weighing Souls With Sand - The Angelic Process

My love for this album initially spawned from morbid curiosity more than anything else. At first it was the haunting artwork that drew me in, then the album concept, and finally the story of Kris Angylus’ suicide. On top of all of this was some of the most unique music I have ever heard. My most profound experience with Weighing Souls With Sand occurred late one night when I was feeling particularly pensive about life. My empathy for Angylus extended into the prolonged visions I had when putting my headphones on and listening to the album all the way through. I saw yellow, stormy skies, a violent ocean, and a man struggling to breathe beneath the onslaught of the waves. This is not music; this is a portal into another world, a place deep within the soul where spirit, body and mind become one. A harrowing, but ultimately therapeutic, experience.

4. Selling England by the Pound - Genesis

Before Genesis, I had little appreciation for anything that stepped outside the boundaries of a simple four-minute rock tune. In fact, my brothers and I would constantly mock my dad for liking such ridiculously theatrical music that seemed to have no catchy hooks or sing-along choruses whatsoever.

It wasn’t until one lazy weekend at home, when my dad sat me down with the artwork and lyrics to Selling England by the Pound that I began to truly understand the power of progressive music. Here was not a collection of songs, but rather a collection of stories. Read by a raving lunatic by the name of Peter Gabriel, each of the characters had voices and personalities and all of the stories were wonderfully bound together by some amazing musicianship. This went beyond music; this was transcendence of the most exquisite kind.

3. (  ) - Sigur Rós

Sigur Rós have been there for just about every major event I have gone through since early 2010, so to say that their impact on my life is immeasurable would be an understatement. With that said, Sigur Rós is also all about appreciating the little things in life: a beautiful sunrise, a moment of silent understanding between friends, or a few minutes of reflection before sleep.

In light of this, my most significant experience with the band came early one morning in 2009 when I got out of bed to watch TV. Having been unable to sleep, I tossed the blankets aside, went through to the lounge and flipped the channel to VH1. I lay exhausted on the couch while a host of soulless images, accompanied by equally soulless music, flashed before my eyes. As the first light began to shine through the curtains, a music video depicting an apocalyptic wasteland appeared on the screen. The mournful piano notes cut deep into my very essence, drowning out all other sound. And then Jónsi’s vocals came out of nowhere to pierce my heart, making me realise what seemed to be the very nature of my existence. At the end of the video, while the child closed his eyes in an ambiguous state between death and freedom, the song information popped up at the bottom of the screen. I could never remember what it said because what I was trying to read was this:

Untitled #1 a.k.a. Vaka
Sigur Rós
(  )

At the same time I was absolutely transfixed by the textural quality of the music and the images I was seeing, and I could barely divert my attention away from them. It would take me more than a year to find Sigur Rós again, but when I did it was well worth the wait.

2. Jane Doe - Converge

Really the only thing separating Jane Doe from the number one position on this list is time. Having only been a part of my music library for little under three years, Converge’s 2001 masterpiece has been the soundtrack to my existence ever since one particularly noteworthy event in early May 2011.

Although I had enjoyed the album on numerous occasions before, I always knew that it would require a potent blend of hatred and despair (and a real-life Jane Doe) to fully grasp the concept. That moment came late one night, after a strenuous argument put an end to all communication between ‘us.’ I screamed, I swore, I broke things, and when my supportive friends left me to go and sleep, I listened to Converge. Jacob Bannon was the only one who understood me, and this record was the first step in the healing process. For those who don’t know, the album concept revolves around the dissolution of a long-term relationship and how the significant other, once so vitally important, becomes nothing more than a stranger... a Jane Doe.

Reflecting anger and sadness, sometimes simultaneously, Jane Doe would go on to become my favourite album of the past few years. Musically flawless and emotionally resonant, this remains Converge’s greatest achievement.

1. Third Eye Blind - Third Eye Blind

Some feelings are just too complex to describe with words. An explanation of the impact Third Eye Blind’s self-titled debut has had on my life is impossible because it is not a piece of music – rather, it is a collection of emotions in and of itself. Every song, every little hook, every lyrical one-liner, is nothing short of perfection to me.

I could tell you about my first experience with ‘love’ (otherwise known as a crush), or my disappointment at failing a test, or the anxiety I felt on my first day at my new school; all were times when I put this album on and let it speak for me. Instead, all I will say is that I have listened to it more times than I care to remember and I have experienced everything from the utmost joy to the most desperate sadness with Third Eye Blind as the soundtrack.

As an example, on the last day of every school term I would go home, and instead of being with my friends or family, the first thing I would do was isolate myself in a dark room and play the last three tracks of this album while I read my report card. Whether I passed or failed was irrelevant, because I knew that for the next fifteen minutes I would have the perfect music to accompany either my disappointment or satisfaction.             

In many respects, what I’ve written here is meaningless; it’s in what I have failed to write that is really important. I can never explain why this album holds the significance in my life that it does but I’d like to think that, at the very least, my words have served as a window to the true brilliance that is Third Eye Blind.