Oh no! A meme on my blog? It’s all downhill from here. But really, did you expect me to pass up a music-themed post, especially when I’m not feeling my best and have a hard time finding inspiration?

Think of 25 albums that had such a profound effect on you they changed your life or the way you looked at it. They sucked you in and took you over for days, weeks, months, years. These are the albums that you can use to identify time, places, people, emotions. These are the albums that no matter what they were thought of musically shaped your world.

I couldn’t even begin to put these in order of preference. They’ve all been number one in my heart at some point or another. So, in true Rob Gordon fashion, I put them in autobiographical order, all the way from high school up to now.

I won’t even begin to try and explain each album or even the general progression of my music habits. If you are curious, that’s kind of what comments are for.

1. Jimi Hendrix – Woodstock
2. Project 86 – Drawing Black Lines
3. Incubus – Make Yourself
4. Radiohead – OK Computer
5. Tool – Aenema
6. A Perfect Circle – Thirteenth Step
7. Sigur Rós – Ágætis byrjun
8. Extol – Undeceived
9. Sufjan Stevens – Michigan
10. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Miss Machine
11. The Mars Volta – De-loused in the Comatorium
12. Godspeed You! Black Emperor – Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
13. Radiohead – Amnesiac
14. He Is Legend – I Am Hollywood
15. Killswitch Engage – The End of Heartache
16. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Irony is a Dead Scene
17. Explosions in the Sky – The Earth is Not a Cold, Dead Place
18. mewithoutYou – Catch for Us the Foxes
19. The Appleseed Cast – Low Level Owl: Volume 1
20. mewithoutYou – Brother, Sister
21. This Will Destroy You – Young Mountain
22. Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
23. Sigur Rós – Takk
24. Ryan Adams – Heartbreaker
25. This Will Destroy You – This Will Destroy You

October brought a new Radiohead album, reminiscence of past autumns (hence the A Perfect Circle and Further Seems Forever songs), which then led to searching for more autumn-esque music (Neutral Milk Hotel, Neko Case, Amos Lee), a Briertone concert, me trying really hard to learn to love Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (I’d always found it boring), a few other new releases (Rogue Wave, Band Of Horses, Fiery Furnaces) and Rhapsody finally putting Sunn 0))) albums in their catalog/me making a Halloween playlist.

1. Neko Case – “Things That Scare Me” (Blacklisted)
2. Rosetta – “Red in Tooth and Claw” (Wake/Lift)
3. Emmylou Harris – “Red Dirt Girl” (Red Dirt Girl)
4. Neutral Milk Hotel – “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea” (In The Aeroplane Over The Sea)
5. Von Südenfed – “Fledermaus Can’t Get It” (Von Südenfed)
6. Amos Lee – “Night Train” (Supply And Demand)
7. Band Of Horses – “Is There A Ghost” (Cease To Begin)
8. The Fiery Furnaces – “Duplexes Of The Dead” (Widow City)
9. Briertone – “Cheers” (Sojourners)
10. Radiohead – “15 Step” (In Rainbows)
11. Radiohead – “Bodysnatchers” (In Rainbows)
12. Rogue Wave – “Lake Michigan” (Asleep At Heaven’s Gate)
13. A Fine Frenzy – “Come On, Come Out” (One Cell In The Sea)
14. Ray LaMontagne – “Jolene” (Trouble)
15. Jakob – “Malachite” (Solace)
16. Radiohead – “House Of Cards” (In Rainbows)
17. Briertone – “Strawfoot” (Sojourners)
18. Further Seems Forever – “Light Up Ahead” (Hide Nothing)
19. A Perfect Circle – “Passive” (eMOTIVe)
20. Further Seems Forever – “Make It A Part” (Hide Nothing)
21. Further Seems Forever – “All Rise” (Hide Nothing)
22. A Perfect Circle – “The Package” (Thirteenth Step)
23. Wilco – “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart” (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot)
24. Sunn 0))) – “Bathory Erzebet” (Black One)

Part two of four of my evil list-making scheme.

1. Sufjan Stevens
2. Explosions in the Sky
3. mewithoutYou
4. Radiohead
5. The Appleseed Cast
6. Nickel Creek
7. The Dillinger Escape Plan
8. Godspeed You! Black Emperor
9. The Mars Volta
10. A Perfect Circle
11. Andrew Bird
12. MxPx
13. AFI
14. Alison Krauss
15. Project 86
16. Tom Waits
17. Sigur Rós
18. The Faint
19. Chris Thile
20. This Will Destroy You
21. Mew
22. Iron & Wine
23. Coldplay
24. Cloud Cult
25. John Mayer
26. Opeth
27. Joshua Radin
28. Killswitch Engage
29. Incubus
30. Ryan Adams
31. Norma Jean
32. Robert Johnson
33. The Black Keys

Once again, thanks to Last.fm for making this list possible.