A few days ago, I came across a video on YouTube of Tyler Childers performing a cover of “Time” by Pink Floyd, and it stopped me in my tracks. The raw authenticity of Childers’ vocals matched with the immortal lyrics of Roger Waters, sent an immediate chill down my spine.
Hitting repeat over and over again, until I fell asleep, I spent the tail end of my night thinking about life and how fast the time goes. It’s like Waters wrote, “You are young, and life is long, and there is time to kill today. And then one day you find, ten years have got behind you.”
When I was a kid, I thought that when I got to be twenty-five, I’d have everything figured out. Well, I’m happy to report that I’ve got about as many of life’s answers now as I did back then. I think John Mayer encapsulated the feeling perfectly when he sang, “But all I feels alone. It might be a quarter life crisis, or just a stirring in my soul.”
As friends have begun moving away, getting jobs, and starting families, the prospect of change continues to linger. With that, I’ve begun to search for the placeholders in my life that keep me grounded, and my love for music has always remained consistent. The continual search for new artists, and new songs often feeling like a drug, releasing a hit of dopamine every time I find something that strikes a nerve.
My mind tends to closely associate memories with music, and this list tries to bridge the gap between time and music, with my top 25 albums and songs, for my first 25 years of life.
1998
Album: Americana – The Offspring (November 16, 1998)
Song: “Turn The Page” – Metallica (November 24, 1998)
1999
Album: Californiacation – Red Hot Chili Peppers (June 8, 1999)
Song: “Forgot About Dre” – Dr. Dre ft. Eminem (November 16, 1999)
2000
Album: Hybrid Theory – Linkin Park (October 24, 2000)
Song: “Yellow” – Coldplay (July 10, 2000)
2001
Album: Is This It – The Strokes (July 30, 2001)
Song: “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)” – Train (March 27, 2001)
2002
Album: The Eminem Show – Eminem (May 26, 2002)
Song: “No One Knows” – Queens of the Stone Age (January 1, 2002)
2003
Album: Elephant – The White Stripes (April 1, 2003)
Song: “Maps” – Yeah Yeah Yeahs (April 29, 2003)
2004
Album: American Idiot – Green Day (September 21, 2004)
Song: “Take Me Out” – Franz Ferdinand (February 16, 2004)
2005
Album: In Your Honor - Foo Fighters (June 14, 2005)
Song: “Feel Good Inc.” – Gorillaz (May 23, 2006)
2006
Album: The Black Parade – My Chemical Romance (October 23, 2006)
Song: “Naive” – The Kooks (January 1, 2006)
2007
Album: Graduation – Kanye West (September 11, 2007)
Song: “I’m Like A Lawyer With The Way I’m Always Trying To Get You Off (Me & You) – Fall Out Boy (January 1, 2007)
2008
Album: Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends – Coldplay (May 26, 2008)
Song: “Sex on Fire” – Kings of Leon (September 23, 2008)
2009
Album: Sigh No More – Mumford & Sons (October 2, 2009)
Song: “You’ve Got The Love” – Florence + The Machine (July 3, 2009)
2010
Album: Brothers – The Black Keys (May 18, 2010)
Song: “Pyro” – Kings of Leon (October 19, 2010)
2011
Album: Blue Slide Park – Mac Miller (November 8, 2011)
Song: “Little Black Submarines” – The Black Keys (December 6, 2011)
2012
Album: My Head Is An Animal – Of Monsters and Men
Song: “Ho Hey” – The Lumineers (April 3, 2012)
2013
Album: AM – Arctic Monkeys (September 9, 2013)
2014
Album: Metamodern Sounds in Country Music – Sturgill Simpson (May 13, 2014)
Song: “Barcelona” – George Ezra (June 30, 2014)
2015
Album: Strange Trails – Lord Huron (April 7, 2015)
Song: “Thompkins Square Park” – Mumford & Sons (May 4, 2015)
2016
Album: The Ride – Catfish and the Bottlemen (May 27, 2016)
Song: “All The Debts I Owe” – Caamp (March 8, 2016)
2017
Album: Purgatory – Tyler Childers (August 4, 2017)
Song: “Sit Next to Me” – Foster The People (July 21, 2017)
2018
Album: Mt. Joy – Mt. Joy (March 2, 2018)
Song: “Love It If We Made It” – The 1975 (November 30, 2018)
2019
Album: Hypersonic Missiles – Sam Fender (September 12, 2019)
Song: “exile” – Taylor Swift ft. Bon Iver (August 18, 2020)
2020
Album: The New Abnormal – The Strokes (April 10, 2020)
Song: “First Aid” – Gus Dapperton (September 18, 2020)
2021
Album: Dangerous: The Double Album – Morgan Wallen (January 8, 2021)
Song: “Seventeen Going Under” – Sam Fender (October 8, 2021)
2022
Album: Stick Season – Noah Kahan (October 14, 2022)
Song: “Open the Gate” – Zach Bryan (May 6, 2022)
BONUS
2023 (So Far)
Album: the mockingbird & THE CROW – HARDY (January 20, 2023)
Song: “Emily I’m Sorry” – boygenius (March 31, 2023)