Music Taste, or the Lack Thereof

Over the course of my life I have acquired quite an extensive CD collection. I haven't purchased one recently because of iTunes, but also because it's rare for me to like an entire album. I usually bought the CD if I liked the radio hit (in the days before Napster changed life).

Yes, I guess I could have purchased the singles rather than the entire albums, but that always seemed like a huge waste of money- two songs for $5 or 12 songs for $15? I chose option number two more often then not, unfortunately, I now have a ridiculously large collection of CD's that only have one or two songs on them that I like.


Thank goodness for iTunes and having the option to purchase only the songs you like. The only problem with that is now I never buy an entire album. I could be missing out on my new favorite song because it's not a popular download. Many of my favorite songs were not radio hits, the only reason I listened to them was I heard it when I was playing the CD (also in the days before CD burning was commonplace).


Should Have Bought the Single, NOT the Album

• Crash Test Dummies
• Spin Doctors
• Lisa Loeb
• The Proclaimers
• The Verve
• Keith Sweat
• The Cardigans

The list of my bad taste in music goes on and on and on, but that's enough embarrassment. Noting that my taste in music is somewhat questionable, I can listen to certain albums in their entirety over and over again.

I spent a summer studying in Florence, Italy and the only CD my roommate and I brought was Lost and Gone Forever, by Guster (No iPods then) We must have listened to that CD over 200 times. At night I would take one side of the head phones and she would take the other, or we would just turn the volume up REALLY loudly and listen to it from the headphones, but not on our head. More than any other album in my life, this one truly got even better with time. I never got sick of listening to it and when I play it today I am right back in Florence.

These are the CD's that I can listen to from start to finish, on repeat, for days at a time. My only rule when making this list was that I could only choose one soundtrack and one compilation/best hits. So what albums can you listen to from start to finish? Has iTunes been good for "discovering" hidden gems or has it hurt the concept of an album?

1. Guster- Lost and Gone Forever

2. Billy Joel- The Stranger

3. Sarah McLachlan- Surfacing

4. Red Hot Chili Peppers- By the Way

5. Alanis Morrisette- Jagged Little Pill
6. Weezer- The Blue Album
7. Britney Spears- Oops... I Did It Again
8. Bon Jovi- New Jersey and Slippery When Wet
9. Sublime- Sublime
10. Coldplay- A Rush of Blood to the Head

Favorite Soundtrack- Almost Famous

Runners Up:

1. Elton John- Honky Chateau

2. Carole King- Tapestry

3. ABBA- GOLD- Greatest Hits

4. Lauryn Hill- The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

5. Empire Records- Soundtrack