Though I am not a musically-inclined person, as I possess a voice that sounds like a wailing rhinoceros, I am a big fan of music in general. However, I also have the attention span of a hyperactive dog. A hyperactive chihuahua, specifically.
Thus, it is very rare for me to listen to one album in it’s entirety. However, over the years, I have accrued a list of albums from a variety of artists that I am fully capable of listening to from start to finish, without getting bored, and without skipping a single song.
AND HERE THEY ARE…
1.) Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends – Coldplay – 2008
Though I have liked pretty much every Coldplay album, I think their 2008 effort is my favorite of them all, though X&Y is a close second. The titular song, as well as Violet Hill, Cemeteries in London, and Lovers in Japan, are frequent visitors on my iTunes shuffle.
2.) Babel – Mumford and Sons – 2012
While going through a difficult time during my second year of college, I listened to this album on the way to and from school, and to and from work, every day for several months. It helped me out a lot, but, apart from that, it’s a really freaking great album overall. Particular favorites from this one include The Boxer, Broken Crown and Below My Feet.
3.) The Black Parade – My Chemical Romance – 2006
I love(d) MCR so much that I wrote my final exam for my English class during freshman year of college about my affection for the song The Sharpest Lives. I also cried when I heard the band was breaking up. Yeah, I was one of those. But I still listen to their stuff on a fairly regular basis, especially most of the hits from this album, including the titular track, This is How I Disappear, Disenchanted, and Dead! All of them, really. It’s impossible to whittle down which ones I like the most.
4.) Thirst for Romance – Cherry Ghost – 2007
I’m really astounded that this band doesn’t get more coverage. I had a significant portion of their music on the playlist I listened to while writing my debut novel, including Thirst for Romance, People Help the People, and My God Betrays. Really great stuff, and if you’ve never heard of them before, I definitely recommend them.
5.) My Head is an Animal – Of Monsters and Men – 2011/2012
I have heard Little Talks at least a thousand times because, for some reason, it is ALWAYS playing at the gym while I’m there, but I never tire of it. Same goes for the entire album, but, in particular, I’m fond of King and Lionheart and Your Bones. My play-count for all of the songs on this album is absurdly high.
6.) Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die! – Panic! At the Disco – 2013
I have distinct memories of listening to this album on the day of release and not stopping or pausing it at all. This is Gospel might be my favorite Panic! song ever, and A Casual Affair and Nicotine are also highlights. Lots of catchy tracks from this one, though I’ll admit, it’s hard to pick between this one and Pretty.Odd (2008). However, this album takes the cake for the simple fact that I’ve listened to it at least a billion times.
7.) Save Rock and Roll – Fall Out Boy – 2013
Though I also really liked their previous album, Folie a Deux, NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE ELSE SAYS, this album is probably my favorite from these guys, and it really sucked me back into their music after their hiatus. Just One Yesterday (feat. Foxes) was probably my most played song of 2013, and not far from it were Alone Together, the titular track from this album, and My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark. Consequently, that last track was the sole redeeming feature of the Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters film adaptation, but that’s neither here nor there…
8.) Random Access Memories – Daft Punk – 2013
WHILE I LOVE EARLY DAFT PUNK VERY MUCH (so set down your pitchforks, please) I really do love their latest stuff the most as a WHOLE. I could get down to Get Lucky all day, man, and I especially love Instant Crush (feat. Julian Casablancas) and Contact. And, as a side-note, I also really, really love their work on the Tron Legacy soundtrack in 2010, which was absolutely stellar. But their wins at the Grammys in 2014 were utterly deserved.
9.) Do the A-Side – Do As Infinity – 2005
Back in my cringe-fest weeaboo days, I was a big fan of the anime InuYasha, and the second ending song, Fukai Mori, introduced me to the J-Pop band Do As Infinity. To this day, over a decade later, I still absolutely love them, and this compilation album hits on some of their best work, especially Fukai Mori, Tangerine Dream, and Week! They broke up for a while, and this album was pretty much their send-off, but you can imagine how pumped I was when they reunited. Fukai Mori is probably my favorite J-Pop song of all time; certainly my favorite from that era.
10.) Hopes and Fears – Keane – 2004
This is the first album I ever purchased with my own money. I was 12, and obsessed with Somewhere Only We Know, which is still one of my favorite songs to date. The play count for that song, as well as Everybody’s Changing and Bedshaped, is well into triple digits. I’ve loved it for so long, this album will forever hold a special place in my heart, and I will never skip a song from this album if it pops up on iTunes shuffle.
Frostwritten 