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Music plays a fairly dominant role in my life. Not only is it my primary source of both inspiration and solace, it’s also my livelihood; for most of my life I have earned my keep working primarily as a DJ. As such, I think it may offer helpful insight into my personality if today I share with you the music that is most important to me.

More than anything else in the world, I believe, art has the capacity to shape and change people, and music can do so perhaps more than any other art-form. I am inarguably a different person for having experienced some of the albums listed below. Had I listened to something other than Joy Division, The Smiths, David Bowie, Run-D.M.C., Suede, PiL, or Pulp during my formative years, I’d be a different person, and not just in subtle ways. My world view, my ideas about love, even my life’s goals, were all shaped, at least in part, by the songs and albums to which I listened over and over, as both a youth and now as a fledgling adult.

The list below is self-explanatory. The only liberty I’ve taken is lumping Belle and Sebastian’s three 1997 EPs together as one album, which seems fair as they came out nearly simultaneously, and their 12 songs are the rough equivalent of an LP.

With the caveat that I make no case that these are the best albums of all time, merely my personal favorites, I present to you my favorite albums of life, organized by era. A handful are highlighted in green; those are my must-have-on-a-desert-island best of the best.

Handful from the Jurassic Era

Erroll Garner – Penthouse Serenade (1949)
Charles Mingus – Mingus Ah Um (1959)
Dave Brubeck – Time Out (1959)
Miles Davis – Kind of Blue (1959)
The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
Velvet Underground – Andy Warhol (1967)
James Brown – Live at the Apollo, Vo. 2 (1968)
Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison (1968)

Baker’s Dozen +1 from the Beginning of Recorded History

Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath (1970)
Can – Soundtracks (1970)
David Bowie – Hunky Dory (1971)
Serge Gainsbourg – Histoire de Melody Nelson (1971)
Nick Drake – Pink Moon (1972)
The J.B.’s – Food For Thought (1972)
The Stooges – Raw Power (1973)
Neu! – Neu! 2 (1973)
Kraftwerk – Trans-Europe Express (1977)
The Jam – This is the Modern World (1977)
David Bowie – Low (1977)
Public Image Ltd. – Public Image (1978)
Joy Division – Unknown Pleasures (1979)
Blondie – Eat to the Beat (1979)

Lucky 13 from the ’80s (+1 E.P.)

Joy Division – Closer (1980)
Bauhaus – In the Flat Field (1980)
Wham! – Make It Big (1984)
Iron Maiden – Powerslave (1984)
The Smiths – Meat is Murder (1985)
Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill (1986)
Run-D.M.C. – Raising Hell (1986)
Slayer – Reign in Blood (1986)
Cowboy Junkies – Whites Off Earth Now!! (1986)
The Smiths – The Queen is Dead (1986)
Operation Ivy – Hectic (1987)
Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
Pixies – Doolittle (1989)
Beastie Boys – Paul’s Boutique (1989)

A Bunch from the Dawn of the Modern Era

Happy Mondays – Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches (1990)
George Michael – Listen Without Prejudice (1990)
Nirvana – Nevermind (1991)
De La Soul – De La Soul Is Dead (1991)
The Lucksmiths – First Tape (1993)
Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream (1993)
Jeff Buckley – Grace (1994)
Weezer – Weezer (1994)
Pulp – His ‘N’ Hers (1994)
Portishead – Dummy (1994)
Suede – Dog Man Star (1994)
Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (1995)
Pulp – Different Class (1995)
Brian Jonestown Massacre – Methodrone (1995)
Radiohead – The Bends (1995)
Suede – Coming Up (1996)
George Michael – Older (1996)
Ash – 1977 (1996)
Morcheeba – Who Can You Trust? (1996)
Belle & Sebastian – If You’re Feeling Sinister (1996)
Babybird – Ugly Beautiful (1997)
Radiohead – OK Computer (1997)
Belle & Sebastian – 3.. 6.. 9 Seconds of Light /Lazy Line Painter Jane/ Dog On Wheels EPs (1997)
Air – Moon Safari (1998)
The Aislers Set – Terrible Things Happen (1998)
Jack Drag – Dope Box (1998)
Pulp – This is Hardcore (1998)
Death Cab for Cutie – Something About Airplanes (1998)
Kent – Isola (1998)
Bernard Butler – People Move On (1998)
Moby – Play (1999)
Muse – Showbiz (1999)
Tom Waits – Mule Variations (1999)
Magnetic Fields – 69 Love Songs (1999)

And a Dozen from the Current Century

The White Stripes – De Stijl (2000)
Bright Eyes – Fever and Mirrors (2000)
Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (2000)
Jack Johnson – Brushfire Fairytales (2000)
The Strokes – Is This It? (2001)
The White Stripes – White Blood Cells (2001)
Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head (2002)
Broken Social Scene – You Forgot It in People (2002)
Libertines – Up the Bracket (2002)
Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002)
Postal Service – Give Up (2003)