10 Essential Music Albums

For the last week or so, one of my favorite radio stations - 89.3 FM The Current - has been counting down the top 893 essential albums, according to a survey of its listeners. Even though the music on The Current is generally good, it's been especially great during this project - I've had my radio glued to 89.3 for days!

And it got me to thinking: What are my top 10 most essential or influential albums?
These are the 10 albums that I remember the most and had the greatest hand in influencing my musical tastes. They're mostly in order of when I discovered them, not necessarily when they were released.

1. Ricky Nelson - All My Best
2. Michael Jackson - Thriller
3. U2 - The Joshua Tree
4. Garth Brooks - No Fences
5. Metallica - (The Black Album)
6. Tool - Aenima
7. Offspring - Smash
8. Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets
9. Florence and the Machine - Lungs
10. Dessa - A Badly Broken Code

 And once I have it all written out, that's quite a hodge-podge of music. That's OK, because I listen to many types of tunes, and many of my favorite bands couldn't fit on this list. I thought it would be hard to narrow down my top 10, but I was really going for the albums I put on repeat and listened to for hours.

What are your top 10 most influential and/or essential albums?

Sara Duane is a freelance writer in the Twin Cities area of the great state of Minnesota.