Top 10 Songs That (Kinda) Changed My Life

You asked for another top 10 list, so here goes. I can probably add 10 more to this list. Maybe I will someday. God, people love lists. So do I. So fun!

1.Chesterfield King, Jawbreaker: I wrote the lyrics down in my diary. I memorized them. Me, Leslie, Alexis, and Farber bought a pack of Chesterfields (they're awful) and smoked them in a 7-11 parking lot, drank a beer, and felt the chill of Fall. Just kidding, we smoked them in the parking lot of the On Parade diner and played this song over and over and over while we all not-so-secretly wished Blake from Jawbreaker would be our boyfriend. Today, Leslie is married to an old guy, I don't know where Alexis is, and Farber is my homie for life.

2. Double Dare Ya, Bikini Kill: Farber loaned me this album (along with Pussy Whipped) and from the moment I heard the first song, my life would forever be changed. I don't think DDY was the first BK song I ever heard, but it was definitely the one that kicked my ass the hardest. I was alone in my bedroom and read the lyrics on the record sleeve and suddenly felt like I had a new purpose in life. Um, I didn't know what it was, but I was a girl and that counted for something. Corny? Yes. True? Also yes.

3. Carry The Zero, Built To Spill: This song reminds me of when I lived on 11th street and Ave A. Me, Ben, and Emily were all laying on my bed, singing this song, all of us knowing the lyrics by heart even though we hadn't grown up listening to it together. Ben grew up in Cali, Emily in Wisconsin, and me in New York, but it was like we had all grown up living in the same bedroom. In a way I guess we did.

4. Ghetto Bastard, Naughty By Nature: When I was in 7th grade I found my favorite friends in the world. They were wiggers. Sort of. We used to listen to this song on repeat and I didn't feel ashamed or "white" or "privileged" because I was 13 and that stuff didn't matter. We didn't intellectualize the songs we loved, we just loved them. And they loved us right the fuck back. And I love this song.

5. Katy Song, Red House Painters: I like this song, but I also love it because it reminds me of Bill and how much a single person can love a song so much. If you could pull a string on Bill and have a song play, it would be this one. And maybe a John Frusciante song after that. This song reminds me of him and how special he is.

6. Nude As The News, Cat Power: It's true that this is an emo list. What can I say, I'm in an emo mood. I love all of Chan Marshall's music but this song especially because it reminds me of when I went to Paris. I was with Ally in a little hotel room and we ate the best food and listened to music. Then we ran into Chan's boyfriend at the time and we hung out with him and just laughed for days. I told him I loved this song and asked him what it was about and he told me. But it's a secret. I can't tell you. (ps it's not that hard to figure out I'm just thick sometimes). Today Ally is a teacher and Chan lives in LA and I have no idea what happened to her ex boyfriend.

7.Can't Help Falling In Love, Lick The Tins, Elvis, and Dead Moon: This is one of my favorite songs of all time, by all 3 of these artists, but the Lick The Tins one comes at the end of the movie Some Kind Of Wonderful and it just captures the whole tone of the movie perfectly. This is why I miss John Hughes! He really worked music into his films in a way that made them seem even more meaningful than they already were. It reminds me of my friend Bobby because he once told me he liked this song, and then he sang it, and if you knew Bobby you would just think that's super cute. And then it would become one of your favorite songs too.

8. I Wanna Sex U Up, Color Me Badd: This song has taken a different shape for me through the years, but I'll never forget how it worked its way into my heart. Fuck have I become the type of person who can't let go of the past? Anywhozzles, for a long time I couldn't hear this song without having a sense memory attack of Marcie Getleman's basement. We were all sleeping over and we invited some boys over. Everyone was hooking up except for me and Ally so we played this song to "set the mood" for our friends. I remember Ally flipping the cassingle over every time the song ended while Collin felt up Marcie. Marcie died a few years ago from a drug overdose, so this one's for her. RIP.

9.Dreams, The Cranberries: I was sitting in the back of someones car with Marlene when this song came on, and Marlene started singing. I had known Marlene for a little while but we weren't really close friends yet. I had never known she had such a good voice and she was singing so small and quiet but it made a huge impact on me. I asked her "Who sings this song? I really like it" and then she made me a mix tape. This was the first song on the mix. Today Marlene lives in Brooklyn when she's not traveling the world and she's probably reading this right now.

10. Helplessly Hoping, Crosby Stills & Nash: One night I had a band. It was a folk band with Heloise, her husband James, and my ex boyfriend Scott. We were called Double Deuce and we all sang this song together. We never played anywhere and I don't even think the 4 of us hung out again after that night, but fuck if we didn't nail this song. We sounded like birds singing at the gates of heaven! That was a good feeling. Heloise and James are in an awesome band that you should go see live called Heloise And The Savoir Faire, and Scott is an artist who goes out with a famous person.

This was fun! I'll do it again another day!