The album that always brings me back in time is Guns 'N Roses "Appetite For Destruction". Every time that I hear it I think of my junior and senior year at T.F. South when my friend Norm (yes, I had a friend Norm who was very much like Cheers Norm) would pick me up with other friends for school.

He had this gigantic beast of a car, a 1978 Green Metallic Monte Carlo SS. This thing was a tank and could hold about 7-8 people. He'd be blasting Appetite seemingly every day and we used to take the long way to school for some before school recreation, if you know what I mean. I would never partake, but it I believe I'd still get a contact high.

One time after school, we decided to stop at the White Hen Pantry as a friend needed to get cigarettes. While in the parking lot, Norm decided to show off his engine in neutral, when suddenly it went into drive and we flew right into the White Hen window......not good.

The friend that had been in line had to jump over the counter to avoid getting hit. Like Jack Buck once said..."I can't believe what I just saw!" Surprisingly, Norm only got a wreckless driving ticket....and of course had to pay for the window.

Every time I hear this album or drive past that White Hen, I think of this moment.

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-"God is great. Beer is good. And People are crazy!"

Sublime...Sublime always brings me back to my Junior/Senior years of HS when we used to sit behind the Blockbuster Music across the street from school and get baked out of our minds.

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Albums? We're talking about albums? I'm afraid immessedup might ask us about our favorite typewriters.

Pink Floyd's Animals- it was big when I was in eighth grade and the summer before I started high school I was smoking a lot of weed and listening to it constantly.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Def Lepard Hysteria...I'm in 7th grade all over again.

this was the cassette tape that I would ski to....loved this album.

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@audioidkid

The Orb's Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld was the same story for me...

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Different band, but I'm listening to Orbs - Asleep Next To Science right now.

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@audioidkid

It's like mentioning cassettes and Sega Genesis to crosscheck.

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Thought of another one. The Black Album (Metallica, which I am on record as not liking) was the album I first got laid to. This chick I was dating when I was 16 was absolutely obsessed with it.

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Aggravated Sox Fan Bob is probably waiting for the program change in the middle of "Ramble On" on his Zeppelin II 8-Track.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I once bought a 20 year old 8 track player at a garage sale and a bunch of tapes for like 20 bucks (I was 15). That was how I first discovered Zeppelin.

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I know this nut named Russ Forster who published a zine called 8-Track Mind.

http://www.8trackheaven.com/sub.html

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Rush Moving pictures_ Takes me back to hanging at the park by my house .Playing ball drinking beer and just being a youngin.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

Damn, some good ones, but I was hoping for more good stories. I like SJ's story of discovering Zeppelin though.

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-"God is great. Beer is good. And People are crazy!"

I don't necessarily have good stories of albums giving me memories of childhood. My musical discovery came during the early part of high school, through introduction to bands from my best friend's older brother. He showed us the Who, the Stones, the Ramones, etc. Zep was self discovery. Some people can talk about how their parents may have introduced them to starting points in their musical experience, but mine is that my dad showed me all the music I loathe. He was a child of disco (DJ'd right around the time I was born), then he got into country (and not older stuff like Cash, Waylon, and Willie), and Jimmy Fucking Buffet.

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"Licensed to Ill"" brings me back to 8th grade and boring nights at home playing Contra on NES. If I thought about it I could probably tell you what level on Contra I'd be at by the song playing on the album.

"Dookie" takes me right back to the summer of '94, my coming out party of finding a lot of music. It was definitely chart topping stuff, but it was only the beginning.

Whenever I hear "Automatic for the People" I think back to when I was going to internet classes at Fermilab. A guy that was in my class was also into REM and we mostly surfed for REM lyrics to try and figure them out.

"Being There" takes me back to the summer of '99, driving back from Illinois to Delaware, while my sister was asleep.

"The Colour and the Shape" always takes me back to about '02-'03, me driving home on the Jersey turnpike, coming back from NYC visiting my sister.

Outkast Atliens 1996. I was in high school as a junior and honestly I must have bought this CD 5 different times. All of us white boys that went to Rich South loved Rap music. I could still listen to this CD today and I swear I still know all the lyrics.

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The Orb's Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld was my first headphone high. I was thirteen years old and been playing cello for the past 6 years. I bought the album on a whim - my tastes were changing, and I was interested in all of the electronic music on the radio at the time (1997). I had bought up as much of this music as I could afford on my allowance. I didn't really know The Orb other than from a single that appeared on an URB Magazine compilation, "Toxygene." I saved my first listen for my first joint, one that had been rolled by a friend's older brother for me. I waited until I had some time alone at home (rare) and put disc 1 into my bookshelf stereo, put on my headphones, and clumsily lit up. I spent the duration of the two discs sprawled out on my bed watching the early dusk fade into night through my bedroom window. I'll never forget that, and it will always be one of my favorite albums.

I don't really expect anyone to have the patience to listen through this (I don't, but I just bought thirty new records and want to get to listening to those) but this is both the climax & denouement of the album: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpO_x0CHfoU (part 1 of 2)

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For me, I have a few

Metallica 'Ride the Lightning' - This was my high school pump up CD. Pop that baby in the cassette player while working out.

Anthrax 'Among The Living' I had my Levi's jacket with the preacher patch on the back of it. Used to get all sorts of looks from the priests at my grade school.

Michael Jackson ' Thriller' First album I ever owned.

Whenever I listen to "More Than You Think You Are" by Matchbox Twenty, I instantly think of my ex-girlfriend and the desperate attempts I made to get back with her...yeah, I don't listen to that CD anymore...

Everytime I hear anything from Load or ReLoad, I'm instantly taken back to the dorms at Iowa State, searching the campus network for shit and playing Starcraft...

If the radio plays anything by Don Henley, I'm taken back to an imaginary time and place that never existed because it is impossible for that much win to be...

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"There is a high statistical probability of death by gunshot. A punch to the face is also likely."

Good topic. Let me see, the first couple that come to mind are:

Living Colour - Vivid -- My buddy and I would listen to this one non stop while
tossing alley-oops to one another and playing hoops on his 8 ft rim during the
summer between 8th grade and freshman year. When our hands hurt from dunking
we would go jump on his trampoline.

Public Enemy - Fear of a Black Planet -- I used to have a 45 minute bus ride into
school as we lived way out in the country. I had an old Sony Walkman and literally
wore out this tape on the ride to and from school. By the time I actually bought the
CD for it the songs printed on the tape were completely rubbed off. Still listen to this
one ocassionally.

G Love & Special Sauce -- Yeah It's That Easy -- I had just transferred to Illinois State
the fall of 1997 and moved in with a buddy from high school and two guys I didn't know.
Turned out to be a crazy place to live to say the least but one of the new roomies had
this album and we had after hours parties probably 3 times a week and this is what was
played on repeat many a night. Actually a really cool and chill album. I bet I have purchased
this 3 times and have lost the CD every time. I need to buy it again just to have on hand.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

Vinyl Rundown:

45 - the Oak Ridge Boys Y'all Come Back Saloon. I remember it as we had just purchased this stereo and that was the first song that came on the radio. That's actually the first thing I can recall in life. We bought the 45 and played the life out of it.
Album - The Oak Ridge Boys Have Arrived. Leaving Louisiana remains one of my favorite songs of all time, and that album really had some great material on it.

12" singles - I had a few from DJ International. Can U Dance by Fast Eddie was my favorite.
Nana - Be My Baby gets a lot of play on my iPod today (that wasn't DJI - not sure which label).

Talking Disc (did I just write that?) - The Animal Stories LPs from Larry Lujack. Damn funny stuff.

Never thought I'd see the Orb mentioned here....

Adventures clearly is the apex. For me though...UF Orb is where I got hooked in. I don't even remember why I even bought it. But there it was....and for even more weirdness, I remember buying a Geto Boys album in the same purchase.

But I listened to UF Orb...and for the longest time it seemed to random to me. It reminded me of being at the Planetarium. But after awhile, it started to make sense. Songs formed. It wasn't totally random. I picked up Adventures and I was hooked. I think over time they lost some of their uniqueness....but they'll always be in my favorites of all time.