Dan is a wonderful husband for many reasons, but one of them is that he understands what is going to make a good gift for me. Lucky for him, it's usually nothing that's too expensive. In most cases, I'd be just as happy with a really good book or a really good CD as I would with anything that cost a lot more. His big gift coup was buying me an MP3 player for Christmas, which has changed my life. Now, I can drive in my car, and walk around on the street, and work in my office, all while plugged into my own personal radio station, which only plays things I like. It's a dream come true.

Tonight, Dan brought a CD home for me as a random nice gift because he's a sweet man and he typically keeps a running list of CDs that I want. (There are always 5-10 albums on this list. I'm kind of a freak.) Tonight's gift was Radiohead's "The Bends." I have loved this album for more than 10 years, but have previously only had a really bad tape of it for reasons that will be explained later.

So now I'm siting here soaking reliving my love of this album circa 1995, and it made me think about five records that were huge for me when I was 14-17 or so,and, therefore, had a dramatic impact on my musical tastes from then on. It also made me realize that almost all of them were bootlegged for me by my very much cooler than me friend Leigh, who made me tapes because I didn't have a CD player for a long time. I have since grown up and bought legal copies of these records, but my love of them has not faded, even though in some cases, it's kind of embarrassing to admit how much I love them. But I thought I'd share my list, and you can share yours, if you're the kind of person who can remember what kind of music you liked when you were 15.

So without further rambling, here are the Top Five allbums that rocked my socks off from 1994-1998 (and still do), in no particular order:

Counting Crows, "August and Everything After." If I knew how many times I have listened to this album, I would be able to count up the countless hours and days of my life that have been narrated by the voice of Adam Duritz. And while that might be a really depressing number if I thought about it in terms of what I could have been getting done instead, I can't say I regret it.

Indigo Girls "Swamp Ophelia." I know, I know, the Indigo Girls are terminally un-hip, girly, and otherwise questionable. But I don't care. They make beautiful music. True confession: In college, I was the less impressive part of a cover duo/band made up of me and my friend Julie. We almost exclusively sang Indigo Girls songs in the coffee shop of our college. And no one stopped us. No, there is no surviving video of this unfortunate phase, and today I would have to have a great deal of some controlled substance in my system to do any such audacious thing. But it was big fun.

Radiohead, "The Bends." Radiohead today of course has a borderline cult-like following of geeks who are perfectly cool with the fact that they turn out an album once every six years or so and that the aforementioned albums seem (to me) to be getting less and less comprehensible as time passes. I don't have any issues with their later work, but I've never loved anything they've done like I love "The Bends." The video for "Just (You do it to yourself)" is my favorite video of all time, and in 1995, my family did not have cable, so the fact that I've ever even seen it is a testament in itself to my fascination. Long live Thom Yorke.

Vigilantes of Love, "Blister Soul." For this one, I have to thank my friend Cara. Vigilantes of Love is an ever-changing lineup of musicians whose essential purpose is to back up the musical stylings of Athens, Georgia's Bill Mallonee, who has been referred to as the Flannery O' Connor of folk music. He's a believer with both feet firmly planted in the fact that we're all sinners in need of grace, and I think he's one of the finest songwriters of the last 20 years, Christian or otherwise. Keep your CCM music, I'll take Bill Mallonee any day. The VOL song "Skin" is kind of my personal theme song for a lot of reasons. If you're going to check out Mr. Mallonee in all his glory, I highly reccomend that you buy the compilation album titled "V.O.L." Heck, I'll buy you a copy if you want me to.

And finally, we have Ben Folds Five's "Whatever and Ever Amen." Piano! Bass! Great weird backup vocals! What's not to love?

Honorable mention goes to R.E.M.'s "Automatic for the People," Jeff Buckley's "Grace," Jimmy Eat World's "Clarity," Sarah McLachlans's "Fumbling Towards Ecstacy," Pedro the Lion's "It's Hard to Find a Friend," and Toad the Wet Sprocket's "Dulcinea."

So now ... your turn.