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Music shapes our lives. For every memorable moment there’s a song that encapsulates the essence of that experience. For me hearing a certain song takes me back to my first boyfriend or to an all-night dance-a-thon with my favorite girlies. There are albums that changed my life, that got me through bad breakups and made me realize life (and love) is great after all. Here are 10 albums every girl should own, sing every lyric at the top of her lungs and hold each tune in her heart.
India Aire - Acoustic Soul : A beautiful blend of neo-soul mixed with grandma’s wise advice. India Aire’s debut CD let us know we’re not just your average girl from the video.
Carole King - Tapestry: What would a list of albums for women be without Carole King? Carole’s 1971 album still rings true today with classics like “Beautiful” and “Will you Love me Tomorrow”
Pink - Funhouse: Pink is the go-to girl for in your face, don’t give a crap anthems. Funhouse is a mix of Pink’s raw emotion but delves deeper and shows her softer side on lost love and giving up.
Lauryn Hill - Miseducation of Lauryn Hill: Lauryn Hill was ahead of her time musically and lyrically. Miseducation is one of those albums that speaks to every part of your soul and is indelibly etched in our hearts as Lauryn’s greatest work.
Alanis Morisette- Jagged Little Pill: The poster album for female angst, Alanis Morisette’s Jagged Little Pill served you anger, pain and life’s lessons cold. Her tribute to ex-lovers “You Ought to Know” is one every scorned girl has memorized.
Amy Winehouse - Back to Black: With her recent passing, Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black has a new meaning. Her 60s soul and powerful, and often raw, lyrics connected Amy’s pain and candidness with all of us.
No Doubt -Tragic Kingdom: Gwen Stefani is a bad ass Ska-singing front woman. Every woman can relate to being part of the boys club in I’m just a Girl and the main hit Don’t Speak is a karoke fave!
Dixie Chicks- Fly: Every girl has one Dixie Chicks’ song she can play over and over. Fly is full of upbeat jams including Ready to Run and Goodbye Earl. The Dixie Chicks are full-on girl power with this album!
Erykah Badu - Mama’s Gun: Erykah Badu bursts onto the music scene an eclectic, turban wearing soul sister. Songs like Didn’tcha Know and Green Eyes solidified Mama’s Gun another classic in the cult of Badu.
M.I.A.- Kala: Nobody does cultural mash-ups like M.I.A. Boyz, World Town and others made catapulted M.I.A. to international star status. Every song has a cultural reference while still managing to make us move!
What albums can’t you live without? What’s on your top ten?
18 comments:
Jagged Little Pill was my musical education lol. At 14, I was a MASSIVE fan of the Spice Girls and Steps (along with other cheesy bands like that) my friend then played me Jagged Little Pill and that was it! I had it on cassette to start with and always had to fast forward You Oughta Know because some bits weren't really appropriate to play in my parents house lol. Then I got it on CD because I nearly wore out the cassette lol.
Love No Doubt but by the time I was into them they had already split :( I think I had No Doubt on a cassette that I'd recorded off the radio (As was most of my music because singles were getting expensive £4 for 3 or 4 tracks when an album with 10 or 12 tracks is £10 do the maths there?!?)
Hell yeah!! Great albums!! I'm glad you put jagged little pill on there!! I also would say you have to have like a Pat Benatar greatest hits album!! =)
I have to agree with every album on this list, and have them all as well...what a great list! I would add TLC's Crazysexycool....but that's about it!
Tori Amos - Boys for Pele, you know, for the times you hate boys! :)
Jagged Little Pill - one of the best - ever.
My favorites:
Wreck Your Life and Too Far To Care - Old 97's
Fox Confessor - Neko Case
Sweetheart of the Rodeo - The Byrds
Best of the Flying Burrito Brothers
Trace - Son Volt
AM - Wilco
Revival - Gillian Welch
No list will ever be complete without Alanis! Whenever I hear any of those songs, i'm still in awe of the perfection. I'd also add Hole's Live Through This and/or Celebrity Skin. Both screwed my head back on after i'd lost it after dang near every bad breakup...and made me want to pick up a guitar, write angry love songs, and bleach my hair, haha.
Oh - so many! Adore this post btw. I can't live without playing Everything but the Girl's Walking Wounded. It's the story of my life...and has been for decades.
bff and i sing "goodbye earl" way too much to admit in public. it's so good! xo
Oh, nice to see Acoustic Soul, Jagged Little Pill and the Dixie Chicks' anything on the list. Very top choices there.
If I had to add a few more, I'd include:
- Cree Summer's Street Faerie
- Missy Elliott's Under Construction
- Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits
I'd also include Pink's "I'm Not Dead" instead of "Funhouse." My mom bought me "I'm Not Dead" for a birthday present when it came out and it was like 80% of the songs directly related to me and my life.
Great list! So many of the albums are favorites :)
It's Not Me, It's You ~ Lily Allen... ok I'm no lady but...but..
Definitely need some Tori Amos on there, Little Earthquakes, I'd say.
And even though she's a little churchy for my tastes, you can't go wrong with some Dolly Parton. She writes a lot of uplifting stuff, and she's definitely a strong woman!
Great choice of albums! Love it :)
Still listen to Fiona Apple's Shadowboxer. And love anything Brenda Weiler ever put out.
I recommend Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, Tori Amos Into The Pink or Choirgirl Hotel, though some say Little Earthquakes is better, also like Carly Simon No Secrets, Joni Mitchell Ladies of the Canyon, and Sinead O
Connor I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got,
Great picks! Not sure if I would add anything. I'm still listening to most of the albums on the list!
Nice list :)
Really like this list. I've most of the albums but will seek a few out as well. Glad to see India.Arie's Acoustic Soul on there. Video remains a favourite song.
I linked back to this post as well {http://simonssista.blogspot.com/2011/09/listening-to.html}
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