Soundtrack to My Movie, Disc 1

Music has always been important to me. I play guitar and write songs myself, I listen to music almost constantly, and I love music-based video games. Music is often unfairly relegated to the background, but lately it's come back to the forefront.

As I was sitting and listening to music on Sunday, I started thinking about songs and bands that have deeply affected me throughout my life. And I started to create this list, the soundtrack to my life. This is a list of songs that have defined my musical tastes, inspired me, depressed me, saved me, or were simply playing at critical moments of my life and can never be forgotten. Most are awesome, some are guilty pleasures--all are a part of who I am.

To keep the list as short as possible, I limited myself to only one song from any given band. That was hard. But the resulting list would make a hell of a 2-CD mix collection. The songs are presented in chronological order of approximately when they came into my life, not necessarily in order of release.

1. "A Day in the Life" (1967) by The Beatles

Growing up the son of a big Beatles fan sort of ruined them for me for many years. There's nothing worse than the music that your parents listen to, right? I reintroduced myself to The Beatles after university, and, well, what more needs to be said about The Beatles? I picked "A Day in the Life" because it is awesome. Picking one Beatles song wasn't as hard a choice as I thought it would be. (The chronological thing could be argued for this song, as I probably only really became aware of "A Day in the Life"'s awesomeness in 2001 or so, but I'm sure I heard it multiple times as a kid and just didn't appreciate it.)

2. "Beat It" (1982) by Michael Jackson

I considered putting Weird Al Yankovic's "Eat It" on the list, to try to disguise the Michael Jackson thing, but this is supposed to be an honest list--so, yeah, I fucking loved Michael Jackson as a kid. "Thriller" was the first album I listened to from start to finish over and over, loving every song.

3. "Wanted Dead or Alive" (1986) by Bon Jovi

When I learned two years back that this song was included in Rock Band, I felt the old Bon Jovi fanboy in me coming back to life. I love it! There is no question that Bon Jovi was my first favourite band. "Slippery When Wet" and "New Jersey" weren't just albums--they were my best friends. I'm surprised I didn't wear through those poor cassette tapes with my Walkman.

4. "Time Has Come" (1986) by Europe

"The Final Countdown" was too obvious a choice. Europe's greatest album, which recently was also the awesome soundtrack to Hot Rod, was definitely another album that barely left my Walkman. I'm sure it was only ejected to pop in Bon Jovi, because, hey, Bon Jovi > Europe.

5. "Ride the Wind" (1990) by Poison

Poison was another hair metal favourite from my elementary school days, but their album "Flesh & Blood" has the strongest affect on me. It brings me back to my endless days of reading/playing "Fighting Fantasy" books, and specifically the incredible "Creature of Havoc." "Ride the Wind" is pure, exhilarating nostalgia.

6. "Tonight" (1990) by New Kids on the Block

Oh, what's this? No, that can't be right! How could I admit this? My biggest guilty pleasure of all guilty pleasures... sigh. Just like how as a kid you can't like the music your parents like, you also can't like the music your little brothers like, and one of my little brothers loved NKOTB. Now, by no means am I admitting to liking anything else by the New Kids--just "Tonight," because it's pretty sweet!

7. "More Than Words" (1991) by Extreme

This super-cheesy radio and wedding-friendly acoustic ballad was the beginning of my unexpected transition from hair metal fan to slightly more cerebral hard rock fan. I didn't know what I was getting when I purchased Extreme's Pornograffitti--my first ever CD!--but it was a lot more than just "More Than Words."

8. "Silent Lucidity" (1990) by Queensryche

What can I say about "Silent Lucidity" to do it justice? Still possibly my favourite song of all time, it introduced me to the greatness that is Queensryche and exposed me to the concept of orchestration enhancing my rock music. It's a brilliant song that has been a big part of many of the best moments of my life. It also wakes me up every single morning.

9. "Estranged" (1991) by Guns N' Roses

Holy shit, this song is intense for me now! It has always been my favourite GnR song (and video) because it's freakin' epic--and I love epic songs!-- and it has some of the sweetest guitar solos ever recorded. Now it may also be the most lyrically relevant song on this list, which is kinda exhilarating while also being depressing.

10. "Rearviewmirror" (1993) by Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam marks the start of a different era in this list and my life. 1993 to 1995--some of the most incredible music of all time was released during my last few years of high school. Maybe it's the fact that I was in high school at the time that makes me think that? Who knows? But Pearl Jam's "Ten" and "Vs" are albums that will never grow old.

11. "Disarm" (1993) by Smashing Pumpkins

Smashing Pumpkins blew my mind with their double album "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" two years later, but I still prefer "Siamese Dream"'s consistency and ridiculously awesome songs. "Disarm," especially, takes me back to high school every time.

12. "The Pass" (1989) by Rush

I figured it was time I had some Can-con on this list. I have to admit that I never paid much attention to Rush as a kid--the lead singer has a girly, high-pitched voice! But with the release of "Counterparts" in 1993, Rush finally had a couple singles that interested me. And the whole album was good! And I started digging deeper into their back catalog. And, holy shit, Rush was awesome! Picking one Rush song was easily the most challenging task of compiling this list. But after much soul-searching, I had to go with "Presto"'s highlight, "The Pass."

13. "In the Garage" (1994) by Weezer

When this song came up in a friend's wedding reception mix, I barely stifled a "Yes!" (when it came up three more times, I wondered what kind of shitty algorithm iPods use for random). This is the quintessential high school geek rock song. So good.

14. "Naveed" (1994) by Our Lady Peace

More Can-con! You just can't do better than Our Lady Peace for Canadian rock, and their debut album was a high school favourite for my friends and I.

15. "Goldilox" (1988) by King's X

I discovered King's X with the release of their excellent 1994 album "Dogman." I immediately got to work tracking down their other albums, which was a challenge in those pre-internet days. "Goldilox" is actually from their debut album, and the first time I heard it, it blew me away. It still kind of blows me away. It is not King's X's best song, by any means, but it has emotional power that is hard to beat.

So, that's disc 1 of my soundtrack. The list of songs on disc 2 will follow shortly, probably tomorrow-ish. As a spoiler, disc 2 includes such diverse bands as Live, Alice in Chains, Jimmy Eat World, and Lonestar (really!).

Edited to Add:
Disc 2 is now posted. Enjoy!