Gavin’s Top 10 Albums from High School!

Excuse me, while I embarrass myself.

OK, everyone is posting their Top 10 albums that the listened to in high school, and because I am a follower who does everything social media tells me too, I'm going to share mine. Feel free to judge my musical tastes from over a decade ago but remember that it was a different time. Also, I'm sure in a decade you'll be embarrassed by how much you love Twenty-One Pilots. Here we go:

1. All-American Rejects - Move Along

OK, I'm kind of cheating by having this album on the lists as it was released two months after I graduated high school. It's on the list because the album is wonderful and was on constant repeat for months after it was released. Don't act like you don't cry when you hear "It Ends Tonight" or think of someone who was bad for you when "Dirty Little Secret" plays.

2. Alkaline Trio - Crimson

This is by far my favorite album by the Chicago-based band Alkaline Trio. I'd actually go as far as to say this is one of my favorite albums ever. Songs like "Burn" and "Time to Waste" are fun in the darkest way. "Smoke" is a slower song and "Sadie" uses actually actual clips from Charles Manson's trial to round things out. Definitely a classic.

 3. Blink 182 - Take Off Your Pants and Jacket

One of two Blink 182 albums to make this list, this album came out during my Freshman year of HS. I remember begging my Dad to get me this album so I could hear "The Rock Show" over and over again to my hearts content. While most consider Enema of the State to be their pop-punk masterpiece, I believe this album edges it out.

4. Blink 182 - Blink 182

This album showed the growth that Blink 182 had gone through since their previous album (the album mentioned before this on my life). Blink 182 become more experimental in their sound and grew lyrically. I Miss You is definitely in the Top 5 of all Blink 182 songs.

5. Breaking Benjamin - We Are Not Alone

ANGRY MUSIC IS ANGRY! I remember getting into Breaking Benjamin my sophomore year of HS after my friend burned me this CD. Wow, that sentence sounded a lot older than I thought it would. But yeah, this definitely was played at loud volumes when I get mad at my parents.

 6. Avril Lavigne - Let Go

This album was life. I had this album on CD and would listen to it as I mowed lawns. This is probably one of the albums I listened to the most as a teenager and I'm not ashamed to admit that I often revisit this album. This album proved that GIRLS ROCK! and it's just a fun album to listen to while reminiscing about the past. If I ever get married, "I'm With You" will probably get played at my wedding.

7. Linkin Park - Meteora

If you had an album in the early 2000's that was even remotely attached to a Matrix movie, you know I was down. For an uncomfortable amount of time, I declared that "Numb" was my favorite song OF ALL TIME. Not just of that year, but of all songs ever released. "I mean, Motzart was pretty good but he was no Linkin Park," is a sentence I probably said several hundred times. Linkin Park is still around but I don't know if they'll ever be able to top this masterpiece of the 2000's.

8. My Chemical Romance - Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge

This album was mentioned in my 8 Emo Songs blog from last week and I stand by it being a classic, even a decade later. The storytelling on this album was the first time I realized albums could tell stories and not just be a collection of disconnected singles. If I could go back and tell the Gavin that was in his room listening to this album while reading Batman: Knightfall, I'd let him know a bunch of stuff. One of which is letting him know that he would still be listening to this album in 2017.

9. Sum 41 - Does This Look Infected?

As I type this, I have the opening riff from "The Hell Song" stuck in my head. Sum 41 hit it big a few years prior with their single "Fat Lip" on the album All Killer No Filler. Along with "The Hell Song," this album also featured the singles "Still Waiting" and "Over My Head." This past summer, I got to see Sum 41 on the Van's Warped Tour and got to relive being 16 and a little bit mad at the world.

10. U2 - All That You Can't Leave Behind

One of these albums is not like the others... Yeah, back in 2001 I got super into U2. I enjoyed their older stuff but for some reason got really into this album. I think a lot of it had to do with the song "Walk On," which got me through the hard times. And by hard times, I mean a girl not liking me and stuff like that. Also, "Beautiful Day" is a great song and the video for "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of" taught me the importance of missing a field goal.

Comment below and let me know what some of your top albums during your high school years were!