Life Hits so Far

I have no idea where I got this two-disc compilation, but it was the backdrop to so many explorative Pacific Northwest trips it’s amazing the CDs didn’t melt. If you ever see me in a car singing along to something with abandon, there’s a 90% chance it’s one of these tracks.

Heard the title track play on KEXP (the radio!) one day in the car, not long after we first moved far away to Seattle. The sound is a foundational part of my experience in that new place, and a lot of the lyrics bridge and old life with a new one.

Soundtrack for finishing college and moving west. Lots of sadness and hope, and “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” is one of the most beautiful love songs I’ve ever heard. We saw Death Cab at Marymoor park and happened to sit next to the band members’ friendly, oenophilic moms, which is also hard to forget.

One we played a lot in our little Seattle house, which marked the end of that era before we moved to Texas.

I don’t find and listen to new music like I used to, so I don’t know how I came across this badass German electronic marching band but they’re so nerdcool it hurts. Watch the video and let it get going.

I listened to a lot of Grizzly Bear when we’d first moved to Seattle, which was the beginning of a new era in a new part of the country.

More early-Seattle sound at the beginning of my time there.

Another foundational “this is what PNW feels like” album. Mariners and ships and fog and vast verandas and things to sing along with? Yes please.

More of what my move west to Seattle sounded like—probably an album I arrived at because of KEXP.

What do you mean I’m attracted to wistful, sit and cry on a rainy day music?!

Feels like college design work, probably because I listened to it in college like other music was unavailable.

I listened to this a lot in college. Nonzero chance I listened to “Ping Island/Lightning Strike Rescue Op” with roommates and we let it loop and were all fine with this.

Fuzzy on when I first watched this, but it’s still a special film for me with a soundtrack I love listening to. Makes me wonder what I’d be doing if I was French.

Pinnacle of a more expensive audiophile phase that came with the realization I was no longer a youth.

A lot of high school listening and I got to see a lot of these songs performed live. The Foo Fighters would have opened for them (!) if Dave Grohl hadn’t injured himself.

Lots of good, nostalgic high school era tracks on this one.

I missed a surprising number of rock albums that I’d discover later in life, but I was right there with this one. Eventually living across from The Crocodile and visiting Aberdeen, Washington felt like walking on sacred ground.

Bought the album for “Bittersweet Symphony” and realized years later the whole album’s great. 😅

Another high school-era album I listened to a lot that always felt like moving west before I had any intention of moving anywhere. Feels like turbulent high school romance and hope.

Loved this so much. Young Matt’s first electric power chords were playing along with “Where the River Flows”.

One of my first rock favorites and an early CD I most likely saved up for. Very satisfying to power chord along with when young me got an electric guitar. “Time of Your Life” (different album) is a cliché now, but it remained my favorite song well into college before Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie rolled into town.

This is apparently dad rock now, but for me this was a big one in high school. I’m not a dad but I’m into puns and this album so maybe that’s an honorary qualification.

The high school driving-and-singing album I have no problem sharing with you at this point. Still fun!

A high school birthday gift that probably had a lot to do with the Matrix, with lyrics lost on a run-of-the-mill suburban kid. The energy and urgency and message has aged well and become more alarming as I’ve gotten older.

I drove around to this, played guitar poorly to this, and spent a lot of time looking for Incubus acoustic tracks and videos in the age of Napster.

Moody high school music. Trying to downplay how hard I fell for it.

Be cool about this, please. I was an emotional kid that couldn’t get enough Rob Thomas no matter how that seems now. Also Rob if you’re reading this and want to hang out just let me know.

First band I saw on stage, opening for Verve Pipe. That first track’s intro is how they started on stage and hearing it still gives me goosebumps.

I don’t know how I arrived at this one as a kid, but I’m glad I did.

My very first album, purchased on cassette. What was yours?

One of my favorite of my dad’s records we grew up listening to.

Another childhood classic.

Didn’t go to The Ohio State University and moved away from Ohio a long time ago, but I love marching band percussion and brass and grew up seeing and listening to this one in Columbus. “Buckeye Battle Cry” and especially “Carmen Ohio” still give me goosebumps. Recordings are no substitute for the huge blare of these horns in real life, and seeing someone dot the I on the field.