So, it's been a while, but I'm posting this here because I don't want to post it anywhere else. Deal. Fifteen Albums That Changed My Life: 15. Rockapella Live- Rockapella
This album made me truly appreciate the beauty of voices harmonizing with one another. I really began to understand the importance of balance and not trying to over power the melody when I harmonize. 14. A Mix CD of The Monkees- The Monkees
Okay, so I don't know if this counts, but I downloaded a bunch of songs off of Napster back in the day when it was free... (is it still even around?) and I made a Mix CD with an old school CD burner. I wore that CD out. It not only introduced me to oldies music, but it also helped me to recognize that it was okay if music was silly. That sometimes the fun part of the lyrics (which could only be understood by the writer) was to find out how they came about and what inside jokes they had.. 13. Hope- Hillsong
This album was the first real worship album that I really loved. It spoke to me and made me feel excited about worship music, and opened me up to really worshipping God through music. 12. Silers Bald- Silers Bald
This was the album that really got me into loving the sound of folk and acoustic guitar. I was more of a pop-music, synthetic beats type, and it really helped me to learn how to quiet my soul and be at peace. 11. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill- Lauryn Hill
I loved and still love this album to this very day. Seeing her honesty and whole-heartednesss through out this album has always stunned me. You can see her pain, her joy, and all the colors in between. It's extraordinary and beautiful. 10. In Between Dreams- Jack Johnson
This album defined my summer in 2005, and I was literally in between dreams, or at least in between the discovery of the dreams of my heart. This album really brought a lot of peace and happiness to me while I was at Look Up Lodge. 09. Our Newest Album Ever- Five Iron Frenzy
Like I said, I listened to a lot of Christian music before I was officially a Christian, and it was this album that I really learned how to rock out and jump around and be crazy and mosh pit all around, and let loose in terms of physical movement. 08. Swing Kids (Soundtrack)- James Horner and Various Artists
This was the album that made me want to dance! I wanted so badly to learn how to swing dance and on one of my lists of things I wanted to do before I died (I was 13 when I wrote it), one of them was to become a swing dancer. 07. DC Talk- Free At Last
I listened to Christian music my whole life without really knowing God, but it was one of the albums that really defined my adolesence. It really made me discover the brilliance of rhyming and rhythm. 06. Films For Radio- Over the Rhine
I learned about OtR from Nomi and Ashley at different times in my life. Their music has really opened a deeper part of me, and it's been their music that has helped bring me away from having a distorted "no fun allowed" image of God. It's also taken me from a view point of legalism and the expectations of law and punishment to a place of grace and mercy and Christ's love for us. 05. Glenn Miller: His Greatest Hits- Glenn Miller and the Glenn Miller Orchestra
This really cultivated an appreciation for swing music which opened a door to a world of music for me: from jazz to music way beyond the scope that I had previously listened to. 04. Take Me To Your Leader- The Newsboys
This album really brought forth wonderful and clever lyrics- most of them penned by Steve Taylor- that made me really have to think about what they meant. It was this album that really made me ponder and appreciate well written and clever lyrics. Ever since then, I've never really been satisfied with dumb lyrics. 03. Into the Woods (Original Broadway Recording)- Stephen Sondheim
This album made me truly fall in love with musical theater. It was when I introduced myself to this musical that I wanted to be in musical theater in some way, shape, or form. 02. Newsies (Soundtrack)- Alan Menken and Howard Ashman
Even before Into the Woods, there was Newsies. It's my favorite movie, and the songs will remain in my heart forever. I believe it is this very movie/soundtrack that put a drive in me to fight for justice, equality, and even when I fall and mess up, to get back up and finish what I started. I wore this CD out so bad that I had to get a new one. 01. What A Heart Is Beating For- Chris Rice
This was the album that really introduced me to Chris Rice's music beyond the superficial level of simply hearing. After listening to this album, I discovered a different kind of love for God, and love for mankind. I feel as though, I've learned a lot about myself and a lot about love, and how I'd like to live my life. | 
