I went back and started checking all the bands I listened to in early high school (shout out to Limewire!), and there are definitely a lot of masterpieces from 2005, but I actually think 2006 might have it beat. That being said, here is a list of mine (sort of in order from the most influential to my teen self):
WHY? - Elephant Eyelash
Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary
The Decemberists - Picaresque
LCD Soundsystem - Self titled
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah - Self titled
The National - Alligator
Death Cab For Cutie - Plans (I remember thinking that they sold out with this album and being pissed lol but it was catchy nonetheless)
Feb 23, 2024
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Grade 10 and into grade 11 was a lot of emo/"screamo"/pop-punk (My Chemical Romance, The Academy Is..., Cute Is What We Aim For, Cobra Starship, The Devil Wears Prada, Chiodos, Taking Back Sunday, Brand New, Get Up Kids, etc.)
Moving further into grade 11, it was grew more into the indie+more (Ting Tings, MGMT, Arcade Fire, LCD Soundsystem, Tegan and Sara, Metric, Justice, Chromeo, The Prodigy, Flight of the Conchords, Band of Horses, The Submarines, Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, The Moldy Peaches/Kimya Dawson, Bloc Party, Vampire Weekend, Peaches, Regina Spektor, omg so many).
Twelfth grade I leaned reallyyyyy hard into my whole Yearning phase before I left for college so a lot of Stars, Sufjan Stevens, Rilo Kiley, Beirut, The Naked and Famous, The Decemberists, Phoenix, Foster the People, The Smiths (lol)...
The list could go on and on, but it was a fun time, musically.
May 27, 2025
first thing that comes to mind that feels of the time is all the vitamin string quartet covers I was obsessed with lolololol I should get back into those!!
Also loved Hozier, Laura Gibson (LOVED her—listened to skin, warming skin on repeat), of mice and men, mumford and sons, band of horses, Lorde, the black keys, FOB, Panic!, All Time Low, a little 21 pilots, a little MCR, Halsey, and the Beatles (especially early in high school and especially the songs featured in across the universe (2007) but I also loved paperback writer for some reason).
Very tail end of my senior year I got more into broadway and was obsessed with everything from Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (which was SNUBBED for the Tony by dear evan Hansen 🤮)
Didn’t do a lot of country, was mostly into country in elementary and middle school, then got back into it after graduating college, both from nostalgia and from a desire to preserve that part of me when I decided to move to the east coast.
The first ones I mentioned were from streaming(not a lot since unlimited data wasn’t a thing for me at the time and my parents also weren’t paying for Spotify for me so the ads were annoying), my iTunes library, YouTube to mp3 files I put on my phone back when it was easier to do that, and CDs. But I also liked the hard rock and classic rock stations on the radio for my drives to and from school.
Spotify also tells me I liked death cab for cutie and needtobreathe more than I remembered lol
May 26, 2025
I was blessed to come of age at a time in which both physical media and streaming were prevalent. One of my friends/neighbors got sent away to a boarding school run by monks in alaska and gave me his crate of CD‘s for safekeeping. this led to a lot of classic hipster /mu albums like in the aeroplane over the sea, oracular spectacular, hospice, gorillaz/demon days/plastic beach (i got rise of the ogre from the library and asked my mom what cunt meant bc it was in the book), the suburbs, the reminder, and bands like TMBG, james blake, eels, sleighbells, etc. I also was one of the only people in my school who loved lana del ray, even after her SNL performance. I had a good friend who i bonded with over born to die and after her death, i further deepened my relationship with lana’s music. She also really liked WHY? and alopecia was a big grief album for me.
I also listened to a lot of rap like the first odd future album, XXX, down from the 36 chambers, ex military (found takyon on youtube and it changed something in me) and most of all good kid MAAD city which i had on CD and blasted in the minivan on the drive to school daily.
The most cringe aspects were my deep love of ska punk and folk punk like defiance ohio, AJJ, reel big fish, but especially streetlight manifesto, who I quoted in my senior yearbook. I don’t listen to ska anymore so that’s why I consider it cringe, it’s so far from who I am now, but if i hear a streetlight song i’ll still know all the words.
Mix CD’s also had a huge impact on my music taste. The cool older hipster kids (these are all people who were unimaginably tumblr famous, especially being from a small town) who got together and created the Royal Mixtape Society. It only happened once, but we all created a mix CD and got a copy of everyone else’s in return. This lead to a lot of incredible discoveries, most of all the “Butts“ mixtape which has been the soundtrack to core memories of me and my best friends.
May 26, 2025
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I don't know how well this actually answers your initial question, I think it's more of a counterpoint to some of the stuff people have already said, but here it goes.
In the past (prior to social media or search engines) specific styles, specialized knowledge, and niche awareness actually took effort. You had to go out into the world and find a scene, be accepted, participate in it, contribute to it, and learn from others with specific knowledge within the specific sub- or counter-cultural scene. It took time, effort, and experience to craft an identity. Nowadays people cycle through various identities and trends like commodities because it takes no effort (they're sold to them by social media algorithms, influencers, brand accounts, etc.). It comes to you in your phone without you ever even having to leave the house or put in the time to discover it or participate in it (you just follow specific people or subscribe). You can be a passive observer or consumer, not an active contributor. As a result, you're not invested or tied down and committed to that core identity. You can cosplay depending on your mood or who you want to momentarily convey yourself as, because it's easy. Essentially, being a poser has become normalized. An identity is now something to be momentarily consumed and affected, rather than grown, built, and developed over time.
Granted, it's always been different in regards to "mass" culture and popular trends (both in the past and now). Those are impossible to miss and were always monopolized by specific trend setting institutions, but always by the time it gets to that point, the actual initial counter- or sub-culture that inspired it has already been coopted and has started to disintegrate under the weight and attention of mass consumption.
Feb 18, 2024
It's an action deserving of its own nickname. My cat's name is Gomez, but when he crosses his paws like this, he turns into Hodgkins Plumpersocks.
Feb 2, 2024
Please enjoy my attempt(s) to fill the void.
title: "pet; owner"
medium: hair
Jan 30, 2024