January 1st, 2023. The wind was relentless, the ground was covered in puddles, and the smell of rain was ever present despite the fickleness of the storm. I hadn't wanted to leave home. Yet, somehow, I had found myself with my mom at my favourite local thrift store anyway (she loves the rain and wanted any excuse to be out enjoying it).
Even though I've always loved physical media and dearly missed my old CD and DVD collections ( rip </3 ), up until then, we would only really skim over the bookcases full of discs, my mom glancing through the case on the right, while I briefly checked the left. I found nothing interesting and was about to move on when she pulled one from the shelf and turned it towards me, saying something about a band she thought I had mentioned. I'm pretty sure I literally went :O, like a whole actual dramatic jaw drop, as I reached for it.
DISINTEGRATION. BY THE CURE. Like, are u kidding? Upon seeing my stupid face, she pulled two more Cure CDs from the shelf, (Staring At The Sea, & The Head on The Door) next to which had been VIOLATOR and People are People by Depeche Mode. WHAT?!! If you've ever thrifted for CDs in a small thrift store, you know it's mostly the same Barbara Streisand album 30 times with little exception, so this was a HUGE find.
At the time, I had no CD player (and no other CDs), so I actually almost left them behind if u can believe it SHDKJ Luckily, my mom is one of the coolest people on the planet and she convinced me to pick them up anyway and now, almost three years later, here I am, with almost more CDs than I know how to deal with <3 Thanks, mom, good call.
P.S. Shoutout to the guy who broke into my mom's car like 15 years ago and ONLY stole our radio and giant CD wallet. I hope u enjoyed listening to my copy of Fallen by Evanescence >:(
If an album above is marked as one of my favourites, you can assume there are other albums by that artist I would love to own as well :D
♥ Any album by The Cure, Ghost, or My Chemical Romance that I do not already own
♥ Take This to Your Grave (2003), From Under the Cork Tree (2005), & Infinity On High (2007) - Fall Out Boy
♥ Stomachaches (2014) - Frank Iero
♥ Static and Silence (1997) - The Sundays
♥ Ocean Rain (1984) & Echo & The Bunnymen (1987) - Echo & the Bunnymen
♥ The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023) - Chappell Roan
♥ Brand New Eyes (2009) - Paramore
♥ Collide With The Sky (2012) Pierce The Veil
♥ Hatful of Hollow (1984) & The Queen Is Dead (1986) - The Smiths
♥ First and Last and Always (1985), Floodland (1987), & Some Girls Wander by Mistake (1992) - Sisters of Mercy
♥ Tinderbox (1986) - Souxsie and the Banshees
♥ Move Along (2005) The All-American Rejects
♥ The Hurting (1983) & Songs From The Big Chair (1985) - Tears For Fears
♥ From Then & Now (2025) - Super Sometimes
♥ Some Great Reward (1984) & ULTRA (1997) - Depeche Mode
♥ Hounds Of Love (1985) - Kate Bush
♥ Fallen (2003) Evanescence
♥ Parallel Lines (1978) Blondie
♥ No Control (1989) Bad Religion
It's also worth mentioning that my actual wish/checklist is well over 50 titles long, that I am not actively planning on getting any/all of these albums on CD, & that they are in no-particular order <3
spoiler.. I currently have 4 of them...
Some very ineloquent (& cringe) thoughts on the CDs that I play the most often! Keep in mind that I'm not a writer, I know NOTHING about music/ what makes music "good" vs "bad" or whatever, so these are SUBJECTIVE, FOR FUN, and also not based on any real criteria :D (& that these are not necessarily the albums I listen to most, just the CDs. I unforch still stream most of my music.)
Will be updated whenever I have time <3
No Pads, No Helmet... Just Balls: This might as well live in my CD player. Like. It's actually parasitic. I'll put this CD on once and then all of a sudden it's the only disc I spin for days if not weeks, it's a problem. I WILL listen to it multiple times in a day if it plays once. You could say I'm.. Addicted. :D SDHJK
I do really love this album, it's an amazing debut & has some absolutely iconic tracks. It sits in that Perfect area of cheesy 2000's pop-punk, upbeat instrumentals with slightly whiny vocals, sometimes listening to it makes me feel like I'm Just A Kid again, and it could probably cheer me up even on The Worst Day Ever. If I didn't already own a copy, it would definitely be on My Christmas List.. okay sorry I'll stop
My fav tracks are... You Don't Mean Anything, Addicted, My Alien, and Perfect. 7 extraterrestrial girlfriends out of 10 (7/10)
Danger Days: Another one of my CDs that gets trapped in my players, I LOVE this album. I cannot be objective about it. If any album were to get its own page here on my site, it would be this one. It probably will be this one. I could go on and on and on about how much joy and inspiration Danger Days has brought me in the decade that I've been listening to MCR, but I already talk too much about it as is <3.
A fast-paced, colourful, concept album that doesn't sugarcoat anything. When you fall, Danger Days looks you in the eyes and demands you get back up. It offers you a hand to steady yourself, tells you that it's gonna be ugly, that the fight never stops. It won't be easy. Maybe it'll be worth it, maybe it won't. But you'll just never know unless you GET UP AND GO!
At the core of this album, at least to me, is hope. It is not calm or graceful, not made of placating smiles or compliance, it is sanguine in colour but not in nature. Hope, in Danger Days, is a gnarled, vicious thing. All gnashing teeth and spite. It's not an idyllic constant that comes easily and never leaves your side. You have to chase it down. Hold onto it like your life depends on it, because it does; and when it gets away from you, because it will, lace up your boots tight, get up, and KEEP RUNNING
My fav tracks are... Bulletproof Heart, Planetary (GO!), The Only Hope for Me is You, and Summertime.. and Vampire Money.. and Destroya.. and Na Na Na.. and (all of them oops) 9 anti-fascist radio shows out of 10 (9/10)