1. Blur Park Life

Purchased  from Woolworths on cassette in my lunch break from college, this is one of my favourite albums of all time. From hyper chant along tunes like Girls and Boys to melancholy This is a Low, there is a song on here for every teenage mood. I played this during a hot summer vacation, filled with long days in the park with my friend Lucy and four hour shifts at my job in Next. I’d broken up with my boyfriend so I spent a lot of time sulking in my bedroom. Everytime I hear the horns on the introduction to ‘Badhead’ I can feel the heart ache all over again.

2. The Monkees – Greatest Hits

Another cassette picked up at Woolworths, this time I must have been inspired to buy it by hearing Vic Reeves’ cover of I’m a Believer and being reminded of the wonderful Monkees! It revived all my happy memories of school holidays watching repeats before going out to play with my friends. The tunes still sounded good and stood up against all the indie music I was listening to at the time especially ‘pleasant Valley Sunday’ and ‘Last Train to Clarksville’.

3. MC Hammer – U Can’t Touch This

My parents joined a music club and got some free CDs, so I was allowed to choose three for myself. I chose INXS Kick, Dirty Dancing and MC Hammer. That tells you a lot about my taste in music at the time, though I wouldn’t mind listening to any of them even now! I first heard U Can’t Touch This on the Radio One chart show and remember getting very excited when I heard it again at my friend’s house. We thought it was the best song we’d ever heard – we hadn’t been exposed to anything considered rap music as we only listened to the charts and watched Top of The Pops so were on a diet of Stock, Aitken and Waterman. Now I’m not saying MC Hammer is good rap music, but he’s a fair introduction, and how can anyone resist that dance?

4. St Etienne – You need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone

I finally got my own CD player for Christmas and one of the first CDs I bought to play on it was this one. I’d heard the Cola Boy track ‘Seven Ways to Love’ on the radio and realised it was the same group. ‘Join Our Club’, was a whimsical pretty song, with happy lyrics and a bit that goes ‘ba ba ba ba ba bada daaa daaaaa’, very nice to sing along to. ‘People get Real and ‘Who do you think you are’ were dreamy electronic beat filled tunes and Duke Duvet had a Spanish Guitar riff going through it, making it a summery album perfect for shimmying along to or just feeling really sunshiny!

5. Aha – Hunting High and Low

My mum and dad bought me this one on vinyl, I think I asked for it for Christmas after seeing the competition on Blue Peter where you could win an appearance in the A-ha video for ‘Take on Me’ (the one with pencil drawings).  Considered a boy band by some, A-ha are actually cited as an influence by many ‘serious’ musicians including Chris Martin of Coldplay.  Their synth filled melodies and dramatic choruses are Eighties to the core, perfect for shrieking along to with your girl friends.

6. Faith No More – From Out of Nowhere

This album signalled a very definite change in my music tastes and in turn the rest of my life. Until this point I’d been very much a pop music fan, reading Smash Hits regularly and taping the chart show every Sunday. I couldn’t tell you who introduced me to Faith No More, I just remember one minute going to a New Kids on the Block concert and the next watching the Word in my friend’s bedroom, gazing up at a poster of Mike Patton. Perhaps it was seeing the ‘Epic’ video constantly played on MTV. Mike Patton’s booming, whining, almost operatic voice coupled with his deep doom laden rapping, and the delicate piano against heavy guitars exploded into my teenage conciousness.

Faith No More were the gateway to other Metal and Rock bands and I was the perfect age to embrace the Grunge movement. I was 16 in 1992, the same year that Nivarna’s Nevermind reached number one and Pearl Jam’s Ten was one of the highest selling albums.

7.New Kids on the Block – Step by Step

I absolutely loved New Kids on the Block and after hearing the single ‘Step by Step’ on Radio One I rushed out to get this as soon as possible. I bought it on vinyl and spent hours playing it in my bedroom savouring every song. The silliness of ‘Tonight’ and the knee trembling ‘Baby I believe in You’ won my heart and those of thousands of teenage girls. This album also saw the New Kids branch out into dance/ rap music with ‘Games’ and ‘Call it what you want’ featuring the genius collaboration with C n C Music Factory. Fabulous!

8. James – Laid

‘This bed is on fire with passion and love. The neighbours complain about the noise from above. Be she only comes when she’s on top. My therapist says not to see you no more, you’re like a disease without any cure, she says I’m so obsessed that I’m becoming a bore, on nooooooooo aah you think you’re so pretty eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee’.

I challenge anyone not to sing along to that. This album is best listened to on your own with a copy of Wuthering Heights. The melancholy yet soaring tracks lend themselves to the heartwrenching emotion of Heathcliff and Cathy, and songs like ‘Out to get you’ and ‘One of the three’ were perfect background music for ploughing through this A-Level set text (in 1993).

9. Florence and the Machine – Ceremonials

It’s been 27 years since I owned my first album, and whilst being loyal to my favourites I have always tried to listen to new music and not get too stuck in my ways. As you’ll see in my final choice of memorable albums I am slowly becoming more nostalgic and less adventurous with what I’ll listen to. Florence and the Machine remind me that I do like some new music and liking the first album Lungs wasn’t just because it was massively hyped – it was actually good and I actually enjoyed it. I find her uplifting and individual. I love the huge multi-layered sound of many instruments.  I also love the bizarre lyrics of ‘If only for the night’, where a ghost tells her to concentrate.

10. Beyonce

One of my most recent purchases, this one signalled another change in direction in my music tastes. I’ve always tried to listen and enjoy a variety of genres, and keep up with new releases so I don’t get boring. However, on playing this one, I realised that I might not like much new music anymore and I’d much rather stick to what I know I like. I couldn’t be bothered getting past the singles, and I think I have played this one once and put it away again.