Top Five Albums Everyone Is Embarrassed to Admit They Once Loved

Back when I was a wee freshman comping the Arts board, I was asked to fill out an arts related questionnaire. One of the questions was “What is your favourite album of all time?” I said “On the Beach” by Neil Young. I was lying. Here are my real all time favourite albums.

5. “Oh, Inverted World” by The Shins

I watched Garden State as a 14 year old. I refuse to comment any further.

4. “Move Along” by the All-American Rejects

I saw the All-American Rejects live not once, not twice, but three times. What of it? Tyson Ritter is super cute, and boy, did I ever wish he were my “dirty little secret.”

3. “The Young and the Hopeless” by Good Charlotte

The first song I ever learned to play on the guitar was “The Anthem” by Good Charlotte. I’m still unclear as to what “The Anthem” was an anthem for. But hey, it was fun to yell along to, jumping and ‘moshing’ at awkward middle school dances.

2.  “Silver Side Up” by Nickelback

Every once in a while I hear a whiny, horsey voice over Top 40 radio and I think to myself, “this is how you remind me of what I really [was].” Every time Nickelback releases a new single—will they ever stop?—it’s an opportunity for all of us to think about what terrible music we liked as 10-year-olds.

1. “Hybrid Theory” by Linkin Park

Who in their angsty preteen years did not love Linkin Park? The yelling, the vaguely ‘deep’ lyrics, and the cheesy, overwrought rhymes were in perfect balance to be adored. We can pretend to be too cool for nu-metal rock all we want, but “in the end, it doesn’t even matter.”

—Susie Y. Kim is the outgoing Music Editor and incoming Arts Chair. These days, she tells people that her favourite album of all time is “Slanted and Enchanted” by Pavement. She’s probably lying. She’s also Canadian, which is why she chose to spell ‘favourite’ with a ‘u’.