This is the music that got me through my teen years

When I was a teen, music was my salvation. I had my tape recorder and sat, patiently, next to the radio, waiting for the right song to come on so I could record it. I would try to get the least amount of DJ chatter at the start - at the end, it didn't matter as much, because you could rewind and cut off the DJ if you kept recording too long.I had piles of cassettes of songs I'd recorded this way and was extremely excited one birthday when I got to go with my parents to Radio Shack and get my first stereo. It had a double-cassette deck, meaning I could not only record from the radio directly (no worries about ambient noise anymore, or my parents calling upstairs to me in the middle of that song I'd waited forEVer to come on), but also from record albums and from other cassettes. My record collection grew by leaps and bounds. Then, junior and senior years, I worked parttime at a stereo repair shop downtown that also sold records and cassettes.I got to buy my music wholesale and rarely came home with leftover pay.As I got older, I switched to CDs and used to have a wall filled with music. At some point, music didn't hold the same sway over me, though I can listen to certain albums and be transported to a very specific moment in time or be reminded of a special person.The latest Facebook meme rampaging through the platform brought a lot of these memories back, as I thought about the 10 albums that had the most impact on my teen years. It took me a while, and I struggled to make sure they were albums that actually had affected me in some way that has stayed with me all these years later.You and Me Both - YazI loved the two Yazoo (they were only known as Yaz here in the U.S. and Canada) albums, but "You and Me Both" has a stronger hold on me than "Upstairs at Eric's" for a simple reason: The song, "And On."Shortly before I left for college, one of my best friends - one of the best friends I've ever had - killed himself. It was a devastating blow to many, and it colored my life for years afterward. I was listening to "You and Me Both" not long after, and the words to "And On" cut me to the core. To this day, even reading the lyrics makes my eyes well up with tears.

They didn't understand you, no! They didn't even try I'm so glad that you left us now Before you had the chance to die.  

It was as if that song were written about Justin. Thinking about it, I'm transported back to the bedroom I had when I was 18, heading to college and in mourning. The song is playing in the background, and I'm letting myself cry. And cry.IV - Led ZeppelinDespite my changing taste in music over the years, Led Zeppelin has always been at or near the top of the list. Even when I listened primarily to punk and new wave, I always made room for Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Bonham and John Paul Jones. No, IV (or Four, or ZoSo, or whatever you called it back in the day) was not their best album. It was their most famous, however, and I knew all the lyrics to Stairway to Heaven backwards and forwards. The biggest poster on my wall freshman year of college was a Stairway lyric.Zep wasn't blues, wasn't hard rock, wasn't metal, but was also all of the above. Their music defied characterization. I saw Robert Plant in concert at Madison Square Garden freshman year of college, and Jimmy Page (with Bonham's son, Jason Bonham on percussion) at University of Illinois-Chicago sophomore year. Page's concert was nearly a religious experience. When he played a lyric-less version of Stairway (Plant never would have had the cojones to do such a thing), we in the audience, in unison, sang it, holding hands.Turnstiles - Billy JoelI'm just a girl from Long Island, when it comes down to it. It's nearly a legal requirement to listen to Billy Joel if you grew up there. In fact, the prom theme song every year in my high school (not even near Oyster Bay, where Joel grew up) was a Billy Joel song, even if he didn't have an album out that year. My graduating class came close to breaking that tradition when we had two prom themes - a testament to how powerful a grip Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" had on the top 40 and my classmates.I had every Billy Joel album and loved many of them. But Turnstiles had two songs that always and forever were New York touchstones for me, as my parents moved to California midway through my college years, and then I went on to live in Illinois, Florida, and Arizona before coming back home. "New York State of Mind" and "Miami 2017" were the songs I listened to when I felt homesick for New York.At a benefit concert after Sept. 11, Joel sang "New York State of Mind" and it was more powerful than it had ever been.Back in high school, my friends who listened to a lot of other albums on this list teased me for liking Billy Joel. I didn't care. I loved the music of a boy named Billy the Kid.Repo Man SoundtrackThe movie Repo Man is a classic. An absolutely profane classic. It's hard to pull a quote from it that doesn't have an F-bomb in it. But the soundtrack? Even better. This movie introduced me to the music of Circle Jerks, Fear and Suicidal Tendencies. Walking home from school, my friends and I would loudly scream the lyrics to "Institutionalized" in our quiet suburban streets. "ALL I WANTED WAS A PEPSI!"My transition from classic rock aficionado to angry punk rocker was shoved over the edge by this album. I couldn't listen to The Eagles, The Who, Pink Floyd and the like anymore. I was angry. I felt angry. I needed something that helped me express that anger. And with lyrics like this from Fear's "Let's Have a War", I could expel that anger.

Let's have a war! It can start in New Jersey! Let's have a war! Blame it on the middle-class!

And Black Flag's TV party recitation of the most popular shows of the day remains a favorite.Urgh! A Music War SoundtrackYes, two soundtracks. Once upon a time, MTV used to play music videos. It also aired feature-length concerts. Urgh! was chock-filled with the best new wave, post-punk and alternative bands. Jools Holland, The Cramps, OMD, Klaus Nomi, Steel Pulse - some of these bands and singers I'd heard of; others were new to me. I loved it all. I watched and re-watched and re-watched that movie until the VHS tape wore out.I went to Tower Records and got the double album soundtrack on vinyl, and then recorded it on cassette so I could have it with me any and everywhere. Both moved with me over the years from city to city until they became lost to the years. When TurntableFM sprang up a few years ago, I joined it and found a room of like-minded Gen Xers who remembered all the best of the 80s punk and new wave music. Most of them knew it all even better than I had those many years ago. They remembered Urgh!, too. The first people I'd met in all those years who even knew what I was talking about when I referenced the movie.One new friend sent me a digital copy of the album and I went on a quest to play all the songs in the room. And whenever anyone played a song that happened to be on the soundtrack, the chat section of the room was suddenly filled with "URGH!" and I often was similarly greeted when I showed up.That soundtrack connected my life before and life now in ways I never could have expected.Never Mind the Bollocks ... - Sex PistolsI had to take public speaking during my junior or senior year of high school. I was incredibly shy at the time, and taking a class like this felt torturous. Our final project was to deliver a speech on a topic of our choosing. I chose punk music. I was feeling my way into this new me I'd discovered, and felt if I talked about this subject I could be that other me, and not the old, shy me.I immersed myself in the topic, taking out multiple books from the library. Of course, all gave plenty of ink to the band often credited with starting the punk revolution (though it really began in Manhattan with the New York Dolls, Richard Hell and others): The Sex Pistols. For better or worse, Never Mind the Bollocks was an all-time must-have and was filled with some of the most iconic punk rock.My love of this album led me to John Lydon's Public Image Ltd. and the movie Sid and Nancy. If you were to ask me if The Sex Pistols were my favorite punk band, I'd say no (that honor belongs to The Clash or Ramones). But that album was hugely important at a time of great change for myself.Let It Be - The ReplacementsI'll be honest. I'm not wholly sure this album belongs on this list. Except it does. And every time I started to take it off and replace it with something else, I realized I couldn't.I saw The Replacements in concert in college, and they were spectacular. This album was wonderful - at turns jangling, mournful and deep.

Look me in the eye Then, tell me that I'm satisfied

I wasn't satisfied. I was supposed to feel satisfied, somehow, but I wasn't.Meat is Murder - The SmithsAt one point, I owned every Smiths album. However, the album containing the song "How Soon Is Now?" has no choice but to be my favorite.

There's a club, if you'd like to go You could meet somebody who really loves you So you go and you stand on your own And you leave on your own And you go home and you cry And you want to die

Before I knew Justin and he took his life, I often had similar feelings. These lines felt as if they'd been ripped from my subconscious. It did take me a while, though, to realize it was "I am the SON and the HEIR" and not "I am the SUN and the AIR". Go figure.I'll still listen to this album, anywhere, anytime, anyhow. Just not in concert with Morrissey, because he'd just cancel it anyway.Synchronicity - The PoliceMy friend Allison and I would raid her sister's record collection when she wasn't home and I'd copy a lot of them on tape. My first versions of all The Police albums were on audio cassette from this. "Synchronicity" wasn't my favorite Police album; that would be "Ghost in the Machine." But The Police really hit it big with Synchronicity and "Every Breath You Take," in all its stalker glory, was incredibly popular in my later high school years.Every cis girl wanted a boy who would love her like Sting loved the woman he stalked in the song.

Since you've gone I've been lost without a traceI dream at night, I can only see your face I look around but it's you I can't replace I feel so cold and I long for your embrace I keep crying, "Baby, baby, please"

Strength - The AlarmThe first concert I saw was Pat Benatar. The reason I chose to go, however, was because The Alarm were opening for her. The opening strains of "Strength" soared and pulled me along with them. It didn't hurt that my first serious boyfriend's favorite band was The Alarm, too - the first person I'd met who even knew this band. It turned out we'd both gone to the same concert for the same reason. It was kismet.Right now, writing this post, I hear the opening of the title song. I felt every word of the title song.

Someone write me a letter I need to know that I'm still alive Someone give me a telephone call I need to hear a human sound 

For a teenager who felt alone, it helped that others felt the same thing.Photo by Mick Mingle via Unsplash.